Author: Ilana

Looking closely at the Cocktail Construction Visualization allowed me to realize how to go about this overwhelming sketch assignment.  At first glance, the different patterns and shapes scattered throughout the page were extremely confusing. but, I then noticed the key that tied together what each drink consisted of.  Making a key and laying out all eleven Sunday Sketches, four graphic novels, and six larger assignments allowed me to visualize common factors for each part of this Visual Literature Freshman English Class.  

Making the key of common themes of this course and deciphering which projects included each category was sort of challenging.  While some are simple such as “creative approach” and “storytelling”, I felt as though they had to be included to show the theme of this class as a whole.  In addition, I used the three course outcomes to frame some other parts. Knowing which projects formed my skill on revision and reframing projects, taught me how to use a new rhetoric technique of visual representational storytelling, and included textual analysis to strengthen my writing skills will be extremely useful for my Reflection Cover Letter.  

Framing this “Assemblies” assignment uncovered a lot of the synthesis of this class as a whole.  A big example of this took place with the “Data Analysis” section of my key. Our last two assignments- Data Visualization in Your Everyday Life and Mapping Spinning- were the two obvious data analysis projects we completed during this semester.  However, looking back at the coursework allowed me to realize that this theme has been consistent. I have interpreted Tracing Maus and Comparing Palestine and Pyongyang to also include this type of skill in more of a textual way instead of visual.  For example, though we close read individual pages of Maus for the assignment, the overall project of making three connections that encompass the novel as a whole track data throughout the entire layered story.  In addition, comparing and contrasting Palestine verse Pyongyang forced me to uncover similar themes consistent throughout the novel and track their relevances in retrospect to each novel.  

The sunday sketches as a whole show the diversity of visual representations.  Many include personal representations of myself in non-traditional ways. Who would have thought a cartoon avatar, photo of what I carry in my backpack from day to day, or “True Story” would mirror a personal narrative.  As a whole, this course has gone beyond boundaries of a traditional english class.

Coming to college and being away from home I have made a conscious effort not to abandon healthy habits throughout my everyday life.  The five factors of this category I decided to track are how many of my 75mL camelbak water bottles I drink per day, if I eat breakfast, how many times I take the stairs up to my rooms instead of the elevator, how many hours of sleep I get, and how many miles I do on the treadmill that day at the gym.  As I was mapping out this data visually, it struck me how dependent these habits have to do with my schedule for that day. For example, some days I have time for the gym while others it is impossible to fit it in between classes and homework. I know that I had a large chemistry exam on April 11th at night so knew the gym would not fit in that day.  In addition, It seems as though the days I miss breakfast, the most important meal of the day, falls on Tuesdays or Thursdays. These days of the week I have an 8:30am class that I am usually rushing to. Significantly less hours of sleep took place the nights before the two exams I had during the two week time period I tracked. Finally, more hours of sleep take place over the weekend because I am able to sleep in later instead of waking up for my morning classes.  

A flaw within my data is that there is no basis I could compare it to.  When I tracked how many times I took the stairs up to my room on the fourth floor of my dorm, I did not track how many times I took the elevator up.  Days that I only took the stairs four times could just be because I only went up to my room four times that day. It does not necessarily mean I took the elevator much more those days.  I am in class from 10a.m. to 5 p.m. on mondays so do not go back to my room till late in the afternoon. It is inevitable for me to take the stairs less these days.

Since I was tracking data that took place so frequently throughout the day, there were definitely times where I had to estimate different factors.  I know there are times where I quickly went downstairs in my dorm to print something and did not have my phone with me to track the stairs I took back up.  In general, however, I hope I got a good estimate of the healthy habits I have put into my everyday life here at Emory.

My initial idea for this sketch assignment was to recreate the famous “Lady and the Tramp” noodle scene.  I was anxiously waiting for a meal that the duc served noodles of any sort so I could make two of my friends pose for this photo.  But, every time I browsed the ducling for noodles they did not have.  Of course the one week I need the duc to have a certain food they did not.  So, my friend had the idea to pose with the famous poisonous apple from Snow White.  Another Disney scene I could use food as a prop for.  I was so happy she thought of this idea while I was complaining about my simple duc request.  I can barely tell my friend and Snow White apart in this photo!!

I really enjoyed browsing Stephen McMennamy’s gallery of combo-photos.  His artistic combinations are made in a seamless manner that almost trick the eye and brain.  Each piece is unique, satisfying, and very fun. One of his photos had bones involved which sparked my idea for this assignment.  At first I thought I would make pencils the bones in a cartoon skeleton image. That initial idea posed a challenge as skeleton images on their own have tons of details that I would not be able to match even with different sizes of long pencils.  So, the X-ray idea came to mind. For some reason I also began to think pretzel rods would be more fun than pencils. It was challenging to cover the original X-ray in this cartoon image and even more difficult to shape, size, and angle each pretzel to make up a rib cage.  I was not able to add other bones and details; I stuck with the bare minimum. Without professional tools, I also was unable to crop the pretzel rods perfectly as background space is shown. In general, however, I definitely appreciate the simplicity and playfulness of my final product for this combo-photo sketch assignment.  

When we were told to think closely about an adventure, conversation, or experience from break for this sketch assignment, what I would do came to me immediately.  In addition to a home cooked meal, clean bed, and time with my family, my favorite thing about going home is seeing my best friends and going to our favorite place in town.  My town is on the water which has its many perk including the most amazing views at anytime of day- especially sunset. When my friends and I got our drivers licenses, our favorite activity became taking drives around town and singing along to our favorite songs.  We would drive the same streets over and over again taking in the moment as much as possible, especially when leaving for college got closer. Our favorite road is this one way street that we either stop the car at or loop around countless times. Here, you can look out across the water into New York City.  During the day you see the skyline and at night you see the lights that depict the magnitude of the big apple city. We call it “The View.”

I loved the Novel The Things They Carried.  After completing it, I was blown away how Tim O’brien’s war experience does not actually align with the “true war story” told.  Some characters do not actually exist within his life and scenes did not play out as written in the novel. But, the “true war story” is the generalization of the soldiers during this war experience.  So, telling my true story in this comic is not the exact scene that may or may not have taken place with my friends at home during spring break; it is the adventure that I have gone on countless times all leading up to the same view.  The view that depicts home for me.