Time as flown by almost instantly and as most of you know, it is finally that time of the year – finals. After slugging my way through Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road and doing archetypal theory, feminist theory, reader response theory and colonial analysis, we have finally made it to the last blog post. This blog will focus on my portfolio. The thesis I will be using is this: Three Day Road uses ulterior messaging through the main characters’ life stories to exploit the cultural genocide caused by residential schooling, capitalism, and colonialism which affected indigenous people in Canada for decades, and even today, we can still see how these events are affecting Canada tremendously. I plan on using colonial and feminist theories to help explain, persuade, and argue my points to those whom it may concern.
For the portfolio project, we have been given an assignment in which we have to create four pieces of work spanning a variety of mediums. One of the parts of my book I am choosing to focus on was the underlying colonialism that was taking place at the time. I will look at characters like Xavier and analyze his time spent in residential schools and how that affects him. I will look at Niska and the assumptions that were made of her just because she was a woman, and Elijah’s growing will to kill, pushed onto him by the government. All of these things combined will make up parts of the thesis for the work I am creating.
Here are the four pieces I am thinking of creating – a blog post, a narrative essay, a vlog, and a remix photo. Although, I may swap the narrative essay for a persuasive one – I will have to ask Miss Pluss when she returns to classes.
Narrative Essay
The reason I am choosing a narrative essay is because I feel like a lot of people don’t know about Canada’s rather dark past, so I thought maybe giving a hypothetical view into Elijah’s life would be a great way to start my portfolio and set the pace for the rest of my work. I think writing the same style of writing that my book is in would add a great personal touch to the writing! Don’t you agree? I think this is better than doing a persuasive and argumentative piece because it fits better with the works I will be creating. For instance, if I were to do an argumentative piece and a blog I feel as they would be extremely similar.
Blog Post
I am choosing a blog post because I feel like I can use it as an informal way to connect to a general audience, while also being able to be persuasive at the same time. Another benefit of doing a blog post is the fact that I can include video clips and pictures of the aspects that I feel will be SUPER EFFECTIVE to the reader. Furthermore, I have always felt like I am a fairly strong blog writer. Blog posts have always been tricky for me, I’m not good with the software, I’m not interested in graphics and I always think essays are more formal. For this blog post, I am going to focus on linking to other articles for proof and pictures that illustrate my points.
Concept Map
A concept map is easily the aspect of this project that I am looking forward to the least. For the concept map, I’m still trying to figure out the best way to approach it. Since my book only has 3 main characters, I think I might use them as the three main points on the map, and then show how my thesis ties in specifically to each character. I think this will serve as a great visual aid to someone who has not read the book but is still interested in my portfolio. The challenge of this piece is making it detailed and very well put together without it looking messy. If I could choose the order in which the reader receives my portfolio, I would put this piece first.
Remix
The remix comes with an array of expectations for me. Although I love art, I have never been majorly interested in drawing. Although at the current time I just so happen to be working on a sculpture that addresses classroom learning (something that ties into my text rather frequently), so I may just use that seeing as they go so well together. Hopefully, this sculpture works as a self-interpretation of the disasters that were going on in residential schools.
Throughout this class, I feel as if I have definitely come to a long ways in terms of blog writing! I say this because it’s very hard for me to write informally since I am so used to writing essays. Without a doubt, I would say the biggest strength I’ve gained that will help me for years to come is the ability to critically analyze anything (blogs, texts, books, art, etc). These skills will forever be useful to me in my career path. Furthermore, one of the other things that I have learned includes how to properly use all the theories we have been taught throughout this course. I’ve taken this class before, and the first time I took it, I got 60%, and now, I’m 1% off of achieving a 90%! It has been a long ride, but I am almost there. I think that this marked improvement is mainly because my confidence has grown so much as a writer. I am getting to a point now in which I no longer question everything I’m writing, and am able to trust myself in my ability to write properly. I have learned to be poignant in my speech, as well as to be clear and concise, and I am no longer relying on adjectives to achieve word counts.
PS. Happy holidays!
-Alex
ALEXANDER 