Just Ignore the Stereotype

The photo shows a blond woman, who is obviously white, with a question, "OMG, I have to read a lot and write a lot to be a writer?" The artist basically manipulated the blond woman with a stereotype, saying she is dumb. In my opinion, it was a dumb reaction and or question but I wouldn't blame her. What was being said in the reaction is true.

After reading it, I thought about how the illustration related to the prompt about reading and writing that we did earlier in the semester. You have to read in order to gain knowledge, and you have to know how to reword the knowledge for your own comprehension in order to write it down. So, being a writer takes more than just reading and writing. They are just the basic building blocks to becoming a good writer.

For a personal example, I would use my International Baccalaureate History Internal Assessment. In order to "write" a passing research paper, I had to do plenty of reading. The essay has a format that is separated into six categories: A) Plan of Investigation, B) Summary of Evidence, C) Evaluation of Sources, D) Analysis, E) Conclusion, and F) Sources and Word limit. I believe that the word count was 1,500 to 2,000 words without the footnotes, headings, and works cited. It was pretty tough to complete, but I pushed myself because it was a big part of my overall grade. I had the summer to start the paper, but I waited last minute until the due date to make an excuse. I told Panian, the IB History teacher, that I was having difficulties with my topic, so he gave me another week to choose something else and turn it in.

In class, we talked about the process of writing and how it's cyclic. If you are planning to write something, you need to read a couple of resources: online, in a book, or in the newspaper to collect information. Before you write, you need to brainstorm or create an outline in order to create a first draft. From then, you can expand and clear up points stated within the writing piece. The next thing is to correct any typos, grammar, and punctuation. The publishing of the writing piece will be "perfect" at the end.

Anyways, I think this simple reaction made a big impact in everyone's mind. The picture itself was old fashion, somewhat like pop art or retro. It was just simple bold colors and minor details. Many ideas and connections were brought up in the class discussion which I thought were useful, but I decided not to talk about them.