Mahreen Munawar

ENG 1121

8/31/2020

Word Count: 735

Quote 1: “One of the many things that I did learn in the investigative process was that university clocks move at different speeds in different parts of a university…While in the Computer Center, the shelf-life of computer manuals, etc, is often just a matter of months before an update appears or some patch is incorporated.”

Response: I found this specific quote very interesting because of the way the speed of time has been mentioned. My initial thought after reading the first sentence was that it’s weird that clocks in the same university move at different speeds but as I kept on reading the concept of shelf life and how it means different yet has the same purpose in each department in the same. Similarly, how discourse communities have similar goals and purposes and they try and achieve them by collective communication. Overall., just the idea of shelf life was very interesting to me because even though it’s all around us, in grocery stores, pharmacies and restaurants I have never necessarily noticed it until now.

Quote 2: “As we move from one DC to another, our verbal and social behavior adapts to the new environment, but I do not believe that this necessarily implies that we adopt new identities, or that we are somehow merely an aggregation of different personae.”

Response: This quote stood out to me because it holds a fraction of truth we always seem to overlook. When someone tries to adapt to a new environment by learning a new set of social and verbal skills, people who have known them since before that adaptation make it seem like a negative trait or try to talk down on them making it seem like they “changed” or they just aren’t the same person anymore but the reality of it all is that as we move through different stages and discourse communities in our lifetime in order to really belong it’s important to adapt to new skills and environment.

Three discourse communities I participated in:

  1. Kumon

Kumon is an after-school math and reading program for children. In my junior year of highschool I got my first job at Kumon. We were a group of six highschoolers who worked there after-school and one of the core values of our team was to teach the incoming kids discipline and teach them with proper attention and care. Each member of our team tried their best to put their best foot forward every single day considering that the parents of these kids were doubtful about our skills because we still were in highschool and not trained professionals yet. Throughout the entire experience I learned proper job etiquettes and how important it is to be a reliable employee and a teammate. Every thursday after work all employees had a training hour where we were taught how to better deal with these children and if there were any concerns regarding their safety at home.

  1. Student council

In my senior year I became a part of my student council. That was one of the most unique experiences I’ve had in my entire school life. I’ve never been an active part of my school community so this opportunity allowed me to interact with people I would have never approached first even though they were in the same class as me. This experience showed me how important it is to come to a unanimous decision despite everyone having different opinions. We had to organize charity events in the school such as bake sales and movies nights and to organize such events, I realized how important it is to hear everyone and find a way to incorporate their idea into the bigger picture.

  1. YWCA/ Geek Girls

Geek girls by the YWCA was a program for women who were interested in the STEM field. I joined this program in my sophomore year and I was able to have so many interactions with women who had completely different backgrounds, spoke different languages and were a part of a different community than mine which was an enlightening experience. My teammates and I had to solve challenging problems given to us by instructors and for that we had to work collaboratively. Through this experience I realized how truly powerful women are if they stick together and how easily we could get equality in male dominated fields by simply sticking together.