Reflective Cover Letter

Dear Bob,

The first paper I wrote for this class, as a starting point for my topic of focus for the semester, was a lesson in writing concisely. The word limit was surprisingly challenging for me, and demonstrates the importance of conveying a point succinctly and clearly. So much of rhetorical writing is verbose and convoluted that it is easy to lose the focal point of an argument, and this paper helped me to accomplish this.

Paper 2 was my favorite paper of those that I wrote for this class. While it did not concern such deep issues as racism or sexism or discrimination of any kind, it addressed something that I believe is just as important – the protection of the humanities from commercialization. This paper was the most well-written, I believe, and I will address that later in this letter. This paper helped me to identify two separate sides of an issue, and examine the issues of identification and division within the art world.

Paper 3 was a difficult paper for me to begin to write, because I was not sure how to focus my central point from the previous two papers into a thesis for a full research paper. A continuation of my research and an organizing of this research into a rough draft – extremely rough, in that much of it was just bulleted information – helped me to narrow the focus, although in retrospect I think that trying to tackle the laws of economics, consumer spending patterns, and social acceptance of pop culture versus the fine arts was perhaps too broad a topic for such a narrow paper (only 6-10 pages). Because I was very sick while writing this paper, it is clear (to me, at least) where I had a difficult time focusing my research on my thesis and I was disappointed at the exclusion of some things I felt integral to the issues due to length constraints. This paper was useful in learning to develop themes of inclusion and exclusion, or again, identification and division, and was a central factor in making me see the two in everything in society – which I believe to be a good thing. It is important to see both the highlights and the shadows of society.

While Paper 4 may be the most informal of the papers included within the portfolio (it is, after all, a blog), it was also the item that allowed the most creative and expansive thinking. I felt as though the ability to mull over a topic for an extended period of time before responding to other’s ideas, with the additional bonus of not being face-to-face with other more dominant voices, created a situation that was very conducive to critical examination of emotion, logic, and why we believe the things we believe.

What I gleaned from A Rhetoric of Motives by Kenneth Burke about the rhetoric of identification and division is that with everything, there is a without. For everything that is included, the opposing is excluded. I feel as though this has been referenced in other cultures, such as the yin and yang of Chinese philosophy – darkness and light, male and female, etc. Burke said that, “”To being with identification is, by the same token, though roundabout, to confront the implications of division…Identification is compensatory to division.”

This polarity is reflected in the political climate of this country, as well as the political philosophies around the world. Politicalcompass.org has created a compass of economic and social dimensions, from left to right (economically) and libertarian to authoritarian (socially). The following diagram illustrates my own political commitments – in that my political leanings are quite leftist, although my social leanings are, while libertarian, are not quite so extreme.

As a white female, I have experienced both the privileges that come from being born white in our society as well as being one who is considered “less” than males. I was raised to be comfortable around anyone I met, whether one’s skin was darker or differently hued than mine, or if they had two mommies, or if they spoke a language other than English. As an employee of Washington State University I have worked with several students native to Hong Kong and I feel that this has taught me that rather than being irritated or impatient with those who may come from different cultures than you, even subcultures within your own greater culture, an understanding of those cultures may lead to a mutual dialogue in which one may learn that being “different” from each other does not need to be about division of races, genders, ideologies, or sexual orientations, but can be about identification of those aspects within the different sections and how those identifications may help us come together as a more cohesive, accepting society.

Depending on how one would define a “successful writer,” I feel as though there were two specific instances where I felt particularly successful. I felt that Paper 2 was an example of some of my most eloquent, direct writing. I was proud of phrases such as “The whimsical, fantastical and thoughtful designs of avant-garde haute couture once inspired a community of artists to analyze, criticize, inspect, and admire works of art concocted from satins and silks, rather than canvas and oils” and “Where are the thought-provoking designs that serve to educate or provoke, to promote discussion, like the top hat of human hair created for Gaultier?” (Paper 2). Because writing has always come easily to me, I had stopped exerting much effort on papers that were not necessarily contributory to my (I felt) progress as a writer. This paper was the first in a long time that I made an effort to have the actual writing of the paper sound educated, and I feel that that effort paid off. However, although the ideas may have been expressed in a rougher, more off-the-cuff, manner in Paper 4, the ideas were much more expansive, thoughtful, and contemplative. In an almost “free-write” manner, I felt that my ideas were able to flow more easily and allow me to consider a variety of issues, based off of both my own views and my colleagues’, and that was reflected in the writing.

One thing I learned from the rhetoric of identification, specifically the political compass exercise, was that despite a polarizing appearance – right or left, black or white, right or wrong – is that all of those different elements may be much more like the spatial area of the political compass – that the opinions and ideas of others may be plotted on a wider plane. I feel as though this class has encouraged me to listen to other’s writing and consider their ideas as not “wrong” or “opposing” to my own views, but merely differing in a variety of ways.

The most beneficial aspect of the collaborative quality of this class was how one’s own ideas may feed and grow off of the ideas of others. Never before in a class have my own ideas been influenced – for positive and negative – as they have in this class, within a classroom setting in addition to an online forum. In this class things have been said that have opened my mind to empathy and understanding of others, and in this class things have been said that have reminded me of why I believe particular things to be true. The collaborative nature of both the class itself and the final assignment were mentally stimulating in that they encouraged both the synthesis and diversion of the ideas of those involved – reflecting yet again that identification-division nature. It has reminded me that one must listen to those around them to both understand one’s one ideas as well as the ideas of those with whom they disagree. If one does not listen, there can be no communication or discourse. The most important thing I have learned is that within a collaborative setting, the ability to listen, to truly hear, one’s peers is the most vital tool.

This course has re-affirmed all that I have been taught about academic honesty, although after conducting my own interviews and using them in my own research, I have become even more protective of the writing of others – because I know how I would feel is someone tried to rip off my hard work.

The main thing I learned about racism as it is manifested through the prison system and the greater society as a whole, is that people are entirely too complacent about accepting things as “the way they are.” Society’s views on prisons (that blacks are more likely to commit crimes, etc.) as well as society’s views on any racial “statistic,” it seems, are perfectly contented to believe the ideas of the white hegemony that specific minorities are prone to crime, dirty, unintelligent, athletically-inclined, etc. I feel that this is nowhere more evident than within the cultural infrastructures that society has erected.

One other thing I would like to address about this course is how it has illustrated to me the merits of conversation and dialogue over those of dry research, in which one primarily utilizes the library and other’s research. The interviews I conducted, specifically that with Phil Gruen, professor of architecture, were extremely beneficial in understanding my subject better, despite not being able to use every bit of the interview within my paper. The interviews allowed me to “join the conversation,” if you will, and see the academic world in a new light.

For this course I would give myself an A-. Due to illness I was unable to participate in this course as actively as I would have liked. However, I feel that this class has opened my mind to a more broad, open, global way of thinking, one that utilizes conversations and dialogues with others – whom I realize now that I may call my peers, although they may be wiser than I am. Of the two main readings we did together as a class (Burke and the prison writings), I found Burke to be more helpful because it contained concepts that I was apply to then apply to the prison writings. This class has taught me to recognize social and cultural patterns of thought, to question whether they are just, and to examine how those social and cultural patterns were manifested within me. I have had more epiphanies, about myself, English 460, Pullman, and our society in general, than I have ever had in a class before – about the structures we build about and around ourselves, the conscious and subconscious decisions we make that affect those around us, and those patterns that need to be rethought and reworked. While I feel that this grade is justified because of the development I made as a writer, thinker, and citizen of this world, I also feel that regardless of my final grade, the lessons I have learned in this course reach beyond the classroom or university campus to have influence and impact on all areas of my life, and I will continue to apply those lessons.

Thank you for a fantastic semester,

Katie Vatter