Micro-Activity #2: Responding to Bunn

     The key to reading for me is to expand my vocabulary, experience new syntax, identify the author grammar; and seek for the prompt. Not only am I examining the specific format the author chose, I’m trying to see how I can relate to the author by analyzing their POV and understanding how the author perseveres and perceives their feelings etc. When it comes to writing there’s so much to intake; like me getting to my point fast enough or specifically answering the prompt (analysis). Another struggle I have as a writer is figuring out my topic sentence. I can’t just “forget about it and move on” like I will sit there for hours trying to create a topic sentence. The biggest challenge I always faced; is being easily distracted. Within 5 min and 3 seconds of me reading Mike Bunn’s essay I went to get something to eat because I smelled food from my kitchen. Overall I’m disorganized when it comes to reading and writing.

    Mike bunn mentioned so many important factors on How to Read like a Writer but one specific point Bunn introduced was understanding the author’s purpose in their writing. Bunn states, “It may … more or less effective than if he/she was trying to reach a more general audience.” This point is very important because every author has a specific audience they are trying to relate to or a specific audience there trying to trigger/reach out to. The advice Bunn gave was useful because sometimes the title is the most important thing about the book; it always grasps the reader’s attention. For instance, “RLW”, Bunn starts off his essay about his current life because he’s trying to relate to a specific audience he explains that his job is very dark causing him to read differently but later on he learns more about his structure in reading because he notices a connection between him and the author. Bunn reading “word by word” helped him notice the author’s choice of syntax.

• Do you know the author’s purpose for this piece of writing?

• Do you know who the intended audience is for this piece of
  writing?

• What kinds of evidence does the author use to support his/her claims? Does he/she use statistics? Quotes from famous people? Personal anecdotes or personal stories? Does he/she cite books or articles?

• How appropriate or effective is this evidence? Would a dif- ferent type of evidence, or some combination of evidence, be more effective?

•  How does the author move from one idea to another in the writing? Are the transitions between the ideas effective? How else might he/she have transitioned between ideas instead?

Based on Morrisons description I believe reading can be defined as a skill because we learn how to properly read in school. School gives us so much knowledge that we can become experts at reading. But according to Morrison, reading is not only meant to be a skill it can be created by your imagination. Morrison utters, “The result was a heavy reliance on my own imagination to provide detail; the specific color of things, the feel of the weather, the space characters occupied, their physical features, their motives, why they behaved as they did, and especially the sound of their speech, where so much meaning lay. Listening required me to surrender to the narrator’s world while remaining alert inside it.” Morrison demonstrates how reading makes her feel; I can relate to this because when I read, I like to imagine what the author is going through so I can try to understand how they feel so I can have a better comprehension about whatever I’m reading about.