My blog with Donald Johansen 1/15/13

The basic necessities to this paper will require 1,300-1,500 words and must be a narrative essay discussing an educational experience. So far we have read to narratives about internet experiences, both seemed to have similar challenges in that they had the challenge of trying to reach a wide audience.  In order to achieve a top grade you must reach further than basics though.  Use specific details, and have a paper that reaches a wide range of audience.  Both of our papers will be on a military experience, and although it is rich in story it comes with its own challenges.  Reaching to a wide range of audience is always a challenge, especially when the experiences are riddled with military jargon. I don’t want my readers to feel like Malcolm X when he picked up a book and felt he was reading something foreign. Luckily though generally military experiences are full of action and generally interesting stories.  The plan is to go ahead and just write out our story as it comes to mind, than turn around and address any military terms that might prove to be challenging to the wider range of audiences.  Also another challenge will be to make it clear what the lesson was; both stories are very personal experiences.  Discussing a war time experience can be both emotional and hard to explain.  Relating to Malcolm X’s writing could be a lot easier considering we are writing to an audience whose opinions may differ.  The narrative may compare to “How I Learned to Program Computers” in the fact that it will instill something deeper than face value. For example one describes how to do something, but also makes the deeper impression that success is tied to an obsession.  Romero’s work could inspire a similar way of starting my essay, using a hook line sentence to catch the broader audience.  The essay should not require audience to read half way through the text to begin to relate, because by halfway if they have not yet related a negative opinion or sense of bore could already be set.