Week 2- Reflexive Blog Post 1
Jamaica is the fifth largest island in the Caribbean, which I am proud to call my birth home. In Jamaica, the primary language is English however there is a local dialect called Patois. There are over 2.7 million people of all different ethnicities such as East Indian, White, and Chinese who grace the island. Our core values are in Religion, family, food/etiquette and race. Other values are in work, school, sports, creative arts and politics. The Jamaican flag colors are gold (the natural wealth, beauty of sunlight), green (representing hope), and black (the people are strong and creative).
Religion is a fundamental aspect of the Jamaican culture. On the island there are many Christians, Baptists,  Jehovah’s Witness, Obeah and Rastafarians. Many people associate Rastafarian with Bob Marley because of his reggae music. Rastafarians or Rasta’s believe they are the lost tribes of Israel which swears by that Africa is the birthplace of mankind. They entrust in respecting your body, not cutting your hair or using harmful chemicals, no tattoos or eating meat. There is a misconception that all Rastafarian do is smoke marijuana or “ganja”, that they believe “opens up the mind to freedom, self-realization and understanding.” Family is another very important aspect of the culture because they provide emotional and financial support. It is traditional for grandmothers to spend quality time with their grandchildren and pass down traditions and values through story telling. When I was younger I remember spending countless amount of hours listening to stories my grandmother would tell and even little things about how a woman should act. There is a poem written by Jamaica Kincaid titled “Girl” which exemplifies how to be accepted in Jamaican society as a well-respected woman. We tend to distrust anyone on the outside especially authorities.  Food is important in any culture especially our culture. Jamaicans tend to “cook up a storm” when celebrating, there is a lot of stress placed on etiquette. In meeting and greetings you are expected to shake hands with direct eye contact addressing the person by their title (Mrs., Mr., Miss) Simple things like waiting to be seated, starting to eat only when the host invites you and it is polite to eat everything on your plate. Jamaicans appreciate brevity and are very direct and logical when it comes to communicating with the expectation that others are as well.
It is respected to communicate openly, frequently and honestly to one another. If that does not occur then the relationship is broken and you will be exiled from your friends and family. It is undesirable to be impatient, late, gossip and argue. In my immediate family there is huge problem with being on time, my aunt for instance will show up 3 hours late to a event because she wants to arrive at her “Best”. Many Jamaicans would agree to that there is “normal” people time and then there is “Jamaican” time that I am occasionally guilty of.
 Week 3- Audience analysisÂ
When I think of the word “audience” immediately I think of a comedy or TV show with an audience. This new concept of audience in writing is very different to me. Now realizing that my audience goes beyond the Professor is significantly important to how I write now. I have slowly been exposed to the idea of “target audience” in my Marketing class. The target audience it is a specific group of people within the target market at which a product or the marketing message of a product is aimed. Many companies have specific audiences they target that are based of consumer’s demographics such as age, sex or income.
For the assignment I decided to analyze “How To Brew Coffee”. While reading the document I realized how simple their use of language was. It was targeted in a way that it was easily readable. I loved their opening statement “There are many methods for brewing a fine cup of coffee — no single technique is right for everyone. The method you choose for brewing your coffee should be based on your needs and your unique coffee preferences.” Instantly it lets you know the author is aware there are many ways to brew coffee and not every technique maybe right for you. First the author organizes the document by starting to educate the reader on the variety of the types of coffee one prefers. Secondly, the author structures the document with the important aspects such as the equipment, the coffee, the grind, the water, the ratio of water, water temperature during brewing, and the brewing time. Brewing the perfect cup of coffee is truly an intimate process.
When writing a document you must do two things, you must write the document from a writer’s point of view and you must be able to write a document that is easily understood for the readers. Far often enough the lines become blurred which leads to misunderstanding or confusion. The document must be clear and concise.
http://www.ncausa.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageID=71
Week 4- Ethics
My understanding of ethics has to do with the nature of my soul, my culture, and my experiences that have helped shape my ethical beliefs. Being raised in Jamaica has significantly fashioned my beliefs. In my culture there are many customs that have been passed down through generations, some that I have doubts in and deem unreasonable. This can be said about most cultures. One thing that is heavily stressed in the culture is honesty. You are expected to communicate openly and honestly to everyone. If you are honest and transparent then I believe that it will reveal its self in your work. I stand religiously by that mantra!
In my career I want to become an open and honest communicator in the Editorial world. I am aware that there will be moments in which my beliefs might be jeopardized and I will have to act within the company’s best interest. One of the challenges I currently face is with public speaking. Speaking is a challenge for me, which is ironic because I am so romanticized by words. I know that I am able to articulate in a way that is expected of me however I let fear cripple me. It is something I am nurturing which I know I will eventually conquer.
Ultimately, I want and need to become an effective communicator, one who is ethical in her judgments. I hope that through being candid, I am able to build long lasting connections. Sometimes my cultural beliefs does not mirror with my soul’s disposition. My true values stems from my soul. Whenever I make a decision it boils down to the simple fact if I am able to sleep with it at night.
Reflecting on my 5 week progress
In the 5 weeks since I have been enrolled in the new Professional and Technical Writing program, it would be a lie for me to say that I have not blossomed. By no means am I the same writer! In a very strange way, I have morphed into someone who takes the initiative in voicing her opinion whether it is through writing or speaking. My approach to writing is completely different now because of the connection to my culture. I have realized the important role culture has on one’s narrative.
The way I approach writing now is more intimate because of my culture and the new structure I have learned. It is not an easy task, however I am relearning the intricate details of writing. I truly have fallen in love with writing all over again. Now there is more of an importance put on your cultural beliefs, mind mapping and outlining. My writing process has increasingly changed. As I am writing at the moment there is fluidity with my writing. It is unstructured because it is not a technical document. It is more of a reflective document in which I express my thought process. I am curious to see what I will produce at the end of the Semester.
I am somewhat scared to change my writing process because I have become so accustomed to it. Sometimes we are stuck in our old ways that when change occurs we do not know what to do. After all change is inevitable. For one to become an excellent writer or communicator you must fail over and over in your writing. Failure is the stepping-stone to success. In addition to learning of a more structured way of writing, learning of Rhetoric has enlightened me. I am constantly thinking about writing, orality and technology more than ever.
The whole thing has been very frustrating to me  because on the one hand I can produce decent documents but when I try to find a connection to an idea, it just winded me. My goodness! This has not at all been the draftiest draft. I am beyond exhausted with my efforts to try and produce some form of text.
Week 7- Coming to Grips with ENG 2700
When I first signed up for this course, I was still a bit skeptical as to what to expect. I knew it was a writing course but I had no idea that it would be the first class ever taught in the history of the college. I immediately doubted if I made the right decision in starting my Bachelors at City Tech or transferring to Baruch. I remember walking in on the first day and you stood there as happy as ever offering us M&M’s. We naively took the M&M’s and started our introductions, we have spoken every day since. This course has been everything and more than what I could have ever expected. I had no expectations, I literally was going to wing it and then leave at the end of the semester and figure out my life at Baruch. But I stayed, I stayed because you saw something in me  that reassured me that I had made the best decision of my life! I know I am not an easy student but you have encouraged and believed in me from the day we met and for that I am eternally grateful. I see the bigger picture, I realize now that what we are learning is far greater than in class. What we are learning will carry us through the rest of our lives, if we are fortunate to take advantage of it. Mr. Corbett I thank you for encouraging me to find my voice and I look forward to many more conversations with you. We still have several more weeks to go, hopefully I stay afloat.
Week 8 – Assessing Strengths and Weaknesses
Now that I am in the process of changing the way that I write, I’m not quite sure as to what I do differently. But the way I think about writing  has changed. Now I understand the importance of getting organized text on paper. I think the most difficult thing for me to do is to chunk information. I’m so used to paragraphs with long and detailed information that chucking seems lose the essence of my writing. I think what I am terrible at is my organizational skills. I am a talker and sometimes I am not able to express that into my writing. Yes there are moments of satisfaction when I am able to produce a “technical document” outside of class. I used to look at an assignment and lose my mind like “OMG what will I write?” but now instead of freaking out, I write something on a page and keep writing until something useful comes out.  Every part of changing how you use to do something frustrates and you feel as if you are failing but its the failures that saves you.
Week 9 – Planning for Change
I enjoyed the midterm because it gave me a chance to innovate for the first time in my life. I loved the idea of being an advocate for creativity because it is something that I care deeply about.
If I have learned anything from the midterm project it is that, to always starts early! Always start ahead of time, whether it’s just jotting down a few notes here and there. But to always have something in mind before you begin. Another thing is, I’d like to learn how to conduct proper research. Searching on google scholars is not enough, so I’d liked to know how to search better.
Of course I will change as a writer, I have already over the past few months— I can only go up from here. Definitely research, try to uses different sources because I’d like a stronger bibliography. I expect more greatness to come with these changes.
Week 10 – From Hear to There
After watching the pilot episode of From Hear to There I absolutely fell in love with discovering a blind mans life. There would need to be an intense strategic plan on how to best market this type of reality/documentary.  First we would have to determine the target audience and what demographics we are aiming for. There needs to be a massive planning to join the major social networking channels to be able to market their show. Clearly there is no other show like this so they do have an advantage however it is still tough. There are very important layers to this project. People should care because this documentary captures a very intimate part of lives that we have never given thought to. Seeing a blind person being able to ride a bicycle was such an incredible moment one I will never forget. It truly offers a new approach to how we are able to view the world. Also the simplicity of this documentary is truly genuine. It’s about sharing different stories in communities all around the world while trying to connect. Fortunately technology has allowed us to do so.
Week 11- miVersa
If I am honestly speaking the app is a little tricky to maneuver with. Also there are so many other competitors that this new app will have a hard time to capture buyers attention. The true perk is that it has the whole privacy thing that people will really buy into. I’d love for the app to have been integrated when I did my internship.  The president’s assistant did not want to send private information through email, so I had to physically go get a copy. If we had the app it would have been sent through a secure source.
Week 13- What Was Old Will Be New Again
I think the hardest thing we will all face is since we learned this new way of communicating how to maintain it. My worry is that this new way of writing will somehow leave my grasp, especially because it has been reinforced on a weekly basis. I truly hope that the skills I have learned will continue with me throughout my college and career. I imagine that wherever I end up in life, whether it be in the magazine industry or higher education, I hope that I will be able to tackle whatever comes my way.
Moreover, I learned to stop thinking about writing and to just write. Write whatever thought you have and you never know if turn into a big idea. Sometimes there can be anxiety with learning a new way to writing but it is best to embrace the change because it will pay off in the end. I think there’s a lot that has changed for me especially when you have to make sure that everything is consistent and PROOFREAD PROOFREAD PROOFREAD!! And something as simple as WordPress has inspired me to create a blog. So this class definitely has its plus!
Truly this has been awe-inspiring journey 🙂
I enjoyed how expansive your blog post was about Jamaica’s culture. You fixed misconceptions while also offering new insightful information to the reader regarding your culture.