Project Statement
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Content reflection:
Starting my first year of university I didn't really know what to expect from the first English class of my university career. It was daunting at first but after doing a few of the first assignments and getting a grip on the workload I started to get straight with the rhythm and my ideas started falling in place. Many a time I will find myself struggling with the course-specific materials like reading and exercises, but I actually found myself kind of enjoying the readings, especially when I was reading Citizen. And this translated into me being able to write about it so comfortably and releasing my intention into my Progression 1 paper. As Claudia Rankine so eloquently states, “words work as a release - well-oiled doors opening and closing between intention, gesture”(Rankine, Chapter 5). I felt that these were genres I never had previously read about in school and it made me all the more interested and engaged in the class. In the climate of today where the issues being brought up in Citizen are so heavily talked about amongst groups that maybe haven't even experienced racial profiling, it is very beneficial to hear about the experiences from a primary source that has actually experienced these challenges throughout their lives, and challenges they have heard from other lives.
The first Paper I put in my portfolio is the progression two paper which I did on Duchamp's Fountain. I did a lot of research on the history and interpretations of the art piece and that's how I got the bulk of my information for the paper. I went on museum websites and found different entries based on Duchamp's work. I found it very interesting that he actually has created many pieces that to most people would look exactly the same, but only a skilled artist or art connoisseur could tell them apart. I also searched other art pieces which I thought were in conversation with the Fountain. I did a comparison between the two works in the paper. I compared characteristics like whether or not the artist had a similar intention or whether or not they looked similar physically. The thing about is though, that I constantly had to keep in mind was that half of the art piece itself was the meaning and intention from the artist, the other half is what you physically see. I first made my rough drafts then with the help of Professor Koning made some edits and changes to my paper.
My third paper “This Is Me” is the second progression paper that I am including in my portfolio. I started out this paper with my main ideas of what makes me, me, and I worked on from these points, using my own experiences as well as my family's experiences to provide a good argument. I have a very emotional connection to this particular paper more than any other paper I have ever written. For me, it was the first time I saw my life written down on paper, and that was a very emotional moment for me. I used real sources like talking to my parents and grandparents to get information about other life and upbringing. I used these testimonies in my paper. Similar to the other paper I revised my rough draft into my final draft bit by bit. And again as well, Professor Koning's help was the best tool I had for editing my paper. My growth throughout the papers I have done I feel is mostly due to Professor Koning's help as well as learning my weak points from doing previous essays. Although I am still not 100% perfect I feel that I have improved quite a bit and want to continue to grow in my writing too.
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Design reflection:
My portfolio is a collage of my hard work and growth throughout this semester, by displaying my personal interest, papers, and other exercises that portray my understanding of in-class topics. My portfolio flows quite naturally in the sense that it first starts with a home page where you can find my personal information and an image of me. Then it goes to my goals page where I discuss my goals for this semester as well as the university as a whole. I then take you to my “outside of the class” page where I show you my interests and hobbies, things I do other than my professional career. After this, I slowly get into my works including, exercises and papers section. Here, I put on display the papers and assignments I have been working on since the start of the semester. I chose this order for my portfolio so that when a reader is viewing my page I don; ’t just throw them into an abyss of work and assignments. I want the reader to get to know me first so that they get a sense of where I come from. By doing this what I hope to achieve for the reader is that they will better understand my standing on certain topics and relate ideas from one work to another, like a book with many chapters. A chapter wouldn't make sense on its own, it needs the other chapters to make a full story. I feel that the strongest element from my website is my “outside of the classroom” page. I really put my heart into that page and made it very personal to me that I have become quite attached to it myself. It is a perfect representation of who I am and I don’t think that my portfolio would be complete without it, as it gives the viewer a sense of who I am.
Making this portfolio reminded me a lot of creating a traditional essay, first, you create an outline, in this case, for me, it became the template I chose to use. Then I started to add in headings and some snippets of information to get an idea of the structure, this kind of became my rough draft. Then came the stage of plugging in my assignments, putting in imagery, and information, this step resembled the first polished draft. Since then I have been going over and making edits all over the page, constantly “revising” my portfolio.
One difference in making this website to a traditional essay is that it was constantly changing because we kept on completing more assignments, so it kind of became like adding whole new body paragraphs to the paper. Another difference is that making a website was much more creative than writing a paper since with a paper you have a set of instructions, structure, and outline, but with this website I had creative freedom to do whatever I want, the only guideline was to incorporate the specific topics. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the process of making my portfolio. I would consider it my favorite assignment we have done because I was able to show off not only me and my academic abilities but also my artistic and creative abilities as well.
Works Cited
Rankine, C. (n.d.). Citizen: An American Lyric. Retrieved from https://platform.virdocs.com/r/s/0/doc/2627/sp/230242960/mi/682196264
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