The Power Of Writing

1008 Words3 Pages

The Power Of Writing

When I entered this class I didn’t think that we would be discussing the concept of writing. In fact, I never thought the concept of writing was that complicated enough to be discussed in a classroom setting. However, as demonstrated throughout history different forms of communication, such as writing, have shaped and evolved human interaction and invoked societal change. For example, in Walter Ong’s essay, “Writing is a Technology that Restructures Thought,” Ong acknowledges that means of communication, such as the computer and pencil, have been in argument since Plato’s time (319). Consequently, I asked myself how something so simple has been taken for granted for so long. The appropriate answer to that question was found in our first project, Inventing A Writing Technology.

At first I thought that it would be easy to find examples, in nature, to write with. I found that it isn’t easy to find anything that is natural. Human interference with nature is almost considered natural. For example, if I were to use a fruit I would more than likely find the fruit I needed for this project in a grocery store before I would find it in nature. Is that natural? Maybe some people think the fruit itself is natural, but even the fruit is sprayed with unnatural pesticides.

I tried to think of a natural setting like a beach or forest and thought of what contrasted with in those environments that I could use as writing. For example, if I imagined a lake as something blue I tried to find something else in nature that was red, like a flower. I remembered camping and roasting marshmallows around a fire that was surrounded with stones. After eating the marshmallows I wrote on the stones with a stick. All I ha...

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...municate to each other as we do. However, I know that writing can be created in nature using something simple like a stick and a stone, I also know it cant be created and used efficiently and certainly not as a large form of communication. This project helped open my eyes to the difficulties involving new forms of communication and the difficulties of creating writing like the older forms. In addition, this project has helped me to realize that I have taken these forms of communication for granted.

Works Cited

Baron, Dennis. “From Pencils to Pixels.” Writing Material. New York: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. 2003. 35-52.

Ong, Walter. “Writing is a Technology That Restructures Thought.” Writing Material. New York: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. 2003. 315-335.

Plato. “From Phaedrus.” Writing Material. New York: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. 2003. 360-363.

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