TYPOGRAPHY

I had never imagined that I would come to a point in my life where I would be sitting alone in the school library quietly chuckling to myself over an idea map about font choice. Yet, here I am. I had never fully comprehended the rules associated with choosing a font for any project, but this flow chart breaks it down for even the simplest of minds. My personal favorite path to follow on this chart begins as you search for a font for an invitation. If you are a bit fussy as you pick your font, the diagram helps you to narrow it down as it asks simple yes/no questions. If you do not prefer a handwritten invitation and you do not want anything fancy, the author seems to imply that you are crazy and asks the question, “are you alone?” If you answer yes to this, the author takes you on a long path that ultimately leads to the font comic sans. I find this very entertaining because in my mind, I picture the author throwing their hands in the air while yelling, “You juvenile! How could you reject a handwritten AND fancy font for an invitation?” as they throw comic sans in the face of the inquirer as the only font they could possibly be worthy of. Overall, I have found this chart to be very useful and wish that these fonts were available to use on my computer so I could strengthen my personal projects with the proper use of font.

What I learned from my first summary attempt

After a few attempts of writing a summary for the Christo Valley Curtain documentary, I finally figured out a few important concepts. The first of which was to rid my writing of analytical adjectives. This was a hard concept for me to grasp, as I removed the flare and glamour of my paper I realized that the paper was left with the facts and the facts only. The second major change that I had to make in my summary was the chronological order of the paper. My first attempt at the summary was a complete failure of this concept; I had rearranged the order into a chronological order of how it happened in real life, which was drastically different from how it happened in the film. I learned that the chronological order of the summary was for the documentary film only.

Changes to the blog!!!

As you may have notice, I have made a few changes to my blog in order for it to become more appealing to those of you who frequent it. I have tried to make my text stand out more because I feel that that is the most important part of my page. To do this, I made the text larger and brighter through darkening the box in which it is written. I feel that the font I have chosen is also very pleasing to the eye. I also adjusted the width of my text box in order to make it bigger and easier to read. As I learned in chapter one, my writing needs to be directed to those who will read it, which also applies to the design of my blog page. I feel that the background not only represents me in this class, but also appeals to ethos and pathos. Although we are all given the same assignments to post on our blogs, I hope that my blog accurately portrays my angle of vision. I hope you enjoy the changes.

Chapter one letter

Dear Dr. Kyburz
I appreciate the opportunity that you gave me to read the first chapter of The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Writing. I can see that it will be a useful tool in helping me understand the different options that are available to me as I fulfil my professor’s requirements in their writing assignments. Before reading this chapter I was under the impression that all essays assigned by University professors were required to be closed-form, five paragraph formal essays. It is a great relief for me to know that I will now have choices when given the opportunity to write. The last essay I have written was for my music professor, on a performance that we were required to analyze and keep to a page in length. At first I had planned on writing a five-paragraph essay including a well thought out thesis sentence, but had trouble trying to keep it within the page long requirement, I had to reassess and adjust my technique which led to a more open-formed style of writing. It was hard at first to try and find words to describe the music that I had heard but as I focused on the questions “how did this performance display a variety of timbre, tone and dynamics? And how did it make me, the listener, feel as a result?” it allowed me to balance gracefully in the middle of the closed to open form continuum. Since my teacher specified that he was the audience, it made it easy to aim these questions in a way that would be appealing for him to read and also relieved me of the added stress of explaining each musical term, which an average person might not know the meaning of.
To be honest, at the time, I had no idea that I was allowed to hand in a paper that was not the typical closed -form prose. I later accredited my good grade on the paper to the fact that my professor taught music and not writing and therefore did not know the difference. After reading this chapter I now blush in the admittance of my ignorance and embrace the fact that I am no longer restricted by my own inhibitions. As long as I understand what genre is acceptable to a particular assignment, remember to start writing with a good question in mind and focus on who my audience will be, I will be able to succeed in any request.
Sincerely,
Ali Spaulding

Pg 11 Homework

Due to the fact that it has been over ten years since I have been in school, it was a challenging task to remember any specific paper that I had written. Fortunately for me, one came to mind. Most likely I remember this paper because it is the only paper that I have ever received an “A” on. I remember it clearly now, I was in my first year of college and my psychology teacher had asked us all to write a paper on a personal predicament that we had previously been in and how we managed to produce the best possible outcome for it. This was the first time a teacher had given me a writing assignment without any limitations. I could write about whatever I wanted and I could write it however I wanted. This became my very first open-form paper and I embraced the opportunity.
I am not sure if it was the fact that I love to talk about myself, or the fact that I no longer had to stick to the strict five paragraph essay form, but I actually enjoyed writing this personal experience which showed in my grade. Granted my experience in writing prose in general is very limited, but I believe my writing is at its best when I am not restricted to the left side of the continuum and am allowed to freely flow by theme rather than thesis. I understand that every form of writing has its’ purpose and proper venue, but if it were up to me, I would only write in the open-form prose because it allows me to be me.