Santarelli

Joseph Santarelli
Malcolm Campbell
UWRT 1103
April 28 2015
A Year in Review
I can honestly say that this class, UWRT 1103, has helped me grow as a
writer, as a thinker and as a questioner. Personally, I think the most
important assignment was the EIP. Although it was the most time
consuming, I feel that it was very important to research and learn about a
topic that is important to us. I kind of wish that we had/could present our
work to the class. It would have been very interesting to hear everyones
interests and opinions. Also, I wish I had an opportunity to inform the class
about my research, especially with my topic in mind. I desperately want to
communicate that ISIS is not representative of Islam as a whole. I wish I
could have had the chance to correct some of my fellow students
ignorance/misinformation. Maybe in the future you can either choose a few
students or have them volunteer to give a presentation to the class.
My literacy narrative, blog and daybooks have taught me a lot about
my literacy. I definitely have learned skills that I can carry into my life. The
literacy narrative assignment taught me that everyone has a struggle
associated with learning. Some dont want to, some have encountered real
world obstacles. Regardless of the struggle, it is important to be dedicated
to your goals and the acquisition of knowledge. As a result of this

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assignment, I have decided to take up Spanish class again. The Architecture

Program requires two credits of a foreign language. I know a fair bit of
Spanish already; I could easily test higher than Spanish two and complete
the requirement. Now, Ive already begun to move around my schedule for
all five years that way I can take two credits of a higher level Spanish. Also, I
intend to study abroad at some point. I already know Im going to Rome next
summer for the Architecture Program, but I also wish to study in Madrid or
Barcelona. My goal is to be fluent in both of my ancestral tongues, and there
is only one way to do that, to learn. I now realize that I need to actively
pursue any and all learning opportunities I encounter. My two fears in life are
being lazy and being ignorant. The process of preparing, writing and reading
other students literacy narratives has taught me that laziness breeds
ignorance. If I want to learn, its all on me. I cant wait for an opportunity to
fall into my lap.
Similarly, my blog and creation of my e-portfolio has taught me that I
had no idea what a blog is and I have no idea how to make a website. Ive
never been very tech savvy. I elected to delete any social media I had, long
ago and make it a point to use my phone and electronics as little as possible.
I had always heard of blogs and just thought they were things that people
talked about their days and what they ate for dinner and whatnot. Granted,
there are a lot of blogs like that but in the context that we did ours is
beneficial. I see no problem with a page of expressive text, asking real
questions and giving real answers. At that point its just another medium

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just like books and articles. I greatly enjoy deep thought about important
issues; something that I fear our society is lacking these days. My older
brother told me once the masses occupy themselves with idiotic things to
distract them from thinking. I agree with him 100%. I think that in the
modern world people have become so used to not needing to think, that real
thought actually scares them. The blogs that I found when I googled what is
a blog? at the beginning of the semester are part of this problem. Hand to
god, I read a blog where some woman in Georgia just talked about all the
menial tasks she did during the day. I remember one post consisted of her
talking about eating lunch, taking her dog for a walk and then taking a nap. I
thought all blogs were like this until I was forced to make one of my own. I
have to constantly remind myself that in the modern world, everything is on
the Internet. I constantly see people on their phones and computers, this
doesnt necessarily mean that theyre doing anything wrong or bad, for all I
know they could be writing a blog post about the last book they read or
something real like that. I honestly never thought that I would have a blog
and a website dedicated to my work, but I now feel that they are very helpful
sources of information and expression.
In the same respect, the daybook entries definitely help me express
my thoughts. I like how you told us to not stop writing, and if we hit a wall
just write the prompt again and go from there. I think its amazingly
important to fluidly write what youre thinking without. I think that process
intensifies when you forget about your minds editing process and just go.

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Maybe Im just odd but my brain is constantly over working. Im very

introverted so Im totally content with just sitting in a room and thinking.
However, as a result of this I can get lost in my thought. I cherish
opportunities to circumvent my brains editing process, and bypass the
detours of overthought. For this reason I greatly enjoyed the daybook
assignments. It gave me an opportunity to use my hand as a conduit for
expression of my passive mind (this is the same reason that I paint). Of
course, I still prefer painting.
All my life, I have questioned everything. I was taught at a very young
age all power should be questioned, everything should be questioned. As
a result I was always the child to ask why? for absolutely everything, which
Im sure was extremely annoying. This class has helped me to hone my
questioning skills. I now have the tools to look beyond the who, what,
when, where, why and think intuitively into the issue. I distinctly remember
the moment I truly understood this tool. I was writing my annotated
bibliography and went off onto a tangent placing myself into the shoes of an
everyday civilian in the war torn. If you remember what Im talking about, I
was comparing ISIS to the Italian Mafia. Rightfully so, your response was we
are way off topic. I told you, my brain thinks too much, that was an
instance that I got lost in thought. However, it was a very important chain of
thought. The questioning skills I learned in this class took me form Is ISIS
representative of Islam? to questioning the existence of objective evil with
regard to human nature, and gave me helpful insight into my topic as well as

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a notion much more profound then religious belief. When we were first told
about the EIP assignment, I was set on doing my paper on Lina Bo Bardi. She
was an architect in the 20th century. I was assigned the Villa Bo Bardi aka
The Glass House as my precedent study in architecture. Half of the world
was up in arms that a female architect could do just as good, maybe even
better than a man. I was going to herald her as a hero for womens rights
and a beacon against ignoranceuntil I studied her famous glass house
more. In architecture we have what is called a servant, served diagram. In
this diagram the functional spaces that arent meant for habitation are called
servant and the ones that are meant for habitation are the served. For
example, the bathroom is a servant space, while a bedroom is a served
space. When studying the plan of The Glass House, I realized an odd trend in
the placement of servant and served spaces. I continued to diagram the
build and came to the conclusion that the house was segregated. Further
research proved me to be correct. I then realized that the woman that I held
in the highest esteem as an inspiration to combat ignorance had voluntarily
designed a segregated home, herself. This was a disheartening find to say
the least. Her Glass House was built in 1951 in So Paulo, Brazil. South
America is a completely different world then what America knows. The home
was most likely segregated against natives. The upper class in South
America is often direct descendants from Spaniards; as a result the natives
were branded as inferior. I was still going to write my EIP on this topic using
the questioning, thinking and writing techniques I learned in this class. I

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would have talked about her as an enemy of ignorant thought and then
question why and how she could be okay with segregation. However, I used
the tools I learned from this class and come to a conclusion. It was a
different time, which is the politically correct way to say; she most likely had
an entitlement complex as a result of upbringing and was too set in her ways
to question her own ignorance. This is a woman who stood up for the rights
of women everywhere, meanwhile actively suppressing others.
The readings and assignments of this class have helped me to not only
question but to take those questions and determine what is worth looking
deeper into or fighting. If you have noticed one recurring theme through all
of my work, it is most likely my strong stance against ignorance. My fathers
favorite author growing up was Charles Dickens. As a result, I was taught
that mankind is not evil in any way, but instead that ignorance and want are
the catalyst for mans damnation. Mankind cant afford to be ignorant. As a
species we cant allow ourselves to squander our potential on ignorance,
laziness, want and fear. I mean ignorance of all kinds, misinformation, a lack
of knowledge and a desire not to learn. In some cases, the ignorant cannot
be blamed for their vice. However, we, as humans need to do all we can to
correct ignorance whenever we see it. You dont have to be an ass about it,
but correct what needs to be corrected. We all need to learn from each
other. This class has enhanced my skills in this field too. When I heard that
one of my classmates wanted to do his/her EIP on how the beliefs and goals
of ISIS are characteristic of all Muslims, I knew that I had to correct what

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needed to be corrected. Using the skills I learned in this class, I was able to
determine it was worth looking deeper into and that it was definitely worth
fighting for.
I then formalized my thoughts into a preliminary outline and my topic
proposal. I was eager to learn the origin of the misunderstandings
associated with Arabs in America. I was fairly neutral, with regard to
enjoyment, for these first assignments. I was organizing my existing
thoughts while enthusiastic to find an answer to my questions. I initially
treated it as a direct counter point and as an argument. I then got into the
annotated bibliography. I enjoyed learning a lot about the culture, beliefs
and opinions of the Muslim faith. It was at this point that I changed from a
blind argument to a research-fueled tool to inform against the misinformed.
As a result, my final EIP draft is by far the most important work Ive
completed in this class. I was so surprised to learn that 73% of Americans
have a negative opinion of Arabs and the Muslim faith. I was unaware of the
level of Americans that dislike and distrust their fellow man, over the pettiest
of reasons. Even if my paper isnt used as a tool to eradicate the ignorance
of other people, it was still beneficial for me to research and write. Now Im
informed about the issue at hand and am able to hold an educated
discussion about it, with regard to both sides of opinion.