Murray Reading

Summary:
In Donald M. Murray's article "All Writing is Autobiography" he makes the point that all writing is a product of every person you've ever met, ever experience you've ever had and every lesson you've ever learned. When writing, you use your past experiences to put your best foot forward to produce the best paper possible that is going to reach the most amount of people possible. He quotes his own poem, then goes on to discuss how every single line, whether he meant it or not, is about a time in his life. And if those experiences had never happened- then this poem wouldn't be the same.

My Opinions:
I agree with Murray's article. It reminds me of another one we read, but I can't remember the name of it. However I think this concept translate into many areas of life. For example, every time you make an important decision, or even a small one for that matter- you decide based on past experiences you've had with an alike problem. You also use all people you have ever come into contact with. Subconciously, all of these guiding forces are like little hands molding you, and your actions. These actions include writing. I agree with Murray's thoughts and furthermore, agree that this concept can be applied into other areas of life.

Getting Ready to Read:
The main advice was to, like Murray was saying: not use the word "I". We were also taught not to put contractions into formal writing. Also, I think it was kind of a rule of thumb to use "intelligent" words. Which most of the time lead to me using the "synonym" tool on Microsoft Word to find a smarter word to replace the one I had used. I thought it gave  your paper a good "vibe" from the start, if there was big words in them...which probably sounds really silly and superficial, but it's kind of true. I would be more impressed with a paper that used creative and colorful words vs mundane and overly-used adjectives.

Questions For DIscussion
1. He is asking us to reconsider the originality construct.

3. Murray's article is less formal than most articles published in a scholarly journal because it includes personal opinions and he basically reveals "himself" and how he identifies as a person, and how his "self" is evident in his writing. Scholarly journals are not supposed to be expressive, or personal. They are formal pieces of writing, designed to be informative. He broke out of the rules of writing by using words like "I" and "me" and referencing his own personal poem. Also, he talks about his own personal experiences in order to strengthen his point and give examples.

4. This is a really hard question to answer considering I just had my brain focused on how informal and unscholarly this article is, but if I had to choose, I think it is scholarly because it offers a new and fresh opinion on a topic that has been rehearsed and rehearsed the same way for so long. Also, it is meant to inform, not entertain, which makes it fall under the catagory of "scholarly".

5. His idea's don't really change the way I look at writing because I agree that everything you write is a product of every word you've ever spoken/heard. It is impossible for you to completely isolate yourself and your thoughts because you are constantly, and subconciously referencing your past experiences and knowledge. Every person you've ever learned from, and any experience you've ever learned from can be found evident in your writing. I do not believe that this really requires a change in how you write considering you've been doing it since you learned how to write. You may however, be more accepting of the idea that you are writing from the perspective, and with the help of every past experience/lesson you've ever had. It is not something you can really turn on/off, but more accept.

Meta Moments
As a writer, this article kind of gives me permission to write from the perspective and with the help of my past experiences. Every other article we have read has said that true scholarly articles look & sound like they have been written by robots, but this one makes it seem okay to let myself, and my experiences flow out. (without fear of rejection or hesitation.) Also, it kind of reiterates the fact that it is impossible to write and not be influenced by your past.