Devitt

Questions for Discussion and Journaling: 

2. There a ton of conflicts that seem to have a toll when switching genres. I think it creates confusion and difficulty for students. Conflicts I often have is the idea of connecting. When my art class wanted me to relate art to math, I found it so difficult because of the polar opposite ideas of both of them. Another difficulty I faced was my knowledge, I didn't know that much about art itself, now they wanted me to relate it to math, something i'm not that great in either. It was just causing me stress and a hard time. A writing class differs from all the other class because it has a certain set up, it calls for a different type of difficulty. Say for example math, writing is obviously so different from math. In math you solve equations and find the answer yet in writing there is no definite answer, its more of exploring to find an answering. These differences in subjects creates conflicts for students because they constantly have to turn on these different switches for different classes. It hardly seems fair for anyone to have to balance out all these different subjects that are given. 

3. The type of genres that are set in Ohio University are endless. From social aspects to global aspects. There are always different views of social scenes, even though Ohio University is apparently known for the party scene, not everyone is involved in it. Same with greek life and the way people are involved. A big genre right now is politics. Ohio University is a bit divided with Republicans, Democrats and the people that don't really care. Personally I'm apart of many genres, I'm in a sorority. I'm democratic. I'm also an out of state student. These genres set me apart from many OU students yet connect me to them as well.

Applying and Exploring Ideas

3. Throughout my life, I realized that you can never really understand someone until you walk in their shoes. I think it's important to explore and learn rather than just reading it. I think students can only absorb and memorize so much. It's way more productive and useful to go out there and go through it yourself.Take for example traveling abroad. Sure, you can easily get information about London from a book. But you'll never understand the vibe or speak to the locals until you actually go to London yourself. It's so important to travel and explore the globe because it opens your mind to new ideas and environments. It prevents ignorance and help banish the idea of just one "right" genre. It's the idea that researching through the world can lead to more information than reading and absorbing. 

Meta Moment:

I believe it's better to do Ethnogralph fieldwork, personally I've never been the type to understand readings and relate them to myself. I find it whole lot easier to experience things first hand than to read it. It might be harsher to experience but it can definitely be a whole lot memorable. I've always loved to travel and explore. i've been blessed with multiple opportunities to travel and it's taught and helped me experience things that I'll never learn from a book written by a scholar. Reading a book about tasting sushi doesn't give you the insight, knowledge, and experience of actually tasting sushi. That's how I feel about understand discourse communities.