Summary
|
This semester I spent the first half of this quarter working on a compare and contrast essay using The Brief Bedford Reader and Chris to help me structure it properly. I was comparing and contrasting Bringing It All Back Home by Bob Dylan (1965) and Not A Pretty Girl by Ani Difranco (1995). I was first going to compare the artists, what their music was like before this album, how popular was each artist, what did this album signify. Secondly I would compare and contrast the music styles, what was mostly used in this album, what was used before and after this album, what did the instruments signify, and if there was anything in particular that was interesting in the structure of the album having to do with the instruments. Third I would compare and contrast the lyrical styles including the different points of view the song is being sung from, the usage of imagery and the possibilities of interpretation of the lyrics/how literal they were. The fourth paragraph was the best song from each album in my opinion and provide reasoning to support my choosing. Finally I would summarize each argument I had for the the album that I thought was better. I started writing and got through the first two section but I kept looking back in the writing I had done and questioning whether or not the points I was making were valid or not. I had a set idea of what the albums were like after listening to them just a few times but as I kept hearing the songs, the music, and the lyrics, the set ideas I was basing by argument on were just evaporating into thin air because each album was not what I thought it was. Dylan’s album was a very pivotal album in his career representing his switch from folk music to rock with the inclusion of the electric guitar halfway through his album. After listening to Dylan’s album a few times I had noticed that for the most part he sings about the stories of others and often distances himself from the song but in Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream he uses the first person as well as in another song. Difranco’s album was a very personal album compared to her past albums, singing with one percussionist and one vocalist. Difranco’s album is also apparently more of an alternative album compared to her music before but upon listening to her previous albums they did not sound very different, but that is just my personal opinion. This was one of the areas that I had a lot of trouble writing about because none of the predictions I made were set in stone. I would get so anxious about writing something subpar that I would write one sentence then erase it.
|
A change
A day or so after my meeting with Amy I set up a meeting with Chris (the week before February break started) to talk about changing my study to something that I actually love that could be easier to write about. After talking for a bit we came to the conclusion that I would put the Music essay on the shelf for a hot minute and focus on two essays, the first one is about my artistic process and the second one is about the Chicano Movement and how my family contributed to it which I am psyched about. Over the break I pondered what questions I would ask my Tata and I made a list of 12 which over the past few weeks I have been asking him about, he has answered one in a two page document which is very insightful and reflective of him. Tata if you read this, TQM! The essay about my artistic process is going to be a slight graphic novel with little Izzys going about the different parts of the process.
Last week Chris lead a seminar that focused on writing, he had us do hand exercises and we drew a swirl before writing when we started he asked us questions with a limited time to write a response and at the end of each prompt we had 7 or 8 minutes to make a piece of writing using the questions he asked. I realized that because of the timer it was hard for my brain to squeeze in judgmental thoughts, it was just focusing on writing and that's it! This was great news I had been trying to find a way to write without judgment for so long and not I have a way, I just need to set a timer asn ask myself some start up questions.The things that worked for me this quarter were learning how to write without judgment and writing about the things that I love.
Last week Chris lead a seminar that focused on writing, he had us do hand exercises and we drew a swirl before writing when we started he asked us questions with a limited time to write a response and at the end of each prompt we had 7 or 8 minutes to make a piece of writing using the questions he asked. I realized that because of the timer it was hard for my brain to squeeze in judgmental thoughts, it was just focusing on writing and that's it! This was great news I had been trying to find a way to write without judgment for so long and not I have a way, I just need to set a timer asn ask myself some start up questions.The things that worked for me this quarter were learning how to write without judgment and writing about the things that I love.