Contracting in College Writing

 

    This week we dove in further to microthemes and were asked to choose a topic as well as complete a rough draft of our paper. Reflecting on my writing process, I had difficulty choosing a topic and being open ended with my words. As I said in my free write, I'd consider myself pretty opinionated and my papers are usually straightforward. Also, in my past writing experiences there was an emphasis in being argumentative and persuasive with your thesis rather than having a broad approach of something you are personally passionate about.  

Granted, there's still a lot of work that needs to be done for my microtheme. The more I come back to it, the more I make changes and can see little spaces I can revise, emit needless fluff, and catch absolute statements. I'm extremely guilty of overusing "constantly" "all" "never" etc. absolutes and I am glad this piece challenges that habit. As Dr.Kyburz mentioned in class as well, it is not a good standpoint to be in as a writer because it would be assuming information about others when that may not be true (or to an extent). 

     My micro theme topic is revolving the overuse of technology- specifically our phone cameras. On my rough draft, I spoke on how we are so used to taking videos and pictures rather than experiencing the present moment. That can be debated considering there can be a balance of capturing and living the moment, however, we have adapted to getting used to pulling out our phones when something interesting happens, seeing a cool landmark, at concerts, etc. That is not to say photography is "bad", but I question how much we revert to our phones and whether its because we want a memory, or if we've gotten sucked into the habit.