Thlog #2

This week I struggled more than the last--both academically and emotionally. I enjoyed learning about audiences and how they can change writing, but somehow the concept of genres and conventions became more complicated than at first. I am not exactly sure at what point I lost notion of how conventions played part in genres. I guess the many conventions of a convention itself jumbled up my understanding of what I learned last week. I feel like I simply did not give my all, which might be why I struggled to understand the concepts we learned in class. I did, however, enjoy our assigned reading this week. In high school I was taught to be formulaic but subtle at the same time, while college composition has only encouraged creativity and being as explicit as possible. I am not sure if my writing has improved thus far, but I do know I have enjoyed my experience much more than I ever have before. I learned how to analyze rhetoric while still keeping my writing "fun." Again, this week I discovered more about my own writing process. I have continually examined my first thoughts and how I come across them--and also how I even get to putting them down on paper or, in this case, on the web. Learning so many things in such a short amount of time almost feels like it is pulling me back. Every time I learn something new about genres and conventions I feel like I am back at square one. To put it simply, as my Antarctica professor said last week: "when you get to college you realize you don't know anything." That is exactly how I am currently feeling. Now I am mentally preparing myself to write a super long paper on something I was stupid enough to think I understood, but now I realize I do not. I hope that next week will feel different than this week. Good vibes = good writing?