Assignment 8 [Due: Thursday March 7]

In Amy Roddick's assignment seven I really liked that she brings up that Orlean chose to write her article in first person. No other class members chose to incorporate that or deemed it relevant or worth writing about, but it really is. Although it was general knowledge to us as readers- it is an important writerly choice on Orlean's part. It makes the piece more powerful. Choosing to write in first person really emphases on how personal it really is. Using submersion journalism causes writers to become attached to their work- which makes sense to why Orlean chose to write her story in first person.

I also chose Ryan Chandler's blog. I really didn't think much about the history aspect of taxidermy till reading Ryan's assignment seven. He touches on the evolving of taxidermy and how it started as a small business and became this amazingly profitable trade. I also agree that when taxidermy first surfaced in makes sense that people were stand offish about the idea because the fact of a dead animal being preserved but still holding so much life is just a bit grotesque- but you would think the fact that we have people dedicated to preserving those animals and the technology to do so that people would be amazed by it. Yet still, after hundreds of years people still don't understand it or see it in a positive way. They chose to focus on the grossness of it- not the art of it.

In re reading my blog posts, I really enjoyed seeing how my perspectives on taxidermy grew. All the work we did in class and re reading the story really was an eye opener and made me see things differently- which are noticeable through my blog posts.

I want to incorporate passion into my writing. Orlean loves to write. It is not only her job- but her hobby. It isn't difficult to read what she writes because she makes it interesting- and that is what I want to do. I want my readers to feel eager to finish my work, not just set it down and move on. Compared to Standing By I think it will be much easier to evolve into a better writer because Lifelike is an article that just brings up so much emotion and views which once we all put it into our own words we have potential to have great work. My tone is both positive and negative. Different theories on her quote usage cause different tones or moods for me and hopefully for my readers. I want people's thoughts to be racing and brains to be full force because that's what reading should do. We should all have our own interpretations to what we read. Although some views may be the same we all have our differences that will make it personable to us- and that's what I want to happen after people read my essay.