What I know now...

What do I know now that I didn't know at the beginning of the semester? How has my view of words and writing changed since the beginning of the semester? What has changed for me?

First and foremost, I've obviously changed the way I view animation - I used to feel as if it was all whimsical and childlike, but I realize that animation can showcase deep artistic emotion. Before now, I don't think that poetry ever meant anything but words on a page...I feel like a new genre has been born in my mind's eye.

How has my view of writing changed? I think the best way to answer this question is to figure out where I started:

I had just started to begun questioning what "text" was after delving into the realm of the graphic novel...After reading Fun Home, Persepolis, Maus, etc I found myself asking what text was. I was primed to have my world-view changed when I started this class, and I feel like that's exactly what happened.

Because of technology, because of the internet, because of the constantly consumerist environment we live in, poetry and literature has become youtube friendly. It wouldn't be fair to call my flash animations text without acknowledging the visual and artistic value...I can't just call them paintings...

I dunno, I get caught up in my thinking when I try to reflect on stuff like this. I obviously am thinking more deeply about what all this means to me - it's hard to define (I guess a lot like literature these days...)

Basically, I've learned how to combine my visual and textual arts. I know how to create something that isn't quite film, isn't quite literature...isn't quite anything...

I feel like I've found a flexibility in what I consider to be "English" in terms of studies...

I don't know if I view words themselves differently...I was raised in the Sesame Street generation where words became different things all the time...no culture shock there.

I guess it's just realizing there is a new and different way for expressing myself and that I can reach someone else or showcase my work when it isn't on paper.

Does that answer my question? Not quite sure...but it's a thought.