Rough Draft

It’s Lake day.  A warm summer afternoon, the sun rays are birsting through the leaves on the oak trees.  The sound of birds chirping and wind blowing through the tree branches you would expect on a perfect day at the lake are being drowned out buy up beat music and high school students chanting to start the lake games team competition.  Welcome to camp.  Now to many camp is a place where children run wild and adventure all day long getting lost in the woods, eating black berries , ext.  A place to waist the day away floating in the lake or watching the clouds go by.  This is not that camp.  Welcome to Forest Home, one of the top camps in California.  Forest home is a fast paced jam packed camp that can accommodate up to two thousand people.  With five different camp settings and different retreats both put on by the camp and rented out to guest groups Forest home is a place of diversity.  At first glance a camp does not seem like the place that has any sort of writing with thought behind it but this is far from the truth.  In this business understanding an audience is necessary to effective rhetoric along with a thoughtful use of tone and language.   

In a camp so large with so much going on it is extremly important to fully understand who you are working with.  This is why I interviewed Sandy.  Sandy works as Forest Home’s lead event planner.  She works in booking and orchestrating guest groups that rent out a facility and use it for a retreat of their own instead of participating in a programed retreat at camp.  Sandy has a large task at hand in scheduling and coordinating al that will be needed for each and every guest group that comes to Forest Home.  Sandy is a connecter, she brings each department that is necessary for the retreat to happen together.  From the moment the contact Forest Home Sandy walks them through ever detail of planning their trip, while some of this is done over the phone most of their communication is done over email.  

This is where the importance of knowing your audience comes in.  Sandy has seen it all. groups young and old, very planned and incredibly disorganized.  Sandy explains that when 

“we talk to different pastors and guest groups and serve a lot of different generational groups and leaders, different ethniticites, different cultures so I've gotten into reading the gage of how someone wants to be communicated with.  I mean I have worked with group leaders that don't feel comftorable working one on one with women.  I work with groups that don't speak english.  Remembering how we communicate is important.  I try to portray that in my email”.  This is important.  The first step to effective and thriving communication between Sandy and her guests is understanding who they are and what they are about.  A first hint to doing this is the basic knowledge sandy gets about them.  

What does this actually look like? Well, lets start with what type of group they are.  For example, a young youth pastor (lets call him Andy) is bringing in forty junior high students, they are excited for their first trip to camp and want to plan a fun weekend that will bring their group together.  Andy leaves Sandy a warm and causal voicemail expressing interest in booking a weekend and also emails her some more details about their group.  Based off her little knowledge of Andy’s group Sandy knows that the tone of her response email can be and should be more conversational.  She can add in a blurb about herself and how exciting her first retreat was as a junior higher.  Sandy can agknolege that the stress of planning a first retreat is real and expected and that she has confidence in Andy.  Most importantly that she will make sure everything goes accordingly, they are a team now and she is happy to help.  Now she has made a real life connection with her audience because she catered directly to them and their communicaiton will flow much easer from this point on.  

Take for example a much more formal group.  Sharla, the group leader for a three hundred count womens emails Sandy to book the same weekend that they had last year.  Sandy knows from past experience that this is a very particular group of women who take pride in making a beautiful and detailed experience.  Sharla’s email expresses interest in upgrading their housing choices for the stay and placing an order for particular meals to have alterations to the menu.  From reading this group Sandy can already tell that they wish to be communicated with formally and thuroly.  When catoring to your audience It’s differences like staying very strait to the point, clear,  and formal or adding an extra bold word or explanation point that give the extra touch of feeling known.  

this will be the part of the paper that I reference the rhetoric cartoons and what they say about tone and voice and how it makes such a difference.  Sandy is like one of those superstores, she is making the communication process easer for the reader because they don't have to decode what she has written them.  they have an idea of what to expect but they are given even more context to decode when sandy makes it personal to them.  

Sandy writes in another tone and rhetoric when she writes to her staff.  Her staff is a young fresh out of college group that host the guest groups that sandy has scheduled.  She is the leader of the team and expressed a great appreciation for them in our interview.  Because she has a different relationship with them she can use a different tone.  I would also like to point out that I think the way she writes to them has a huge impact on the team dynamic.  I know we have all experienced bosses that are very direct and to the point.  they consider their employees as replaceable and people who are getting the job done, not valuable people with individual personalities and skills.  

The tone that sandy speaks to her staff with creates a whole different atmosphere.  

"here I will quote part of her email to her staff"  See how in this example she sparks warmly to them works like "akfjs;odkjapokdj" create a sense of appreciation and thankfulness for them.  

To back this up I will use another example of how this is proven in our readings. I will give a quote from the readings and then explain how it relates to sandy.  

When I close my paper I will make the connection to sandy's job and her writing.  In sandy's job she has to take a camp and make changes to it for each different type of guest.  

Some may want the meal times changed or may want to bring in a huge band or DJ.  Some groups want to bring large tends and set up all kinds of extra activities while others want a small quite room and extra tea at night.  

All groups are different.  All writing is different.  Even though Sandy uses a template  checklist to send to all of her groups she modifies it depending on who the group is.  Much like writing we have templates to decode what we are reading.  The back of a shampoo bottle, an academic paper, an email to request an informational interview.  These are all things that we already know how to structure but as we learn from sandy we have the ability to taylor to particular people for a purpose to make our writing better.  We make our wring more understandable for the reader which makes them feel known, like sandy host staff.  

In my paper I plan to focus on Genres, tone, and rhetoric.  Sandy is a perfect example of these things.  Sandy works at Forest Home Christian Camps, a large camp in the san bernidino mountains of southern California.  Across their five different camp sites forest home can host about 2000 guests at a time.  With so many different groups coming into each site and maneuvering around program camps that forest home puts on themselves there is a diverse spectrum of groups that need to be catered to.  This is where sandy comes in.  Sandy is the connection between the masses of options at forest home and the guest groups who want to schedule their retreats.  Sandy walks them one step at a time through the process and she shares how with me that "quote about how sandy changes her language depending on what he group is like"  

sandy has seen it all. groups young and old, very planned and incredibly disorganized.  She has learned that when speaking to an older traditional group leader is far different than a young youth pastor organizing a trip for junior highers.  It's differences like staying very strait to the point clear and formal or adding an extra bold word or explanation point.  Sandy shares that she is much more open and conversational in her writing with guests that know the camp well or that reach out to sandy in a very personal matter.  

this will be the part of the paper that I reference the rhetoric cartoons and what they say about tone and voice and how it makes such a difference.  Sandy is like one of those superstores, she is making the communication process easer for the reader because they don't have to decode what she has written them.  they have an idea of what to expect but they are given even more context to decode when sandy makes it personal to them.  

Sandy writes in another tone and rhetoric when she writes to her staff.  Her staff is a young fresh out of college group that host the guest groups that sandy has scheduled.  She is the leader of the team and expressed a great appreciation for them in our interview.  Because she has a different relationship with them she can use a different tone.  I would also like to point out that I think the way she writes to them has a huge impact on the team dynamic.  I know we have all experienced bosses that are very direct and to the point.  they consider their employees as replaceable and people who are getting the job done, not valuable people with individual personalities and skills.  

The tone that sandy speaks to her staff with creates a whole different atmosphere.  

"here I will quote part of her email to her staff"  See how in this example she sparks warmly to them works like "akfjs;odkjapokdj" create a sense of appreciation and thankfulness for them.  

To back this up I will use another example of how this is proven in our readings. I will give a quote from the readings and then explain how it relates to sandy.  

When I close my paper I will make the connection to sandy's job and her writing.  In sandy's job she has to take a camp and make changes to it for each different type of guest.  

Some may want the meal times changed or may want to bring in a huge band or DJ.  Some groups want to bring large tends and set up all kinds of extra activities while others want a small quite room and extra tea at night.  

All groups are different.  All writing is different.  Even though Sandy uses a template  checklist to send to all of her groups she modifies it depending on who the group is.  Much like writing we have templates to decode what we are reading.  The back of a shampoo bottle, an academic paper, an email to request an informational interview.  These are all things that we already know how to structure but as we learn from sandy we have the ability to taylor to particular people for a purpose to make our writing better.  We make our wring more understandable for the reader which makes them feel known, like sandy host staff.  

Thesis!

In my thesis I am arguing that no matter what they write all people should mold their writing to a particular genre.  Depending on who the audience is they will shape their writing using a plethora of techniques to reach their desired audience appropriately.  Knowing their audience and nailing their genre is the key to a successful writer.  

Whats the point?

This weeks reading was great. 

Really really great. 

I relate to the they say I say reading because I find myself asking the questions "why am I reading this" "what's the point" all the time.  It affirmed me that first, I am not the only one asking these questions.  Sometimes I can feel that I am the only one getting distracted or not completely following readings, but this helped me realize that as a writer we need to help those who are reading our work.  We need to keep them on track if we are going to be the best writers possible.  If I am writing something I don't want my reader left confused or wondering what to take away.  

This is even important in the simple things.  I wanted to be sure the person that I contacted for my interview knew exactly what I was asking them (what the main points were).  I wouldn't want them confused thinking that I was asking for a job interview or have confusion on what "artifacts"mean.  Clarifying what the main point is puts the final touch on a paper, email, blog, or any piece of writing.  

So, to remind you whats important make it clear what the main points of your reading are.  Why are you reading this you might ask?  To understand just how important clarification is. 

Interview Questions... a work in progress

Sandy, how did you get your start at Forest Home? 

Did you feel prepared coming into your job? 

What was most challenging at the start? 

What do you find most challenging now? 

What do you love most about your job? 

What do you consider to be the most important skills of a lead event planer? 

If you could go back to the start of your career what would you do differently? 

I found the list of things Forest Home is responsible for in get group retreats on your website.  Are you personally responsible for anything on this list? 

How do you communicate with the other departments at Forest Home? 

How often do you receive and respond to emails from potential guests? 

What do you find most difficult about the exchange of information and details with guests planning their retreat at Forest Home? 

I looked over Forest Home's mission statement on your website, does any particular key value resonate with you most or connect to you're position more than others? 

How does your job relate to other positions at Forest Home? 

What do you wish you could do more of in your position? 

Who do you work with directly the most? 

I looked over Forest Home's mission statement on your website, does any particular key value resonate with you most or connect to you're position more than others? 

The Big Picture

Honestly reading the first half of "how to read like a writer" got me feeling pretty overwhelmed.  Already when I sit down to read just about anything I get hit by a whirlwind of distractions.  Something to fiddle with, people rustling and talking amongst themselves in the coffee shop (I love to read in coffee shops), and my inner self who wants to get other things done, reminding me that I need to pick up more almond butter if I want to have it on my oatmeal tomorrow morning.  I think you get the picture.  The thought of having to read in a whole new way was quite terrifying.  

Not only should I ask questions to find out what the writer is saying but now I need to ask why they are saying it and how they could say it differently. 

As I continued reading and after my mini panic attack passed I started to understand the benefit to reading like a writer.  I realized that in small ways I do it already in ways like reading little cute and clever blog posts, emails from employers, or even a newsletter from an organization I'm interested in.  I take to heart how they write and try to incorporate it into the writing I do.  I look at what they did that I like and how they uniquely fit their writing together outside the box.  I try to fit those things into my own writing even if it's something as simple as the way that a reading is structured.  

Although it seems overwhelming I realized that we have been doing this even in class!  Looking at the recommendation request emails in class was exactly what this article talks about.  We read each of them and asked numerous questions about what they were writing and who they were writing to.  We looked at what we liked personally and what generally worked and then incorporated what we had learned into our own writing of a similar genre.  

I'm a big picture person, I like seeing how little pieces fit together to make the whole thing work.  This was encouraging particularly because the pieces are coming together for me how this whole writing thing works and getting a better understanding that what we are doing in class relates to real life.  

I hope you enjoyed reading this post at least half as much as I enjoyed writing it from the floor of a barns and noble, taking in every interesting distraction  that passed by.  

Why we do anything at all.

       Hello fellow classmates I hope the past week has treated you well! 

Alright, I enjoyed the first article "backpacks vs briefcases" It was a nice review of what we had talked about in class until I got to the part where the writer mentioned that part of rhetoric analysis is looking at constraints.  Don't only ask the question "who is this add talking to" but also ask "who is this add not talking to" or "who is not included in their target audience".  

Looking back on the majority of my writing and english classes my professors encouraged us to annotate or use rhetoric analysis but it stopped there.  It didn't seem to have a purpose other than really breaking down the article but now I am starting to understand how rhetorical analysis is all about understanding the motives behind media.  This way we can avoid being blindsided or tricked into something because an article or add did an incredible job at manipulating our emotions.  It goes the opposite way also, now that I am learning how to understand peoples true motives I don't have to be as skeptical after making a choice to believe or support something.  It's really exciting to me that this is something that I can apply to my life all the time every day, not just in a writing class once a week.  

I also specifically liked reading about holding an interview in chapter 17.  I didn't think about taking the time to brainstorm why I'm interviewing someone, because Zack told me to isn't the best reason.  I took some time to brainstorm for myself on why I want to interview the person who I have emailed for our project.  It made it so much more clear and I was reminded of what I love to do.  I want to see if this type of career matches up with my gifts and I want to ask my the person who I'm interviewing why they love their job and what makes them great at it.  I don't want to just settle for what they do day to day but I want to learn about their motivation behind what they do.  Taking the time to really understand my motivation behind the research I will be doing completely changed my perspective on what I am looking for in the first place! 

Rhetoric, yep I'm a fan

Wow rhetoric! 

Who would have thought that one day I would sit here and type away how excited I am about rhetoric to you lovely people. 

But seriously... 

     The more we talk and read about about rhetoric the more excited I get because the writing world is beginning to make more sense to me!  Things I thought I always knew or at least had an idea about are so crystal clear and are bringing the picture together. 

     

I specifically loved the understanding rhetoric reading.  First, the cartoon style writing that "understanding rhetoric" is packaged in is a perfect example of what rhetoric is! Rhetoric is the way that you package a message, If you have information that you want to share with people but have a variety of different audiences, you need to present it differently depending on the crowd you are going for. 

  

  I loved the example that was used in the cartoon where the superhero had to present the message of asking for different benefits to different groups.  First to those above him where he had to make his plea sound urgent but not overwhelming, then he beefed it up for his fellow part time super-heros to call them to action and get them on board to help.  Finally he rallied the youth by getting them on his side and encouraging them to make a difference.  It was such a seamless example of what rhetoric actually looks like instead of just explaining what it is.  I learn by doing and having actual real life examples so reading this cartoon helped make the pieces of this very complex puzzle come together!   

Thanks for reading! 

Genres!

    

     I found the reading to be very helpful in my understanding of why we write differently throughout all the contacts one may write in.  It took the conversation that we had in class about understanding a genre one step further.  Each year I have grown older and pursued my education in a new way I have found myself asking the questions that the writer brings up on page 250.  In writing term papers, resumes, formal letters, speeches, ext I have had to understand each genre before I begin and keep it in mind as I write.  This has been something that I do naturally but now that I understand how important understanding of audience and genre are I want to put more effort into this part of the writing process.  

     

     I found page 252 particularly interesting, Dirk points out that the first person to create a new genre paves the way for those who will follow.  He used the example of George Washington's state of the union address.  Now when I first read this I didn't like the idea that we are stuck in a pattern made by those before us, I thought to myself that George Washington's state of the union address could have been horrible and that presidents may get a better point across with a powerpoint, a speech with visual images and examples, maybe even a dance number?  But as I kept reading I understood the point Dirk is making, that genres help us decode information and without them we wouldn't have to read in the first place.  They give order and structure in our lives but this does not mean that we should set our creativity aside.  By taking the time to understand our audience and genre we can then make our writing even better because we can cater specifically to that group.  

Hello everyone!
     My full name is Caroline Grace Smith (I like to ask people their full names) but most people just call me Caroline and if you've  known me for a long time you probably call me Care.  I was born and raised in Ojai California which is just forty five minutes down the road from Santa Barbara.  If you haven't had the chance to stop by Ojai you defenitly should, it's a small town that has a very earthy and artistic feel.  I think that growing up in such a small town contributed to my love for building community with people.

     I love people a lot, every time I take a personality test I end up on the high end of the extravert spectrum.  I not only love to understand and know different types of people but I really need that interaction to keep me going and energized.  My friends and family are a huge part of my life and I love to organize events and gatherings to bring them together.
I am a communications major here at Antioch and I am very excited to use what I learn here to move towards my goal of becoming a camp program director.  I would love to use my gift for thinking big and bringing people together to plan and produce summer and year round programs at camp.

     In finishing this about me blurb I will share with you all some of my favorite things.  Blueberries and cherries are my favorite fruit.  I paint all kinds of things and can make just about anything with supplies from an art store.  I have been a camp counselor for the past three summers working on a houseboats camp and this pass summer I moved back to land.  I really love working with high school and junior high students.  Pugs are my favorite animal because they have scrunched up faces and make noises when they breath.
Well I hope you have enjoyed reading about some of the things that have shaped me and that I am passionate about as well as some fun facts.  I look forward to getting to know you all personally!