michael-rubino-blog-blog

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Blogging For School

I believe blogging for school has been beneficial for my writing skills since it urged me to voice facts and opinions consistently. I was able to spend a lot of time with self-reflection that gave me a better understanding of what my views are on various topics and where some of my more exact interests lie. It was a different writing style than what I am used to and it was nice to be a little more informal to take on a conversational tone. It was definitely a different experience for me since I also don’t engage much in social media and usually write in the form of a story. 

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Writing as Public Power

Civic literacy has the ability to hold sway over the decisions of others and to bring them into the mindset of the one enacting the literacy. I agree with the statement that words hold more power over violence. The physical is, for all intents and purposes, temporary and yields unpredictable results. The same might be true of writing when the person performing civic literacy fails to bring someone to his/her side of the argument, but I am certain that one’s words have a lasting effect in someone’s mind long after the debate is said and done. Words leave a mental imprint that is distinct, whereas violence leaves a scar that can leave forgotten reasoning. It doesn’t leave a clear message like civil literacy does. 

Considering writing about, for, and with, I can recall a time where I participated at a nursing home for my volunteer hours when I was in the National Honors Society during high school. I conducted interviews with the local residents and inquired about their lives and recorded the conversations. I then wrote this information for many of them in the form of  short biographies for the nursing home. I also had to collaborate with some of the workers there to put all of the information together. This would be an example of the service learning aspect of civil literacy. Words leave a lasting impression and can be passed down through many communities. 

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Discourse Communities

Discourse communities have certain qualities that must be adhered to in order to be considered as discourse communities. However, it seems that the definition is rather loosely based considering some situations. 

A discourse community should rely on multiple genres according to Swales’ conceptualization of discourse communities.

I began to wonder if perhaps a group of students working on a specific project for a class would be considered a discourse community. My conclusion was that, yes, it could be considered as a discourse community depending upon the individuals and their participation. A person cannot be a member of this discourse community if he/she does not attend the group meetings or contribute any work to the project being worked on. While he/she may have a name on the powerpoint or other medium for presenting the project, he/she was not actually a part of the community due to lack of participation. 

Even though the project focuses on a specific subject, the genre (like the wedding letters mentioned in the document) could be the powerpoint slides along with the subject and any other lexis amongst the group. 

The students working on the project also do not have to necessarily be in the same area to be a part of the community. Advancing technology was another example referenced in Swales’ document. Google docs has become a great way for communities to act together on a project without having to even be on the Google document at the same time

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Writing Across University

Each academic discourse has its own rules for writing and ways of presenting information to an audience. These academic discourses also have different and similar goals to each other. 

I found the segment about what information to provide the audience very interesting since I am in a similar situation with my own writing. How much information is too much and what might be worthy of clarification without dragging out the explanation too long?

I am currently in the midst of writing a fictional story that involves advanced technology in the present as well as potential technology in the future. Sometimes an explanation of how this technology works is not necessary, but sometimes it is important to address to make the story believable and to avoid any opinions of deus ex machina from the readers. I have to make this determination sometimes based on previous chapters and the feedback from the community. 

I have found that writing in different discourses with separate guidelines has actually improved my ability to conduct research when I need extra information on a certain topic. I can begin to understand some of the terminology and even better ways to present it based upon how others who are veterans in the field write. 

My only worry with the writings of different academic discourses is if one could possibly negatively effect the other. Often I have found that reading a poorly written work can actually negatively effect my own writing. It is as if the other written work rubs off on you much like a person's negative emotions if a person is in his/her vicinity. It does not have to be poor writing. That was just an example. A work could be written by a competent author but in a style that does not necessarily fit another academic discourse that I am engaged in at the time. 

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Video Editing Radical Revision Journal

1/3/2008

I finally managed to get my hands on a Sony Vegas Pro so I can work with some more advanced editing techniques. Windows Movie Maker was just so limited and I couldn't move the clips freely on the timeline. Now I can put them in any order I choose. Now I just need to get the time to finally work on a new project.

1/7/2008

School has started up again and I am now well into the second semester. The wrestling season continues. I thought I would have time to edit a bit over the Christmas break, but of course we ended up getting scheduled for two tournaments and one of them takes up an entire weekend. Swell.

2/14/2008

The wrestling season is now over. I figure now I'll have some time to work on a video. I probably lost most of my subscribers on youtube since I have been inactive for so long. Between school, homework, sports, and and other hurdles, I just simply haven't had the time to work on anything. I need to make something big and really be at the top of my game for this one.

4/15/2008

Some guy on youtube left a really nice review on my latest video. He is immensely popular when it comes to making anime music videos so it has definitely boosted my confidence. He even dropped me his Skype name so we can chat sometime about our different projects.

7/07/2008

The folks are officially driving me nuts. Apparently, animation is childish. I guess Southpark and Family Guy are childish too? I just have a hard time with the flaws in their reasoning. The eastern animation style is different and so it immediately goes under a “T” rating in their eyes despite the fact I've seen plenty with that “M” rating. It's kind of amusing as long as it doesn't impede my progress.

2/20/2009

The wrestling season is dragging out longer than I anticipated. However, this time I have managed to get a few pieces of video out since I am now part of an independent fan studio on youtube. We deal with collaboration projects, and the videos are usually about ten minutes long. They consist of comedy skits mixed with audio from music, movies, etc. using Japanese animation. It is divided between six people so it isn't a ton of work. I am also not absent from youtube nearly as much so the subscribers know I am still around. It also means I can get some more with these projects.

5/6/2009

This has to be one of the best videos I have ever made. It took over a month to make along with my other projects in the studio, but it is definitely worth it. There is a youtube contest I’m thinking of submitting it to. The contest even has prize money which is crazy.

5/17/2009

I took second in the contest. It was a bit of a bummer, but there were hundreds of submissions. So I didn't do too shabby. What's ironic is that my Skype/editing buddy was the one who beat me. His videos are on a whole other level so I didn't feel bad losing to him. He is talented that's for sure. There is a convention happening in Florida that is supposed to be the biggest convention on the east coast. We will be entering it along with some of my other editing friends.

6/6/2009

I was pleasantly surprised to find that my parents had done some research on the work I'm doing. They have become much more accepting of it, but they still think the animation portion is childish. It is too difficult to use other live-action material since that kind of media gets taken down very quick on youtube.

7/21/2009

We completely destroyed the competition at the convention. Sadly, I didn't get to go, but I received a nice message from one of my friends and got some details about it. My friends won in the categories of Best Drama, Best Horror, Best Romance, and I won in the category of Best Action. My longtime skype buddy, well, he got Best of Show. He really is a beast.

1/3/2010

All of it is gone. All of it. I got an email from youtube saying that all my work was deleted because of the use of third party content. My videos aren't even monetized! It is practically free advertisement for them. I will never understand it. Also, since it is wrestling season, I do not even have the time to bounce myself back. I am probably going to the state tournament too so it will be even longer. Just great. I'm done.

3/23/2010

Thank God for my internet buddies. I randomly decided to make another video. The goal was to make it the best video ever. If it failed, well, it might be more than just a little discouraging. But it didn't fail. In fact, I have never seen such an increase in my subscriber count. All my friends and the studio I'm a part of advertised my new channel and let everyone know I was back. I even got requests from some people to reupload my new video to their channels (with the proper credit of course) to spread the word about it. I think I can really bounce back. Even my folks have been so encouraging about it.

2/27/2011

It is so much easier to do my editing in college. It is easier to balance a schedule and to upload content at a reasonable pace. I can even get started on my submission to the convention earlier whilst working on my comedy skits for the studio. I am now even voice acting for a couple of fan series on youtube and even got into abridging a bit. I can even make five different voices without audio software and eight with software. So now I have become a rather versatile voice actor. I have even started a second channel with my own comedy series. A lot of people from the studio have subscribed and it is doing well.

3/19/2011

This is pretty amazing. There have certainly been some obstacles getting here, but the hard work has paid off. I've branched off into so many other territories of entertainment on the internet and I have become a sort of veteran on here. I can't thank my friends enough for all the help.

I will be passing on my wisdom to some of these newer editors. I have been contacted in my private messages by a few people and I have started creating tutorials on my channel. I also even schedule some tutorial sessions on Skype so I can take real-time questions from people. Let's see where else this hobby goes.

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Shitty First Drafts

What's great about this explanation by Lamot is that pretty much any student and every writer can relate to this situation. I don't think I have ever had a first draft that wasn't shitty. Some people who think they have written an excellent first draft are probably deceiving themselves, convincing themselves that it is a good draft for a variety of reasons: not feeling the desire to write due to the topic, providing a sense of worth to their writing, etc. 

It really is just about getting the ideas down on paper to have some sort of visual for the work that the writer wants to present to the reader. An outline sometimes just simply doesn't cut it. I am currently writing a fanfiction with an original idea with an outline that is changing on a weekly basis. Having the outline is great, but a writer could think of the shitty first draft as a more elaborate version of the outline. It makes the writing more concrete and eliminates self-doubt on the chronology especially (at least in my case). 

I remember that Hemingway once said that it is highly advisable that a writer not think too much about the writing outside of the writing. It seems that writers tend to follow this and use the drafts as the opportunity to do that thinking. 

I have found that the hardest part in writing is just getting those first few sentences down on paper. It is almost impossible to start with the right lead-in that will get the readers interested. This is where that shitty first draft comes in. Write down anything. Seriously. Anything. As the writer continues to write and let the words flow, eventually the true purpose of this particular part of the writing becomes clear whether it is an essay or a story with chapters. Along the way something in that flow of writing triggers something. 

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Malcolm X Learning to Read

It is impressive to see when someone has a literacy that is geared towards developing other literacies. Malcolm X was literate at being able to develop necessary skills to accomplish his goals. It all started with the realization that he was unable to even write a letter to someone in such a way that he would be able to convey his thoughts and opinions. To be able to take the time to sift through a dictionary without an instructor urging you to do so takes a certain kind of special quality. 

I can relate to how goals can effect one's literacies. I have recently gotten myself into writing fiction again after many years and I have even committed myself to writing a fanfiction in my spare time with a set schedule. I caught myself reading through a dictionary while I was at work at the Y so that I could expand my vocabulary. The thesaurus has become one of my best friends. 

Malcolm's thoughts also show how a literacy can have influence over another literacy. Many of his ideas concerning the civil rights movement were due in part to the texts that he analyzed. Readers and writers learn from other readers and writers in order to develop other literacies and to create new ones.

I was a little disappointed by the amount of time spent straying from what I thought was the main theme of this particular work. I understand that it explains part of why he became a Muslim and why he urged black separatism, but much time was spent diverting attention from the "learning to read" standpoint to more of a focus on pushing his ideals on us. Much less time could have been spent with a deliberate focus concerning the "evils" of the white man and more on the actual learning process of his literacies. But it is understandable since at a very young age he was quite literally put through a living hell by some white people, and that kind of trauma stays with you. 

Overall though, it was amazing how he went about learning under limited conditions and how he went to such great lengths to expand his literacy.

http://www.ushistory.org/us/54h.asp

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Brandt-Sponsors of Literacy

People have many different ways and opportunities to obtain access to literacy. While it is true that some have the privilege of receiving sponsors of literacy with relative ease, it is quite another thing to actually make use of this sponsorship effectively, or even at all. Other possible intrusions and/or contributions to literacy involve outside sources that are mentioned: relocation, the economy, war, etc.

The two examples the reader is given concerning access to literacy is an example of achieving literacy through different means. One thing that is common in both of these examples is that work was required. Branch certainly had the necessary tools to achieve, but there was also the choice not to take advantage of the opportunities. Lopez as well saw chances for literacy without sponsorship in her own way. Branch and Lopez, due to their differing circumstances and living conditions, found vastly contrasting opportunities that they took advantage of. 

Depending on the individual, I have to wonder: If one were to be in the position of the other, how might their forms of literacy turned out? How much different would they be? How would exposure to different individuals persuade them to take a different course of literacy?

One example of circumstance with literacy I can think of is perhaps my own exposure to different forms of technology. Using an android or an ios cellphone and being competent with its interface could be a form of literacy. I did not receive an android phone until at least three or four years after they were introduced to the public. People had a wealth of knowledge right in their pockets with access to the internet, game apps, and various forms of communication while I only had access to a laptop which I could only use if I had it slung on my shoulder in its case (which is not often due to its size).

But during that time while others were engrossed in their phones browsing the internet, swiping on tinder, or playing games, what was I doing in place of that that gave me higher literacy than others in separate areas?

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We Are All Writers Now- Trubek

It is argued that with the introduction of new forms of technology and with alternate ways to write and express one's opinions there is an increase in writing, but with a negative catch. For this reason, many individuals do not applaud this despite being professional writers themselves. That is exactly the reason. These new forms of writing show a lack of awareness of some of the most basic writing rules and even seem to encourage poorer writing skills.

I have always thought that the best way to write is to just simply write. Writing blogs, tweets, texts, facebook messages, etc. are like producing a rough draft but without any real intention of creating a final draft. When I write fiction in my spare time I usually just try to let the words flow from my fingertips with the ideas I want to present at the forefront. As long as the words are sensible and coherent, then I can make revisions later on and then convey my story in a more descriptive, concise, or just simply more professional manner.

The fact of the matter is, people are writing a whole lot more and are exposed to the written word in various forms on a day-to-day basis. I don't spend much time on twitter, facebook, or any of the popular social media sites simply because what is being written does not interest me all that much. But it seems that nowadays on the internet there is always something that uses words that will interest somebody because access to the written word is right at our desks and in our pockets. I personally spend a lot of my time visiting fanfiction.net to see what everyone is up to on the review forums. I can do this right from my phone when I receive an alert message that indicates when a post has been uploaded to a specific thread I am subscribed to. 

So in my opinion, just keep on writing. Being more exposed to writing can't be a bad thing. Although some people who aspire to be writers should watch out for that poor writing since sometimes the written work of others can rub off on us.