WP4: Returning to Creativity
The writing work that I have done this semester has been largely dominated by scientific assignments. As I progress in my education as an Environmental Studies major, I have begun to take mostly classes related to the environment and its connection to other fields. In these settings, writing has a clear purpose: to express science in the most efficient, concise, and professional way possible. This type of writing leaves little to no room for imaginative work or self expression. Scientific writing is relatively rigid and mindless because it does not involve much creative thought or revision. While my life becomes more consumed by scientific thought and expression, WRIT150 has reminded me about the importance of creativity, art, and empirical thought in writing and throughout my life. WP2 and WP3 encouraged me to revisit the importance of the combination of art and science as part of my academic identity. This has led me to take time to write, read, and think about content from creative realms. In contrast to the scientific writing I have produced, my writing journey in WRIT150 has taken me out of my comfort zone and led to self discovery. WP2 and WP3 improved my writing skills and guided me to resume creative activities that I had abandoned in the midst of a chaotic semester.
Creative writing in WRIT150 was great practice for writing about my own opinions, morals, and experiences. Working to explain the WHAT, WHY, and HOW of my pieces required me to collect my thoughts carefully and come to concrete opinions that could be shared with an audience. Sharing things publicly on medium encouraged me to make impactful statements and be clear with the words that I used. Finding ways to share personal thoughts in a captivating and clear way is very important in writing and is only present in my writing journey this semester because of the creative nature of WRIT150.
Writing WP2 reminded me that the combination of art and science in academia helps me produce my best work and made me realize that I have been recently losing touch with my creative side. As I uploaded the link to my art gallery into my WP2, I was saddened to see that I have not made any art this semester. Part of me is missing without art, so I dug my drawing journal out from under my bed. Drawing for a single hour was so fulfilling that I felt as though I needed to take action in the scientific realm as well. That same day, I signed up to help repair old growth forests in Oregon that were damaged by recent fires.
My rekindled passion for creative projects did not stop with drawing. I have picked up the guitar again in an attempt to get back in touch with my creative side that I wrote about in detail in WP2 and WP3. In light of recent political tensions and nostalgia brought up by writing WP2, a song from my childhood called Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell has been on my mind. I learned how to play it (learning Dmaj7 chord was tricky) and have been jamming around my apartment to the slight dismay of my roommates.
One of my favorite aspect of my writing journey this semester has been writing blog posts on medium. This activity has reminded me that I have control over the words that I write. Having the freedom to blog about things that I am passionate about has helped me reclaim my narrative as an author. Feedback on my blog posts showed me that I should continue to work on leading with impactful statements and unpacking my ideas carefully even in more creative pieces. Sometimes when I am writing scientific pieces, I feel as though I am a robot reciting things that were fed to me. Blogging has helped me reconnect with the power and beauty of words. In one of my blog posts called Food and Culture: Thinking Back to Chajul, I included a narrative piece that used descriptive words reminding me of my love for poetry.
This blog post stirred a memory of a poem that my dad used to read to me. It is my favorite poem and it is called The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost. It reads:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
The words of this poem give me the chills very time I encounter them and I feel particularly connected to them at this stage in my life. During the times of the pandemic, I have been feeling as if I have no control over my life and the things I do don’t matter. This poem reminds me that I DO have control over my education, my social life, and my future. The decisions that I make now will make a difference later. Reading Frosts words has encouraged me to keep taking action in the artistic and scientific field so that when I look back in years to come, I know that the path I took made all the difference in a good way. This encouragement fits with the tone of my WRIT150 class which reminded me to take control of my own education.
Along with deep personal discovery, my writing journey this semester has also led to technical improvements in my writing. WP1 revealed that my “opinion piece” writing skills are a bit rusty. My tendencies from scientific writing do not translate well to more creative work and WRIT150 has forced me to hone in on how to make an impactful and conversational piece of writing. Through peer editing, instructor feedback, and revision, I have gotten much better at “going for the jugular”. To me, this means leading with an impactful punch of an idea that hooks the reader and introduces them to a specific realm that will be unpacked throughout the piece. It was difficult to move away from the five paragraph model that I often use in scientific writing, but the change has made a big difference. WP3 also taught me not to rush through major points. I have been doing my best to unpack big ideas carefully, especially quotations. I applied these new lessons to my WP3 which can be viewed below.
As I end this class, I am thankful for the reminder that it gave me to continue pursuing creative writing and creation despite my scientific career path. The lessons I’ve learned about creative writing in this class can be applied to scientific work to make it more impactful and thorough. These mutual benefits between creative and scientific writing remind me of the connection between art and science that I have spent so much time reflecting on in WRIT150. As I work with the forestry services over winter break, I will surely think back to this class and how it has propelled me into action and reflection.
Works Cited:
Frost, R. (n.d.). The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken
