Creativity in Literacy Practices

Graffiti has been around for more than half a decade and practiced worldwide. However there is debate between whether it is a form of art or vandalism. Graffiti artists’ debate that many do not understand the reason most graffiti artist take the risk of incarceration, fines, injuries, and in some cases death to paint a wall. A graffiti artist can have the simple desire to become recognized, or to create a piece that speaks to their audience as a form of self expression. Because graffiti is associated with gangs and acts of destruction to some many cannot see the history and importance graffiti can have on a worldwide scale. Due to the fact that graffiti is usually produced illegally, meaning it is

Writing is a powerful tool for communication and connection. As an extension and expression of the mind, writing is as much about the mental processes of the author as it is about the final marks laid to paper. As we write, we hold in mind our own thoughts on the work, anticipate the reader’s thoughts, and think both in concrete and abstract ways in order to accomplish the task at hand. Whether an academic research paper, a novel, or text message to friends, writing seeks to engage, persuade, or impress concepts upon an audience. Like language and other art forms in general, the practice of writing is ever-evolving and is subject to cultural and contextual influence, expectations, and conventions. Each writer holds a theory

Graffiti portrays contemporary sub-cultured art through its versatility and bold attractiveness on the communal grounds. In the 1970s, graffiti was blatantly acknowledged as territorial graffiti where

To create a piece of fabric, small textile fibers are crisscrossed, stitched, and sewn together. If unraveled, the individual fibers remain, but as a whole, they function collectively to make a larger and more significant piece. This is known as weaving, and it is argued by some literary researchers that this process of weaving can be figuratively applied to procedures of writing by way of intertextuality―the composition theory that claims all texts refer to other texts. From this assertion, James E. Porter’s “Intertextuality and the Discourse Community,” argues originality is nearly impossible to achieve, as no thought originates without influence from other sources; however, after examining the essays “All Writing is Autobiography” by Donald

According to Boyd, through Graffiti is essential to understand as a form of art that crosses the boundaries of location, method, and motivation. He acknowledges that graffiti might include “racist remarks, empty slogans and illegal signatures.”(Boyd 251) Boyd’s piece is also very informative because according to the author, there are two methods for creating this form of art: murals and tagging. The most popular one is tagging because it can be found almost everywhere from fence posts to trains, street walls to buses. The main goal of graffiti writers is to put their signature tags in places to be recognized by their

Orhan Pamuk once said, “The writer's secret is not inspiration - for it is never clear where it comes from - it is his stubbornness, his patience.” The writer’s general purpose is to determine the expertise that he wants to apply in his writing. The writer’s purpose and organization of writing is to persuade, entertain, inform, and draws the reader’s attention to the information. In the same way, the readers’ goals are reading the content, of seeking information, and increasing knowledge through reading. In these three articles, the authors have specific purpose and discipline the specific futures, and the reader's goal is to collect the noteworthy information. The first article, “The Nature of

Despite graffiti having roots in ancient Greek and Roman culture, graffiti writing emerged in the 1960s in Philadelphia and marked a shift from the gang-related, territorial graffiti that flourished in earlier years toward the rising prominence of graffiti (Mettler 2012). Even in the 60s there was a difference in the graffiti world. The negative connotation were about claim what was yours. While others just wanted

While writing, most of us don’t think of the ways we develop and create ideas or how we construct them into words. We don’t think about where we get the ideas from and how we choose to write what we write. Some say our ideas come from our own knowledge and experiences and that we simply make connections. While others say that ideas are always taken from different sources. In the text “Tracing Trajectories of Practice” by Kevin Roozen, Roozen discusses his study which traces the ways in which people write what they write. The text mentions a participant named Lindsey as an example, and explains Lindsey’s process and the methods she uses while writing.

The roots of graffiti started about 1971 by a Greek American who tagged “TAKI-183” in all New York subway system, he declared that he “used graffiti to create an identity in which he is certain about” (Fortuna 3), then it emerged all around America and the world. (David 72)

Every writer has a particular way to describe their writing. Whether they describe it as a form of telepathy like the distinguished author, Stephen King, or as a painting like the renowned author, Annie Dillard, an abundance of writers can compare their process of writing to something. Even I have some way to describe my writing, I believe it is like being an architect creating marvelous building and cities made of words. This paper is meant to explain the writing process of the two aforementioned authors as well as outlining my own writing process. By comparing and contrasting the different metaphors used by each author one can see how similar every writer is to some extent.

There are many associations with graffiti writing, Hip-hop being the first. Though the emergence of graffiti can be attributed to street gangs; which, they used to mark their territories (Chronopoulos 2011, pg. 79), graffiti began to merge with hip-hop culture in the 70s (Chronopoulos 2011, pg. 82). Ultimately, this combination promoted the public domination over public spaces in New York City through the use

Everyone has different ways of interpreting what their writing and artistic process is. Both of these processes are similar in many ways, but also different depending on what kind of artist or writer you are. For this paper, I interviewed several different people, some who are great artists, some who are great writers and some that do not like either. I also examined both of my processes comparing how they are similar and different. There were a couple questions I asked myself and each person I interviewed so it would be easier to compare each of their processes. The four main questions were asking if they liked having food or coffee during this process, if the processes were similar or different, and to define the two processes according to their own definition.

“To write to be a writer, I have to trust and believe in myself as a speaker, as a voice for the images. I have to believe that can communicate with images and words that I can do it well. A lack of belief in my creative self is a lack of belief in my total self and vice versa- I cannot separate my writing from any part of my life. It is all one” (95).

The origin and history of graffiti is not what one might expect. Believed to have been created by a Philadelphia high school student named Cornbread in 1967, it was a bold effort to catch the attention of a girl (De Melker). In this same time period, graffiti sprung up in New York as well. It was “one among many forms of social protest” during

This essay begins by discussing and exploring the premises of an analysis of creativity at text level following a textual approach to literacy and creativity; assessing the extent to which it is effective in identify creativity in literacy practices such as diaries, letters and graffiti. However, I would like to continue by presenting the