My Portfolio: The Peculiar Ponderings of Dakota W.

Children are strange creatures. They are often nonsensical and ushered to the side to entertain themselves for fear of disturbing the adults with their absurdity. Of course, I was no exception as a child.

Wistful, creative, escapist, a dabbler in the surreal and nonexistent. All these things easily describe my childhood mind, and continue to do so to this day. As a little girl, I was one of those children that would lose myself in the fanciful world of dragons and unicorns, spinning tales out of imaginary thread and illustrating my bizarre little scenarios. I attached meaningful feelings to inanimate objects, like toys, and empathized heavily with them, bonding much more than I should with something I logically could not relate to. I’d constantly pester my parents to play with me, to imagine they were playing a role in my strange little fantasy worlds. I’d pondered what it was like to have a sibling my age to play with when I grew lonely, but quickly backpedaled when I witnessed my friends and their own siblings and realized it meant I’d have to share my prized possessions. 

As I grew older and blossomed into my early teen years, I learned about the joys of writing, how wonderful words could be, how many ways they could be mixed and bent to achieve different results. It was thrilling to realize that my writing carried the words I could not say aloud so much more gracefully than I ever could speak them. I learned to love the written word almost as much as the illustration, almost as much as breathing in clear air, especially once my writing started to be recognized by my teachers and I was placed into more advanced literature classes.

Essays. Oh, how my love for essays has bloomed from a deep-rooted hate. From the ripe age of nine, we were taught a firm structure with which to construct our essays. Stepping out of line with the template felt like stepping into no-man’s-land in the midst of a war. The template was safe, the template was constant. There was no way to avoid its rigid glare. However, every now and then we were permitted, even encouraged, to stray from the format. One would be encouraged to write a narrative, perhaps. To tell a story based on a prompt. Still a constraint, but a boundless freedom in comparison to the tight confines of argumentative writing. Years passed, and when I stepped foot into that fateful AP English Language and Composition class, my eyes were opened. Countless essays we explored, diving into their meanings and structures, their every flash and flare. It was truly a breath of fresh air, a life-changing view to my moldable mind. Essays were not just these rigid things I’d learned to hate in my youth, but were rather the gateway to the most creative of expressions. It was from then on that I really understood that one can truly write about anything. Anything.

Overview of the outcomes

Outcome 1 - Rhetoric

Through tones and phrases, metaphors and similes, paradoxes and parallels, the author adapts their message depending on the audience. Over the course of this past year, I’ve learned what it means to target an audience and center your language around them. I’ve flourished most of all through this outcome, selecting an audience with which to target my fanciful writing towards, and keying my language to meet their standards. Since Outcome 1 focuses so heavily on being selective and targeted in one’s approach, I found myself shifting my own point of view, placing myself in the mind of those who might read my work. In the case of my Epiphanic essay, I was writing freely, letting the words flow from my mind like water, like fresh air slipping through a pair of healthy lungs. Yet, I had a target in mind. My goal was to appeal to a college administrator. I would not be ordinary, I would not be informative, I would be enchanting. That is where my mind drifted to. 

Through metaphorically describing myself and my life as a leaf, I carried the message of my struggles and desires in a unique and eye-catching manner, musing about my likes and how “Art is my sunshine. Getting lost drifting across the pond that is my imagination, my little leaf self wanders.” It is through my rhetoric, through my quirky little phrases and tidbits that I snatch hold of the readers’ attention and hold on for dear life. Such is the goal of a college essay, and such was my goal in writing it.

Outcome 2 - Synthesis

Synthesis. The key to crafting a well-rounded statement, argument, or anything in-between. Outcome 2 focuses on the act of synthesizing information from multiple sources. Synthesis keeps the author’s voice open and unbiased, as multiple different sources influence their writing and are displayed in their words. Through writing a specified synthesis essay in class, I practiced working out the process of merging different sources into one big quilt of a writing assignment. 

However, the most extensive and creative example of synthesis I’ve brought to life is the PSA based on my passion project. When I was given this assignment, I let my mind wander and soon had this beautiful little script sitting before me, which I handled with care. I filmed and edited to my heart’s content, taking care to craft a thoughtful and unique PSA that would captivate the audience. While doing so, I carefully combined various elements from different sources to display intertextuality, bringing to light the heavy issue of pollution and its effect on seabirds with accurate imagery while maintaining a lighthearted and comedic storyline.

Outcome 3 - Argument

To write an argument is one of the first long-form writing skills taught to students. Or at least, it was to me. In the third grade, I recall regularly being given argumentative essay prompts, in which we were instructed to write an argumentative essay catered towards a specific topic, such as whether zoos are beneficial or detrimental. Such a writing style has been enforced ever since that point in English classes, and this year was no different. However, there were more chances to practice different types of argument this year, and one such instance was with the passion project poster. The passion project spans over several major projects, but the poster in particular is a significant visual argument as to why people should participate in some way with your topic. My own poster pictures a hand-drawn cartoon seagull being covered in oil. The fear in its eyes, the gritty art style, the grossness of the oil, they all add up to form a persuasive visual statement, effectively urging the audience to take action against pollution. Argument is used everywhere, and it is one of the most useful skills to master. Argument is the act of persuasion, composing one’s view into a well-worded or visualized piece. It’s practically its own art form.

OUTCOME 1 -  RHETORIC

A breath of fresh air. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Each molecule of air brushing through the airways feels like a little twinge of release, of peace. Breathing clean air is refreshing, calming, and oddly personal. To breathe clean air is to know you are alive. So similar is that personal release one feels when reading a well-written essay, novel, or paper of any sort. That feeling of reading something that feels as though it was written with you in mind, like the words have been engraved into your soul, your very being. That is a special feeling. Such is the importance of rhetoric. Mastery of rhetoric is the art of crafting a writing style and a message that perfectly captures the attention of one’s target audience. It’s difficult at times, but it’s one of the most necessary skills to learn in order to create palatable writing. You would not have a human being attempt to breathe water. It’s nonsensical, and it gets nothing accomplished, aside from annoying the person you just potentially tried to drown, by accident or not. Yet, that does not mean water is a toxic substance, or that it can not be breathed in at all. Sharks, fish, and eels alike all breathe underwater. They are the water’s target audience, and they could not breathe the same open air we can. Just like how the water or the open air all cater to different creatures’ specific needs, a writer must adapt their writing to suit the criteria of their audience. For a fish, an author must write water. For a bird, an author must write an open breeze.

As an attempt at kickstarting our rhetoric skills, our class was asked to write a college essay, otherwise known as an epiphanic essay. The point is exactly as stated in both names: to apply to a college, and to tell the reader about an epiphany in our lives. The assignment itself allowed for many creative liberties to be taken, leading each of us to each pick very different topics rooted in our own life stories. But my first task was to identify my target audience. Who would be receiving and reading this essay? What should they be learning from my essay? How do I come across in my writing? Taking all these questions into consideration, I realized that I’d need to write about something deceptively simple to stand out. Metaphors are my strength and elegant writing is something that I’ve always thrived with. So, keeping in mind that I needed to be personal and upfront in my essay, I decided to write about fall. I discussed the “unexplainable splendor to the colors brought about by autumn,” the way the shift in seasons is crisp and definitive. More specifically, I found myself delving into the nature of the autumn leaves themselves. I made the connection between myself and a simple leaf, how “I feel some days as though I’m barely stuck on this branch by a tendon, confused and sorrowful.” Using sophisticated diction and metaphors that were sure to stick out amongst a sea of essays, I tuned my epiphanic essay to the eyes of college administrators. I understand that they see thousands of essays a day, that they must read the same thing countless times and decide which of hundreds shall be the lucky one to be admitted. But how many have read about a student portrayed as a leaf? How many can say they read an essay discussing the wonders of a lonely leaf on a branch, comparing its quiet sway to the stillness of a soft spoken student in a classroom? My metaphors are largely unfiltered, letting my words flow freely from my mind with all the creativity I can muster. It is this unbridled freedom that I grant myself along with the knowledge of who I am writing to and why that allows my words to be so effective. 

However, my essay did not come without the need for revisions, as is the same with every piece of writing. For example, It took several tries to get the formatting correct for my introduction. Grammar in this point was revised, taking a segment like “They’ll rustle the corpses of fallen leaves, crunchy little play toys sprawled out like a carpet on the soil” and revising the clarity to “crunchy remnants sprawled like a carpet on the ground.” Though I’m fond of the point of emphasizing the playfulness of some forest critters, the second version is clearer and flows much more smoothly. Little tweaks like this have been made throughout my essay, aiding in its clarity and delivery to help my rhetoric shine.

OUTCOME 2 - SYNTHESIS

The lungs are one of the most vital organs in the body when it comes to survival. Taking in fresh oxygen from the air and sending the little molecules on their way through the bloodstream, they work like clockwork to ensure we are always fueled with air. But along with plain oxygen entering the lungs, our noses are receptors for whatever lingering scent fills the air. Not only for survival, the breaths we draw, with the aid of our noses, carries scents that can bring pleasure, warmth, comfort, disgust, or even discomfort. Our bodies are effectively synthesizing the numerous components adrift in the air to enrich our breathing experience, for survival’s sake. The clean, plain air one might find up in the mountains feels freeing and cool, while the warm scent of freshly baked cookies brings a fuzzy warmth to our bodies that emanates from our very hearts. Yet, if we dare to venture somewhere darker, somewhere where the rank scent of death is prevalent amongst all others, where the air is thick and heavy, we feel a sense of dread and unease. So easily does outside influence change our mood, from even a thing as small as the scent in the air. Similarly, the synthesis of various outside ideas and sources makes a piece of writing much more lively and well-rounded. 

Outcome two focuses on synthesis, on the ability to bring together pieces of information from multiple sources to boost the strength of an argument. With multiple perspectives in a piece, the author’s voice suddenly sounds much more educated, displaying a deeper level of understanding for the topic they speak of. Like the scents in the air enriching our knowledge of the space around us, different points of information provide further depth to a piece of writing. This skill has been utilized throughout the writing process in this class, both knowingly and unknowingly. The synthesis essay in particular was targeted practice for this skill, allowing myself and my fellow students the chance to practice taking evidence from photographs to enhance our arguments. However, the most recent and significant piece that I crafted in this class was the PSA, a piece of video media that told a story and made an argument catered towards my passion project. Being targeted towards pollution’s negative effects on seabirds, my project already has a rather heavy tone to it. So, I decided to shift my approach for this assignment and craft something more whimsical and lighthearted. Something that would be a breath of fresh air to the audience. To achieve this comedic yet impactful delivery, I synthesized materials and ideas from multiple sources, including getting the idea for my theme from a YouTube skit in which a woman pretends to be a film noir detective. After adapting the theme of my PSA from said skit, I worked out the dialogue, which included many quick-paced jokes similar to what someone my age would see commonly and be entertained by online. The comedy in my PSA included a famous meme clip of a seagull flying away with a whole pizza, tied into the theme as “the case of the levitating pizza,” something which myself and my peers would find humorous. The clip made my PSA more entertaining, and demonstrated my ability to synthesize outside media into an argument as I brandished my humor like a sword.

My PSA while humorous and effective to the audience, required a lot of reworking throughout the editing and finalizing process. Initially, I was quite passionate about it, wanting my PSA to be well-edited and entertaining. In my determination to create something unique, I made over two minutes of content, which would have to be condensed to one. So, I got to work, cutting out unnecessary jokes and speeding up clips while still keeping them as natural-looking as possible. For instance, though it was funny, I realized that in the segment where I deliver the news of a bird’s death to his family, simply sticking to “they were devastated” was more concise and timely than extending the joke to say “they were devastated. It was a whole devastation-fest.” Making the dialogue more concise overall aided in keeping my point clear and timely while emphasizing the different points synthesized throughout my PSA.

OUTCOME 3 - ARGUMENT

Every breath has a purpose. Every exhale releases carbon dioxide from the lungs and presents it to the open air like a calling card to life itself. Every breath alone is a statement, an argument to the earth and the atmosphere and everything in it that we are alive. Without those seemingly insignificant little exhales, we’d be no more than dust, adrift and soulless in a colorful world. But mindless exhales are not the only breaths with a purpose. There are countless arguments to be made with every molecule we have to offer. We celebrate life every time we blow out a candle, tell the world how passionate we are with every breath taken in a singer’s lungs, and we fill the air with determination every time we pant during a run. There are countless purposes to breathe, countless arguments to be made, and countless reasons to be using our lungs to the best of their ability every day, and every day, we discover a new way to present ourselves with those precious breaths. 

Sometimes writing is not the most ideal way to present an argument. Argument, after all, is simply the method of getting one’s point across in an effective and persuasive manner, no matter the medium used. In my time in this class, I’ve learned several ways to display the ways of the outcomes that fall outside of traditional writing, especially when it comes to argument. Taking my passion project into account once more, I was tasked with creating a poster that would argue why people should support my project. Being the stubborn artist I am, I of course would not let myself simply create a photo collage of a poster. Nay, I have practice in the field of bringing to life the numerous visions conjured in my very loud imagination. I have worked with digital art for years, honing the craft of visually expressing myself exactly how I picture it. So, setting my mind to work, I quickly conjured up the image of my poster in my mind and allowed my hand to do the hard work. The topic of pollution is dark and dreary, so a sketchy, grungy style would do the trick. Thus, the image of a seagull dripping in oil was born, black and white with a grainy texture that perfectly argues the consequences of pollution and states the stakes of my message. It’s persuasive without being overwhelming to the eye, yet still unique. My visual is especially strengthened by the text I added, which states simply and clearly: “don’t add to waste.” The large, bold font captures the reader’s attention and draws the eye to the image of the bird, adding a layer of depth and urgency to the argument made. Argument is a seemingly simple topic to cover, but it takes a substantial amount of consideration to make something that is effective, especially when one must also take into consideration the other outcomes being utilized in one’s statement. Through my poster, I’ve displayed a passion for the seabirds we share our planet with, as well as the dangers posed to them by our very own waste.

Naturally, as with any other sort of argument, my poster requires touch-ups to perfect its message. If I were to revise it currently, I’d start with the image. While I believe the cartoon I’ve made is highly effective and well-made, especially in the short amount of time presented for classwork, I would certainly like to make it appear more professional. For instance, I would touch up the tail feathers to make them appear more realistic, rather than a mere arc with a few lines through it, and I would make the shading clearer and more confident. I’m certainly alright with the linework remaining sketchy, as I believe it adds to the grungy atmosphere of my poster, but these little touch-ups would add credibility to my image as an artist, graphic designer, and a presenter. It’s a simple, yet effective change to add clarity and interest to my argument.

There have been many trials and tribulations throughout my writing career, especially in this class. Before this class particularly, it was difficult to differentiate between synthesis and argument, or even to pull aside rhetoric as its own outcome. Yet the differences are plain and clear now.

It is my belief that my work as a writer and an artist has significantly improved in the time I’ve taken to perfect the assignments presented to me in this class. And so, I’ve learned to present a clean breeze to a bird through my rhetoric, to enrich the air with fragrant scents to educate my audience through synthesis, and to use every breath with a purpose in my arguments. Through the creative liberties I was allowed to take in this class, I learned what it means to have a voice and to use it to the very best of my ability. It is my duty to compel the audi ence, to snatch their attention by force with the most targeted and specific rhetoric, and to blow them away with the vast expanse of information synthesized cohesively into my message and to use both of the aforementioned outcomes to strengthen my arguments into things of power. But most importantly, it’s my duty to try again when something isn’t right. To revise again and again until my writing, or whatever medium it is, reflects me and my message at its truest. So with every breath, I recount each outcome and I realize that the very air I breathe is proof that I am a writer, through and through.