"Politics and the English Language" Review

I found George Orwell's article "Politics and the English Language" to be interesting, accurate, and often humorous.  The overall idea of the article was appealing to me because I am always looking for new ways to improve my writing.  I thought all of his rule, while somewhat strict, were great ideas on improving writing.  I especially enjoyed the rule where he stated, "Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent" (Orwell 9).  The other riles I had heard already, but I had never thought about this particular rule before.  I found it to be quite akin to my taste in writing.  I've never been a fan of "fancy foreign words" when a simple English word was sufficient. 

Another part of the article I found interesting was when Orwell said, "modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images [...] It consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been said by someone else [...]" (Orwell 5).  When I read this, I sat back and thought about some of the implications this kind of writing has on me as a reader.  I cam to this conclusion: when a writer writes as Orwell says most do nowadays, I am less inclined to read and comprehend the meaning.  When it's a slough of over-used phrases and a mess of pretentious words, I tend to skim over the text.  

I guess the importance of good writing boils down (I thought I might be ironic and use a horrible, over-used phrase) to more than just great diction or syntax.  Truly great writing has to be though provoking while not being too wordy.  It has to be written well while not being over-done.  Most importantly, great writing has to be the author's original thoughts and phrases, or it will just be lost in an accumulation of works too similar to it.

A History of Reading

A History of Reading is an amazing book.  I find myself completely engrossed in Alberto Manguel's every word.  Everything from his diction to his anecdotes is so wonderfully written, and I have enjoyed reading his writing very much so far.  There are a couple of quotes that have really stood out to me at this point. 

The first quote that I enjoyed very much was, "'Go out and live!' my mother would say when she saw me reading, as if my silent activity contradicted her sense of what it meant to be alive" (Manguel 21).  This quote appeals to me because it describes my childhood.  When I was young, I would have preferred to sit inside and read about a person's adventures than to have my own.  Reading made me, like Manguel, feel alive and still does to this day.  I enjoy being able to connect to Manguel on such a level that only a love of reading can allow me to make.

Another part of the book that really struck me was when Manguel was discussing how some of the idioms we use today still relate to listening rather than reading them.  I found it very interesting when he pointed out that we still say things like, "That doesn't sound right," when we mean, "It isn't well written" (Manguel 47).  Words have the ability to be one thing and mean another.  I love that we can use some words to describe something quite opposite of what the word actually means.  It's quite the intriguing paradox.

"Twilight of the Books" Review

I really enjoyed reading Caleb Cain's article. I found it interesting, well-written, and the topic very intriguing. All of the examples he used to support his claims formed ethos and thus allowed me to believe, and even agree with, what he was saying.

One of my favorite parts of the article was when he discussed the experiment with the literate and illiterate peasants. I found the study itself interesting and the results even more interesting. The direct quote from one of the peasants was funny, and the differing responses were fascinating to see.

The part of the article that shocked me the most was the correlation between age and reading levels. I was surprised to read that elementary school students' reading levels were on the rise while high school students' reading levels were declining. The impact media is having on kids' reading levels may be somewhat differing, but overall the effects are negative.  Cain did say that controlling the amount of time kids spend watching television can have positive effects, so I will agree that watching television (with the amount of time depending on the age) can be helpful.

Overall, I found this article very insightful, and I learned a lot.

Introduction

Hello everyone! This is pretty exciting. I've never had a blog before. Hopefully it won't be too hard to get used to. I look forward to reading everyone's posts.

My name, if you haven't seen by now, is Savannah Sumsky. I am a sophomore at Kennesaw State, and my major is Secondary English Education. So far, I have loved all of my classes here and can't wait to get further into my major. I live on campus in the 1000 building, and it is absolutely amazing.

I really love music; I was in my high school's drumline and would still do it if KSU had a marching band. Thankfully my boyfriend, Andy, is really involved in the music program here, so I get to go to all the concerts. I also love reading, doing puzzles, watching movies, playing video games, and just hanging out. 

I'm excited for this class and this semester! I can't wait to meet all of you :)