Journal 1: What is Writing? Mitchell Rossini

What is writing? To someone who has always "worn his emotions on his sleeves", the answer to this question is that the art of writing has been one of the many creative outlets I have used to convey my feelings. Writing is an understanding of human connection, that is to say, those who write are always writing for someone. Whether it be to themselves, a professor, a friend, a lover, etc., the words that they have written down or typed into their phones are in one way or another, a reflection of their lives in that moment. To me, writing scripts is a therapeutic and entertaining experience in itself. As an aspiring film maker, writing has allowed me to create worlds and characters that are able to spread messages of positivity, entertain, and even reflect my own personal life experiences.

To me, there is no such thing as "successful writing".  Anyone who has the ability to string words and sentences together in a way that is meaningful to themselves is successful. Writing is one of the many ways of expressing ones personal beliefs and emotions. There is no "right" way to judge how someone chooses to express themselves in any creative outlet.

Throughout the course of my life, I have written multiple works and assignments. Of them I enjoy writing scripts however, I love to write from an analytical perspective on novels and short stories of literary merit. I especially love writing under certain literary criticisms such as the feminist/gender, psychological, and deconstructionist theories.

My list of key terms to describe writing would be:

• Communication
• Creativity
• Expression
• Reflection
• Experiences
• Connection
• Language

Johnson- Eilola & Selbers Essay response questions:

What is the major argument that you see the authors making?
The authors are arguing that educations focus on preventing plagiarism is  preventing students from expressing their creativity while writing.

What I learned while reading the essay is that educators should focus more on other forms of writing assignments such as an assemblage rather than causing extreme stress within students by pressuring them to not plagiarize. These "anti-plagiarism" focused education systems ultimately lead to the systematic oppression of student creativity.

I believe the article is successful yes. The authors are able to establish and back-up their argument well enough for the reader to understand. Within my personal definition of writing, it hits all requirements needed to be considered a successful piece of work.

My understanding of writing has not been necessarily changed one way or another but has instead been added upon to include the negative effects restricting ones ability to create can have.

I feel no need to revise my list because with or without the suppression of student creativity, the vocabulary words I chose still represent the basics of what I believe writing is.