blog vii

I chose Chapter 11 from the Bedford Book of Genres. Chapter 11 is all about shaping identity and effectively writing about it. It is mostly a compilation of different genres of writing and how identity is research and written about. It begins with a researched argument about what your stuff says about you. Similar to the show “Room Raiders” on MTV, Sam Gosling researches and discusses how your bathroom sink, book cabinet, or desk can accurately allow someone to guess who you are or what you are like. One writing from this chapter discusses the multiplicity of our selves (from a psychological perspective), while another discusses the difference between sex and gender and the struggle of transgender children.

This chapter was interesting to me as all of our projects really deal with our selves and the communities that we belong to. I think the self is something relatively difficult to write about because there is more than one you. Like this chapter discusses, it is relative to your audience, your genre, and your purpose. You wouldn’t describe yourself to your English professor in the same manner that you would describe yourself to a new boyfriend. The audience is vastly different in each case, as well as the purpose of each interaction. I think this chapter is very useful to Project 2 in the sense that it can help focus our community and purpose. As a writer, you have to develop a voice, and that voice stems from yourself. You do not want to compromise yourself, but at the same time, you must write to your audience.