cover letter
While the actual content of the reading wasn’t too difficult, it was so complicated and linguistically complex, that I had trouble really comprehending it. Specifically in “Renaissance: Self-Fashioning”, it was hard for me not to start skimming and skipping around to pick out key words when it got confusing. I really challenged myself to read every word, even if it meant reading it out loud at parts. It wasn’t that bad in “Better Living Through Criticism”, because it was broken up with dialogues between the author and interviewer. These sections were very helpful to me, not only as a break for my brain, but also to find out more about the author's personality and way of presenting himself.
A part that I really enjoyed was common placing in our books. I’ve never done a common place book before, so that exercise was really interesting to me. I didn’t really understand the website you gave us to look at for examples of commonplace books, but the pictures were still really cool to look at. I enjoyed using different mediums to express what I was thinking. Being able to express myself creatively is very helpful to me, and really helps me get the words in my brain onto paper.
A part that I really enjoyed was common placing in our books. I’ve never done a common place book before, so that exercise was really interesting to me. I didn’t really understand the website you gave us to look at for examples of commonplace books, but the pictures were still really cool to look at. I enjoyed using different mediums to express what I was thinking. Being able to express myself creatively is very helpful to me, and really helps me get the words in my brain onto paper.
formal writing
In my concept map, I explored different, recurring themes in A More Beautiful Question, Renaissance Self-Fashioning, and Better Living Through Criticism. I thought that the four main themes which served a part in all three pieces were “analyzing self”, “explanation kills art”, “old ways won’t open new doors”, and “no need to be anybody but yourself”. I also thought the linguistic style and approach of Renaissance Self-Fashioning and Better Living Through Criticism were very similar. They both used pretty complex and sometimes confusing vocabulary, and seemed to really talk things out on paper as opposed to keeping it simple.
In Better Living Through Criticism, It explored the question of objective critique vs. opinion, and who is even really worth impressing. Shifting your focus from yourself to others was another tip that it tried to convey. The biggest concept that stuck out to me while I reading it was that explanation and overthinking kills art. I explained that in detail in my blog. It really just bugs me a lot in the text how he gives us something totally objective, then dives into it super hard and thinks about every detail. But, I do like how he acknowledges that there are some things that really do need to be taken into account when looking at art. On page 257 he says “Whole art forms are routinely condemned this way, usually those favored by the young or by other socially marginal groups- the poor, racial and sexual minorities, and so forth” and goes on to give examples. He acknowledges it, but doesn’t try to provide a solution or give much more commentary on it besides “yeah basically this happens, yup”. This was the only time when I really felt like what he was saying was being said in an understandable and relatable way. So much of the text was so hard to comprehend because of the absurdity of the language, it really felt like he was trying to impress and drown the reader with ethos appeals.
Renaissance Self-Fashioning briefly discussed and explored free will vs. predestination, which I took upon myself to think about more. When thinking about personal aesthetic and how you present yourself, obviously you would think that it would be something that you totally control yourself and that there is not one goal that everyone is trying to achieve. But perhaps not. This is also discussed a lot in Better Living Through Criticism and how we don’t really know where most of our likes and dislikes come from, but they don’t just appear out of thin air.
A More Beautiful Question left me with the realization about it that as long as you have more questions than answers, you are on the right track. It not only told young people to ask more questions, but also encouraged their teachers and parents to reward that behavior. They looked at curiosity and questioning-asking as a muscle that one needs to exercise and keep strong. It also left me thinking, can we ever find a truly “right” answer? Does a truly “right” answer even exist?
In Better Living Through Criticism, It explored the question of objective critique vs. opinion, and who is even really worth impressing. Shifting your focus from yourself to others was another tip that it tried to convey. The biggest concept that stuck out to me while I reading it was that explanation and overthinking kills art. I explained that in detail in my blog. It really just bugs me a lot in the text how he gives us something totally objective, then dives into it super hard and thinks about every detail. But, I do like how he acknowledges that there are some things that really do need to be taken into account when looking at art. On page 257 he says “Whole art forms are routinely condemned this way, usually those favored by the young or by other socially marginal groups- the poor, racial and sexual minorities, and so forth” and goes on to give examples. He acknowledges it, but doesn’t try to provide a solution or give much more commentary on it besides “yeah basically this happens, yup”. This was the only time when I really felt like what he was saying was being said in an understandable and relatable way. So much of the text was so hard to comprehend because of the absurdity of the language, it really felt like he was trying to impress and drown the reader with ethos appeals.
Renaissance Self-Fashioning briefly discussed and explored free will vs. predestination, which I took upon myself to think about more. When thinking about personal aesthetic and how you present yourself, obviously you would think that it would be something that you totally control yourself and that there is not one goal that everyone is trying to achieve. But perhaps not. This is also discussed a lot in Better Living Through Criticism and how we don’t really know where most of our likes and dislikes come from, but they don’t just appear out of thin air.
A More Beautiful Question left me with the realization about it that as long as you have more questions than answers, you are on the right track. It not only told young people to ask more questions, but also encouraged their teachers and parents to reward that behavior. They looked at curiosity and questioning-asking as a muscle that one needs to exercise and keep strong. It also left me thinking, can we ever find a truly “right” answer? Does a truly “right” answer even exist?