Since graduation, I have reflected on my undergraduate career and the great deal of time I dedicated towards my studies during the last four years. I considered all of the projects—traditional research papers and multimodal projects—that I completed for both of my majors; as I spent time thinking about the various forms and topics, I began to notice that there seemed to be some underlying themes. That got me thinking: why is there a such a strong connection between my scholarly work and my passions? How did I seamlessly weave my joys and interests outside of class with my academic work over the last four years? Could I continue to pursue my joy for rhetorical exploration as well as keep sharing my stories and projects on this blog? For that reason, I decided I must continue blogging about what I enjoy: pop culture, films, music, social justice, literature, travel, and so on.
My Writing, Rhetoric, and Communication major inspired me to try new styles and create projects that went beyond the paper. In some of my WRC courses, my professors encouraged me to push myself and helped acquire new skills; for instance, I learned how to use iMovie as I created short promotional videos with small groups. This sparked a strong interest in how I could take my passion for writing and write in all sorts of ways. My professors also encouraged me to incorporate my passions and interests outside of school into my projects, which can be seen in nearly all of my projects—including my essays for my Spanish major. For example, I compared the contemporary animated films Toy Storyand Shrek to the acclaimed story of Don Quijote as my Spanish senior thesis project. In a Feminist Rhetorics class, I analyzed the rhetoric of Beyoncé’s music videos by highlighting the evolution of the presentation and messages depicted in her music videos.
From traditional research papers to digital media projects, I created a variety of projects that discussed a wide variety of topics—pop culture, gender, content warnings, music videos, feminism, contemporary animated films, women in war, Spanish literature, and more. Being able to include my everyday interests in my academic research is amazing, and I am happy to share these projects with you! To learn more about my academic projects, please contact me. Although I am less focused on professional, academic writing for the time being, I still intend to share my writing and passions on my here; it is my hope that this blog will highlight my growth as a scholar, rhetorician, and person. I am happy to be on this journey with you as I share my love for writing—and so much else.