Daily Journal-- 4/7/11

I think there are some very positive things we do in this class and some things that could use improvement.

My favorite thing we did in here was the poetry unit. I think the understanding of poetry is essential for a lot of students so that they can truly understand the music they listen to. I think the term "poetry" has a very negative connotation for guys especially, because it's thought to be soft, romantic shit. What people don't understand is that Nas, Eminem, Kanye West, Jay Z, and every other "hard" artist are all poets. I don't think anyone can truly appreciate song writing until they try to write a song, or poem, on their own. Also poem writing is a very creative way of expression, and in my opinion, it's very therapeutic. I also like the fact that we did "daily lyrics" in this class. What other class do we get to show off our favorite artists? And it really makes us think about the deeper meaning in songs, plus its a good way to start the day (even though I barely liked any of the songs that my classmates showed). I think learning what music people listen to is a great way of discovering more about someone that you don't know.

The one negative about this class that comes to my head right away is the daily journals. Daily Journals used to be a lot easier for me to write, but after doing it every day for a quarter, you just run out of things to say and the writings become a lot more bland and boring. I think the idea of improv writing is very cool, but it just gets too repetitive doing it for ten minutes every day. I would suggest either shortening the time to 3-5 minutes, or making the "daily" journal more of an every other day thing.

Overall I did really enjoy this class. I do a lot of song-writing in my free time regardless, and I think it's cool to have a class that supports that creative form of writing. This is one of the first english class where I've felt that I have the opportunity to workout that creative part of my brain, and where I don't have to rely on some sort of format or structure to my papers. I think you did a good job of teaching the class and supplying us with cool assignments to spark people's interest in writing. I personally already was very interested in writing, so the class was kind of a natural mold for me to dive into, and I didn't have to push my limits too much to come up with creativity in my writing. But I know that a lot of people struggle with writing, and needed a class like this to allow them some wiggle-room in their essays/stories. All-in-all it was a cool class, and I'd really suggest it to any underclassmen.