Final Portfolio

Engl 127

*I have made quite a few changes to my projects for my Final Portfolio. I decided to work from my Midterm portfolio and made revisions from my original ones.*

Playlist
First, I revised and edited a few things in my Playlist. This being the first major assignment of the semester, I had to go back and read through the original and the submitted playlist for the Midterm Portfolio...and I still found a few things that I wanted to change. The changes are not significant enough to provide a link to both the revised and unrevised portfolios, however I will mention the process I went through for revision. (The other changes can be noted under Revisions)

I first made sure to catch any final grammatical errors (and I definitely found a few). Those have been fixed now. After reading through my playlist a third time, I still felt like the songs chosen properly represented what I was trying to convey; namely, Paul's journey through life. Each of the song's not only is meant to depict a certain era in my character's life, they each hold a special meaning for me. From Wilco's "Box of Letters" to "Etude No. 1", each of these songs relates to me somehow...the songs were not carelessly chosen and I feel like I spent the most time chosing the songs for the playlist. Another revision I made was to include some textual evidence and support from the poem "When Thou Commandest Me To Sing" by Rabindranth Tagore. I felt like I really was not making myself clear on how this poem, the poem "Digging" by Seamus Heaney, and the story all related. I really wanted to emphasis that these two poems accenuate what it means to have a passion for some occupation kindled within you and what it feels like to want to pursue that passion with your utmost ability. To me it is wonderful to finally discover what exactly it is you want to DO with your life (not that I myself have actually achieved this goal yet :-D). I included a few lines from Tagore's poem to further this presentation of a relationship between the two poems and my story.

Revised Playlist

Still, I believe that my greatest fear when beginning my work on the Playlist was that my topic was going to come off as being too cliche. I really created this story in relation to my own life. Coming to college is a time of change for everyone, I'm sure, and I know that it sparks those possibly...rhetorical...questions about life. I do believe that we all go through a "moment of suspension" when we almost panic as we ponder what to do with our lives. For some of us, it may not be a stressful situation, and for others, it may mean a well-paying job or our own happiness. I am very glad that Dan suggested giving my character a name to avoid the "essay" form. I feel pretty comfortable now with the set-up of my Playlist. I think that it presents my point in a fairly understandable way. I wanted the poems to "link" the media and contain a common thread that tied the songs, character, and structure of the Playlist together. I really like both of these poems to begin with...and surprisingly enough, they highlight two of my own passions, writing and singing. The implementation of these poems is my favorite aspect of my Playlist, because they not only appeal to me and my own emotions, but I believe that they contribute to the Playlist's purpose. These are my final reflections on my Playlist.

REFLECTIONS:
I thought that it was a great idea to communicate a story through songs. It's interesting to observe how a story can be communicated through song lyrics in one way...and through the actual music in another way. At first, I seemed to really focus on the lyrics. I tried to find songs that would directly relate to what I was trying to convey in a certain portion of my story. I soon realized that this type of communication was not the only way that I could convey my story. I began to focus more on the music...the tone of the music, the musical quality, and the presence of dissonance or harmony. I really wanted to choose two songs that could convey peace and harmony ("The House of Rutherford" and "Etude No. 1") I think that strictly intrumental pieces would be the most fitting compositions to convey a tranquil mood.

I think of all of the projects completed this semester, the Playlist is one that most challenges the definition of literature. I love the idea of presenting literature and life through music. I have always thought that music can speak just as loudly as words on a page. Music can definitely be more ambiguous, but at the same time, isn't literature as well? I think that one of the main points of art itself is to leave things open for interpretation...I would hope that not everything is black and white...! Overall, I have enjoyed working on the Playlist.

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Collage #1: Character
Character Collage

Revised Character Collage

After first submitting my Character Collage, I began revisions, focusing on the blank space in the collage. I decided that the upper left hand corner had the most blank space. I began to search for an image that would correlate with my theme and also fit well into the space provided. I found an image of an exerpt from the Bible, the Psalms. I lowered the opacity then masked out the hard edges of the picture. I inserted this picture as a final touch to my collage. I think that now, this collage may effectively portry Julian of Norwich.

REFLECTIONS:
It seemed like it took me forever to finish this collage, but I enjoyed it. I guess that my character, Julian of Norwich, was pretty random. We had recently read about her in my Eng. 120 class and I was definitely intrigued. I wanted to convey Julian's love for the Lord and the power of her statement "All manner of thing shall be well". This statement struck me as being rather innovative and courageous. Julian, living in a time of turmoil, insists that all things will run their course and people's lives will continue peacefully if they trust in the Lord. I admire her trust and I wanted to focus on that in my collage. When creating my collage, I chose the two greater images of the woman praying (Julian) and Jesus to be a sort of focal point of the collage. However, I also wanted the words to stand out to the audience. I also worked a lot with the way that the light falls on the faces of Julian and Jesus. I am glad that I finally found a way to do this...(it is actually a picture of a sun on a very low opacity that has been masked out over the cheeks of Julian and Jesus to create an effect of light being cascaded over them). I have enjoyed working on this collage. Initially, I enjoyed reading about Julian of Norwich and it has been fun to portray her life and message through images.

Collage #2: Poem Collage
Poem Collage

Revised Poem Collage

I made a few changes to my Poem Collage. I really wanted to bring the focal point toward the center on the hand reaching upwards toward an ambiguous light. I hope that this goal was achieved. I first increased the opacity of the reaching hand in the center of the canvas. Now, the hand almost appears completely black. I think that this also contributes to my wanting to make the right hand side of the canvas a lighter area and the left hand side a darker and more dreary area. I then increased the opacity of the image of the woman weeping in the corner. This is supposed to also contribute to the darker side of the canvas. With this light and dark contrast I wanted to emphasize the woman's feelings of hopelessness at the beginning of the poem and the moment of hope and relief she finds after she is finally with her father in the hospital. After all she had gone through, she is finally able to see her father "breathe"...whether those be his last breaths or not, this ability to be with her father is the most significant part of the poem.

REFLECTIONS:
At first, I thought that I would like my Character Collage better...but actually, I enjoyed working on the Poem Collage more. I love the poem "The Race". It is so powerful and dark...yet it possesses a quality of anxiety and a hint of happiness. I wanted to portray the speaker's feelings of helplessness in my collage. I wanted to place a plane between the woman and her father...the connecting vehicle that allows the daughter to reach her father. The speaker's actions at the airport emphasize her anxiety of not being to see her father before he dies. The hand represents the father reaching out to his daughter. It was difficult to play with the lighting of this collage. Some of the images were very bright and "sunny" almost. Others were dark and dreary. I like the presence of this light vs dark opposition in this collage.

I especially like the concept of having images represent certain aspects of a character's (or poem's) presence in literature. It was difficult learning how to work the Serif program at first, but with any new system, I know that you have to slowly learn the ins and outs of the program. Learning how to mask images was quite challenging for me, but this tool ended up being my most valuable one. Working on the collages allowed me to express myself in a whole new way. Instead of simply writing down prominant characteristics of Julian of Norwich, I could mold together images that I believed represented her persona. Instead of dissecting "The Race" and discussing its poetic elements, I could place images on a canvas that helped me portray the speaker's struggle to reach her father before he passes away. I love how a collage can truly bring literature to life. I love how a collage does not set boundaries for interpretation. I think that the collages actually encourage differing views.
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Podcast:
Marriage and Relationships

I think that creating the Podcast was definitely the most challenging project. Not only was establishing a theme difficult, it was also challenging to develop a script that also allowed for improvisation. After listening to our Podcast, I think that at times, I may have sounded rehearsed. That was the most difficult part of the Podcast...the fact that it really couldn't be planned completely out. I'm used to having everything ready for a project and I was a little uneasy with going into this project knowing that at some point I would have to improvise what I was going to say. That was hard for me to accept because I really do not like performing in front of people anyway...However, media can't always be planned out either, so this project was definitely beneficial to me. In the studio, it was extremely hard for me not to laugh, but we all got through it!

REFLECTIONS:
After listening to our Podcasts, there are a few things I would change. First of all, I would have two different people be in charge of the audio clips. I think that it was a little too much for one person to handle...it was difficult for our audio person to get the clips started on time because each one took different times to start up. Also, I would maybe have liked us to rehearse our entire Podcast more before we entered the studio...there were places where I think we could have improvised more. Irregardless, I enjoyed the experience of working on this Podcast. It gave me a glimpse of what it's like to be on a radio show.

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Essay
I have attached a file with the final copy of my essay. My initial inspiration behind my choosing this topic for my essay is that we read both of these works when I went to Governor's School for English. We first read WAYGWHYB? and then our teacher had us relate the short story to the song "It's All Over Now Baby Blue". We did not go into great detail, but I do believe that we mentioned the fact that both works examine a loss of innocence. I was going through old packets from Governor's School one day and found my printed copy of WAYGWHYB? and I thought that relating these two works would be a good topic for an essay. My greatest apprehension was that I would not be able to find enough sources for my essay, but I was wrong. I ended up going to the Music Library and checking out a couple of books on Bob Dylan. I was able to incorporate a few of his quotes into my essay and these books also provided me with a little insight into his work. I found a great website with Joyce Carol Oates' words on Bob Dylan. This is where I have received most of my information on what she thinks of his work and why she dedicates her short story to him. I was really interested in finding relationships between these two works which made the essay enjoyable to work on and revise.

REFLECTIONS:
After my rough draft, I had many revisions to make. Besides the typical grammatical errors that needed to be fixed, there were a few sections of my paper that needed to be completely revised. Toward the end of my paper, I included a quote of Bob Dylan's pertaining to lyrics vs. melody. He claims that the words are the most important aspect to a song. I wanted to bring this up and relate it to the importance of the lyrics in "It's All Over Now Baby Blue". However, my thoughts seemed a bit scattered and I had to revise this section of my paper. I tried to focus more on the relationship between the two works and how the WORDS were very important for both of them. I tried to emphasize that the powerful diction in both works yields a greater meaning and emphasis on a loss of innocence. After these revisions, I think that my essay is easier to comprehend. It has been great to choose and work on my own topic for this essay. Being provided with this freedom is a blessing in disguise!

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Video Collage
Uganda Collage

This was definitely my favorite project of the semester. I have done something similar, but only with a Powerpoint...I prefer the moviemaker program though because you can have the timelines run together simultaneously. I chose to do my video collage on the children of Northern Uganda. My English 120 professor made me aware of the atrocities ocurring when she mentioned our participating in the GuluWalk on Nov. 4. I participated in the walk and was able to hear George Piwang-Jalobo speak firsthand of the horrific things occurring in Uganda. I learned about the "Invisible Children" and went to a screening of the film soon after. Needless to say, my heart has truly gone out to these innocent children. Because I had been doing a little research on the matter, I decided to focus my video collage on this as well. I chose an Enya song, "Storms in Africa" because it seemed to convey perfectly what I was trying to get across. Not only do the lyrics correspond with the poem I included by Rabindranth Tagore, the haunting melody also seems to coincide with the images. I decided not to make too many changes to my video collage because I have the images and song timed together. However, I did make a few changes after I initially submitted the collage. I took away some of the images because the collage seemed to be a little cluttered sometimes. In place of the images, I added just text, like facts concerning the issue. As the text is coming up, the music keeps playing to continue the mood.

REFLECTIONS:
I really enjoyed working on this collage, and though it does not compare at all to the infamous "Invisible Children" or the actual events occurring in Uganda, I hoped to catch just a glimpse of what these children are going through.

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Blog Postings:

Hills Like White Elephants

Cliches

The Race

Everyday Use

A Good Man Is Hard To Find

Strange Fruit

My Travels

Midterm or Final?

I was really excited when I learned that we would be having this class through a blog...we experimented with blogs a little my senior year in English. It proved to be a very effective way to get everyone involved. It is sometimes hard for everyone to speak up in class...some people just aren't ones to speak out. Through a blog, everyone can share their thoughts. It has been enjoyable for me to be able to make a general post and see people respond to it. In regards to the links above, I usually made blog postings related to an aspect of a story that struck me. Sometimes I was moved to do some background research, like in my "Strange Fruit" posting. Others times, I was just moved to share something with the class, like in "My Travels".

I have written some on a few of my blog postings...the ones that mean the most to me and that required a little extra research.

With my "Strange Fruit" posting, I was really inspired to research this song/poem further. This has been one of those instances that I keep noticing references to this poem, long after I first read it. I do not remember now, but I remember finding a book in the library regarding this poem as well...it must have been quite controversial. I wanted to make a blog posting on this song so others in the class could learn from the background like I had. I then listened to the clip of the song off of itunes and it gave me another perspective on the the poem.

I wanted to make a posting on "I Stand Here Ironing" because I really enjoyed this story...even though it made me really sad to think about the daughter's life. I've always been interested in the different ways that people chose to treat their children...meaning...do the children live in a more democratic or authoritative family, etc. When reading this story, I couldn't help but notice the narrator's tone of apathy toward her daughter's situation. As a reader, I know that the mother cares about Emily, but she also seems to have this "it's too late" attitude. I wanted to see what everyone else thought about the relationship between the mother and daughter.

My "Cliches" blog posting was made because I was really interested to hear everyone's thoughts...it seems like everytime I write a paper, I find myself wanting to steer clear of cliches at the same time that I want to use them to convey my meaning. They are so widely known and used that I want to break free of them...yet, I still use them all the time in everyday use and lauguage. After reading other people's response, I think I've decided that it is alright to use cliches, as long as they are used in moderation.

REFLECTIONS:
I wish that we could have blogs in most of my classes. They really are a way to get the class thinking and responding. I did try to make a post when I felt strongly about some things. I have really liked being able to read everyone's random thoughts as well. How often is it that we can share almost anything that is on our minds in a classroom setting? The blog aspect of this class has kept things interesting.

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Portfolio Reflections and
Reference to Specific Questions

This final portfolio has allowed me look back on this entire semester and really think about each project. Looking back, I think that I had the hardest time with the Podcast and I enjoyed the Video Collage the most. My Playlist needed the most revision at one point and my Video Collage needed the least. I have definitely developed new literacy practices through this class. If literacy has been equated with reading and writing only, we have certainly stepped away from the norm! I love that we have been able to experiment with different forms of media in this class. I have always thought that literature is not simply words on a page and this class has truly supported that view. The projects in this class are rather innovative when compared with other kinds of academic literacies like research, argument, genres, etc. Yes, at times the projects required certain aspects of these academic literacies, such as research. However, the projects seem to fit in a "genre" of their own: that of "out of the box" thinking and creation. These projects do not fit into a certain "dimension". Instead...if there is any boundary to be made, they break out of them. We have incorporated many different kinds of media...from audio clips, to images, to voice recordings...yet, these projects can stil be considered literacies. They portray a purpose...a main idea...supporting details. Just because they are not formulated into a generic structure (ie, essay) does not mean that they are not qualified as an academic literacy.

Yes, print essays are easy to read and are accessible to all. But...I have learned through this class that reading and evaluating new media is not always going to be easy. Many times, things will be left open to interpretation...in fact, the entire project may be ambiguous with only a main idea as a stabilizing factor (at times, the collages for example). Still, this freedom breeds a whole new realm of literature - one that includes the FREEDOM OF INTERPRETATION without strict guidlines. To me, this is the beauty of this class - each project conveys a message, but at the same time, this message may be interpreted differently for each person. The role of the portfolio has had a major place in our ways of evaluating new media. The portfolio brings up the point of REVISION. The revising aspect of this class has been the most rewarding. We have been allowed to constantly revise and improve our projects - which is wonderful because it lets us relentlessly press on toward our very best work. We were never pressured by deadlines or finalizations. I have really loved being able to review my work through this portfolio. I have discovered my strengths and weaknesses...I have eliminated my mistakes...I have been struck with new ideas and plans...all because of the abilty to REVISE. This freedom is precious, especially in a classroom setting and I cannot stress my love of this freedom enough. This class has been an incredible asset to me. I am so glad that I got to take this class my first semester of my freshman year here at Carolina. It has truly opened my eyes to many new ideas and ways of expressing myself. Not only have I learned how to create unique projects through different programs, I have learned to truly listen to others...even when they may not be blatantly speaking to me. Everyone has a subtle message to reveal...and through these projects, we have been able to nurture this ambiguous aspect of ourselves. I have to say that I will probably compare my future classes to this one because I have been continuously impressed by the teaching methods, projects produced, and overall classroom setting.