This assignment was hard for me. I tend to sway with the ebb and flow -- this forced me to pin myself down.
Summary:
Is it possible to observe and not judge? Is it possible to express yourself without drawing on your own encounters and your own history? I intend to do character studies of cultures and of individuals around me and in public life. My commitment was to write about myself and I intend to do that by examining how I interact with people, and how my past experiences and relationships influence my opinions. I’ll attempt to map my current interactions to my past experiences.
I have mentioned before that my first impressions are quite often wrong. Many of my closest friends now are people who I had deemed too loud, too humorless, or too arrogant. I still form bonds very slowly, but I have become more impartial in scrutiny and more thorough in my reasoning. That thorough analysis is what I will explore.
Problem statement:
I want to write about my experiences and opinions, but am at a loss for where to begin. In past posts, reviewers have pointed out that I end up talking about other people instead of myself. Instead of fighting that urge, I’ll use it to my advantage to show why I see people the way I do. In examining other people, I’ll examine myself.
Research and background:
Many studies have been done on observation and experience. Jury selection, for example, has become almost an art form. Sometimes controversial, the selection process can employ background checks as well as intensive interviewing techniques to uncover potential biases. Building the optimum jury pool can bring benefits to both sides. Jurors are often meticulously chosen to give the defense a better chance of winning sympathy for their client. At the same time, advocates contend that jury selection methods give both sides more confidence in the verdict.
Psychologists also have examined the unreliability of eye witness accounts and how people’s past experiences influence what they see or think they saw. The term “mind’s eye” describes how humans are able to visualize what they want to see which does not always mirror reality.
This summary catches me off the top with two questions that require deep thought and self-study. I like the way you plan on writing about how you see others you meet (and maybe even don't 'meet') on a daily basis. What an interesting introspect.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to everything you write in this summary, and I feel others can as well. I firmly believe that we are all judgmental to different degrees. No matter how hard we try to break away from what shaped us as children, it still lingers there in some way. I know my first impressions of others are often wrong because of my early learned behaviors and attitudes.
In the problem statement, you stay focused on your mission to dissect your thoughts of others, but I wonder if you couldn't expand this mission. Perhaps you could help others, like me, realize why we see people the way we do. Why do I find one particular co-worker so incredibly annoying and inefficient? Is she really so bad, or is there something lacking in me that makes me feel this way? Am I so inflexible (my boyfriend says so often) that I don't take the time to see that she really is good at her job, but she just goes about it differently than I would. I think the problem you pose in this project affects many more people than you may think. Actually, it affects every one of us. How can you help your readers recognize that here?
In the research and background section, I particularly like the line you draw between observers and witnesses. In reality, we are all witnesses. And what we see depends on many factors.
About me: Here, you do a nice job of circling back to your summary. In the summary, you posed the question, "Is it possible to express yourself without drawing on your own encounters and your own history?" In the final section, you give us a new glimpse of that personal history. Your alcoholic father, financial hardships and many military moves have shaped you in some way. It doesn't mean the first two are negatives. In fact, you have clearly turned the first two into positives in your life. Still, they, even to a small degree perhaps, affect your first impressions of others. I'd say that's true for all of us.
Good job on this assignment. I know it was a tough one for you, not only for the assignment itself, but also for the personal details you divulged. Thank you for sharing, and great work!
This is a very interesting topic and one I think a lot of people would like to sit down and ask themselves, why do we see people the way we do? I am interested as far as you developing this topic even further. What experiments or observation techniques are you going to use? Will there be a section where you teach the readers how to deal with the types of people or cultures you have encountered? I like the research and background section, especially with the example of jury selection. We all see and think differently and the way jurors are selected is to group "mind like" individuals. Great writing!
ReplyDeleteI will be honest with all of you that I find myself reacting to first impressions all the time. I have dumped boyfriends because after month, we didn't click. Then they enter back into my life, and now we are best friends. But is there a difference between good friends and husbands? Mimi, you made me think long and hard about my choices and how quickly I react to making them. I find myself walking past people and judging them without really knowing them. Thank you for bring this topic it light since it has made me ponder about what is wrong with me.
ReplyDeleteHi Mimi,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed some of the thoughts you outline in this proposal. Your argument justifies why and how you can “write about yourself” and still bring those around you into that conversation. You write, “In examining others, I’ll examine myself.” We all do this on a daily basis, with or without conscious effort. As your groupmates have said, the "learning" often manifests itself as judgment. I sometimes find myself criticizing someone for a less-than-desirable personality trait, only to realize that I criticize because I see that trait in myself and don’t like it! I like the idea that you will spell that process out in your writing.
I found your “About Me” section particularly compelling because I wanted to know which experiences changed you, and which experiences tried to change you but did not. Tell us how you found the strength to stay constant. Or, tell us why you decided to adapt. It makes for great writing either way.
In terms of the writing style, this post doesn’t sound like “you.” It’s a proposal, yes, but this is a course about voice, and I wanted to hear it delivered in the “Mimi” voice. You’ve given us warmth, insight and humor in all your coursework, but here I felt like I didn’t know who wrote this piece. Phrases such as “I will attempt to map current interactions” sound stilted and uncomfortable. You also use a lot of passive voice, which creates distance between you and the reader. Instead of “My commitment was to write,” you can say, “I committed to write, or “I committed to the process/idea/act of…” When you say, “Many studies have been done,” I want to know who conducted those studies, and how your ideas will differ from theirs.
I do love the notion that you will not fight the urge to talk about other people in order to learn more about yourself. You are going with the flow, and you have plenty of room to explore and discover without losing focus. You want to write about how your interactions with others have shaped you? I’m sure that’s happened in a myriad of ways. You could write about that in many different ways. See what those interactions have in common. That might be the key to leaving room for creativity without “pinning yourself down.”
--Prof. N.