I have to say that this class was unlike any I’ve ever taken. At first I immediately knew that the class wasn’t exactly my specialty, given I was pretty much pop-culture ignorant. Throughout my life I listened to one kind of music—country—and watched one kind of movie—action—and one kind of television show—ESPN. I know. I’m pathetic. But my ignorance created a perfect setting to learn. I knew nothing about what I was doing so I had plenty of room to improve.
Our first reading assignment was Understanding Comics. Wow, right from the beginning something that I had no knowledge in. But after reading Understanding Comics I began to see the complexity and the art behind it. Suddenly I was interested in comics. Sure, they are midcult art (something else I learned in the class), but I don’t need any of that classy, elegant stuff.
I think what excited me the most was all the possibilities within the art. Often when I see that there is room for improvement or diversity or change or something new I get excited. When I saw that there were different kinds of comics and there are several strategies and techniques in making comics I realized that I too could create a comic and something new and different. Granted I haven’t even picked up a pencil with intentions of starting that endeavor, but the possibility is there. And now I have an interest in a genre of art that I have never even wanted to give a second look.
Along with comic books, my taste for different forms of art has no doubt been expanded as well. Part of this was largely because of my classmates. I am thankful there was a good diversity of taste within the class. I now have an affinity for comics, underground music, big band/jazz, some distinctive television series, and most importantly I finally was introduced to Simon & Garfunkel! It has been a crazy and enlightening ride. What I am truly thankful for is that I have learned that in no matter what kind of genre a piece of art is in, it is still art. Whether good or bad it expresses something that no one else in the world could have expressed except for its creator. Art is simply exciting just because of the tears, sweat, pain, and joy that goes into it. It is so human and this is why we are attracted to it. Because a fellow human tugged something out of their inner self and was able to manifest it into something that can be seen and we are drawn to that. Only a human could create it and only a human could enjoy it. But with this human creation there also comes a desire to find the art that pulls on us most. This is where critics come in.
The class brought me my first encounter with critics and in the beginning I really didn’t know what the point was. I thought critics were all cynical and just liked to hate on everything with no reason, I thought, “I know what I like and don’t like. I don’t need a critic to tell me that.” But then I read Chuck Klosterman’s Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs. He changed my outlook on what a critic’s goal really is. At first I thought this guy was nuts, totally ignorant, and probably had a little too much confidence in himself, but by the time you reach the end of his articles, you see that there actually is some evidence to back up what he has to say. Most of the time he draws his criticism’s of every day pop-culture items from the culture around us, and through this you can understand what culture was, what it is now, and predict where it is going. I saw then that being a critic was more than just saying “thumbs up” or “thumbs down.” It is about understanding who we are, who we want to be, how culture changes, how it molds us, and so much more.
I tried to learn from Klosterman and other critics we read. Several times we had the opportunity to write critiques ourselves—a few times in our blogs. I have to say I became very frustrated. I had no idea how to critique pop-culture, specifically music. I remember trying to critique Boston—my favorite band. All I knew was that I really liked their vocals and the type of music they sang, and the words. Besides that I had no idea how to talk about what the music sounds like. I felt that I needed to know the different musical strategies and have the ability to pick key changes and the way it all works together. And I still don’t know how to do these things, but I did find that critiquing something is sometimes more than knowing how to do those things, but not always, sometimes it is different than knowing all of the inner workings of a piece.
After that blog I became more relatable as an author. I opened up my chest of “Aaron’s Memories” and tried to critique the art as an object that affects my life. Suddenly I felt that I could express myself and really explain why I felt the way I did about a certain song or movie or another form of art.
How we feel about something is affected by how it affects us right? Then in one of my last blogs I finally branched out into how it affects others. I wrote about Rocky and how it is loved and hated at the same time. The key is whether the viewer prefers a dramatic and glorious story or accuracy. Through this blog I saw my first glimpse at being an intuitive critic. It was an exciting moment. Finally, I saw some potential in my writing as a critic. There was substance. There was a point. I want this to carry over into all of my writing. I want to be done with blabbering and never getting anywhere. There reason I want to write is to inspire people and to change lives. That is a little hard to do if my writing never has meaning or expresses anything.
Of course I still have room for improvement. I don’t have the tools to get into the picky technical things in art, but if I were to enter into a more critical mindset towards my future, I’m sure I could attain this skill. More importantly I still want to grow in my ability to write with substance and meaning in all of my works, whether in creative writing or persuasion or a research paper or a more critical approach. I am still developing my voice and learning how to put it on paper. There is no doubt that I will always be learning this, but I feel that I grew a lot throughout this semester. And I am really excited about continuing.
Becoming a better writer is sometimes a hard path, and often improvement is hard to detect, but if only the writer can be challenged, improvement is inevitable. With a challenge weaknesses are exposed and if a writer is diligent enough to push through he will be forced to learn and thus to improve. I can say that this class definitely brought a challenge throughout the semester. I approached a new kind of writing. And although I don’t plan on doing a lot of criticism writing through my career I still saw weaknesses in my own writing and improved upon it. I hope to continue to be challenged throughout my life, because the moment I stop growing is the moment my life and my writing has become worthless.
Journey to the Heavenly Country 