Alyse Greenbaum
This picture exhibits my comfortable work state. I am someone who really enjoys writing down notes by hand and drawing diagrams/images in order to brainstorm and organize my ideas. With a pen in hand, I am able to better visualize my thoughts on paper, which facilitates my ability to memorize and absorb information and to also gain clarity of thought. Organization, clarity, and creativity are three things that I bring to my work on a regular basis, and taking notes helps me do this. By writing down outlines initially, I give myself a foundation to start from as I work to translate my thoughts to online platforms like Scalar that provide more expansive, multimodal spaces for learning and creating.
Yet, I recognize that what I have on paper is only one-dimensional, similar to writing a final paper on a Word doc. So, what I love about this anthology project is that it challenges me as a writer who enjoys physical paper notes to create something dynamic, multimodal, and truly different from the traditional class paper or what you’d find in my notebook. An online platform also helps me to connect to our entire class, and that’s something that stands out to me as an English major. I enjoy drawing inspiration from other classmates and collaborating to create an engaged space that doesn’t place a limitation on our design approaches. I am able to organize, create, and find clarity beyond my personal notes within this anthology project through the process of working with others, and that’s one of the best parts of this project to me.