Artist’s Statement

            Hello! Welcome to my Rhet 105 portfolio! I truly enjoyed Rhet 105. The class was very helpful and taught me things that I can keep with me in my future. I realize that writing is not only for English essays in school. Knowing how to write well is important in many other aspects of life such as reports in other classes, job applications, professional emails, and more. I chose topics and wrote each assignment based on my own beliefs and incorporated them into my writing.

My main interests that shape the person I am are music, space, and soccer. Because of my interest in outer space, the major I chose was Astronomy. I enjoy these things because they all make me feel something. I do not know of a word that encompasses this feeling in its entirety but I know most people feel it when they are truly passionate about something. The feeling is one that is rooted deep into your soul and brings you joy and peace.

While the assignments I completed in this class were not done the same extent of passion, I always tried to write about what I believe in and honestly grasp the ideas that they provided. I know it is best to write when I internalize the topic so that my writing is a genuine reflection of who I am as a person.

Each topic taught me, not only many facts on the surface that helped me gain knowledge, but also some deeper understandings of each one that changed my views on life. Two topics that most reflect this were white privilege and the Chief Illiniwek here at the University of Illinois. From the Chief, I leaned the facts involving the history and events that brought the diminishment of Indian mascots across the country. However, prior to this knowledge, I feel I gained wisdom. Before the start of the assignment, I knew that the school got rid of the mascot because it was deemed racist in the eyes of many. I thought this was unnecessary. After watching the movie and writing the response paper, I learned to sympathize with the people that these mascots negatively affected. Now, I am more understanding of the reasons for their anger and sadness and I agree that the Chief mascot was inappropriate.

My method of writing is consistent in each of my assignments. Obviously, I read over any sources that I am given so that I can understand them. Once I obtain all the information that I need to write, I begin writing. I just try to get something on the pages. Doing this helps establish the core of the writing, or the main ideas that I will write about. Then I can go back and refine all the “fluffier” stuff. This seemed to work best for me and I was never stressed about getting my essay completed on time. Revising my writings was a new topic that I never had done. I have revised rough drafts but never my final drafts. Usually, once I turn in a final paper, that is the last I ever see of it. I think even revising a final draft is useful to improve writing capabilities. To revise my essays, I read them all out loud to catch any mistakes that I wouldn’t catch in my head. Another thing that was very helpful was looking at comments from the professor.

My multimedia included in my site is on the while webpage itself and in a specific assignment. My metaphor page for the process of writing is filled with pictures to help illustrate the metaphor. For each step of the writing process I included a picture that pertained to the metaphorical way in which it relates to a specific step in the writing process. Also, I included a cover image and a background image of space because I love space and I am an astronomy major.