Reflection Blog

In order to reflect on this class, I decided to do another version of the first assignment we did this semester – the literacy log. Instead of actually logging every word I read over the entire weekend, I made sure I noted the things that really stood out to me, especially after all of the material we’ve covered in these passed few weeks. While I have had to spend a lot of time grappling with words throughout my academic career (I am in a very writing-intensive major, so I have had to read and write a lot) it is still very interesting and useful to take an extended period of time to really consciously read all of the words that are put in front of you every day.

Running errands at CVS is honestly always kind of stressful for me. I am usually rushing in between classes or on my way to or from work – generally not at a moment when I actually have time to wander the aisles and chose from the over abundance of brands of laundry detergent or toothpaste. This weekend, I stood in front of the overwhelming wall of mascara trying to decide which one I would like best, and I read the words on all of the packages. “Volume” was one word that came up a lot, as well as “mega”, “great”, “extra”, all words that suggested what would happen if I used a specific product. Since I can’t actually open and sample each different type of mascara, I have to depend on the words that are on the package to decide which on I think would work best. For the most part, especially for mascara, packaging on make-up is small and there is not a whole lot of room to market the product, so the words on the package have to count. Some of the tubes of mascara actually physically were bigger at one end or in the middle and tapered off at the ends, and the font on the package was large and plump, to convey to the consumer that the product would have make their lashes large and plump as well. I found it very interesting that in the past I was definitely influenced by which words I saw on the packages, but I hadn’t actually taken the time to notice why. What’s the difference between “mega” and “extra” or “bulk” and “volume”? I know there are many different factors that go into marketing a product -- the colors, the placement of images, etc -- but the words were deliberately chosen, too. 

Another instance where I was reading that I found interesting was looking at podcast titles. Admittedly, I hardly read the news anymore. But I have found that listening to the news during my commute has been an incredibly efficient use of my time. As I was downloading my subscriptions for this week, I thought about how technology has influenced the way we consume information, and how journals have been affected by these changes. Instead of receiving The New York Times or The Economist in the mail, many people receive them online or listen to audio versions of them. Podcasts (at least the ones I’ve listened to) aren’t organized like most physical journals – they don’t have volume or issue numbers, they’re just numbered from the beginning to the most recent. Like most journal articles though, they also have titles that reflect the content of the article. This week I have “New Efforts to Prevent Domestic Homicide”, “The Cost of Free Doughnuts”, “New Music: Yuck, Electronic Music Pioneer Roedelius, Chastity Belt and More”, and “Tony Hinchcliffe”. The last title, “Tony Hinchcliffe” is the least descriptive, which is characteristic of Joe Rogan’s podcast titles, and is very frustrating to me. I like to be able to at least assume what the general topic of the podcast will be just by reading the title. “New Efforts to Prevent Domestic Homicide” is pretty self explanatory, but “Tony Hinchcliffe” is just the name of this week’s guest on the podcast. That says a lot about the nature of the podcast itself, however. While a podcast from NPR have a more informative title to reflect the informative content, Joe Rogan’s podcast is much more informal and usually doesn’t start off with any one subject in particular, so I’m assuming that he leaves his podcasts without a more specific title on purpose.

Looking at the way we use words more closely has been really fun this semester. While I do think I’ve done it a lot in my own field, it’s been very useful to look at language through a wider lens – how it is used on a day to day basis, and in other disciplines that are not my own. I think that gives us as students a greater understanding of how we can use words as tools in all areas of our lives.