55 Anthony Alejo – Me as a Writer

Anthony Alejo (He/Him) is from Fort Wayne Indiana and he is a second-year student majoring in Digital Media and Storytelling.  This work was prepared for Jackie Kauza’s Reading, Writing, & Inquiry Class.  Professor Kauza states, “Anthony offered an exploration of his writing experiences that are full of details and examples, making for a very engaging and informative read!”

Me as a Writer

Ever since I’ve started writing, especially academically, I’ve always had key people in my life who have helped me to become more literate in the different forms and genres of writing. These people, known as my literacy sponsors, also taught me crucial writing processes and how I can leverage all forms of writing processes to structuralize and strengthen my work. For example, in my senior year of high school, I had two teachers who taught me the bulk of what I know now about writing. Both of which I consider to be very reliable literacy sponsors. Mrs. G taught me how to write academically within an English class setting, whereas Mr. J taught me how to write academic papers that were structured like scripts. This was because his class was a radio and television class. Nonetheless, both of these sponsors, along with various writing genres, are crucial when it comes to me as a writer and my writing success.

When it came to my academic writing career, Mrs.G taught me the ins and outs of the typical English academic writing rules and structures. She taught me that you NEED to consistently write formally and to never EVER use personal pronouns such as “I”, “me”, “mine” etc. I learned these lessons through various trials and errors. For example, I once wrote a piece, regarding my church community, that was meant to describe the meaning and function of my community as a whole. This was a project that dealt with writing and communication, intended to be a “how to” for any specific community that I chose. I kept using the pronouns “you”, “my”, “I” and “me”. She of course docked off a few points and told me how I had to fix these things because the intent of the project was to inform, not to personally address. While at the time I became a little frustrated, I soon realized that she was right. This is because whenever I’m working on my cover letter or job resume, it will help me to appear much more professional and qualified in the eyes of the employer. Because of Mrs. G, I can now confidently say that I’m much more literate when it comes to writing professional and academic documents.

When it came to my writing career outside of the academic setting, Mr. J taught me how to write and communicate within the radio and news environment. News meaning the news, like a new station. Their writing style takes writing and communication to a whole new level. I was taught that when writing a script it’s extremely important to spell out things that we wouldn’t usually think to spell out. For example, instead of writing out the phrase “make sure to check us on www.wane.com” I needed to write out “MAKE SURE TO CHECK US ON W-W-W DOT WANE DOT COM”. It was essential for everything to be capitalized within the script. I learned this the hard way, because I wrote the former when I first started the class. This meant that when turning in my first couple of scripts, I would consistently get points docked off, because in order to take a class about radio and television, I had to write like a student in a radio and television class. While this form of writing and communication can get a little annoying at times, it’s very helpful. This was especially so for other students in the class who decided to go into the news and journalism career pathways. I can definitely say that I now know how to write and communicate effectively within a professional media news setting.

It’s evident that both of my literacy sponsors taught me a lot about writing. However, the writing processes that both of these sponsors required of me looked drastically different from one another. This was because for Mrs. G’s class I was required to write academically, whereas Mr. J required me to write professionally within a news setting. Luckily, I was able to write using the same technology for both classes, my school laptop. Unfortunately, that was the only consistent variable within both of these classes. That’s because In Mrs. G’s class I needed to write using the traditional sandwiching method with evidence and commentary. Whereas for Mr. J’s class I needed to write a news script that was all capitalized and had every word spelt out. Likewise the intended audience for each of these classes were also completely different. Mrs. G’s intended audience were like minded academic students while Mr J’s intended audience were news producers and film students. Although these writing processes and styles may have looked drastically different, they’re both essential writing genres and writing processes that I’ll continue to use within my writing career.

It’s apparent that writing genres are essential elements within the writing process and even writing as a whole. However, not all genres are equal, and not all genres are traditional in the academic sense. I myself am no stranger to non-academic writing genres. For example, texting is a genre I always find myself using in my daily life. While it is drastically different from the academic writing genres and styles I learned throughout my educational career, it’s an essential writing genre in my life as a writer. This genre’s features such as emojis, gifs, initialism slang, image’s and linking features can be seen as quite untraditional, yet very effective. One example would be with my mom and when she tries to communicate with me over text as if she is speaking directly to me. She always uses the emoji feature, with function to express more emotion than what is capable with just words. For instance, whenever I don’t take out the trash after she asks a few times, she’ll send an angry emoji alongside her initial text message to express a deeper anger. The same thing goes with the gifs and images features. Both of which are very similar features with the essential function being to, once again, express deep emotion. However, these features are displayed through small looping videos (gifs) and images that the writer takes and sends to their reader (images). I’ve experienced both of these first hand. I’m the kind of writer who makes dad jokes, and my siblings think that they’re really cringey, so they’re always replying to my texts with gifs of a guy rolling his eyes and a caption saying, “not funny”. I’m also always sending images to my siblings, to get my point across without having to manually write anything out. An example of this would be when I’m at the store, and instead of texting my siblings that they – the store – have their favorite cereal, I just take a quick photo and send it to them. Using gifs and images allows for writers to get their point across faster and more effectively than when writing (texting) using words and letters. However, writing using letters isn’t always a bad thing especially when using the feature of initialism slang. Initialism slang is using abbreviations like “LOL” instead of spelling out “laugh out loud”. Being the professional writer that I am, I always use this feature because the function allows the reader to understand what you’re saying without having to spell everything out. This, in the long run, saves time, even though you’re realistically only saving a very small amount of time. However, like the great Kevin Malone once said, “Why waste time say lot word when few word to trick?” (The Office). Finally, the linking feature is also very useful because the function enables the recipient to be able to view things that just aren’t possible to do with text. A great example of this would be when my parents send me Instagram reel links about how to cook disgusting TikTok famous meals. This is a great feature to use when trying to text someone about something you saw instead of explaining everything to them like an online book review. This genre along with its features have become essential to me in my personal life and my life as a writer.

Emailing, as a genre, has become more of a traditional way of writing in an academic and professional setting. This was definitely a writing genre I used a lot in high school, especially in both of my literacy sponsor’s classes. When emailing, I always find myself using the subject line, email opening, email body, email ending and signoff features. Whenever writing an email I always use the subject line feature with the intended function of letting my reader know the subject (reason) for contacting them. The email opening feature is almost just as important as the subject line because its function is intended to professionally address your recipient. Essentially it allows them – the recipient – to know that you’re talking specifically to them in a professional manner. The email body, in my personal opinion and from experience, is the most important feature within the email writing genre. This is because when using this feature the function is to get into the meat and bones of the subject that you intended to address. This allows for the reader to understand the intention of your email. The final feature within the emailing genre would be the professional signoff. Once again, using this feature isn’t life or death, however it comes off as super unprofessional if not used. This is because the function of this feature is to allow the recipient to see that it was you who wrote and sent the email. It’s also a professional way of topping off a professionally written email.

It’s obvious to see that both of my literacy sponsors, along various writing genres, have played crucial roles when learning about writing processes and becoming a better writer. I have, to this day, continued to implement everything I learned throughout my high school career. I, now being in college, have continued to learn more about writing and myself as a writer. The combination of new knowledge gained in college along with the foundational knowledge from the past has immensely enriched my ability to engage with diverse genres and writing processes. This continuous learning process has been invaluable in shaping my understanding about writing and fostering my growth as a writer.