Writingmd Insides 1221.Pdf

WritingMD: A Comprehensive Guide to Treating All Your Writing Sicknesses

by Winslow’s Writing Warriors of T.O. CORE 111 2 Table of Contents

Introduction...... 4

Chapter 1: Start-up Sickness...... 6

Chapter 2: Clarity Congestion...... 16

Chapter 3: Structural Strep Throat...... 24

Chapter 4: Evidence E. Coli...... 38

Chapter 5: Analysis Allergies...... 45

Chapter 6: Boring Writing Boo-Boos...... 83

Chapter 7: Mechanical Mono...... 88

Conclusion...... 96

Bibliography...... 98

3 Introduction Kylie Eiselstein

The doctor’s office is a dreadful place. As a child I resented my yearly check-ups at the doctor’s office, as most do, because of the fear of shots, the medicine-y, sterile smell, and the mere inconvenience of it all. Today, I avoid going to the doctor because of the mere inconvenience of it. Life usually gets in the way of a lowly check-up appointment, which are inevitably put off until we get an actual sickness or problem. Of course, when our doctor tells us that our ill condition is preventable, we’re left conflicted: dang it! we say. Why didn’t I just go to my check-up?? Experiences with writing can be much the same way. When we’re faced with a problem, a “writing sickness” – writer’s block, lack of clarity, difficulties with structure – we often learn after we receive our cure that it could have been easily avoided if we had known the proper steps. With writing, the trouble is not so much figuring out that you’re sick; it’s knowing where Dr. Writing is to get medicine, check-ups, and eventually preventative steps in not getting sick again. This book was created by eleven freshmen students at the University of Southern California in their Honors The- matic Option 111 writing course with the intention of creating a source for writers to turn to when they’re plagued with problems. Our concise, short “cures” for the sick-

4 nesses that ail writers are crafted from the knowledge we’ve gained throughout our first semester of college. All of the sicknesses are ones we’ve felt ourselves, whether in the past or present. Throughout our course, we found some helpful remedies and recommendations that we wanted to share with other writers. Unlike other writing books that just tell you to be a better writer, this book seeks to know you problem and then answer it right away. Each sickness is a different aspect of writing. Like going to the doctor to get a cure for a specific illness, you need not read the entire book; just flip to the certain thing that is currently causing you trouble. The book also serves the other side of our doctor analogy: it can be a means for checking-up on yourself. Knowing the cure not only helps your present condition, but it can also allow you to prevent future conditions. So. What’s the reason for your visit today?

5 Chapter 1: Start-up Sickness

“The scariest moment is just before you always start.”

Take it from Stephen King: starting a new piece of writing, whatever the reason, can be a daunting task. When you’re afflicted with a bad case of Start-up Sickness and simply don’t know how (or why) to begin, there are a couple things to consider that might help resolve the issue. In this section, we’ll try to identify causes, symptoms, and treatment methods to get over this first hurdle.

Illness: Lack of “Pre-Writing” // Cure: Thinking Well: How a Writer Should Think...... 7

Illness: Boring Analysis // Cure: Creative Analytical Writing...... 9

Illness: Unsure of Where to Start // Cure: Getting Launched: Sparknotes Edition...... 11

Illness: Writing Anxiety // Cure: Getting Started: Draft Zero...... 13

6 Thinking Well: How a Writer Should Think Raye Cheng

If starting up is giving you the blues, this will help get you in the right mindset. Learn how a writer should think:

“Assume that your reader is just waiting for an excuse to tune out.”

These words from John Trimble will completely transform the way in which you write. In his book Writing with Style, which has become an almost holy text in our writing class, Trimble introduces writing by first explaining how a writer should think. Too often, we write by merely putting our own thoughts down on paper. Trimble calls this “unconscious writing” as there is no intentionality in writing for an audience. After all, the point of writing is to provide new knowledge or persuade our readers of what we’re writing about. If there is no thought into how our reader will receive our text, we are not serving our readers and we do an injustice to our own writing. So how does one write to serve their reader? First off, consider ourselves. When we read, what keeps us engaged? Why do certain writings catch our attention? And how is that achieved? Reflecting on our own readings provides insight into how our readers might perceive our

7 work. At the core of Trimble’s book, Trimble challenges us to be other-oriented - to think of our readers and not ourselves while we write. Referring back to the original quote, Trimble asserts that readers are “just waiting for an excuse to tune out.” It is our responsibility and challenge as writers to not give readers that excuse, and Trimble elucidates how we can achieve that through empathy. When writing, or even thinking of writing, we must always be conscious of how we are serving our readers’ needs through our work. Here is a general guideline:

1. Phrase your thoughts clearly so you’re easy to follow 2. Speak to the point so you don’t waste your reader’s time. 3. Anticipate their reactions (boredom, confusion, fatigue, irritation). 4. Offer them variety and wit to lighten their work. 5. Talk to them in a warm, open manner instead of pontificating to them like a know-it-all

Serving our readers entails being explicit about our thoughts and explaining the reasoning behind the thoughts. We must illustrate how our reasoning supports our claims in a way that is easily comprehensible by our readers while anticipating their responses and catering to those reactions. Varying our writing style, sentence structure, or diction are useful ways to keep readers enticed for the entirety of our writing. Most importantly, every human likes being treated as such, and doing our best to extend that empathy will go a long way not just in real life interactions, but through our writing too.

8 Creative Analytical Writing Raye Cheng

Another cure for Start-up Sickness is to add creativity to your analytical writing. For most, formulaic analytical writing has dominated academic papers for the entirety of our education. We’ve learned how to structure a paper with an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. We’ve learned that we should have two to three pieces of evidence to support our claims. We’ve learned a rigid framework of writing that we should abide by, yet in doing so, one can argue that we’ve learned to write as machines. Personally, I hear many complaints from students wishing there were more creative writing assignments - assignments in which we could write about what we want to write about how we want to write about it. Though I won’t say that we should casually disregard the writing assignments at hand, I will argue that we can still find a way to channel this inner creativity within our formal analytical assignments. I defer once again to Trimble. In Chapter 6 of his book Writing with Style, Trimble agrees that writing can be “an intensively creative, pleasurable activity.” Further, he states “we all have imaginations; the trick is to use them.” Indeed, we often forget when we write that imagination and creativity are ingrained in us. We crave to express this creativity only to be embittered when we encounter the perceived restrictions of analytical writing, and thus, we relegate ourselves to the customary formulaic writing we’ve

9 been taught for years. But what if it is possible to be creative within analytical writing? Admittedly, there will naturally be a sense of con- straint in any given assignment, but it is possible to let our imagination flow within the context of these restrictions. Our chief concern in any writing is to educate and persuade our audience, and releasing our creativity is certainly a means of making our work more enticing and memorable to achieve this end. This creativity can manifest in the adjectives that we choose. Is he menacing, terrifying, or simply bad? It can manifest in the verbs that we choose. Did she weep, mourn, or cry? This creativity can even be expressed through whole ideas and phrases, not just single words. Trimble challenges us to “always be thinking in terms of ‘like.’ Such-and-such is like--what?” Truly embracing this challenge is when our imagination and creativity can run free. We can add depth to our analysis by creating our own analogies for the ideas we are trying to convey. Take my writing of this post, for example. I could say:

I let my imagination and creativity run free as I write.

Or I could say:

I unleashed the inner child within me, allowing my child- like imagination to frolic through an expansive field of words.

Though perhaps a little more wordy, the second sentence captures the essence of my writing more accurately than the first and illustrates a clearer visual for readers to un-

10 derstand my writing process. I imagined how I felt writing in this present moment, and that imagination led me to describe this field of words. As a visual learner, an exercise I find helpful is to sit in thought about whatever idea you are trying to express, and let a natural image conjure in your mind. Then, use this imagination to creatively paint this image in words. Formal writing assignments do not need to feel so restricting. If you are so obliged, let your imagination run free!

Getting Launched: Sparknotes Edition Lingaire Ofosuhene

I love writing. Yet even as someone who finds the process enjoyable, I too share the same daunting feelings when assigned a major essay. However, such feelings have been slightly eased, thanks to the antidote that is Writing With Style by John R. Trimble. In this blog post, I hope to serve two groups of people: the underserved minority that is those who don’t do the readings and the “elite” students who do, but, need a refresher every now-and-then. Join me on a quick, concise journey through Chapter 2: Getting Launched. Remember that writing is an incredibly individu- alized process. For example, some writers like to speed through their drafts as if they are expelling word vomit. Others seem mentally stuck, as they wallow in perfectionist mode, deliberating over their words. Please note that there are as many different processes as there are writers, and no one way is better than the rest. Simply take the rest of these

11 recommendations as a way to hone the ideal process, for you. This advice comes from the age-old adage: write what you know. It is simply useless to do otherwise. If you are not both emotionally and intellectually invested in the topic, not only will you, yourself, know, but your readers will too. For example, if you find yourself in good spirits, you could write about the cinematic gold that is Shrek 2 and its critique on gender norms in society (i.e. Pinocchio wears women’s thong underwear). In contrast, on your more angsty days, you could argue that such a popular film is the cause for rising divorce rates in society (i.e. Shrek’s inability to fight for his marriage, undermines the sanctity of the institution). Put in the extra effort and trim down your writing into a more manageable size. For example, Shrek’s father- in-law, King Harold, was a hideous, stubby, excuse of a man. Yet, with the help of Fairy-Godmother, he was able to trim out all of his ugliness and turn into a rather cute, charming little toad. This was a major upgrade from his previous form as a human. Likewise, do the same with your writing and delimit it to a more manageable piece. Once you know what you will write about, think about how you want to attack it. Then stockpile data. This should include ideas, significant details, quotations, paral- lels, etc., and most importantly, facts. Readers like to be taught in concrete ways, and facts are the best way to do it. Similarly, stockpiling data is much like Shrek and Donkey’s voyage in saving Princess Fiona, in which they needed to gather all the necessary tools and materials to ensure their success.

12 In order to formulate facts and ideas, ask yourself questions! Ask - Who? What? Where? When? How? Why? If you find yourself stuck on this task, I, personally, find it best to embody the physical, mental, and emotional state of Donkey (from Shrek) and pretend that you too have an Ogre for a best friend that you must at all times ask inva- sive questions about their personal life. However, for all intents and purposes, pretend that the ogre is your writing.

Getting Started: Draft Zero Anna Greer

For many of us, starting an essay is the hardest part. If you’ve thought through your ideas and developed an outline but just cannot get into the flow of writinng, then creating a draft zero is the best cure for you. Do not stop writing, do not stop writing, whatever you do, don’t stop. It might feel weird. We are taught that writers are thinkers, that writing takes time and deep- thinking and close reading and craft. We are told to have patience when forming a sentence and to ensure that it flows and is perfectly grammatically correct. And all of these things are good and true and indicative of great writing... for an end product, that is. But we cannot reasonably reach this point of artfully crafted perfection without first going through a round or two or three or four of experi- mentation. Yes, I’m talking about drafting. And I’m going to show you that it’s not that painful. Arguably, the hardest part about writing is getting started. (Ever heard the term “writer’s block”?) But you don’t have to spend hours at a desk, tapping your foot and

13 groaning annoyedly, to get going on a killer paper. The so- lution is to simply start and not stop on a Draft Zero. And here’s how (drum roll please): SQUIBLER! This website is a writer’s greatest enemy and best friend rolled into one succinct task: writing without pause. Search “the most dangerous prompt generator” in Google. Simply click “Start writing without prompt” on the main page and begin typing. Spew your thoughts about your essay task at hand, crafting a river of ideas flowing from your creatively juicy brain to your fast-moving fingers. And, whatever you do, don’t. stop. writing. If you do stop for more than five seconds, everything you have just written will be deleted. (You can download it afterwards, sure, but for a more dramatic effect, let’s just say it’s gone forever.) The result is this: you have started your essay! Congratula- tions! Your thoughts and ideas have been poured out onto a now not-blank page (the first time I tried this, I wrote 1000 words in 20 minutes), and you’ve begun to understand what you are really trying to say in your essay. Grant- ed, your sentences may be run-ons or your evidence may be sloppy or your paragraphs may not really be paragraphs, but nonetheless your writer’s block has been cured. And, now, you’ll know what to write and how to write it a million times more successfully for your real first draft.

Writing Anxiety After drafting for a while, you would eventually have to stop and edit the content. This may be when writing anxiety strikes: while a healthy level of anxiety would motivate one to improve their essay, overwhelming anxiety could paralyse the author and become debilitating. On one end of the spectrum, the author may spend an outrageous

14 amount of time nitpicking everything during the editing process, but on the other end the author may procrastinate to avoid the task completely. Below are some tips on how to cope with overwhelming writing anxiety: Think of yourself as a student, not an expert: Maybe you’re writing for a new audience, a tricky subject matter or an unfamiliar genre. It’s completely normal to have things you don’t know! Think of what expectations you have for yourself and compare that with what others are probably expecting from you. Be fair to yourself and see it as an opportunity to learn. Create short-term goals: Don’t be a deadline fighter, break your work into manageable chunks paced over time. If you have trouble starting, set a timer for five minutes as once you get started it’s easier to continue. Re- member to reward yourself when you’re done – incentives motivate. Get Help: You don’t have to do this alone: go to office hours, talk to your editor and ask your friends to read your paper and give you feedback. Use all the resources available to you.

15 Chapter 2: Clarity Congestion

Is your writing as stuffy as your nose? Can nobody understand what you’re saying because of your constant sniffling? Are your ideas getting drowned out by annoy- ing sneezes? Well then I have the cure for you! Whether it be guiding your reader through your essay, making your writing more active and engaging, or choosing the perfect word, just flip over to the page of whatever ails you and thank me later.

Illness: Unclear Commentary // Cure: Metacommentary...... 17

Illness: Unclear Argument // Cure: Active Argument Structure...... 18

Illness: Poor Word Choice // Cure: Word Accuracy...... 20

Illness: Passive Voice // Cure: Passive vs Active Voice...... 22

16 Metacommentary Daniel Bae

Metacommentary? I’m already struggling enough with regular old commentary as it is, and now I have to deal with this? What kind of evil cure is this? Now, I know many of you might be grumbling to yourselves at the thought of having to learn a new style of commentary despite being taught the “right” way for so many years prior, but metacommentary is actually very intuitive. Essentially, it’s just like having a conversation with someone about a complicated argument—clarifying points here and there, re-explaining a section or two, and simplify- ing concepts whose meanings may not have come across clearly the first time around. In other words, it’s like adding notes on the margins of a textbook to help you understand the text more clearly. It’s what I’m doing right now, actually. You might argue that your commentary is clear and thoroughly-explained as is, but that simply isn’t true. Arguments can always be interpreted differently, no matter how clearly an author believes they wrote it, and readers like you and I need to be directed to the intended argument. Addition- ally, there may be extra nuances and fine details that don’t necessarily come across in your initial statement, and that’s where metacommentary comes in. The extra “but don’t get me wrong,” “what I’m really trying to say,” and “what I’m not trying to say” really adds the necessary oomph needed to propel your argument forward and focus its scope. Also note that metacommentary is not solely in the meat of a body paragraph. Titles also serve as an eye-catch-

17 ing example of how effective metacommentary can be to define and enhance the meaning of a literary work. For -ex ample, novels like The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald have titles that serve as greater symbols and ironic emblems of the work as a whole—they enrich the reading experience by thematically capturing the essence of their stories and characters. Com- pare that to the ingenious titles we so carefully place onto our own essays, such as “Assignment A3 Essay Final Draft” and “Analysis of Bernadette Mayer’s ‘[Sonnet] you jerk you didn’t call me up.’” These titles do absolutely nothing in the way of benefitting or intriguing a reader as they begin their journey into our essays and analyses, and in reality actually bore the reader before they’ve even started. Titles with deliberate metacommentary in mind are able to summarize the general meaning of the work and add crucial layers of complexity or symbolism. So, I hope that cleared a couple things up about what metacommentary is and why we should be using it. It’s an incredible tool for clarifying writing and presenting nuanced arguments, and can help you become a much better writer and communicator.

Active Argument Structure Liam Tsao

Like many developing writers, I often struggle with my style of argumentation in academic writing. Even when I’m excited about the premise of my essay (which, let’s face it, isn’t always), I often feel the urge to bury my main point toward the end of my paper.

18 Why do I and many other developing writers fall prey to this? Well, this is partly because we feel that by leaving something about our arguments unexplained, our audience will keep reading until the very end. However, not only is this not the case but actually this style of writing can be quite unclear; it can derail my entire essay, muddling my main point beyond recognition. In this entry, I will first explain active argumentation and then offer some useful tips and tricks. Write on!

What is Active Argumentation?

Argumentation is defined as “the action or process of reasoning systematically in support of an idea, action, or theory.” Unlike passive argumentation, active argumentation requires clearly stating your underlying point at the beginning of the essay, using each subsequent paragraph to build it up and add nuance.

Tips and Tricks

Don’t save your argument for the end of the essay. Make the argument known to the reader at the beginning—that way, they will be able to follow your logic and come away convinced. In general, it’s best to order your examples from simplest to most complex, or similarly, literal to metaphori- cal. For instance, if you were writing an essay about the theme of colonialism in “Bloodchild”, you could start by examining the obvious fact that the Terrans are colonists on the Tlic planet before delving deeper into the more nuanced ways that the colonial power dynamic affects inter-

19 specific relationships. This will make for a better experience for the reader, as they will be able to logically follow the solid foundation you build upon. Remember that your essay should read like a story. Try to incorporate an engaging narrative structure to keep your reader hooked. In other words, you shouldn’t be able to swap out paragraphs willy-nilly; instead, each should have a clear and logical place within the essay. At the same time, make sure that each paragraph is pulling their own argumentative weight. Each should be adding something distinct to the essay and continuing to refine your argument. And finally, don’t forget the other techniques that we’ve talked about. Metacommentary, especially in the first and last two sentences of the paragraph, is extremely important to the broader argumentative flow of the essay. Also remember to use analytical summaries and active voice to further sharpen your argument.

Word Accuracy Sagan Gor

Finding the right word to use in a piece of writing can be very difficult. Improving vocabulary and word choice is a lifelong practice, especially when it comes to writing. Although it is a very simple task to write while using some sort of thesaurus, the results are immediate and noticeable, and that’s why every writer should be decidedly conscious of word choice. Professor Anthony Kemp of USC once said that words are a crude type of thing, and the most accurate

20 wisdom can not be conveyed using language alone. I think he was quoting some old Greek philosopher guy. In any case, although words are small units of information, it still helps to be as accurate and precise as possible in any form of communication. That’s where word choice comes along. Just as it helps to eliminate passive voice in many cases, I once had a teacher who reprimanded us whenever we used words such as “happy” or “sad” or similarly simple terms. In the same way as one can go back and modify instances of passive voice, word choice can be improved upon in very much the same way. I find this to be a very helpful exercise because it forces me to be extra mindful about exactly what I am trying to say and which words might be able to convey this most effectively. Ever since I started being more conscious of my words in writing, the accuracy of my ideas has naturally improved. Below is just one vocabulary wheel which is relatively simple but helpful nonetheless, especially in choosing a word that is accurate and descriptive.

21 Passive vs Active Voice Jocelyn Liu

When you’re afflicted with clarity congestion, one step on the road to recovery is beginning to understand how you present your evidence to your reader. One such means is identifying and understanding the differences between passive and active voice. The terms passive and active voice relate to grammatical structure in sentence construction; in the former, the grammatical subject comes before actor (eg. “grammatical subject” was [acted upon] by “actor”). A good way to gauge if you are using passive voice is as follows: if you can add “by zombies” into the sentence, then it is most likely in passive voice. This silly phrase helps identify cases of a subject being acted upon (by zombies), thus successfully detecting passive constructions. In the case of the latter, the opposite is true, and the actor comes first (“actor” [acts upon] “grammatical subject”). When we stop to think about it, the second one seems more intuitive, and it is generally accepted as a better, more effective choice in construction for a number of reasons: • Conciseness- converting from active to passive voice often leads to a reduction in words to communicate the same idea- it is quantitatively more concise. • Consider: John made the muffins (active, 4) versus The muffins were made by John (passive, 6). • Clarity- In high school, I did a lot of scientific writing. In general, passive voice in scientific literature is a big

22 “no-no”; as it turns out, this is directly related to clarity as well as conciseness of the presented argument. When we write in passive voice, we don’t reveal the actor, or actual subject, until the very end. It can lead to indirection and confusion, especially easily lost among scientific, or in our case, literary, jargon. Similarly, anytime I would write “it becomes apparent...” or “it is known...”, my teacher would underline it and notate: what is it? A very stingy use of pronouns helps further develop this idea of clarity. • Argumentation- Active voice (and consequently, active verbs) help build one’s argument in the sense that they, according to Trimble, “move us forward.” It is direct and straightforward, and the central power of the sentence derives from that active and assertive verb. In the long run, Trimble suggests, “because every sentence normally has at least one verb, the aggregate effect of a writer’s verbs is huge.” • Ease- Simply by lending itself to conciseness, switching from passive to active voice is already doing the reader a favor: there is less work needed for them to get from Point A to Point B. Furthermore, by placing the actor rather than actee up front, it simplifies the work the reader needs to do to connect the dots, hence presenting a simpler, more logical argumentative framework.

23 Chapter 3: Structural Strep Throat

Suffering from structural strep throat? Anna certainly was! If your introductions, body paragraphs, and conclusions are as painful to read as your sore throat, then this is the section for you. In this section, we will look at how to cure your painful introductions and conclusions, and we will also look at how to vastly improve the health of your paragraphs.

Illness: Need a Refresher on Good Paragraphs // Cure: What is a Paragraph?...... 25

Illness: Weak Topic Sentences // Cure: Topic Sentences...... 27

Illness: Weak Sentence Structure // Cure: Sentence Struc- ture Within a Paragraph...... 28

Illness: Weak Intro Paragraphs // Cure: Introduction Paragraphs...... 30

Illness: Weak Conclusion Paragraphs // Cure: Conclusion Paragraphs...... 32

24 What is a Paragraph? Raye Cheng

For those suffering from Structural Strep Throat, here is some information on what structure really is, or more specifically, what a paragraph is. It may seem absurd to discuss the definition of a paragraph at the college-level. After all, we’ve been writing in paragraphs since elementary school. Yet the truth is that mastery of any skill, including writing, requires constant improvement and refinement of the basics. So what is a paragraph? A paragraph is a single unit of a single idea. Note that the definition does not include a strict requirement of a certain number of sentences or words. A paragraph is as long, or as short, as is needed for an idea to be fully explained, and thus, serves as a division of ideas within an essay or larger piece of writing. Though there are no stringent regulations, there are certain guidelines that can be followed when organizing a paragraph. This is by no means all-encompassing, but rather, merely serves as possible guide for writing and structuring paragraphs. Since a paragraph develops one idea, it follows that the first sentence should open your claim, question, or problem that you aim to discuss. The body of the paragraph addresses this proposition as you explain your claim or unveil your argument. The conclusion fully resolves the problem and reflects on the original idea and should pose a new set of questions or claims to discuss as a corollary

25 from the paragraph itself. A well-written paragraph will create a resonance that intrigues the reader to continue reading on for your next arguments. Essentially, a paragraph should follow: • Question - Initial problem or question to discuss • Answer - Resolve the problem or answer the question • Question - New problem or question arising from content in paragraph Another more systematic way of organizing paragraphs consists of seven guiding components: • Introduction - introduce key claims, problems, dyna- mics, themes, etc in a general statement • Focused Introduction - extends the introduction and makes it more specific to your thesis • Introduce Evidence - include concrete evidence and examples • Explanation - unpack your evidence and describe the device used • Effect - evaluate the effect that the evidence creates • Introduce Significance - delve deeper into close reading and expound on significance of evidence • Conclusion - resolve the problem, answer the question, address new concerns Remember that quality writing will always require editing and revising. Take your time to dive into close reading to build concrete arguments within paragraphs while developing a logical flow of ideas between paragraphs.

26 Topic Sentences Jocelyn Liu

To remedy cases of structural strep throat, you generally want to look at your argumentative framework as a whole. Secondarily, and more specifically, topic sentences are a good way to start. They set up, like subheadings, each one of your arguments, and writing them well ensures that you can start off on the right foot. Topic sentences fill a weird, niche sort of role: they walk a fine line as a sub-thesis for the piece, a component of a transition, and also an introduction for their respective body paragraphs. Firstly, successful topic sentences must be argument-driven. They are, in many ways, microcosmic of the introduction (and the thesis) of the work as a whole, so they serve to: • Engage- Hook by leading with a new factor, or expanding upon the argument in a way that leads to the clarity of a new position (for example, by articulating a new problem that adds a new level of complexity to your thesis). • Locate- Establish your position on said problem and find a way to ease into the discourse of your following argument. • Teach- Give context, and begin informing the reader about the problem at hand (naturally, the bulk of addressing this problem is saved for the following body of the paragraph). Furthermore, the topic sentence is NOT a stand-alone en- tity. Your first and last sentences of each paragraph should

27 exhibit a resonance; indeed, each paired set is analogous to your whole piece; the more cohesively and strongly they present their respective arguments, the better your holistic logical framework will ultimately come together. In other words, your topic sentence should introduce an idea by opening a problem or raising a mystery (and correspondingly, the last sentence should try to resolve that problem and reflect upon it, recursively segueing into another issue for the topic sentence that will follow). Thus, it serves its function in asserting and delivering new ideas, but also as a transition to build the flow of your col- lective piece.

Sentence Structure Within a Paragraph Joey Patrick

Do you ever struggle with making cohesive, compelling paragraphs? If so, then this is your section! Good paragraphs possess a multitude of sentences that range from stating concrete ideas to exploring abstract thoughts. While each of these types of sentences serve very different purposes within the structure of the paragraph, they do build on each other as follows: • Hard data, direct quotes, and direct evidence. • Very concrete summary (either normal summary or analytical summary). • Slightly less concrete: introduces specific evidence, but also ties together a couple of different ideas and evidence.

28 • Somewhat more abstract: references some intangible ideas, some specific subject matter; points inward toward a problem that needs to be solved. • Very abstract, with extremely general ideas and concepts; points outward and tries to relate the topic to other broad ideas. Further, each paragraph should have a similar, basic structure in which all of these different types of sentences are used in a particular order, as demonstrated by the graph below:

Roughly following this paragraph structure ensures that you will use all of the important facets of properly writing an essay: a good topic sentence, direct evidence, analysis, critical stakes, etc. By also using this structure, your paragraphs will have a lot of variation in their structure, making them and the rest of your essay inherently more interesting to read.

29 Introduction Paragraphs Joey Patrick and Ngai Yeung

“First impression is the last impression,” the saying goes. Just like in real life, people have short attention spans so you must try your best to impress them and catch their attention in the beginning; this is where the introduction comes in. A captivating, well-crafted introduction is essential to any good essay as you wouldn’t want your audience to be bored and stop reading. The introduction should also prepare the reader by briefly explaining the bigger picture of what’s going to happen in the essay and approximately how it’s going to be structured. With that in mind, let us examine the hallmarks of a good introduction.

The Hook: Getting People Interested

First, a great introduction paragraph must have an engaging start itself: this striking start is called a hook, and its job is to interest the reader and draw them into the rest of the work. These hooks come in many different styles and are dependent on how the rest of the paper reads. If discussing a lighter topic, a tasteful joke may be appropriate; however, if the topic is more serious, an astonishing fact or something similar in tone should be used.

Context: Catching Up the Reader

A good introduction paragraph should also provide the reader with some background information for the rest of

30 the essay so that they could better understand the bigger picture of what’s going on. Because there will be more context given in body paragraphs later on, the background information in the introduction should be kept to a mini- mum.

Roadmap: Outlining the Direction

Roadmapping lays out the direction of the essay, contrib- uting to the reader’s sense of the big picture and providing some clarity on the nature of the essay. However, this roadmap should not go into complete detail of the paper as some information must be left out to entice the reader to keep reading.

Significance: Explaining Why It Matters

The introduction should also establish the author’s position on the subject and the critical stakes. Essentially, the reader should be able to predict what path the writer is going to go down and should also understand why it is important that they read the essay.

The Thesis: Bringing It All Together

Finally, the introduction should end with an explosive, controversial thesis that draws attention and demands that the reader continue reading to learn how the conflict is resolved.

31 Conclusion Paragraphs Liam Tsao and Carsten Søndergaard

Just as the introduction leads the reader into the essay, the conclusion should lead them out. In this article, I will discuss the basics of conclusions, looking at their composite parts and their broader significance to the essay.

Principle Functions of a Conclusion • It touches on the main themes of your essay • It recaps the most important details • It frames your argument, helping readers understand the final “so what” of your essay • It provides a memorable conclusion to your essay, one that will hopefully stick with your reader

The conclusion should...

Resonate with the introduction

It’s often a good idea to harken back to a theme or question you discussed in your introduction. You can use your conclusion to modify or expand what you previously said, giving the reader a sense of completion. By refining your introduction, you show that you’ve advanced discourse sur- rounding an issue.

Apply your argument to something outside the essay

32 Good conclusions make the real-world consequences of the essay clear. In his chapter on closers, Trimble notes that we should point out the “important implications, so that the reader will be convinced that the argument is sub- stantial.” You can do this by applying your argument to a real-world situation, looking at potential complications, or analyzing how your argument diverges from conventional wisdom.

The conclusion shouldn’t...

Restate Obvious Points

In my experience, the most effective conclusions are also the most concise. Yes, you should provide a recap of the most important details of your essay. But you don’t need to restate everything. Doing so not only breeds confusion, but muddles the emotional impact of your entire paper.

Rely on sweeping generalizations

While it’s a good idea to extend your thesis to broader principles, it’s also possible to be too general. For example, the sentence “Examining Gan’s relationship with T’Gatoi shows us the fundamental nature of humanity” relies too much on generalizations, tempering the effectiveness of the conclusion. I’ve found that effective conclusions extend the argument to something extremely specific, helping the reader understand the tangible significance of the argument.

Overstate the importance of your essay

33 While your paper is (hopefully) innovative and well-argued, it’s likely not going to redefine human thought. So try to avoid extremely meta or non-topical connections, especially ones that you haven’t previously referenced. For instance, you’ll want to avoid sentences like “By understanding Roy Batty in Blade Runner, we can fix the immigration crisis.” Not only does this sentence contain a jump in logic, but it oversimplifies an incredibly complex real world problem. Remember, try to keep your conclusions specific and topical!

A couple of fun tips for the conclusions of conclusions:

The conclusion is not only an important place to leave the reader with key ideas and a new understanding of the topic you address, but also a place where you can, in a sense, ‘tie a ribbon on your gift.’ By this I mean that a conclusion can be a firm punctuation mark, making the reader feel that sweet satisfaction of walking away from the essay with a ‘cute’ or truly complete feeling. These tips can usually come at, but are not limited to, the very end of the paper. Here are a couple of things I like to do.

Reexamine a device you brought up earlier.

If, somewhere near the beginning of the essay, you introduce some piece of evidence or information or concept or anything of that nature and examine it ‘cold,’ – in other words before the reader gained the new understanding you gave them – then you can look at it again at the end for a powerful effect. You can somewhat explicitly state

34 that with your new idea that you proved to them in the essay, we can now look at this same device we looked at earlier before you proved your point, and through this new lens understand it in a new, more complete way. This is so powerful because now you’ve not only told the readers that they have a new skill or understanding, but they can see for themselves how their view changed because of this gift you’ve given them. For instance, you could talk about a scene in a movie at the beginning of an essay and how its use of col- or is intriguing and may indicate some kind of point about the movie, leaving a certain amount of mystery there. Then you go on to give a ton of other examples of how color indicates some larger point about this movie and offer a new understanding of the film. Then at the end, you bring it home by saying ‘hey, remember that scene? Well, now that we know my main point about the movie, look at how the colors in this scene really tell us this or that about the film.’ Suddenly the readers feel like your new understanding is real and they’ll be able to go back and watch the movie for themselves and analyze it in this new way.

Use wordplay or at least a little callback

If you’re running out of real estate in your essay, thinking you won’t have space for a full-scale reexamination of a device, or you didn’t even present a ‘coldly examined’ device at the beginning, then a quick little wordplay or reference to something you said earlier can often do the trick. This is especially effective in lighter-toned essays but can also work wonders in a more dramatic, profound paper.

35 Let’s say, for example, you open with a jarring statistic. Your final sentence could bring that statistic back up, this time with a fresh new take or understanding, much like the reexamination strategy above. Or let’s say you open with a really sharp, witty, or powerful opening line that mentions a very distinct detail/ idea or has one very memorable phrase in it. It’s not a bad idea to reuse that phrase or call back that word in, again, a new way based on what we just talked about. Closing with a little aphorism like this does two things: 1- it makes the reader immediately remember the beginning of your essay and makes them feel like you stayed on topic and came full circle (sometimes even if you didn’t do that) and 2- a strong and memorable final sentence leaves the reader not only with a key idea to remember from the rest of your conclusion but also a specific phrasing or sentence they can repeat to their friends to sound smart. If people are stealing your work, you’re doing something right.

Stay with the tone

The last thing I’ll leave you with- and this is more of a point about essays in general- is that if you started and stuck with a tone throughout the paper, you ought to continue with it at the end. It’s wildly inappropriate to end a serious paper on a serious topic with a pun. And nothing stinks more than a hilarious and delightful lightly-toned paper that suddenly goes all ‘deep’ or ‘fake woke’ at the very end. This doesn’t mean that you cannot be both funny and profound; look at any of George Carlin’s standup. I just mean that if you are working toward something through-

36 out your entire paper, do NOT deprive your readers of the satisfaction you’ve promised them. The end of the conclusion, like I said, is meant to tie a bow on your essay, to wrap it up nicely so that a reader feels that satisfaction they’ve been waiting for after reading 10 pages of whatever you made them read. It’s to make them feel like there was a point to all of this. And having a sharp, cute little conclusion makes the reader feel like all of this had one clear intention, and sometimes even achieves that goal if you didn’t stay on topic at all. So please, I beg of you, take some time with your final lines, because they are arguably the most important of the whole paper.

37 Chapter 4: Evidence E. Coli

Evidence E. Coli is an infection that causes a lack of relevant, specific, or otherwise convincing evidence; it is a recurring disease that infects many writers worldwide. Evi- dence E. Coli is often contracted as a result of superficial close readings or insufficient brainstorming or preparation. Symptoms include uninspiring essays, dull analyses, and lackluster arguments.

Illness: Quoting Confusion // Cure: Quoting...... 39

Illness: Quoting Uncertainty // Cure: Types of Quotes...... 40

Illness: Insufficient Evidence // Cure: Writing Your Sec- ond Draft: Stockpiling Data and Organizing Thoughts...... 43

38 Quoting Liam Tsao

Direct quotes can be a writer’s best friend. They increase the legitimacy of your argument, contribute new perspec- tives, and perhaps most importantly to a college student, add length to your paper. However, there are several important guidelines to keep in mind when you quote directly. In this guide, I will summarize Graff and Birkenstein’s chapter on quoting in their book They Say, I Say and contribute some of my own insights about the process.

Things to Remember: • Keep your quote relevant • Don’t quote something for the sake of quoting it. The reader should be able to see a clear connection between each piece of evidence and your thesis statement/ argument. If I’m struggling with whether to include a quote, I ask myself whether the quote furthers my understanding of the paper. If yes, I keep it. If no, I try to find something else. • And remember: longer quotes are not always better. In my writing, I’ve found that short, punchy quotes can be more effective at conveying a point than their longer counterparts. • Contextualize your quote: When you quote outside sources, it’s important to consider how it fits within the broader context of the essay. In order to ease the read-

39 er’s transition from your statements to those of others, you need to frame your quote. Framing the quote can include discussing how it relates to your argument and including various transition words. After the quote, it’s often a good idea to add a couple sentences of analysis that further explain it and elaborate on its significance to your thesis. • Be careful not to over-quote: While quoting is un- doubtedly fun, it’s possible (and easy) to go overboard. If you rely too much on what other people have to say, it can give the impression that you don’t have anything new to add to the discussion. Put your own spin on each piece of evidence, tying it to your thesis. And feel free to paraphrase as long as you include an in-text citation. • Don’t forget your citation: In academic writing, it’s vital that you cite your sources, both in-text and in a separate works-cited page. A quote is worthless if the reader doesn’t know where it comes from. Have fun quoting!

Types of Quotes Raye Cheng

Evidence E. Coli plagues many, so here are several types of quotes to get you feeling better. In the previous “Quoting” section, we addressed the general guidelines of using quotations, specifically to keep our quotes relevant, contextualize our quote, be careful not to over-quote, and not to forget a citation. While

40 that guide addresses the process of quoting, this guide will define three different types of quotes.

• Direct Quotes: The first type of quote is a direct quote in which the exact words used by an author is quoted in your writing. This quote reveals the precise wording used by your source and is often useful when the literal phrasing is needed to propel your argument. Ex: In Homer’s Odyssey, Argos, Odysseus’ dog, “wagged his tail, and laid both his ears back” (XVII.302) when Odysseus finally returned home to Ithaca from his journey.

• Summary/Paraphrase: The next type of quote is a summary or paraphrase of information from your source. Rather than taking explicit words, a summary or paraphrase, like the name suggests, will use your own words to recap the ideas in the desired quote or rephrase the idea in a way that better serves your writing. Summaries are appropriate when context is needed or when a big idea from a the cited text needs to be con- densed. While using this technique, it is best to try to re- main objective in your summary and not skew the context of your source to enhance the credibility of your argument. “That certainly seems to be the case with “The Day Lady Died,” which dramatizes our existential dependence on technical temporalities and media forms in ways that seem increasingly relevant. O’Hara begins his poem by recount- ing his lunchtime errands on 17 July 1959, which include going to the bank, eating a hamburger, purchasing books for friends such as Patsy Southgate, and stopping at a

41 liquor store and tobacconist shop, all in preparation for traveling to Easthampton, New York, that coming eve- ning…” (Tietchen).

• Analytical Summary: The last type of quote is the analytical summary. This technique blends your own keywords, lens, or ideas with a summary of the work to combine analysis and summary into one sentence. Using an analytical summary frames your quote right away and can lead to your argument more directly. This type of quote is not as rigid in its use as it can really serve multiple purposes for your writing, whether that be a supporting example or a topic sentence. By its nature, the analytical summary is more dynamic in nature and provides more momentum to continue driving your argument forward. Ex: “For Williams, Hagar’s story, and black women’s surrogacy more generally, constitutes an invaluable heuristic device that offers forward a philosophy of history of special relevance in contemporary biocapitalism. In “Bloodchild,” the short story I treat in closing, Butler builds on this proleptic reading of enslaved sexuality and reproduction, further examining the linkages between slavery and surrogacy that are established in Kindred by turn- ing gestational surrogacy into an uncanny and horrifying practice. In the dystopian future world depicted in “Blood- child,” an alien species, the centipede-like Tlic, composes the master class whose breeding and routine use of human reproductive surrogates is essential to Tlic futurity… Not only have humans come to constitute the preferred sur- rogate labor force, they are forced by Tlic to reproduce themselves as such” (Weinbaum).

42 Writing Your Second Draft: Stockpiling Data and Or- ganizing Thoughts Daniel Bae

Once you’ve discovered a promising subject and argument in your first draft, it’s time to do some research. Now, I know this might sound abhorrent to a lot of you, but stockpiling research and evidence is the key to a well-developed essay. Every great essay is supported by a staggering amount of evidence and research. The incoherent ram- blings of a first draft may be interesting, with promising nuggets of new arguments hidden throughout its canvas, but refined arguments require solid evidence to carry them forward. Confident writers and orators are only able to discuss their topics so fluently and eloquently because they know every last detail of their subject—they list off point after point, slamming the audience with convincing arguments that grow more and more persuasive as the essay continues. And even when they reach their most scathing counterarguments, their response is a deflective shield of evidence that neutralizes opposing viewpoints. Weaker, less supported arguments would wither away at such a threat, spouting off wild accusations and generalizations that have no real basis or support. Their authors have mind- lessly frolicked through the argument’s deep nuances and exceptions, ultimately coming to the jarring realization that their argument can no longer be protected against the evidence they chose to ignore. In other words, their authors have allowed the evidence of the subject to embarrass

43 their intelligence (Trimble 32). Obviously, a well-meaning author would want to avoid this. Thus, they dive into their research, exploring every avenue the subject provides until they can confidently lay down a solid, supported argument. After stockpiling all of the necessary data, an author must begin organizing the argument that they have meticulously chosen. How should the argument be ordered? Chrono- logically? Point by point? Compare and contrast? I don’t have a clear answer for you, unfortunately, as there isn’t a single “best” organizational style for any type of writing. What I do have to say, however, is that the organization of an argument should reflect the coherent, logical, and convincing train of thought that you want to lead your readers through. There should be purpose in the order of your paragraphs and the presentation of evidence, not just haphazard ideas thrown onto the page. Great arguments are intuitive, easily hopping from point to point and land- ing at a reasonable conclusion. Instead of throwing the evidence in front of the audience and asking them to put the pieces together (they won’t), you must guide your reader through your argument. Ultimately, my advice is to tinker with the structure of your essay. See how moving a paragraph changes, enhances, or clouds your argument. Perhaps even consider adding additional paragraphs to lay a solid foundation for a key term or clarify a certain point you’ve made. Do what you can to make an essay that makes sense when you read it. Hopefully these steps leave you with a more developed, cogent essay that is thoroughly supported with evidence. Now onto the next draft.

44 Chapter 5: Analysis Allergies

So, you’ve come down with a case of analysis allergies. Well, not to worry. Just like real allergies, papers with little or no depth of analysis are far too common. It’s too easy to simply summarize material or ignore meaning beneath the surface. In contrast, it is very difficult to peel back the layers of literature and reach the more complex heart of a piece of writing. The whole point of your paper is to use a compelling argument to convince readers that your central idea carries merit and is well developed. Without depth of analysis, it will be almost impossible to write a convincing paper that tells the reader anything that they already don’t know. Instead, it is very important that your sentences are thorough and detailed, and that your paragraphs relate back to your thesis. One effective way to write a paper that flows and has good depth is by using ideas that build onto each other to form a cohesive argument. In this section, we will go over several helpful tips and methods that will help any student overcome their analysis allergies...

Illness: Lack of Depth of Analysis // Cure: Critical Analysis...... 47

Illness: Lack of Depth of Analysis II // Cure: Close Reading...... 48

45 Illness: Lack of Background Knowledge // Cure: Close Reading and Genres [Science-Fiction, Drama, Horror, Comedy]...... 53

Illness: Lack of Creativity // Cure: Close Reading: Visual Design...... 74

Illness: Lack of Creativity II // Cure: Close Listening...... 75

Illness: Lack of Critical Stakes // Cure: Nuances of Analytical Summary...... 81

46 Critical Analysis Lingaire Ofosuhene

Oh no! You seem to have a bad case of the analysis allergies! Symptoms of this often leads to a full-blown sneezing fiasco due to the “flowery language”. Below we have the antidote to your analysis allergy blues. Writing a critical analysis can be quite hard, in the beginning at least. Rookies to the writing game often assume that critical analysis is synonymous with plot summary, or at least assume that plot summary is necessary to preface analysis. Fortunately, this is not the case at all. A plot summary and an actual critical analysis are crucially distinct from one another. For example, let’s say you had to write an essay on the civil war. A plot summary would simply be an account of the main events of the civil war, like that it started in 1861 with an attack from the south. An actual critical analysis would be unpacking a specific instance during the war, including an investigation into what caused the event, why it continued, and the effects it had on the nation. The difference is that a plot summary has no thesis or general goal; instead, it merely retells facts. A critical analysis, on the other hand, takes a strong viewpoint and attempts to prove its validity. The objective of a critical analysis is to help the reader make better sense of something they have already been exposed to. In order to write a smart and engaging critical analysis, you must always assume that your reader has already

47 been exposed to the topic of discussion. As the writer of a critical analysis, it is your duty to bring the reader to a better understanding or a more enlightened perspective of the topic at hand. This simply cannot be done if you assume that your reader is ignorant. So, with the knowledge that your reader has some understanding of the topic, you can dive right into critical analysis. Be careful though-- an understanding does not mean they have memorized the primary text line by line, so make sure to weave the content of any specific examples in with the critical analysis. I know this may seem confusing at first, but as long as you are looking always through a critical lens, the analysis should flow easily from pen to paper.

Close Reading Kylie Eiselstein

What is Close Reading?

Most people think of close reading in the context of the rhetorical triangle: pathos, logos, and ethos. Rhetoric is used by the creator of any piece of media to appeal to the audience through emotion, logic, or ethics, or a combination of the three. For a long time, I thought that this was what close reading was: identifying the ways that the creator implements the rhetorical triangle and how those accom- plish a meaning. While this was a good start, it doesn’t truly embody the art of close reading. To properly close read, you must understand the connection not just between the author appealing to the audience, but also the actual context and form that the writer uses to show meaning. Thus, I give you the close reading square.

48 Also keep in mind that close reading can be done on any form of media - literature, film, games, articles, newspapers, even internet platforms and websites.

How to Close Read Using the Close Reading Square

This square demonstrates the connection between the four aspects that must be taken into account when close reading: context, audience, form, and purpose.

Context

When close reading, I find it beneficial to first start with context: what is the background for the media you’re analyzing? What were the circumstances that the author

49 created the media in at that time (what year was it, what was going on in the world at that time)? Examine your media - watch the film, read the text - through once. Note use of slang terms, allusions, and other indications of culture. In most persuasive media, the creator is trying to provide commentary on their current society; keep in mind that understanding context will help you to understand the end goal of the creator’s purpose.

Audience

Now start thinking about the possible intended audiences of the creator. Chances are, the media you’re close reading is not going to tell you flat out who the intended audience is (though it might, but even if it does be cautious!! don’t take it at face value; the text could be satire or comment- ing/criticizing on who the apparent intended audience is). In order to identify audience, I find it helpful to pay attention to the tone the creator takes when approaching his topic. Also, though it’s tempting, refrain from saying that the creator’s intended audience is “the world.” Even if the creator’s work is about a broad topic that seems to affect everyone – climate change, for example – the creator most likely has an audience in mind, like politicians or activist leaders.

Form

Form is often the most overlooked aspect of close reading, but it’s just as important (and sometimes more important) to analyze it. Form is one of the primary ways that a creator can explore the possibilities of their work. Let’s look

50 at form in literature: in poetry, it’s easy to manipulate the physical form of the poem (how the poem looks on the piece of paper). For prose, form is manipulated through paragraph length, sentence length, and syntax. See the ex- cerpt from Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Crossing:

By the time he reached the first talus slides under the tall escarpments of the Pilares the dawn was not far to come. He reined the horse in a grassy swale and stood down and dropped the reins. His trousers were stiff with blood. He cradled the wolf in his arms and lowered her to the ground and un- folded the sheet. She was stiff and cold and her fur was bristly with the blood dried upon it. He walked the horse back to the creek and left it standing to water and scouted the banks for wood with which to make a fire. Coyotes were yapping along the hills to the south and they were calling from the dark shapes of the rimlands above him where their cries seemed to have no origin other than the night itself. He got the fire going and lifted the wolf from the sheet and took the sheet to the creek and crouched in the dark and washed the blood out of it and brought it back and he cut forked sticks from a mountain hackberry and drove them into the ground with a rock and hung the sheet on a trestle- pole where it steamed in the firelight like a burning scrim standing in a wilderness where celebrants of some sacred passion had been carried off by rival sects or perhaps had simply fled in the night at the fear of their own doing. He pulled the blanket about his shoulders and sat shivering in the cold

51 and waiting for the dawn that he could find the place where he would bury the wolf. After a while the horse came up from the creek trailing the wet reins through the leaves and stood at the edge of the fire.

Pay attention to the sentence length in the second paragraph – there is a run-on sentence that lasts almost six full lines. McCarthy uses this sentence form to demonstrate the constant movement happening in the story right now; it also suggests literalism and realism. The form of any work of art helps it to convey meaning; a director may choose narrative over documentary to tell a story, and a painter may choose oil over matte to inflict different meanings on his paper.

Purpose

Finally, we come to purpose. When considering purpose, don’t fall into the trap of “the creator’s purpose in writing this was...” because you will be wrong. The reason you should consider purpose last is because the purpose is whatever you’re able to take away from the text you’ve just spent so much time over. Don’t try to guess at what exactly the creator was trying to say. Don’t even assume that the creator has an absolute, intentional purpose. A good close reader will apply what they’ve gathered from context, audience, and form to what they think the purpose is. The purpose can also be multifaceted; don’t assume that there is only one meaning to any media. With that being said, be warned: don’t read too much into a media, and don’t jump

52 to conclusions. Don’t assume things that aren’t there with evidence.

Final Notes

Remember that this order – context, audience, form, purpose – is merely a personalized suggestion. Moreover, you don’t have to go around the square in a certain order; feel free to mix up how you approach the square. Close reading gives us the ability to structure our evidence through the square, but the square allows us to see the connection between the primary four aspects of our material. When we understand these connections, we better understand their role in the material’s meaning, and from this meaning we can derive our own meanings and implement them in our writing.

Happy close reading!

Close Reading and Genres Kylie Eiselstein

Another allergy that sometimes falls upon us is difficulty with closing reading for a specific genre. The trouble we sometimes have when close reading material is understanding its genre and how its genre interacts with and reveals meaning. Literature can be broadened into three distinct genres: tragedy, comedy, and history. The Greeks knew it. Shakespeare knew it. However, over time literature, and the art of the story itself, became more complex - we deal with many more genres, sub-genres, and genre blending

53 today than audiences did just fifty years ago. The art of the genre is that by similarities, different types of media can be categorized under the same heading. Genre is essential to understanding the deeper meaning of a work. In this section, we will examine the four biggest genres in our media culture: Science-Fiction, Drama, Horror, and Comedy. Because film and movie-going is more popular today than vast reading, I’ve decided to look at the genres as they pertain to film. Close-reading film uses the same strategies for examining genre as close-reading literature or any form of media; hopefully, these strategies for close- reading genres will cure you!

The Science-Fiction Genre and Sub-Genres

Science fiction follows the protagonist’s journey to set the world right again after some unnatural but plausible occurrence. Usually, this occurrence features some type of enemy for the protagonist: aliens, monsters, technology, robots. Science-fiction can be divided into five sub-genres: utopia / dystopia, technological, space exploration, apocalyptic, and alien / monster invasion.

Utopia / Dystopia

Utopia is an ideal world; Utopian fiction creates a world, usually set in the future, that is an idealistic version of our current world. In science-fiction, utopia never actually presents a perfect, happy world: usually, the protagonist discovers a corruption of the society that turns the utopia into a dystopia. Dystopian fiction creates a nightmare world, the

54 horrific version of our world. Science-fiction dystopia is bleak and often draws from apocalyptic ideas. An example of Utopia is Elysium (2013). Elysium creates a futuristic earth in which the rich live off-world with ideal health-care and living standards and the poor live on a decaying earth. It is a utopia because of the idealiza- tion of the rich life: it shows the perfect world. However, this also reveals a corrupt side of the utopia in its dismissal of the poor. An example of Dystopia is Blade Runner (1982). Set in 2019 Los Angeles, Blade Runner creates a technologically- advanced, futuristic world in which human and machine have a complicated coexistence with machines. This Dysto- pian fiction presents a bleak, fear-driven society.

Technological

Any science-fiction involving technology and advancement of technology can be found in this wide-ranging sub-genre. The Technological sub-genre began early in the history of science-fiction film with movies likeMetropolis (1927). Most science-fiction technological films involve technology advancing beyond human control. One of my favorites, Ex Machina (2014), is a great modern example of the technological sub-genre. The film is about a young single man who works at a tech company. He is randomly selected to test out a new software that the CEO of the company - a brilliant but secluded man - created. When he arrives at the CEO’s isolated forest house, he discovers that the new technology is artificial intelligence. While the movie starts out intriguing, it soon turns nightmarish as more about the AI, Ava, and the CEO

55 himself is revealed to our protagonist. The film ends with Ava manipulating the protagonist, killing her creator, and escaping from the house.

Space Exploration

Space Exploration is a relatively straightforward sub-genre: it consists of physically exploring space. This sub-genre in science-fiction became especially relevant during the 1950s and 60s when the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union was at its height. Interstellar (2014) is a great Space Exploration film that hinges on the relationship of space and time in the universe. It also blends the Dystopia sub-genre, creating a dying earth and a societal denial of science and space travel. In the film, space travel allows for the discovery of a new world for humanity as well as the suspense of time and space.

Apocalyptic / Post-Apocalyptic

Apocalyptic science-fiction features the end of the world through disaster - nuclear war, disease, invasion. In an apocalyptic film, the protagonist(s) either succeeds in their mission and saves the world or fails and the world is destroyed. Post-Apocalyptic portrays the aftermath of an apocalypse, life after the disaster. One Apocalyptic science-fiction film isArmageddon (1998). In Armageddon, a team of drillers are sent into space to destroy an asteroid hurtling towards earth. While not a great film, its plot and high stakes make it a great example of the Apocalyptic sub-genre. The main character dies

56 heroically, manually setting off the bomb to destroy the asteroid, taking his own life with it. The crew succeeded in their mission and save the world, avoiding apocalypse. A Post-Apocalyptic science-fiction film isPlanet of the Apes (1968). Astronaut Taylor lands on a desolate planet about 2,000 years after leaving earth. His ship sinks in the crash and he begins exploring the planet with his two surviving crew members. They discover primitive humans and shortly after Taylor is captured by English-speaking, gun-wielding gorillas. He is taken to Ape City, a civiliza- tion of orangutans, chimpanzees, and apes. At the end of the movie, after facing dehumanization, going to trial, and escaping from Ape City, Taylor discovers what remains of the Statue of Liberty. In a final, horrific scene, it’s revealed to the audience that nuclear war has decimated the planet; Taylor had not landed on an unknown planet but rather a post-apocalyptic earth.

Alien / Monster Invasion

The Alien / Monster Invasion sub-genre was extremely popular during the 1950s, when science-fiction film truly began to solidify in popular culture. Whereas the typical Alien Invasion movie features technologically advanced extraterrestrials, the Monster Invasion movie is usually less sophisticated. Monster Invasion movies relies on panic of the mass, and the monster(s) featured in the film is either terribly deadly or huge (or both). War of the Worlds (1953) is an older Alien Invasion film that was recreated in 2005 by the same name. Martians attack earth and scientist Forrester sets out to find a weak- ness against them.

57 Another older film,Them! (1954), is an example of a classic Monster Invasion. After the nuclear bomb testings in New Mexico, giant, mutated ants start wreaking havoc on American society. A team of police officers and scien- tists team up with the American government to stop the ants and restore order and peace.

Close Reading: Science Fiction

Now that we’ve identified some of the sub-genres of -sci ence-fiction, let’s delve into the ways to close read science- fiction. Science fiction in particular can be a tricky genre to close read: in an imaginative world that features futuristic technology, the narrative may seem quite alien compared to more familiar genres like comedy and drama. To help you navigate the genre, below are some pointers regarding how to close read science fiction:

• Zero Assumptions

Like everybody else, science fiction creators can’t foresee the future, but they sure try to. This results in all kinds of outlandish concepts including but not limited to parallel universes, hyper advanced technology and time travel being introduced. As if this wasn’t mind-boggling enough, science fiction often take place off-world and star alien species, introducing a whole new set of natural and cultural rules. Because all these characteristics do not posses a reference point we could compare to in real life, readers would be better off starting a piece of science fiction with zero assumptions.

58 • Literal Discourse

After you’ve gotten rid of your assumptions, it’s time to slowly build up your image of the world you’ve been thrust in. Creators of science-fiction understand that you know nothing about the setting yet, so they often write very literally to describe the mechanisms of their universe. For example, while “The immigration officer floated down the aisle” may mean that he is leisurely walking down the aisle in other genres, in science fiction the officer is literally floating down the aisle of some spacecraft because gravity is suspended:

Jaina shifted her gaze to the interior of the starlin- er, where a teeming mass of passengers hung floating in their transit harnesses, tethered to the walls of the EconoClass hold. Floating down the central access aisle was a Coruscanti Immigration inspec- tor, his zero-g motility pack emitting small hisses as he twirled in slow-motion cartwheels, demanding identichips and ten-credit “expediting fees.”

Eventually, one may grasp a clearer picture of the setting by asking themselves after every sentence, “what is something new I have learnt about this place?”

• Detailed Description

The prose of this genre also tends to be more descriptive to facilitate the reader’s world-building. Sometimes it would be to describe how a new piece of technology works, other times it would be to explain the customs of some alien

59 species – science fiction creators are highly imaginative and can’t wait to show you a new species, world, or concept. Though it may be tempting to gloss over mundane aspects of science-fiction, it’s important to pay attention to them so that you understand the context of the world, how things work and how it may move the plot along.

The Drama Genre and Sub-Genres

Drama is an umbrella term in genre that encapsulates romance, comedy, crime, and much more. Broadly speaking, drama consists of a goal-oriented protagonist that the audience can relate to and sympathize with, an antagonist that causes the protagonist to change, and the hyper reality of everyday situations. The protagonist’s passion is everything - the drama is severely concerned with feeling and emotion, and as a result the interiority of the characters is thoroughly exteriorized. There are six main sub-genres of drama:

• Period

A period drama focuses on a specific time period and engages the audience by creating an “old world” that they’re not familiar with. A period drama usually contains no major historical events or people; rather, the plot and characters are fictional and created to match the time in terms of social and political characterization. Period dramas are typically adaptations of novels. One example of a period drama is Pride and Prejudice (2005). While Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813 and provided current social commentary, the novel now is regarded as period fiction. The novel has

60 been adapted numerous times in film and television, usually keeping a faithful if not strict adaptation.

• Historical

Historical drama usually focuses on creating fictional characters in a major historical context. Like the period drama, some historical dramas are adaptations of novels or based on diaries or other historical sources. Historical dramas seek to recreate the emotion felt at the time of the historical event for audiences that perhaps didn’t experience the event. A classic example of a historical drama is James Cameron’s Titanic (1997). Titanic follows the love story of two completely fictionalized characters, Jack and Rose, on- board the Titanic. Because the audience knows the story of the Titanic - the unsinkable ship which sunk in 1912 - they know the two lovers’ relationship is going to be doomed.

• Romance

Romance sometimes overlaps with comedy to form the infamous rom-com; but for our purposes, we will focus purely on the romance drama. Romance often explores the elements of love, usually seeking to define, in a way, what romantic love is or implies between people. An example of a romance drama, and one of my personal favorites, is About Time (2013). About Time follows an awkward young British man who finds out the men in his family have the ability to time travel. He uses the gift to woe an American woman, who eventually falls in love

61 with him and marries him. While the film has its funny moments, it’s a great romantic film on what really matters in life.

• Melodrama

Melodrama films, also referred to as “tearjerkers,” usually place their protagonist in stressful situations or hardships. The emotional tension in melodramas is sometimes over- exaggerated for what the character’s situation really is. An example of melodrama is Million Dollar Baby (2004). Million Dollar Baby follows an amateur female boxer and her gruff boxing coach as she rises in her boxing ca- reer. However, she becomes a ventilator-dependent quad- riplegic after she breaks her neck in the biggest fight of the life. She tells her coach that she’s lost the will to live and asks him to assist her suicide. Million Dollar Baby is a tragic boxing story that centers around perseverance, duty, and family.

• Crime

Crime drama typically follows a character who’s involved in a crime or series of crimes, but it can also circle around a crime and the multiple people it affects, following not one but several characters. For instance, Joker (2019) is an example of criminal action around one character. Joker follows Arthur Fleck’s descent into insanity and merges criminal activity and violence with the fractured way in which mental illness is dealt with in society.

62 Oceans 11 (2001) is an example of criminal action around multiple characters. After Danny Ocean gets out of prison, he designs a job with 10 other con artists and thieves to steal $160 million from the billionaire, casino- owning man dating Danny’s ex-wife. While Danny could be seen as the main protagonist, it’s impossible to dismiss the personas of Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, and the rest of the cast, making the film an ensemble piece.

• Comedy

Don’t get me wrong - comedy is most definitely its own genre with its own (many) subcategories. But it’s worth mentioning that within the drama genre is special spot reserved for films that balance dramatic situations with comedic actions or characters; these films make the audience laugh and cry equally. A great example of a comedy drama is Forrest Gump (1994). Forrest Gump draws from different areas of drama - romance, historical - but it’s primarily a comedy drama. We laugh when Forrest meets the President, we cry when Bubba dies in the Vietnam War; we laugh while Forrest eats chocolate at the bus stop, we cry when Forrest gets bullied as a kid.

Close Reading: Drama

Because Drama media is intended to be a reflection of reality, you should always bring your own experiences and knowledge into your analysis. All of the sub-genres we just looked at are meant to be relatable for the audience; even the period and historical sub-genres contain characters

63 and obstacles that we can relate to in our own lives. When close-reading a dramatic work, whether it be film, literature, art, or any other form of media, it’s important to closely examine point of view, characterization, and symbolism.

Point of View

The primary types of POV are omniscient, first person, third person, and multiple. Point of view tells us who - or what - is telling the story; when we can identify a perspective, we can relate to that perspective. Likewise, the type of POV that the creator choses to tell the story reveals the nature of the story. If the POV is multiple, the story is multi-faceted, showing many levels and outlooks of society rather than one, absolute POV. An omniscient POV may serve to objectify the story, while first person makes the story subjective. All in all, identifying POV is one of the easiest aspects of close reading, but an important one in drawing meaning from a piece. You should be able to identify POV quickly. When I identify POV, I like to tuck it away for later use and continue with my close reading.

Characterization and Plot Stereotypes

Characters and character interactions (plot) are the hall- mark of dramatic works. Dramas follow a pattern, and if you can identify character and plot stereotypes you’ll get to a deeper understanding of character intention and plot creation. For instance, Titanic is a typical Romeo and Juliet story: two lovers divided by some obstacle. In Titanic, the obstacle is class acceptance. Because the characterizations

64 of Jack and Rose and the depiction of their romance is similar to the Romeo and Juliet story, we know that their romance is a doomed one. Identifying character and plot stereotypes and patterns allow us to infer about the story.

Symbolism

Symbols can contribute heavily to theme in dramatic works. Repeated objects, colors, animals, and even people can symbolize ideas which contribute to the meaning of the story. When you think you’ve found a symbol, make sure it appears enough in the material to be counted as valid and not just a speculation. After you’re certain that the symbol repeats, look for connotations associated with that symbol: traditional, religious, and political connotations. When you’re able to associate certain connotations with your symbol, you can determine what your symbol means in the context of the story.

The Horror Genre and Sub-Genres

One of my favorite genres in literature and film is horror. I like good horror; I like bad horror. I like all the horror. But, my own ambitions aside, what makes horror so great? Professor Anthony Kemp of the USC English Department contends that we like to read and watch horror because we are fascinated by violence and fear. He proposes that our infatuation with violence, gore, and fear is part of our genetic makeup; see, because so much of human history is coated with war, violence, and conflict, we have a natural tendency towards such things.

65 I would like to add to Professor Kemp’s assertion: H.P. Lovecraft said that the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear. Taken the modern day first-world, our abundance of medicine and general lack of threat, hu- mankind today is largely rid of the emotion of fear. But, because it is the oldest and strongest of the emotions, it demands to be felt in one way or another. Hence, horror. Generally, there are five categories pertaining to horror:

• Gore and Disturbing

Gore and disturbing is a category in horror that cares less about plot or characters and more about trying to make its audience throw up. Within this category, there are some smaller subcategories: torture, splatter, and cannibal. A classic example of a gore horror movie that doesn’t care about its actual story is The Human Centipede (2009). Known for being one of the most unwatchable movies of all time, the idea around The Human Centipede is not entirely aw- ful, but the film fails to deliver due to the disturbing visuals that, at the end of the day, just end up being distracting. However, it’s worth noting that Tom Six, director of Hu- man Centipede, believes that “body horror surpasses all other varieties, because invasion of the person is humanity’s greatest fear.” There’s much truth to Six’s statement, and taking into account this belief of his, the horrific aspect of the movie makes a lot of sense. Another example is the Saw franchise. In my opinion, the firstSaw (2004) is a psychological work of art. Saw is about tests: how far would you go to save yourself or others. While the firstSaw balances plot and gore, the rest

66 of the franchise focuses too heavily on torture and splatter, losing the plot aspect of the original that made it so psychologically entertaining.

• Psychological

Psychological horror is, in my opinion, the most satisfying form of horror. It often goes hand in hand with the Killer category because killing is often out of emotion or psycho- sis. The subcategories are phobia and isolation, fanaticism, madness and paranoia, and home invasion and survival. One of my most favorite Psychological horror movies is A Cure for Wellness (2017). A relatively new horror film, A Cure for Wellness implements paranoia and the possibility of madness. The movie follows a young man investigating a mental hospital. He soon becomes admitted himself, and the remainder of the movie is follows his psychological descent into paranoia. A Cure for Wellness, while slow at some points, completes its interesting story with beautiful cinematography and imagery.

• Killer

Within the Killer category fall three primary sub-categories: slasher, crime and giallo, and bumbkin and redneck. Slasher often overlaps with the subcategory splatter in the Gore section. Giallo refers to crime and mystery, oftentimes getting a wrap for being more of a thriller than horror. The bumbkin and redneck subcategory brings us those classical- ly gory horror films likeThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and The Hills Have Eyes (1977).

67 A great Killer horror film that also overlaps heavily with Psychological and a bit with Gore is The Silence of the Lambs (1991),which circles around a young female detec- tive investigating an active serial killer called Buffalo Bill. In her investigation, she interrogates an imprisoned serial killer, Hannibal Lecter, notorious for killing and eating his victims. The movie definitely has it’s disturbing moments, like when Lecter removes the face of a guard and wears it or when Buffalo Bill skins his victims and sews their skin together. However, the film does not diverge from having a psychologically strong story. Yet another great Killer horror movie is the original Friday the 13th (1980). While the story contains many now- considered horror cliches, like teenagers getting drunk, fooling around, and then getting murdered, the use of first person inside POV of the killer makes the movie one for the books in suspense and tension.

• Monster / “Creature Feature”

Perhaps the earliest form of Monster horror in film is the vampire subcategory, which emerged with the German silent filmNosferatu (1922). Since then, monsters in horror have grown to include werewolf, zombies, classic and mythological monsters like Frankenstein or Leprechauns, sci-fi monsters likePredator and Alien, and giant monsters like Godzilla or King Kong. A great Monster flick is Matt Reeves’ 2008Clover - field. After the Blair Witch Project released in 1999, the found footage format of filmmaking became extremely popular- ized in the horror movie industry. Cloverfield is essentially about the beginning of an apocalypse. The story follows

68 a group of friends and their struggle to survive a monster attack in New York City. The film never actually gives the audience a good look at the monster until one of the final scenes of the movie: three of the friends are in an open field when the monster suddenly is on top of them and gobbles one of them up. This makes for the subtle analogy that we won’t see apocalypse coming until it’s already here.

• Paranormal

Paranormal horror is what most people think of when they think of horror: ghosts, haunted houses, possession, devils/demons, witches, and other types of supernatural powers. A classic example of Paranormal horror is Clive Barker’s 1987 Hellraiser. Hellraiser has its gory moments, but most of its fear appeal comes from the special effects in making the cenobites, or demons from hell. Specifically, Pinhead, the lead cenobite, has become a representation of pain and punishment.

Close Reading: Horror

The first thing to understand about horror is that it is speculative fiction; unlike science-fiction, where the story is somewhat plausible, horror can either implement supernatural occurrences - ghosts, demons, creatures - or it can be heavily grounded in reality with killers and disasters. In order to close read horror, it’s crucial to look at the effect on the audience, the iconography, and the pattern of the genre.

69 Effect on Audience

The sub-genres can help you immensely in identifying a target audience for a horror creator. Those who watch horror usually have a preferred sub-genre, and a creator who choses a specific sub-genre probably has a specific audience in mind. In many ways, media of a certain sub-genre cater to the needs of that sub-genre and the sub-genre’s respective audience. The type of fear that a sub-genre inflicts on its audience is everything: panic, a specific phobia, anxiety, distress, and terror. The cross-over of different sub-genres within horror media suggests an expansion of audience; if a creator implements the paranormal with psychological, the resulting fear in the audience is distress for reality and truth.

Iconography

Iconography is any repeated visual or sound across a genre. In the horror genre, iconography includes knives, guns, and other weapons, disfiguration, blood, bodies, and, of course, the haunted house with all of its creepy objects. Because the iconography of the genre is so well-established, the repeated objects in the genre often serve as symbols. For example, the cross is a religious symbol that is implemented in demonic films, and the thematic religious connotation that the cross implies often suggests the theme of good versus evil, light versus dark.

Pattern

70 Horror is known for its obvious patterns across films. Perhaps the most evident one is the premise of a group of kids going out, being hunted by a killer or creature, and only one survives. Knowing the sub-genres of horror helps immensely in close reading to discover a pattern. When you can relate the pattern of one horror plot to the pattern of another horror plot, you can infer common themes and meaning between the two pieces of media. For example, a piece of supernatural horror will almost always have a religious or spiritual connotation.

The Comedy Genre and Sub-Genres

Comedy is a complex genre because of its tendency to be mixed with other genres. Even serious films usually incorporate some type of humor; after all, we look at media in general to be entertained, and humor is something that appeals to everyone. The basic sub-genres of comedy are farce, slapstick, and parody / satire.

Farce

Farce refers to the ridiculous; it often turns serious situations laughable. An example of a farce is The Hangover (2009). The film turns a serious situation - three grooms- men losing the groom the night before his wedding - into a comedic event. It uses an array of unlikely situations and tasks for the protagonists to create its comedic effect on the audience.

Slapstick

71 Slapstick comedy consists of horseplay, cartoon-ish violence, and physical humor. It often uses exaggerated characterizations and unlikely physical occurrences. Modern Times (1936) is a great early example of slapstick comedy. In fact, anything Charlie Chaplin usually includes visual humor; early comedy, specifically in the silent era of film, relied heavily on the actions of its characters to create humor.

Parody/Satire

While some see parody and satire as being separate, they are actually one in the same: they both are based in reality and meant to criticize current politics, culture, or other issues and situations. Parodies and satires can take the form of mockumentaries, narratives, and historical-fictions. An example of Satire is Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). The movie criticizes politics during the Cold War. It shows many levels of the government and military and satirizes the way these Ameri- can institutions functioned in the nuclear crisis against the Soviet Union.

Close Reading: Comedy

Comedy appeals to physical humor, dialogue humor, or situational humor. The most important things to look at when close reading comedy is characterization, the complexity of the humor, and the connotations of diction and situations. Comedy can oftentimes portray serious social issues in a humorous light, and though it’s entertaining, there is always a deeper truth to comedic appeal.

72 Characterization

As in any genre, comedy has an array of character stereotypes. For example, in slapstick comedy, the protagonist(s) is often more stupid than they think they are. This can be seen in films such as Home Alone (1990), in which the robbers, who think they’re clever, are out-smarted by an eight-year old and subjected to hilarious, unfortunate physical situations. By stereotyping these characters, we’re able to draw conclusions about the casual but intense relationship between the robbers and their child tormentor.

Complexity of Humor

There are different levels and purposes of humor: humor that breaks tension, humor that relies on the degradation of someone or something, humor built around an actor’s persona, humor of contrasting characters, ideas, or objects, and humor of the unexpected. Identifying the type of humor that is appealing to the audience contributes to the tone of the work. Humor that breaks tension can make a suspense thriller funny and humor of the unexpected can turn a serious situation into a farce. When we understand how the complexity of humor functions in a piece, we’re better able to draw from the tone of the work and examine how that tone fits into the context of the story.

Diction

Diction is important in examining any work, but it holds most true in the comedy genre. Jokes in general rely on

73 puns, word play, and word choice - the wrong word could ruin a joke. Likewise, in comedy every aspect of diction is chosen carefully. Pay attention to the level of diction, or the register: high, middle, and low. Low register may be used in a slapstick comedy to portray a character’s stupidity; high register may be implemented in a satire to criticize those who speak in high register.

Close Reading: Visual Design Jocelyn Liu

Close reading, as we’ve determined, is an incredibly effective technique (to say the least). By honing in on specific phrases or words, we can effectively deduce and analyze each one’s purpose as it speaks to the larger meaning of the work as a whole. However, analysis isn’t limited to simply literary works; films, and even static images and paintings, are also often used by an artist to convey or propagate a point. Consequently, we can perform an analogous parallel of close reading dedicated simply to the visual, or stylistic design of these types of artistic pieces. At its essence, this form of close “reading” serves essentially the same purpose- the only difference is, in practice, our evidence-gathering takes on a slightly different form. • Symbolism - used much the same way as in our familiar literary counterparts, symbols and motifs can now be physically embodied through different characters or things in the piece; oftentimes, how the symbol is

74 depicted can further allude to its use in the point of the work. • Setting - or more specifically, the use of space and lighting; visually, how a character relates to their surroundings (eg. whether there is a lot of negative space, whether the surroundings are natural or artificial, whether it is cold or homely) can tell us a lot about what the artist envisions us to take away from the character and how they relate or fit into their environment. • Color palette - a technique unique to visual modes of storytelling, color schemes can be subtle yet extremely powerful methods of adjusting the viewer’s take on the characters or the story. For one example, they provide a tangible way to observe different kinds of antagonisms; it is a powerful way of illustrating continuities (analogous colors) or stark differences (complementary colors, which can also indicate where the highest tensions are, or where one might want to direct one’s focus to).

This articulation represents only a tiny handful of different ways to begin to address close reading in the visual domain; getting a feel for these parallel techniques will help immensely and provide as a gateway to a fuller understanding and analytical capability of all visual works as a whole.

Close Listening Sagan Gor

Analysis is not just limited to literature, or even to language. Here, for fun, let’s take a look at how a piece of music can be analyzed in-depth, without primarily considering lyrics.

75 I have been thinking about the concept of close reading a lot lately, as one does, and applied it while listening to some music. Of course, one could apply the literal concept of close reading to song lyrics, but I thought it would be more interesting if I took this concept and applied it to the actual musical aspects of the songs rather than the lyrics. The example I used was “Smells Like Teen Spirit” off Nirvana’s Nevermind, as I like the song and album and I know that while Kurt Cobain’s lyrics were heavy-hitting, he often added them as an afterthought and was more concerned with the raw emotions connected to his music. Furthermore, I thought this would be a good choice because this song is incredibly famous for its reach and immense popularity even today, so something about it must be special. The song starts off with a series of chord pro- gressions and kicks into an almost dreamy verse, before building tension in the bridge and finally leading up to the famous high-energy chorus. However, none of this is close reading - or close listening. My first close listening was done on the sound of Cobain’s voice during the chorus, noting the raspy quality of what went on to become one of the most famous voices in music. The chorus is raw and powerful while staying melodic. Without going into actual analysis of how the brain interprets sound waves and melodies, etc. etc., it is safe to say that Kurt Cobain’s unique vocal capabilities cause an almost visceral reaction in listeners. Just as a particular phrasing or literary device can carry meaning and have an effect on the information provided, Cobain’s voice provides a vehicle for his otherwise non- sensical lyrics, linking the words in the chorus to the pure energy added by the drumming patterns and guitar riffs.

76 My second close reading was based more on music theory, particularly on the fact that the song is in the key of F minor. This key conveys a sense of lamentation and mel- ancholy; there is something oblique about the tone and patterns. However, the song is very high energy despite the generally depressive tone, expressing the tension and confusion Cobain often felt, partially due to his manic depressive disorder. I could compare this in literature to tone or a style of writing and how that affects the meaning of the ideas expressed within. It makes sense that Nevermind can be analyzed in this way. After all, Nirvana was Kurt Cobain’s most direct connection with the world, and his outlet to express how he thought and felt, similar to writing. Cobain was masterful at understanding how to express ideas and intensity solely through the music he played. Unlike literature, music as a media more directly implants emotions within the brain, though we generally do not do a close analysis of why and how music makes us feel the way we do.

Close Listening Remastered Carsten Søndergaard

I loved reading Sagan’s passage on close reading being applied to music. It struck a chord with me– no pun intended– because one of my favorite activities throughout all of high school has been sharing music with friends and discussing our takes on meaning. I remember sitting on a long bus ride with one of my best friends my freshman year of high school and listening to a newly released rap album, pausing after each song to discuss. My friends and I have built collaborative playlists and done loads of investigation

77 into new sounds, working to figure out how things have changed over time. Music is easily one of the most dense media through which to convey ideas. Well-written lyrics are essentially like poetry, and so much can be expressed through various sonic qualities, as Sagan discussed. I’d like to build on what Sagan wrote about with the idea of the instrumentation working in tandem with the lyrics to “directly implant emotions within the brain,” as he put it. Something I’ve come to notice with music is that not only does the instrumental contribute to the feeling or message of a song; it is totally integral to the message of a song. Without it, it’s a different song. You’ve probably heard covers of songs and thought, ‘wow, this has a really different feel from the original!’ But even in that case, the cover artist can add their own inflections and often even change the lyrics. What I want to illustrate to you today is that a different instrumental can completely alter a song’s meaning without a single change in the vocals. The example that made me notice this phenomenon, and I think one of the best examples of musical editing I’ve ever seen, is a pair of versions of a song called “Culture Shock” by experimental hip-hop trio Death Grips. Death Grips has been a group on the cutting edge of music since their debut mixtape Exmilitary in 2011, a project that was intentionally “leaked” online by Death Grips themselves. In their music I have found some of the most dense, mean- ingful and challenging content of any musical act I’ve ever seen. I would gladly write a book about these guys, but for the purposes of this passage I’ll go ahead and get into the song. The two things I’ll share with you are the original version of “Culture Shock” and a mashup I found on

78 YouTube that replaces the original instrumental with Clams Casino’s “I’m God.” First, the original, which can be found on YouTube under “Death Grips - Culture Shock” posted by the account “Death Grips.” Go ahead and give this song a listen, which I’ll warn you, contains profanity. Then read the next paragraph. Before I get into it, I’ll provide some context. Death Grips has, on multiple occasions, tackled the theme of the internet and its effects on humanity, in tracks like this one, “Hacker,” and “Death Grips is Online,” to name a few or basically anything on the album No Love Deep Web. Death Grips is a group who owes much of its fame and inspiration to the internet; their start came about through an intentional internet leak and their popularity is something that could really only exist in an age where a platform like the internet allows for them to be shared by listeners rather than a record label. Their music is jarring and never shies away from the abject, and “Culture Shock” is one of their finest examples of harshly painting a picture of where society is headed thanks to the rapid advent of various media and technologies. The instrumental on this track sounds like a malfunctioning computer, or as one YouTube commenter describes it, “two photocopiers having sex.” The lyrics talk of an adverse reaction to technology’s effects, called a “future shock” comparable to the feeling of culture shock. Sections like “Whatchya gonna be when you’re grown, young blood?/ Gonna be a help- less drone/ Won’t ever have to think/ No, your head’ll be linked directly to your cell phone/The virus is alive, I can see it in your eyes/The infection is full blown” say it all. These lyrics combined with the mechanical noises of the instrumental give vocalist MC Ride a tone of omniscience,

79 like he’s the wise one laughing at us as we all fall victim to a robot uprising apocalypse. We feel criticized, unsettled, and fearful of where we as a species are headed. And the key is that MC Ride is an observer of our plight, not a victim. But with the mashup, we get something very, very different. This can be found on YouTube as “Clams Casino - I’m God (feat MC Ride)” posted by the account “k0nfuciu5.” Give it a listen and then move on to the next paragraph Same lyrics. Same tempo. Same pitch. But it feels different. The instrumental is no longer disjointed, chaotic, or mechanical. It’s dark, beautiful, and melancholic. The sounds of the Clams Casino cut are ethereal when listened to with proper playback equipment, easily evoking feelings of nostalgia and innocence, of beauty jabbed together with a looming understanding of something painful to come. And suddenly, when Ride’s verses are paired with this music, we don’t get the detached perspective of a man laughing as we sheeplike people waltz into our doom. We instead get a feeling of disenchantment and malaise caused by the sobering realization of where we’re all headed. And the key is that MC Ride is instead recognizing that he’ll suffer right along with us. All of the power and all-knowingness that Ride gives himself and all of the impending doom we feel is wiped away just by attaching the vocals to another song. This is why close listening must be a two-pronged approach. The lyrics certainly give us a major part of the meaning behind a piece of music. But the instrumental is equally as important. It’s not just there to sound good, it works with the vocals to give us as an audience the feelings and ideas the artist wants to express. So if you’re analyzing a piece of music, don’t just look into the lyrics. Think

80 to yourself, “if this was a different instrumental, would the meaning be different?” And if not, think about why the current instrumental is important, which will lead you on your path to better analysis.

Nuances of Analytical Summary Jocelyn Liu

When it comes to analysis allergies, the main issue at hand is to re-evaluate what your evidence consists of and how it is being presented. In the case of the latter, a useful tool is the analytical summary. In a previous section on quoting, we delineate the three basic formats from which we can choose to draw evidence from the text. Lastly, and oftentimes extremely effective out of all the quoting methods, is that of the analytical summary. It does double duty: firstly, it summarizes directly from the text, and secondly, allows you to explain what the scene is doing, namely, how the summary further enforces your argumentative progression. In a very cohesive and structured way, it allows us to present our evidence while si- multaneously providing the argument basis within its larger contextual framework. The usage of intentionally charged language in a subjective summary, juxtaposed with your own analysis of said summary, can help steer the reader to your point in a more straightforward, but also more subtle way. Furthermore, the quoting format of the analytical summary also helps with the clarity in presentation of your argument. A common general problem in the generation

81 of thesis statements is that of thematic summary, which means describing major themes or ideas of the piece without really “choosing a side” on the purpose or meaning of its usage. In this case, the use of the analytical summary format is particularly powerful in that it forces us to take a stand and deliberately add our own input into the simple plot or thematic summary; inadvertently, it draws us to a stronger, deeper, and more complex argument. For example: “Gan senses the ultimate gulf between the oppressed and the oppressors when he watches T’Gatoi consume a drop of human blood- a biological sign of the irreducible difference between humans and Tlics (17).” It is stated that a) Gan watches T’Gatoi consume a drop of human blood (direct plot summary), b) that Gan senses this disconnect between humans and Tlics, bringing to light this idea of oppressed/oppressor relationships (direct thematic summary), and c) that this interspecific difference (specifically as it applies to power roles in oppressive relationships) is utterly irreconcilable (analysis/opinionated commentary).

82 Chapter 6: Boring Writing Boo-Boos

Like minor injuries and old age, boring writing lacks vitality. And when your prose isn’t engaging, how can you expect your audience to stay and finish reading what you have to say? This chapter will provide you with some remedies that can bring the dead (essay) back to life.

Illness: Unsure How to Improve // Cure: Peer Editing...... 84

Illness: Lacking Significance // Cure: Critical Stakes...... 86

83 Peer editing Anna Greer

If your symptoms include thinking your writing is “good enough” of if you just don’t know where to go from where you are, then peer editing is the perfect cure for you. I love to be right. And I almost always think I am right. Not on math problems, where there is one defini- tively correct answer, but on anything at all that involves opinion, thought, or nuance. When I craft a sentence, I craft it in the best way. When I come up with a conclusion, it is the correct conclusion. When I feel I have conveyed a clear idea, then my idea is clear. Thus, peer edits are a waste of my time because I won’t end up using their suggestions anyway. These were my thoughts of the past. Now, I can’t write a single paper without asking two or more of my peers to constructively look through it for me. I know it can be hard to share your paper, opening up your carefully thought-out ideas and artfully crafted sentences for scrutiny, but I promise it is worth it. The thing is-- and I hate to break it to you-- no paper is ever flawless, in any stage of its creation. So all we can really hope for is an essay which can be understood by the reader, and one which engages them and teaches something new. While achieving these goals is never easy, it is arguably impossible to achieve them when you are the only reader of your own paper.

84 In fact, I’m going to draw a line here and say that you should not and cannot be the reader and the writer of a single paper. To have the mindset of the reader, you must be viewing the words and absorbing the ideas with a fresh pair of eyes and a blank canvas of a mind, not in a mind which has already spent countless hours concocting the progression of ideas before them. And, thus, this is where peer editing comes in. Hit share on your Google Doc, send out an email, or deliver a printed copy of your essay to your classmate, parent, professor, or friend. Tell them a few specific things you would like some feedback on, and let them know they need not hold back on suggestions. Once they get back to you, try to have a chat with them about their thoughts when reading your paper: what was clear, what was confusing, and what seemed entirely out of scope. You may be quick to feel offended when receiving criticism (if you’re a millennial or Gen Z’er you aren’t very used to this), but keep in mind that your job as the writer is to have a conversation with the reader. If the reader isn’t on the same page as you, you might as well be talking to a brick wall. So engage in their suggestions, and seek out other places in your essay where you can make improve- ments. When writing an essay, you want to satisfy your reader first and foremost, so let go of that feeling that you are always right, and open yourself up to a conversation with the most important stakeholder of your essay before you submit that final draft. Trust me, it will pay off.

85 Critical Stakes Joey Patrick

Struggling with critical stakes? You’ve come to the right place! Imagine writing an essay and masterfully proving your points. You use excellent close-reading analysis of the text, and you even make sure that the reader doesn’t get lost by adding in some metacommentary. You do everything perfectly; however, you don’t tell the audience why your points are important. Instead, they are left hanging and do not understand why they should keep reading. Sud- denly, your work has gone from a captivating essay with a lot of potential to a confusing dud. This scenario demonstrates a few ways in which the critical stakes in writing make a huge difference in reader understanding. First, the critical stakes should address the importance of the topic that you are writing about. If you never address the importance of your work, the reader will not be able to see how your ideas are brand-new and can potentially change some aspect of their life. Next, critical stakes should specifically tell the reader exactly what you are doing and why. By effectively using critical stakes, you are teaching the reader about a fresh, unique perspective of the text that has not been observed before. Finally, by addressing the critical stakes right after introducing your evidence, you are ensuring that the audience will not become lost and will be able to easily see the importance of the topic at hand. In other words, critical stakes are how we justify the meaning and importance of our writing: it is why we write what we write. Anyone can write a cookie-cutter essay with

86 concrete details and commentary, but without a powerful critical stake to add a greater meaning to the work as a whole, that essay is pointless. Moving and captivating essays are marked by larger implications about the way we live our lives, the tendencies of society, and the possibilities of the future. By analyzing literature and other forms of expres- sion with a clear and inventive interpretive lens, we have the power to change long-held viewpoints and attitudes about the world.

87 Chapter 7: Mechanical Mono

You’re almost done with your essay. You’ve come up with an awesome premise, survived the argumentation process, tweaked your analysis, and made your writing engaging. But before you turn your masterpiece in, be sure to check for Mechanical Mono. Mechanical Mono is sneaky but dangerous—small errors in grammar and structure can distract the reader from the whole argument. And just like real Mono, it can leave you feeling crummy for months. Look over the following pages for guidance on how to prevent this disease.

Illness: Missing citations // Cure: MLA Citations...... 89

Illness: Feeling rebellious about the rules // Cure: How important are the mechanics of writing?...... 91

88 MLA Citations Liam Tsao

The Works Cited Page

As a writer, I tend to procrastinate on the Works Cited Page. It seems like an afterthought in the broader scheme of the paper, a boring list of sources that no one ever reads. But like it or not, it’s an integral part of any essay. Why? The Works Cited Page serves two important purposes in academic writing. First and foremost, it’s necessary to avoid plagiarism, a serious offense. But citing your sources also adds legitimacy to your points— if you list the origins of your information, readers can independently verify what you’re arguing.

The Basics

Center the title “Works Cited” on a new page. While the proper MLA form depends on the type of media you’re citing, here’s a basic format that applies to most sources:

Author’s last name, Author’s first name. “Title of Source.” Container, Other Contributors, Version, Publisher, Date of Publication, Location, Access Date.

Double-space and format your citations.

89 Example MLA Citation:

Mayer, Bernadette. “[Sonnet] You jerk you didn’t call me up.” Poetry Foundation, 1968, www.poetryfoun- dation.org/poems/49729/sonnet-you-jerk-you- didnt-call-me-up. Accessed 22 Sept. 2019.

Additional Resources: • https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/ mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_ works_cited_page_basic_format.html • https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/ mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_sam- ple_works_cited_page.html • https://style.mla.org/works-cited-a-quick-guide/

Parenthetical Citations

Like the Works Cited Page, in-text citations are extremely important. They locate your sources at the sentence level, showing the reader where you use other people’s insights. Depending on the source, they can consist of line number, title, page number, author’s last name, or a combination— all surrounded by parentheses.

When should you use in-text citations? • When you quote directly from another source. Ex: Gan notices T’Gatoi’s “lined and old looking face” as she forces the egg on Lien (Butler 14).

• When you paraphrase another source.

90 Ex: After reading Butler’s “Bloodchild,” the majority of participants in the study wanted to visit another planet (AUTHOR).

Things to Remember • The signal word or phrase (title, author, etc.) in parentheses should match up with what appears first in the Works Cited page.

Keep your in-text citations as concise as possible without sacrificing specificity

Additional Resources • https://columbiacollege-ca.libguides.com/mla/in-text • https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/ mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_in_ text_citations_the_basics.html

How important are the mechanics of writing? Carsten Søndergaard

Essentially all of my grade school writing instruction involved mechanics. In elementary school, we start with grammar, extremely simple sentences and paragraphs with a rigid structure, and graduate to rudimentary essays with, again, rigid structure by the time we’re done. Then with secondary education we take that essay and start having to do “analysis” in a way that is, again, extremely formulaic, just maybe a little longer than in elementary. Like many of you, I felt as though the stuff I was learning to write was way too structured, drab, and overall just weak. And I

91 thought to myself, “This is ridiculous. Great writers break from the form we’re learning and they seem to violate all these ridiculous rules on every page. Why am I doing this?” This is a fair concern that I think a lot of young writers have. And rightfully so. It’s undeniable that the simple, four paragraph structure that dominated most of my high school essays pales in comparison to the significantly less form-dominated papers in scholarly journals or the master- pieces of literature. But what I think many, like myself, can fail to realize is that these experts who break from elementary school writing forms so masterfully are people who are so utterly in control of their writing that they can diagnose when it’s appropriate to break form. And underneath all of this seeming disregard for the rules is a full recognition and understanding of the rules being broken, and, most importantly, a level of control that allows them to recognize the intention of the paper and break form accordingly to achieve their goal. Let me give you an analogy. I’ve been doing social swing dancing for a few years now, and at this point I’ve begun to recognize a pattern with the way people learn to dance. For many people, they start by taking lessons. They learn the rhythm behind the dance, the steps, the form, where weight should be distributed and when, how to communicate effectively with partners as a lead or follow, various moves, and so on. And as I and many learning dancers went through, there is a tendency when applying what you’ve learned, AKA asking a stranger to dance, to stick very rigidly to the form. I remember only being able to start any 8-count moves on the downbeat of the song, because that’s how we did it in class, and if I got off the

92 downbeat, I would have to pause and wait for the next one to start again. I remembered feeling good about myself because I could execute the moves exactly as I learned them in class. But I felt like I was dancing boringly because I was only doing things exactly as I had learned them, refusing to break from form or try new things. What’s more, I would watch people who had been dancing for years upon years and they would be off the downbeat and stepping in different places from how I’d learned, shifting their weight differently or messing with the tempo, and I was thinking, “why do I need to know this structure when these experts don’t even use it?” But, as you can probably guess, I failed to realize that they were on beat, they did know the form, and they were communicating nonverbally with their partners much better than I was. And surely enough, as I kept improving and having the rhythm of the basic steps become more and more ingrained into me, I started feeling emboldened to break from the form and try new things. And the reason I can do this is because I know exactly how many beats the moves I lead will take and I know exactly what foot my weight will be on and I know exactly how to lead a partner in a certain direction without having to think about it. I am so utterly in control of the fundamentals of the dance that I can break the formulaic and drab stuff and instead do something that can only be done with experience: listen to the music and dance the way it makes me feel. While I’m certainly not an expert and have tons of things to improve on, I’ve had a little taste of advanced dancing and can understand now that the best dancers aren’t ignoring the mechanics; they’ve got so much practice with the mechanics that they don’t have to prove it to anyone. They can tell

93 a story or express a sentiment with the way they move, and the only way this can happen is with a strong foundation of dance fundamentals. So, back to my point. The greatest authors didn’t forget the rules of grammar nor do they disregard the basics of argumentative essay structure. They’re not using short paragraphs or colloquial diction because they failed grammar school or don’t know any big words. It’s that they have written so many essays using these forms that they can keep the comprehensibility that the rules are intended to foster while manipulating the form to achieve their intended purpose. So here’s my advice to you: First and foremost: remember that the point of writing is ultimately for one person, the author, to get an idea from their head to another head, that of the reader. Just like a dancer’s goal is to make a viewer, their partner, or even themselves, feel a certain feeling or understand an idea based on their movement in conjunction with the song playing. If you achieve that goal and get your point across, you have succeeded, no matter how you get there. The end justifies the means, if you will. With that being said, the rules and formulas you’ve learned are there for a reason. In order to break from the form to achieve masterful and impactful writing, you must be so skilled and so automatic with these basics that you know when it’s appropriate to break them, like the expert dancers. I can’t give you a list of which rules should be broken and which should not. They all should and they all shouldn’t, depending on the piece and its audience and your style and a multitude of other factors. The only way to find out what works and when is to practice, practice, practice, each time experimenting with a formal break, seeing if and when it

94 works in your writing. But in order to do this, you must be bold enough to try, just like I’ve had to be willing to try something new and mess up, to apologize to my dance partner for leading a move that just doesn’t work. But, I’ll say it again, I had to try, and in the end, I’ve become a better dancer because of these mistakes. The same continues to happen with my writing, as it will with yours.

95 Conclusion Carsten Søndergaard

We’re glad you came in today. Every writer needs a check- up from time to time. See, the beautiful and terrifying thing about writing is that it can always be better. Always. There is no such thing as a perfect paper, or any written work for that matter. Our writing professor, a man with a PhD who has written and read more than a human ever should, told us one time that he still looks at his published work from less than a year ago and has regrets, that he sees improve- ments he could have made. He also told us that he goes through several drafts of his written work, deleting and rewriting entire sections sometimes. This is daunting, but on the other hand, it’s incredibly, incredibly exciting. This means that no matter what, a blank page will always have limitless potential. No matter how healthy you think your paper is, there will always be boo-boos that can be patched to make for an even more outstanding work. And no matter how good you think you are, you can always top yourself and strive for more. This is why it’s so good to give your writing the check-up that it always needs, and to never be embarrassed about giving it some medicine. If anything, revision isn’t the sign of a bad writer, it’s the sign of a great writer. We hope you learned something, because over the course of this semester, we certainly did. Every person in this class has improved drastically as a writer, and it’s

96 thanks to these newly acquired skills that we’ve decided to share with you today. With that being said, it’s not as if these skills came easily. We didn’t just read a few articles on how to write better and suddenly master everything we’re sharing with you in this book. It took a lot of practice, a lot of failure, and a lot of helpful feedback and collaboration from professors and peers. And we all still struggle with these skills in every essay we write, because at the end of the day, this is tricky stuff. I’ll say it again: writing can always, always, always be improved. It takes a lot of honesty and self-respect to take a good, hard look at your essay and try to find what illnesses need treatment, or to have a peer do it. By having consulted our guide and sought out medical attention for you essay, you have taken the first step in becoming a better writer. Congratulations. We hope you’ll stop by and see us again if your writing looks like it could use a little check-up.

97 Bibliography

Blevins, Joe. “Horror Genres and Sub-Genres, Arranged in Convenient Flow Chart Form.” AV Club, Aug. 2017, news.avclub.com/horror-genres-and-sub- genres-arranged-in-convenient-fl-1798284402.

Butler, Octavia E. Bloodchild and Other Stories. Four Walls Eight Windows, 1984.

“Close Reading of a Literary Work: Drama.” Profw- gateway, Weebly, profwgateway.weebly.com/up- loads/5/5/0/9/5509238/drama_close_reading. pdf.

Delany, Samuel R. Starboard Wine. Gateway, 2013.

Graff, Gerald, et al. “They Say / I Say”: The Moves That Mat- ter in Academic Writing. W. W. Norton & Company, 2018.

Homer. The Odyssey of Homer. Trans. Richard Alexander Lattimore, Harper Collins, 1967.

McCarthy, Cormac. The Crossing. Alfred A. Knopf, 1994.

“Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Sub-Genres.” Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Books, Word Without End,

98 www.worldswithoutend.com/resources_sub-genres. asp.

Scott, Ridley, director. Blade Runner-The Final Cut. Warner Bros, 2007.

Tietchen, Todd. “Frank O’Hara and the Poetics of the Digital.” Criticism 56 (Winter 2014): 45-62.

Trimble, John R. Writing with Style: Conversations on the Art of Writing. Prentice Hall, 2011.

Weinbaum, Alys Eve. “The Afterlife of Slavery and the Problem of Reproductive Freedom.” Social Text 31 (Summer 2013): 49-68.

99 Author Biographies

Daniel Bae has lived in Virginia, South Korea, Los Ange- les, and, most recently, San Diego. He is studying Mechani- cal Engineering and is interested in the construction of automobiles and spacecraft.

Raye Cheng was born and raised in Southern California and is majoring in Business Administration. Combined with his background in personal and wellness coaching, he is drawn to entrepreneurship as a means for greater social impact.

Kylie Eiselstein grew up on Lookout Mountain in north Georgia. She is a Cinema and Media Studies major in the USC School of Cinematic Arts. She loves film and storytelling and hopes to one day be a film critic or screenwriter.

Sagan Gor is from Charlotte, North Carolina. He is double majoring in Spanish and Sociology. He is a pretty chill guy.

Anna Greer is originally from Scottsdale, Arizona, but has lived overseas in Asia for the past eight years. She is majoring in Political Economy, but has really enjoyed using her creativity and developing her writing skills to help craft this book.

100 Jocelyn Liu is from McLean, Virginia. She is majoring in Electrical Engineering and hoping to add a minor in Ani- mation and Digital Art. From electronics to medical imag- ing, she wants to be a part of developing novel technology to help improve peoples’ lives.

Lingaire Ofosuhene is a college freshman from Pennsyl- vania. She is double majoring in International Relations and Narrative Studies. She hopes to work in international policy and human trafficking.

Joey Patrick is from Mesa, Arizona and is majoring in Ac- counting in USC Leventhal. He loves any outdoor activities, especially hiking, skiing, and mountain biking, and also enjoys playing guitar in his free time. Colorado is his city.

Carsten Søndergaard is from Pasadena, California and is majoring in PPL (Philosophy, Politics, and Law) as well as French. He is passionate about social justice and in his free time loves to swing dance and do improv comedy.

Liam Tsao is a lifelong resident of Madison, Wisconsin who is studying History and Economics. He loves birds and nature, and hopes to use the social sciences to find sustainable solutions to climate change.

Ngai Yeung was born and raised in Hong Kong. A double major in journalism and international relations and the global economy, she feels obligated to tell you that she also writes for Global City at USC Annenberg Media.

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