Embodied Discourse Is More Than Just A Class

In the article “Intertextuality and the Discourse Community” James Porter points out to the audience that there is no original piece or writing. Porter’s article addresses the concept of plagiarizing. He does not oppose that plagiarizing is wrong, rather he claims that it is inevitable. Porter argues that in all pieces of writing are intertexual. Intertexuality is the idea that all writings have traces and ideas from other past text. Intertextuality is important to completely understand a piece of writing.

All the words I could not say don’t go unspoken. All the words knotted on my tongue unravel themselves so freely at the tip of my pen, taking the form of antiheroes, headstrong female protagonists, and sonnets. My written words take on life. Whatever word was beheaded between my teeth, I’d revive it with paper and pen. My metaphor-fueled writing can take me to places where I thought were closed off to a poorly-spoken person like me—it took me to becoming the president of the school’s Model UN club, it took me to the couch in front of my brother waving around the speech I’ve written.

In her article “I Stand Here Writing”, Nancy Sommers examines the writing process and formulating ideas for writing in a more empirical manner. She states that before she found her creative zeal/ niche her writing was often undisciplined, unmethodical, and sloppy. Sommers reveals that in college she was less known for her writing and more for her long hair and misapplication of phrases. She found her true inspiration while writing her Senior Thesis on Emerson’s “Eloquence.” Throughout the entire essay, Sommers provides the reader with advice about writing. A key point that she mentions is, “If I could teach my students about writing it would be to see themselves as sources, as places from which ideas originate, to see themselves as Emerson’s transparent eyeball, all that they have read and experienced-the-dictionaries of their lives circulating through them.”

Kim Brooks, we know has been “teaching composition at state universities and liberal art colleges and community colleges as well,” (Brooks 2) however what makes her truly passionate about the situation is her love for literature since she was a teenager. “Like so many, depressive, creative, extremely lazy high-school students, I was saved by english class” (1). Brooks demonstrates through these quotes her credibility, not only because she’s a teacher but because she truly loves writing and believes others should receive the education which she was fortunate enough to get. She was not apart of any clubs or extracurriculars, she wasn’t interested in other academic classes, so she knows how beneficial having the skills to converse, to write and to properly articulate one's self are. Brooks shares this personal anecdote, otherwise known as pathos, to relate to those reading, most specifically high school students like she once was. While focusing this piece mainly on English it can also be associated with other classes in high school as well. She is trying to illustrate how one can use what is learned in high school in their life if given the proper tools and taught skills which can be applied

2. particular discourse types which can be considered ‘effects of power’ and which are governed by conventions embodying particular power relations (e.g. medical, education, law, religious discourse types)

Words are powerful. To be able to put my emotions, my thoughts, onto a sheet of paper made me feel powerful. Michael had us write a variety of things, but he showed me to really put myself into every piece of writing I do. I was taught constantly in high school to distance yourself from what you write. We were to inform the reader of what we are trying to teach, and not use words like “I” or “We” because the information you are giving is more important, the writer isn’t. When I started writing with Michael he showed that it is the connection between the writer and the reader that is important. I can write and use words like “I” because as the writer my opinion is important. I can write and use words like “We” because you and I are human so we can share or relate to the same experiences. I now love writing, and it’s so easy for me to write now because I want to share myself with my reader, no matter the

Writing may be an enthralling experience for one and a clever way to decompress for another. In general, however, writing has different purposes for a variety of people. “Why I Write,” written in the late 20th century by Terry Tempest Williams, describes various reasons for writing narrated from a female’s perspective. The short essay begins in the middle of the night with a woman engulfed in her own thoughts. She abruptly goes forth by reciting the multiple reasons why she continues to write in her life. Through a variety of rhetorical devices such as repetition, imagery, analogies, and symbolism, Terry Tempest Williams produces an elegant piece of writing that offers the audience insight into the narrator’s life and forces the audience to have empathy for the narrator with the situation she is incurring.

David Foster Wallace was an eccentric, well organized writer who described to me the fine lines between descriptive and prescriptive writing. I learned that descriptivism is far more valuable than prescriptivism. With the help of a couple past English courses, I was able to construct my ability to write both an effective, abstract essay while maintaining a prescriptive skeleton. Course such as mythology, my seventh grade english course, and my sophomore year English course are all examples of classes that either helped my dexterity mature or diminish.

Writing my research philosophy and paper about writing spaces and rituals reflect Laurel Richardson’s words, in WRITING, A Method of Inquiry, “ None of us knows his or her final destination, but all of us can know about the shape and makers of our lives, that we can chose to confront, embrace, or ignore” (p. 967). When I began the writing journey I wasn’t quite sure where I was going, but through assemblage, I was able to produce some type of order.

There is an abundant amount of communities in the world we live in. Whether they’re jobs, hobbies, or even school. Everything is part of it’s own particular community. When associated with a community, disregarding the type, they all tend to have different discourses. Discourses according to Gee “are ways of being in the world; they are forms of life which integrate words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes, and social identities as well as gestures, glances, body positions and clothes.” (Gee 5) He compares it to an “identity kit” because we act a certain way according to the particular environment we are in so others can recognize who we are and what we are addressing. Furthermore, he explains how we acquire discourses. “Discourses are not mastered by overt instruction...but by enculturation into social practices through scaffolded and supported interaction with people who have already mastered the Discourse.” (Gee 7) This is how we acquire most our “home-based discourse” (Gee 7) We learn what is acceptable and what isn’t acceptable by socializing within the community. Social practice plays a big role when obtaining a Discourse in a community.

As I reflected on Lammott’s piece “Shitty First Drafts”, the thoughts above ran ramped through my mind. My initial reaction was that I was the voice in my head. I was the one who was telling myself what to write down: my own voice, my own head. I had no one else but me, myself, and I. I decided to dig deeper, to go past my initial reactions and virgin thoughts; to look beyond my self-important speculations. When I did, I found something.

The clients were constantly resisting the discourse that adults are more knowledgeable than children, and that adults know what is good for the clients. This discourse had an effect on the clients because they were been treated in manner that they knew less. In turn this caused the clients to resist this in a variety of behaviors. This discourse that adults are more knowledgeable than children also lead the adults to believe that they should have more power than the children, and that they should be able to control the children. This discourse had the line of force that affected the adults to acting in manner of attempting to control the clients. I think this had a lot to do with the labels child and adult. Instead of perceiving each other as simply as humans with fairly similar needs, we prescribed to the discourse of the concept a children and adults; how a children and adults are suppose to act, look, and think.

“A good teammate is someone willing to get outside of personal thoughts and emotions, a friend who tries to understand, appreciate, and encourage other members of the team.” This is a quote from Don Kardong, a United States Olympic runner. Webster’s dictionary says that the word teammate means “a person who is on the same team as someone else.” However, to me, this word means a lot of other things too. A teammate motivates you to do your best, they help you at practice or at your job, and makes sure that nobody on the team is left out.

“If I cooked you, I’d be able to survive on your meat for over a month.” This was not the welcome I had expected on my first day at the British School in Phuket, Thailand. I wondered if my fellow students here would be as kind as they were in America or would they be rude and brash, as this insult implied? Would the curriculum be an academic challenge or an intellectual breeze? I had no idea what to expect.

Discourse is a 'shared way of apprehending the world ' (Dryzek, 1997). It is understood as ‘the ensemble of ideas, concepts and categories through which meaning is given to social and physical realities, and which is produced and reproduced through an identifiable set of practices’ (Hajer, 2006: 67). Discourse favors certain description of reality and empowers certain policy tools while marginalizing others (Litfin, 1994). Discourses frame the policy debates, limit what are considered ‘reasonable’ options and inform policy-making process (Gregorio et al, 2014). Discourses represent the dominant representatives, understandings and knowledge regimes present in governance debate and they are deeply embedded in the formation of knowledge. The discourses are produced based on the perception and role of the actors (Keller, 2011). Different discourses promote specific conceptualization of environmental problem including the causes of the problems and on their solutions. For instance, discourse on forests seeing as important carbon sink could be different from seeing forest as source of local livelihoods or source of biodiversity. Therefore it is crucial to understand the different construction of meaning by different actors.