Blog Post Two - Diagram

To the right is a diagram of the human heart. Why would we need such a diagram or any diagram for that matter? The purpose of a diagram is to act as a sort of visual aid to help in the explanation or interpretation of an object. In this case, the object is the human heart. A diagram of a human heart would help facilitate the learning of the many parts of the hearts and possibly their functions. Someone interested in human biology or the medical field would find this diagram very helpful in their studies. In the specific area of writing a diagram can be immensely useful in helping your readers to visualize a specific point you are trying to put across. They may also help in the understanding of a selected topic. In this blog post about a diagram I have altered the original purpose of the heart diagram. Originally the heart diagram was for showing about a heart. Now, after the insertion of it into my blog, it takes on the new purpose of simply acting as an example of what a diagram can appear like. It is important to note that not all diagrams will be an exact mirror of the heart diagram I have embedded. This particular diagram uses arrows to point to the different sections of the heart associated with the correct term. It is in my opinion that since I have removed the diagram from its place of origins and stripped it of its original meaning that I need to specify what it means. I can't just insert some random diagram that has nothing to do with what I am talking about. The diagram must have a connection within the specific piece of writing. With the invention and use of digitalized media and the web the diagram is more accessible and it is possible to take a diagram out of its original context and use it for a completely different purpose. Just like I have done here. Now my readers, live long and prosper.

Blog Post One

"The essay can do everything a poem can do, and everything a short story can do - everything but fake it. The elements in any nonfiction should be true not only artistically - the connections must hold at base and must be veracious, for that is the convention and the covenant between the nonfiction writer and his reader. veracity isn't much of a drawback to the writer; there's a lot of truth out there to work with. And veracity isn't much of a drawback to the reader. The real world arguably exerts a greater fascination on people than any fictional one; many people, at least, spend their whole lives there, apparently by choice. The essayist does what we do with our lives; the essayist thinks about actual things. He can make sense of them analytically or artistically. In either case he renders the real world coherent and meaningful, even if only bits of it, and even if that coherence and meaning reside only inside small texts." (Atwan 23-24)

- Annie Dillard

So why did I choose Annie Dillard's essay, "Essays and the Real World," for this particular assignment? For one thing her opinion on what defines an essay is similar to mine. An essay does not have to be one of those uncreative, unimaginative, and downright boring 5 paragraph essays that we learned in the past. Essays do have limitations though. And that is that almost anything can be an essay, as long as it remains rooted in nonfiction. A fictional short story is not an essay. But as Dillard pointed out in her essay, nonfiction does not have to be boring for either the writer or the reader. The real world is full of interesting subjects or topics for both writing and reading an essay. A writer of fiction would weave a new world for the reader to explore but an essayist explores the real world. Just look at the current events going on around the world. We have the potential for another Cold War brewing after the whole Russia vs. Georgia war. India was just allowed to start using nuclear power, the same power we criticize the North Koreans for having. Those are just a few of the interesting events that are happening around the world and new events happen everyday. Just because you are writing about facts does not mean you can't be creative when you are writing. If a writer just displayed the facts straight up it would not be much of a piece of writing and would probably be downright boring to read. An essay can be almost anything, as long as it does not cross the boundary into fiction. Get creative.

Test Post

Test Post.