The Ultimate Summary.

The Ultimate Analysis.

The Ultimate Reflection.

One Question: Is This Letter Ultimate?

The scheme of what I did and learned this semester

Here it is. The big reflection letter that attempts to capture everything I accomplished, tried to accomplish or failed to accomplish this semester in this New Media class. In the English class that was very different from the traditional English classes you picture in your mind. In the English class, where we, a bunch of mostly hard-wired STEM majors and sweaty premeds, to our own surprise, were building personal websites (like these ones), recording a podcast series (like this one), making games (like these ones). In the English class, where we did some HTML coding (check this, this, or this), played with visuals (check this, this, or this), made the so-called writing artifacts (in other words, sketch assignments, check this, this, or this). In the English class, where we did many things that broke the norms, pushed the boundaries, twisted definitions of writing, and even more importantly, good writing…

Mr. Pen: Excuse me. I am sorry for interrupting. But I think you are way too broad here. You keep saying we. Focus on yourself;it’s not communism anymore. How did you “break the norms”? What did you do that “twisted definitions of writing” specifically? And what does good writing actually means for you now?

I was about to elaborate on this. But thank you for that timely interruption. So, working on this array of assignments, I felt how gradually I was becoming more and more comfortable deviating from traditional college essay writing. The traditional college essay writing means a straightforward structure where a long introduction leads to a thesis; three body paragraphs list three different (hopefully) topics supporting the thesis, and the conclusion loops back to the introduction repeating the points made just a page ago. Unfortunately, in most cases, such a form not only doesn’t support and facilitate the content but also makes it less digestible, less effective, and less appealing. Readings, class discussions, and projects over the semester emphasized that it is acceptable, encouraged, and sometimes necessary to choose different, nonlinear structures to shape narratives and convey them to the audience in the most compelling way. In his book “Houston, We Have a Narrative” we read, Randy Olson explored the “And-But-Therefore” template and talked about the importance of dynamic and contrast-including writing. Class conversations developed these concepts, showed the differences between inductive and deductive approaches to compose ideas, highlighted the significance of the “simplicity vs. complexity” paradigm depending on the rhetorical goals and medium. And after all of this, new knowledge was put into practice: I heavily used the “And-But-Therefore” strategy in my literacy narrative, considered inductive approach during podcast recordings, and created a completely nonlinear message in our “Provocation and Palliation” game.

Another significant departure from both how I used to write and how most people in academia write is that I modified my narrative to make it more pleasurable for myself. I firmly believe that the stronger writing (both in terms of form and content) resonates with the writer, the stronger it will resonate with the reader. To acquire the needed satisfaction with my work, I introduced three different personalities (ZD, Mr. Pen, Cap) that, in combination, represent me as a person and, consequently, affect my emotions and thoughts…

ZD: Wow! He is talking about us! I wanna hear everything about myself right now!

Mr. Pen: Why are you, ZD, screaming like that? What’s so exciting? He was trying to make a point, and you are interrupting? I want to see how effectively he manages to address my questions and comments before.

ZD: Well, to be fair, Mr. Pen, you were the first to interrupt!

Mr. Pen: I don’t deny it. But I had a reason for it. I actually asked important questions. On the other hand, you are just shouting and laughing…

Cap: It’s not the right time for debates, folks. Let the person speak.

Thank you. As I said before, this semester, I broke the norms and pushed boundaries by stepping out of a comfortable but unattractive box of classical “body-paragraph” writing as well as experimented with the form, creating a polyphony of voices that sustained and empowered me as a writer.

The most challenging assignments are often the most meaningful ones during the semester. This was certainly true for me: I struggled with both drafts of my technology literacy narrative and, yet, I think, those struggles taught me the most. Working on two versions of this assignment (v1 and v2) and reflecting on my thoughts (reflection 1 and reflection 2) and opinions on the place of technology in my life, I faced fundamental questions about the ideas and arguments I wanted to include and how I wanted to present them. I wondered what level of intimacy I should get with my personal stories from childhood and how far I should go with the unconventional structure of my argument presented as a clash between two opposing sides (this inspired my polyphony through). Reading narratives from my classmates, I also noticed how out of step my view on technology is and panicked whether my narrative would be convincing to the rest of the class and broader audience (apparently, people did enjoy reading it). In short, this project showed me how good writing requires a constant continuation of intensive thinking, honest reflection, and a few drops of imagination…

Mr. Pen: Okay, solid, solid. You said you wanted to talk about failures you had? Can you elaborate on this? You know that you have to develop an idea if you mentioned it before. I hope I don’t need to remind you that.

ZD: Mr. Pen, why do you need to talk like this? What is the point of showing failures in the cover letter?

Mr. Pen: What do you mean? First, failures could be one of the best possible insights into the person’s progress.

ZD: Hmmm. But, in my opinion, reflection on experience should not be about failures. It should be more like about areas for improvement.

Mr. Pen: You don’t have to cushion it, ZD.

ZD: Shaking my head.

Indeed, there is always room for growth. In fact, writing is such an activity that there is no limit to growth. Nobody reached perfection in it; nobody touched that ceiling yet. In essence, good rhetorical writing is continuous thinking, continuous reflecting, and continuous learning. As for me, throughout the semester, I noted my weak spots and sought to improve myself. I tried to be more persuasive during our podcase episode conversations. I tried to embrace productive collaboration with my two sweet group mates and very close friends, Ashwin and Elijah. I tried to connect the dots, change shapes, switch gears, improvise and experiment, step back and forth, build structures and break doctrines. In many ways, I succeeded. In many ways, I failed. But, I learned, and that is the most important aspect of it.

I am convinced that this class, this extensive, semester-long writing “workout” gave me skills and inspiration that will be very handy for me as a young professional and enable me to expand my intellectual curiosity even more. As a future chemist, I want to become a collaborative, highly engaged, influential writer who can work in various rhetorical situations and forms of communication. As a future thinker, I want to become a digitally and non-digitally fluent individual equipped with concise logic and a critical, questioning mindset. This class made me make a giant leap towards those dreams. I hope more leaps and steps follow as I grow as a writer.

ZD: Impressed. I hope so too! Strong ending, strong ending.

Mr. Pen: Still not really satisfied. You didn’t address many things you wanted to address.

ZD: It’s okay. You can’t cover everything!

Mr. Pen: I guess it’s fine. It’s also the finale.

ZD: Yeah, time to say goodbye. It was a pleasure to talk about Bakai, about me, a funny and sunny segment of Bakai, and I hope I wasn’t too annoying.

Mr. Pen: We’re finally closing this semester and this book. I am tired, and I am not saying sorry for who I am. And, since when did you become funny, ZD?

Cap: Stop, Mr. Pen. Good semester, everybody. Bye.

ZD: I am crying! BYE!

Mr. Pen: Don’t be a fool! Good night.