Halloween night, a full moon, college students; the spookiest combination— not to mention the national pandemic and the upcoming election. Don’t worry, I will leave those latter points for the next week. Reflecting on the week, on the surface, the week ran normal as any other week during the COVID-19 pandemic; otherwise, Halloween is stacked full of scary costumes, trick-or-treaters, and social college students. Although Halloween is usually a busy week for Franklin Street, the town of Chapel Hill, like many other weeks, felt like a ghost town.
Before reflecting on the events inside the classroom, this week has brought many new and exciting personal opportunities— connected to our discussion of genre. Because the COVID-19 pandemic did not allow me to spend my first year in a dorm on South Campus, my parents and I decided to buy an apartment just off UNC’s campus. While I will be socially distancing as I did in my home town, it is an amazing opportunity to live on my own for the first time as well as learn valuable life skills— natural for any college student. While the moving process took much time from my weekend that is usually dedicated to school work, in the long run, I will be able to safely meet other college students and experience a form of college life— even socially distanced. Leading into the discussion of genre models and multi-media analysis, if I had to analyze this week as a genre interpretation, I would choose opportunistically spooky as the element which ultimately stood out this week. While the pandemic still caused many blockades to the old sense of normalcy, I still found many opportunities to safely celebrate Halloween and start my independent life.
Keeping with the addition of genre, this week was mainly for preparing for our upcoming third unit project. By analyzing the features of past Unit Projects and fundamentally breaking down literary analysis, we are becoming even more prepared for the upcoming Unit Project. Can you believe we are almost done with the first semester? I feel like it was just yesterday that I was nervously submitting my first feeder. My writing, both stylistically and grammatically, has grown so much throughout the semester. Our class is now preparing for a Unit Project incorporating visual literacy. Visual Literacy is the ability to interpret and create meaning with visual images from a written text, and visual literacy can be affected by everything from the background music to the directionality of the image. Although it may be hard to imagine on the surface, the background music accompanying any visual dominates the mood connected with that piece. In order to drive this point home, our class watched a video with different music accompanying the introduction to Pirate of the Caribbean, from happy to somber. Although I have watched Pirates of the Caribbean multiple times, each rendition ultimately changed my mood and perception of the scene, just from the scene’s music. This small but dominant feature proves the intricate detail that is connected with visual literacy; unlike written words, visuals do not allow for the mood to be dictated by the audience. Although this lesson was intimidating, I am excited about the challenge and the many oppurutnities left in English 105. We are currently finishing Feeder 3.2, and it is safe to say that it is saddening this is our last feeder of English 105. English is not usually my strong suit; however, I always look forward to this class and all the information I can soak up. Like Halloween, with the looming pandemic and election, the end of the semester will be swift and undeniably, opportunistically spooky.
Featured Image Citaiton:
“Happy Heeloween.” Student Affairs, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2020, www.unc.edu/posts/2020/10/26/celebrating-heel-o-ween/.
