“How to Read like a Writer” and “…and by islands I mean paragraphs” Reflection

Currently, it is Friday, November 2nd (the week of Halloween) at 2:33pm, and I am just beginning to type this reflection, simply as fast as I possibly can. I’m assuming I am not alone although, because I’m assuming my peers are on the same ride I am. Yet, I did this on purpose, just to justify a point I’m going to try and describe. In class on Monday’s, my peers have seemed to exaggerate the same topic about their posts (mainly the very first blog posts), and that exaggeration is, “I literally started it at 1pm on Friday.” Now, If you think about it, that only leaves approximately 2 hours to read the article, write notes about it, and write a whole fat reflection on the piece (well, I guess only if you’re like me, who stupidly wanted to strive for an A). This week’s assignment finally came around, and it was almost like a slap in the face. “How to Read Like a Writer,” by Mike Bunn. When I first looked at this article–I’m not going to lie–it was at 9:10am on Monday morning in class. Even when I was reading this article, I had to skim, jump, and speed read through as fast as I could. Of course, highlight a few things here and there and then I’ll be good to go. Then came the real kicker, which was trying to read the second “article,” “…and by islands I mean paragraphs.” How in the world was I supposed to fake-read an “article” that changes every minute? Frustrated, I then realized I was being laughed at, almost toyed with. As I skipped through the majority of an article that was telling me how to read more in depth to help me better understand, I was getting frustrated with another one that wouldn’t allow me to read more in depth. As I jumped further down an article that was telling me to read better, I was literally jumping from paragraph to paragraph with a different article and had been about read to throw my laptop. So, I decided to go back to the previous article, that frankly I had taken for granted. I used Mike Bunns ideas to realize why “…and by islands i mean paragaphs,” caused me so much anguish. “When you Read Like a Writer (RLW) you work to identify some of the choices the author made so that you can better understand how such choices might arise in your own writing” (72). When J.R. Carpenter designed “…and by islands I mean paragraphs,” it was meant to almost prove the frustration that so many people (especially teachers) have with the new generation. We fail to listen, excel in lack of patience, fail truly reading, and excel in getting to the point. Bunn describes, “… I started asking, how—how did the writer get me to feel, how did the writer say something so that it remains in my memory when many other things too easily fall out, how did the writer communicate his/her intentions about genre, about irony? (119–20)” (73). I asked these same questions to further understand Carpenter’s reasoning. “…and by islands I mean paragraphs,” made me feel stuck and confused, and I felt all of these emotions even before I got to read some of the randomized paragraphs. No matter how many times teachers will repeat over and over again to not procrastinate, to read an article before class, or to dig deeper into an article, students will jump again and again to different islands to find a quick read, find a main point and then jump again. If it wasn’t for the frustrating structure and architecture of Carpenter’s article, I wouldn’t have gone back to read Bunn’s article and emphasize the exact point he was trying to achieve. Look at the structure, analysis the building, or your building will tumble, just as mine did.