This is a good thing.
To each his own, I say. And if my own isn’t dry as toast formal writing, report writing, abstracts and summaries, so be it.
It all started when I used a metaphor to help compare two summaries in an essay I had to write for my formal report writing class. Note I say “had to write.” The other writing I’ve done for other classes hasn’t felt like writing. It’s been fun. This class, it feels like writing, so help me. You can read my full essay here, using this really nifty file-sharing tool I found while researching stuff for my Second Life class. It’s called issuu.com.
Besides the stupid name, the service is great. They offer space to post documents online so they can be read there or posted to blogs. I’ve so far used it for private documents, though I’m befuddled that some of these documents are showing up as being read. Maybe people can still read them. Well, obviously they can. I’m using it because they let you post PDFs online – which most other online document repositories won’t let you do, for some reason I can’t fathom.
Anyway, my professor Dr. Shook didn’t much like how the metaphor got in the way of his reading of my assignment. Oh well. I still got full points for it, probably because he’s tired of dealing with me. I just don’t see why formal has to equal dull, which it does in spades in most of the formal papers I’ve read. I know there’s a place for dullness, but I believe if there’s a metaphor or artistic device that can help a reader understand an interpretation, we use it. I know not everyone thinks that way. I’ve suffered under the journalism teachers who pondered how fiction writers do what they do because “they have to make it all up.” I thought that was the point. But as I am fond of saying, I am no genius. I do not know the atlas.
Yes, I'm having a ball with this issuu.com feature. And the blog in general (as evidenced by all the junk I've been adding here lately. Perhaps it's a bit much. Just don't get me bored. . .
No comments:
Post a Comment