4.4 Know Your Audience

It is interesting to me how a group of people comes together. Not the actual act of registering for classes or choosing a schedule, but the joining of minds I guess. Everyone from a different family and back ground. Each established in their own traditions or trying desperately to shake the traditions of their past and forge a new path. So many differences, yet even more similarities.

I found this assignment intriguing, asking random questions and getting everyone's responses. I appreciated how many people participated in each discussion as it can only be helpful to know to whom we are writing. 

I think my favorite question was the one about going to prison tomorrow, it did make me stop and think about what I would do. I found it interesting that we have a couple bank robbers in the class! But, that they would spend most of their remaining time with their family, just a little bit was reserved for the robbery...

Family seemed to be a running theme throughout all of the response posts. It's neat to see how each person feels about those which they choose to surround themselves. As I've become a wife and mother, I have grown more interested in family dynamics. We were almost unanimous in two areas, first, what we prioritize and are thankful for(mainly children, spouses and significant others). I thought it was odd though that the second area was how much we take those things for granted. Maybe we should all take a little time and say the things we posted to the people about which they were posted...

Another take away is that it seems we are all a bunch of heavy's. There were a couple jokers in the lot, some questions that were decidedly lighthearted until the rest of us poured out our souls on this airy little poof-of-question and popped them! The straight-forwardness was alarming at times. I wonder if our responses have anything to do with the current economy? Or the president, maybe it's the president's fault? Does it have anything to do with the recent humidity and record temperatures? Maybe we're all feeling under the weather and cannot joke during such serious circumstances as our English 101 assignment. 

At any rate, this was eye-opening and hopefully will serve to improve our skills as writers now that we have a better idea of who's out there reading what we put into space. I hope we can all appreciate one another as burgeoning writers and use what we're doing here to sharpen our newly acquired skills.