ENGL-210-50
Project 1:
Project Explanation #1:
I made my debut as a YouTube comment troll to spread Doctor Martin Luther King Juniors words in a way that will be able to reach many people in a quick, efficient way. I commented under videos that related to his mission to gain more supporters seeing as certain people watch certain videos.
Project 2: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xlLrPIIZh88MayYh03-cxk67mDb5LqwM-pkUFio6T7k/edit#slide=id.p
Slide 1: Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve been curious about the world around me. Being raised by a teacher and history nerd provided me with an abundance of knowledge, so as I got older, reading and writing became more prevalent.
Slide 2:My mother and father read to my little sister and me on a nightly basis. This tradition continued until 6th grade, after my mother had read series such as Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, immersing my sister and I into a love of reading and stories.
Slide 3: As time went on, I went to preschool and eventually elementary school. Learning how to read and write was the highlight of my elementary school years because I could make stories and share my passion.
Slide 4: I was very advanced in reading and writing, to the point where I was put into more advanced language arts classes. At this point in my life, I decided that I wanted to become a children’s author so I could share my love of reading and writing with other children.
Slide 5: As I went into 3rd grade, a lot of things happened. My teacher, who had been my 2nd grade teacher as well, went on maternity leave, leaving me with a substitute teacher named Mrs. Webster. My mother and teacher were shocked when she talked about how lazy and unmotivated I was in class, as I was a very dedicated and involved student. When I would get home from school, I would cry due to how mentally exhausted I was. After a lot of digging, I was diagnosed with ADHD, a diagnosis that changed me and the way I approach life.
Slide 6: After going on ADHD meds, life was going great. I was thriving in class once more, and my dreams of being a children’s author persisted. I was a regular at my school library, and constantly owed the regional library fines due to my unorganized reading lifestyle. However, all of this was disrupted when my father was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer and given a year to live. He died on July 4th, 2010 (and ruined that holiday for me forever!) I had to learn how to deal with my grief and get help, even though I felt like talking might make my mother or sister sad. I turned to journaling to write about my complicated emotions.
Slide 7: Life went on. My dreams of being an author persisted, and in middle school, I began taking higher level English courses and started learning French. Learning a different language revolutionized the way I looked at writing. In french, things could be expressed very differently than they are in English, and being able to communicate with my friends in a less common language was a source of pride. My anxiety peaked in middle school, and journaling kept me sane as I panicked my way through middle school.
Slide 8: Somehow I made it to High School where I met lovely friends and considered my difficult English courses. That’s when I met Mr. Richardson, also known as the man who tore apart the way I wrote, which made me realize I did not want to write as an author for a career. After finishing his course and being given more freedom from my sophomore English teacher, I began considering other career fields. After a year of fighting and becoming accustomed to his red pen, I realized that I didn’t want to go into a career where I would have others judge the quality of and put value in my writing. I realized that my desire to inspire children and help them through rough times could be accomplished in the medical field, leading me straight to nursing.
Slide 9: I took as many AP English courses as possible, and even had Mr. Richardson last year. I also took medical courses in my school’s academy and became a certified medical assistant! I began applying to nursing schools and got into Longwood! Without my mother and teachers, I would not have the love for reading and writing that I have today. Reading and writing was my escape when I had no other place to go, and I am so grateful that I found journaling during my tough times.
Slide 10: FIN
Project Explanation #2:
I made a PowerPoint with pictures from my childhood and composed a live voice-over explaining how I, and my writing, grew and changed over time. The fact that it was a live voice-over meant that it changed every time, and with my pictures it became a very personal presentation. I managed to explain what changed me as a person and how I became the writer I am proud to be today.
Project 3: 1954 Student Handbook but Analyzed in 2019
file:///C:/Users/15713/Downloads/Add%20a%20heading.pdf
Firstly, I apologize that there’s only a link (which if you copy and paste it should search!) I digitized the 1956-1957 Handbook to analyze the rules that corresponded to the Student Government Association book from 1954, hence the confusing title. I wanted to make the handbook accessible outside of the library and to show how times have changed by commenting on certain rules found in the handbook and comparing them to rules we have today.
Project Explanation #3:
I digitized a Student Handbook, from 1956-1957, and read the Student Government Association book and created the Student Handbook for 1954 where I reflected on rules from that era and compared them to rules seen at Longwood in 2019. By digitizing it, I made a way for anyone who wants to see the rules accessible out of the library and this is a way for alumni and current students to see Longwood change and grow.
Reflection:
Before I took this class, I had no idea what a digital tattoo was or what it had to do with me. I remember looking at the first assignment, which asked what genres I had done before, and remember beginning to panic and overthink everything I’ve ever written. As we started going through the books and learning terms I had thought that I understood, I realized that I had never had to go as in-depth when it came to my writing. Hearing words such as “genre”, “diction”, and “logos” didn’t bother me when I had to label someone else’s work or find examples of it, but when I was given projects where I had to make an artifact that represented another time period, or went into detail about my writing background, or even putting a spin on something from the archives, I was terrified.
As the semester went on, I realized that I did have a digital identity, and if I could decipher someone else’s with no problems, I could learn about mine as well. In the first project, I created a YouTube account and commented for Doctor Martin Luther King Junior. What I learned about my digital tattoo from this project is that my words can have an impact. I created a scenario where I could troll comments all over YouTube and realized that my digital tattoo knows no boundaries and can be unconventional at times, but it is effective.
For my second project, I learned that my digital identity is very personal. I tend to connect with people by sharing about myself, and my project ended up having pictures from my childhood as well as a live presentation talking about how I became the writer I am today. I see examples of how personal my digital tattoo is when I post a meaningful Instagram post raising Lung Cancer awareness in honor of my father, and when I text my roommate after an emotional argument, and even in my college application essay, which I wrote long before taking this course.
Finally, for my third project I realized that my digital tattoo can bring things to life. Not everyone wants to put the time and energy into certain things, such as the archives, and many things just become forgotten over time. Being able to digitize a bit of the Student Handbook will allow students to see how much Longwood has changed in just 66 years. I don’t normally think of anything I write or do for school as being permanent but I’ve learned that if I write or turn anything in, it is on its own and could go anywhere.
After examining my digital tattoo for a few months, I have learned that it’s easier for my words to go out there and be found than I thought. If I Google my name, my blog will come up and leads straight to this reflection. I’ve learned that even if I don’t feel like the fanciest writer, every decision I make when writing is intentional and directed at a certain audience. I’ve learned that my texts, social media posts, essays, and even comics that I draw make up my digital tattoo and they’ve grown in certain ways but have stayed consistent as well. Anything that I’ll ever write will have different parts of it because I rarely write the same thing twice, but any piece of writing is full of decisions, thoughts, corrections, word choice, and syntax. I’ve learned to give myself more credit as I began to understand my digital tattoo because I can write for any audience in so many different genres and if I can do that without even knowing I was doing it, I can do anything with my voice and my ability to write.