Brian Niederland's Portfolio
Life is entirely unthinkable without any of the creative arts, and they're all a continuum - the force in question is creativity, not its mode of expression. - John Darnielle
English 366 Honors: Literature and the Other Arts
This has been one of the most unusual classes I've ever taken, and I mean that in the best way possible. If I had to describe this class to someone who hadn't taken it before: I might say "Well... we made videos, and we recorded ourselves speaking for essays, and yeah, we wrote poetry, too." But that wouldn't be doing this class justice in the slightest. I've been challenged to rethink literature, technology, and education since the day our class started, and I don't think my perception will ever return to the way it was before.
Literature. What does literature look like? How can you respond to literature? I thought literature looked like a book, a stack of paper, or a page in a magazine. If someone asked me "What does digital literature look like?" On a good day, I might have said digital literature looks like the ePub icon on an e-reader. Most days I would have come up clueless. Now I know that literature can be so much more than just words on a page.
Literature can be an e-poem that assaults the senses.
Literature can be an soft, contemplative audio essay whose story whisks you away to a far away place.
Literature can be an emotionally charged video that you feel on an instinctual, gut level.
I never knew literature can be all these things and more before this class, but that was before I was fully immersed in the #boostlit experience. And I definitely didn't think I would be capable of creating these kinds of responses to literature. And now I am. That feels really good to say. I'm incredibly proud of the work I've made this semester, and I hope you enjoy experiencing it just as much as I did making it. And please: share your thoughts and reactions to my work with me, and let's take another step down the creative process together. That's something else I learned this semester. Literature is constantly evolving, changing, and adapting. Literature is a transformative process that doesn't just get spit out into the aether to sit and stagnate. It grows and adapts as you do. Literature is a collaborative experience that can be constantly tweaked, grown, fine-tuned, and shared.
Yes, this class was challenging, but I love a challenge. An easy class, to me, is a class wasted. Why would I be in college if I didn't want to learn, to expand, and to step outside of my comfort zone? I've grown as a writer, as a creator, as a student, and as a person in boostlit. My understanding of technology, literature, and the creative process has immeasurably deepened, and I've had fun every single step of the way.
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