This literacy narrative project helped meet the learning outcomes through a variety of aspects. Through rewriting the same narrative multiple times through different approaches, such as a literary narrative and a comic narrative. These different approaches allowed me to consider the reader and audience in different lights. Revising and reevaluating the same narrative multiple times allowed me to understand the writing process more deeply. I used to think that once an essay is done and I am satisfied with it, I don’t want to deal with it anymore. However, I’ve come to realize that through other people’s opinions, evaluating them, and revising my work allows me to reach a better understanding of the narrative and how my message and work can reach the audience better. I really enjoyed creating a visual version of the narrative since it forced me to pick a specific part of the narrative and dive deeper, and express that idea more clearly. Then, once I returned to the text narrative, I had a better understanding of that idea and how I want to express it, even changing the conclusion and main idea of my narrative. I see the narrative more personally now. I used to phrase it as a story and something that was in the past, but now I see it as a lesson I’ve learned and will continue to follow in life.
Link to the Literacy Narrative, Part 3 https://emily4870.wordpress.com/literacy-narrative-part-3/
For this assignment, I first hand-drew the base, similar to architecture, and then added photos of my assignments afterward. I split the sections into the categories of assignments: sketch assignments, reflections, and the final portfolio. I saw the sketch assignments as the assembly pieces since it helps build our creativity and sense of self, and then the reflections are a way of understanding how each assignment has impacted us and our thought process, and finally, the final portfolio is a way of bringing them all together.
I chose to recreate a scene from the movie: A Dog’s Journey. Since I was at home, I wanted to be a little creative and incorporate my dog into the picture, so I chose a scene that featured a dog. I chose this movie because it was one from my childhood, and I have formed an emotional connection with it. It was hard to hold my dog still or get close enough without him licking my face, but I thought the picture still turned out good.
I thought about the situation I’m in now, studying for finals, and what type of music would best suit these times. While I’m stressed, I like to listen to music that’ll calm me down and motivate me to focus. Therefore, the mixtape I made is a fall study playlist that is calm enough to not be distracting but upbeat enough to motivate. I chose the cover picture because I feel that it really captures the essence of fall. This picture also promotes positivity as it reminds me of memorable moments with my friends.
I found this assignment interesting because I’ve never presented with a set time limit for each slide. I liked this style of presentation more than writing an essay because it is more straight to the point and there was more freedom around the organization of our argument. I chose to structure my presentation by spitting the first half about The Talk and the second half about Kindred and for each book, first talking about the traumatic moments and then show how the main characters healed by preventing repetition and protecting a loved one from experiencing the same harm. I organized the books and their patterns one after another to emphasize the pattern of healing through others more clearly.
I thought that since there is a time limit per side, having no script and just discussing as if it were a class discussion would be the most fitting. I’m glad I made this decision because I was able to talk more freely and improvise with the timing instead of just waiting for the slide to switch. It was also fitting because I was able to talk and point out specific details on the pages at the same time; Whereas if I had a script it would be less smooth. I also chose to have a few words on each slide to stay on track and make sure I get the main point across. I liked how some students had other images that weren’t from the book since it kept it more interesting and in the future I think practicing presenting with the time limit would improve the presentation.
I chose to track happiness, focusing on five main categories: the hours of sleep, hours of studying, number of hugs, the rating, and the hours of screen time I get each for for a week or so. I was curious on whether there were any sort of patterns between the five categories and if any of them correlated with one another. I chose a grouped infographic so that it was easier to visualize and compare the hours or amount of each category I get and can see them side by side.
Some patterns made sense for example the days that had the highest rating were also the days with some of the fewest hours of studying. However, I was surprised that there was a correlation between the rating of my day and the hours of screen time. The days were I had the highest amount of screen time were also the days where I rated the day the lowest. This may be because when I am on my phone, I am not with my friends or doing things that would’ve made my day better. Correlation does no necessarily mean causation, but it is interesting to see the similar patterns. If I were to continue this project in the future I would consider more categories and over a longer period of time to see how much these categories correlate with each other or if it were just a coincidence.
The pattern of structure contrasts between the two pages. The structure of Spinning‘s page consists of three identical panel sizes stacked horizontally, which expresses a sense of repetition and constraint. The horizontal segment of the panels portrays a movement through time as the reader reads from top to bottom. Additionally, the identity of shape and size of the three panels reveals a sense of “perfection” which would relate to the idea of how Tillie is comparing herself to other girls and always striving for perfection in ice skating. The box structure of the panels and the close proximity to each other also conveys a feeling of confinement, emphasizing how Tillie is constantly keeping her emotions and feelings about her sexuality to herself. While the gutter between the panels is very slim, the panels the distance between the panels and the edge of the page is greater, which amplifies the sense of containment. On the other hand, Stitches‘s page consists of open space drawings with a small box as the only resemblance to a panel. An interesting difference between the two pages is the way time is portrayed. While in Spinning, time seems to be moving as the reader reads from top to bottom, the structure of Stitches‘s page seems to have no movement through time, but rather that everything is happening at once. The structure of David in the top corner and his grandfather, who takes up the majority of the page of reveals the connection between the two as they both lost their vocal cords. There being no gutter between the two figures and movement of time emphasises how, despite their age, they both experience similar situations. Additionally, the only image of David on the page is boxed and put in the corner, which highlights how David feels trapped by his illness. The pattern of structure within the two pages conveyed the emotions the main character feels and also played with the movement of time.
Another pattern I observed is the artistic design of the pages. In Spinning‘s page, the art style uses simple lines and solid shading, while Stitches‘s artistic design is more detailed with complex lines and criss-cross shading patterns. While Spinning‘s shading is used to fill up to the panel’s borders, similar to how Tillie is hiding her true self, Stitches‘s shading is used to create the shape of a panel. The more dramatic and hectic shading in Stitches emphasizes the dysfunctionality of David’s family. On the other hand, the neat and clean solid lines and shading in Spinning highlight the clean appearance of figure skaters and Tillie’s hiding of her sexuality.
The structure and artistic design in Spinning and Stitches‘s pages are contrasting, but they both emphasize the protagonist’s story and emotions; therefore, the authors utilize the visual component of comics to indirectly highlight the emotions of the story. Most readers typically only pay attention to the figures and story of comics and don’t question the choices that were made when creating the design and format. The specifics, down to the size of the panels, the gutter placement, the arrangement of frames, and the shading and art style, all reflect the narration of the story.
This assignment was different from the triptych one since the middle of the story used two panels instead of one. This was more challenging in terms of coming up with a story short enough for four panels but still had a long enough middle to take up two panels. The organization of the story into four panels still felt similar to the triptych since I have to compact and plan certain events based off the panels. I chose to tell this story since it included an aspect of the food chain or the phrase “there’s always a bigger fish in the sea” which I find interesting. It also included the idea of perspective since the orange fish was completely clueless while the pink fish just witnessed everything.
