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"I Don't Even Have a 'Pl--.'"

As I sit here in front of my keyboard, having flashbacks to the paralyzing indecision I experienced during my senior capstone project, I'm trying to reassure myself that eventually I'll end up with an idea--I mean, it's happened before, right? Well, at this point, the panic is rising in the back of my mind and seeping into my dreams. I wake up from some horrible scene where I'm desperately trying to open a locked door, and I drowsily send a text to myself that reads, "rhetorical grammar - rules and when broken," or some other nonsense. Eventually, I fall back asleep, but I never manage to get that door open. Don't my dreams sound a little too on-the-nose? 

So, what are my topic ideas? I would say I have more of a mess than a list. The random idea notes I have jotted down include: visual composition, rhetorical grammar, learning through stories, the methodological potential of digital composition (thank you Cheryl Ball), non-traditional students (thank you, me), IRB application form, TWDR programs and their goals, multimodal composition, erasure, font selection, user perception of font, all caps--I have a lot of font-related thoughts ("proper font usage people!").

I wish I had more clarity at this point, but with three major projects ahead of me this semester, I'm currently working on resisting the urge to go back to bed.

Comments

  1. Chelsea8/31/20, 5:18 PM

    I’m sure as you begin some literature review, things will become clear! I have a friend in the printing industry and she’s passionate about fonts too. I had no idea they were so interesting. However, I can say that I enjoy expressing myself through fonts. I think you’re into something there. Perhaps you can combine erasure and fonts by researching how font selection impacts people’s willingness to respond. If certain fonts send people packing, what voices are we missing from the discussion?

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  2. Anonymous8/31/20, 8:29 PM

    I love how our topics are worlds apart. Stuff like this always makes me happy. I have to agree with Chelsea on the font angle. I absolutely love that. We use different fonts countless times throughout our lives, and they definitely set the tone for the document we are creating. How would you react to my comments if I WROTE IT IN ALL CAPS? IT WOULD FEEL AGGRESSIVE, NO? or if i use no capitalization, and maybe had some speling puctuation or, grammatical, errors? You'd likely think, "How did she get in the program?" I realize the latter is going a bit out of your scope, but I think online communication--and what we draw from it's utilization is really fascinating.

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