By: Mary Catherine Ellington
At the beginning of this week, tensions remained high in the wake of the 2020 Presidential Election and our future final semester exams. The highly anticipated election was over, but the results still seemed to be controversial. However, many who, for the first time, exercised their right to vote and were processing this memorable moment for themselves were ecstatic with the eventual turn of events. The United States, including Chapel Hill and Washington D.C., were both filled with celebrations and protests this past week regarding the outcome of Joe Biden as President.
As we reeled from the tumultuous election and intense portrayals of the media, on Tuesday we took a step back from politics and focused on English and our writing. We began class Tuesday by logging into our class zoom and responding to our class check-in. This particular check in revealed some of the personal and academic stresses that many students are experiencing due to societal, academic, and personal issues. A common census for the class check in regarded the imminent, dreaded final exams approaching this week and the following week as well. Additionally, many were excited with the prospect of this semester drawing to a close.
During class Tuesday, we discussed business and creative writing. We went over business models and discussed the importance of being specific, and direct as to what job position one may be seeking. We also discussed the decision to avoid using “To Whom this May Concern” in favor of less detached, and more personal phrases and the appropriate format for an effective cover letter. Class continued with further discussion on resume tips, and then progressed to discussion about creative writing. Within this discussion we were debriefed on the essential steps of writing a story and the importance of having a theme, hook, character, and starting a scenario with a predicament statement. We followed this creative process by formulating our own scenario about a barber named John and his customer George. This activity was light-hearted, fun, and exhibited the freedom of creative writing. By partaking in this exercise, I believe that we all developed a deeper understanding and realization of the various elements of a story, and how easy it is to be truly creative. As class came to a close, we discussed our next steps for Thursday. Our homework included posting a rough cut of our video essay to Sakai by Wednesday night. Personally, I felt that the best process for developing this video was to utilize the Adobe Premiere Pro software.
Class on Thursday began the same way as usual with our daily class check-in. We asked remaining questions on UP3 and compared the priorities, values, and goals of the various disciplines we have covered throughout this semester. After completing the chart of the disciplines of Social Sciences, Humanities, Business, and Natural Sciences, we moved onto our workshop of our rough cuts of our video essay. Our workshop allowed us to apply our peer feedback and take into consideration some suggestions for improving our rough cut for the final project. Due to these workshops, I have gained newfound perspectives on my work that has allowed me to fix minor grammar mistakes, confusing wording, and achieve deeper clarity for my ideas. We ended our class session today by going over the remaining steps and deadlines for the project, and potential extra credit opportunities.
Therefore, as this semester draws to a close, I know that as a class we can all agree that we have been extremely thankful for Professor Blom’s guidance throughout this semester and its influence on the shaping and evolving of our writing into different disciplines. By understanding how to write within these various disciplines, I know that we all can apply these skills and be successful within our chosen career paths or interests. Additionally, through the various feeders, and unit projects I know that I have enhanced my writing and know how to adapt to any discipline while avoiding common mistakes that I used to be slightly prone to doing. I look forward to seeing all of the great things we accomplish here at UNC and in the future as well. Good luck everyone!
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