Reflections

            Fifteen weeks.
            Lots can happen in fifteen weeks.
            Trees turn from fertile greens to autumnal browns to branches bereft of foliage. Entire fads, fashions and memes are created, flourish then fade into obscurity. Political powers shift. Regimes rise. Uprisings happen. Regimes fall.
            Even Phileas Fogg travelled around the world in little over twelve. He could have looped back around and relaxed in Hawaii for at least another fortnight.
            As for me, I completed a college semester.

            Three essays, two Youtube presentations, myriad personal writing pieces, several discussion boards, an entire book on Richard Feynman and numerous articles later, we reach the end. What a ride. Mr. Fogg would have been proud.

            It's definitely been an interesting experience. At first, there was trepidation. Previous English classes had been in classroom environments. How would an online class compare? Would I be isolated? Alone? Astray in my own thoughts? Thankfully, all the worry was for naught. It was a hugely successful course, with solid interaction and a reachable, knowledgeable instructor. I actually found myself looking forward to Monday, eager to see what wide-ranging tasks we'd have for the week. From listening to the speeches of Martin Luther King, to reading about True Grit (minus John Wayne), it was as varied a course as I've ever experienced.

            What have I succeeded in? What have I failed in? What actually have I gained from the experience? My first essay, I feel, was by far the weakest. I went in with little knowledge of spirituality among Native Americans, but the very first source I found answered the entire essay for me. At times it felt less like I was fully educating myself than I was just rewriting something already existing. But I heavily bolstered this with other sources and challenged myself to take a slightly different direction - this may have been to the detriment of the essay in as much as grading may go (it lead to what I felt was a slightly stifled flow), but I ended up learning more than I thought I would, and definitely gained from the experience. And after all, that's more important than grades, right?

            Don't tell my honor society I said that.

            I also feel I've done well in analysis and grasping greater meanings of a text. I specifically chose the hermeneutic lens for my critical theory because I felt it strongly in Patricio Pron's story, even on the first read-through. Perhaps this could be a hermeneutic example in of itself - I am particularly interested in Cold War history, so instinctively managed to pick up on antiestablishment themes and motifs running throughout the story. Maybe someone with a different leaning would pick up on a different interpretation and go with that. Writing the essay did still prove to be quite challenging. A few moments of self-doubt and "is this really what this essay is supposed to be about?" feelings crept in, and by the time the paper was due I was close to a nervous wreck, feeling horribly tempted to junk the whole thing and run with something else at the last minute (what that would have been I have no idea). But I'm glad I stuck with it - I feel it's one of the stronger of the three essays.

            The argument essay was fun to write - it's always entertaining to latch onto something and defend your position like a fortified medieval castle, pouring the boiling oil of rebuttal onto anyone who dares cross the moat of your argument. But several paragraphs needed heavy rewording in the final draft - it's a thin line between an argument and a full-on rant, and one that, as you may be able to tell from the personal writing examples, I sometimes have difficulty fully straddling. But even rants are fun to write and read, perhaps moreso than plain arguments. Especially as a Brit - it comes as second-nature to me to bitterly complain about all and sundry that annoys me.

            Some weaknesses that slip through are an overuse on certain adverbs ("ultimately" and "ostensibly" seem to crop up with alarming regularity) and perhaps a disparity in voice - I seem to have developed a singular "scholarly" voice that's quite outside my usual writing voice - it's drier and flatter. That may be a useful development, though - a scholarly essay shouldn't be filled with unnecessary colloquialisms and language quirks, but be fluid and easy to read. I certainly don't find it difficult to switch between the two.

            And therein lies the rub. You alter voice to suit audience. You apply logic and critical thinking skills to the audience themselves. You appreciate the audience through a hermeneutic lens in reverse, writing for them in the hopes of bridging your horizon with them. Perhaps you'll catch a glimpse of your reflection in that lens, and in the whole process, discover new truths.   

            Temet Nosce.

            Know Thyself.