Holoda’s Weblog

I was just thinking about the discussion Thursday and the time we spent on the idea of the “five paragraph essay,” if it was effective or useful, is there really an “end” to a piece, etc. I was trying to reflect upon my own experience with this thing, and I realized that it wasn’t until the end of my undergrad/beginning of the graduate program that I began to really understand the purpose of the five paragraph essay, and how to step outside of it’s boundaries (or even understand that I could and it was ok to do so). Although the format is limiting and tends to negate meaning/s, it is necessary to be successful in the institution of education. I think I am still getting used to asserting my own voice in a work, or criticizing, analyzing, examining a topic that is currently “unconventional” or not generally discussed. Sirc asks at one point in his “Box Logic” piece if one should teach the students according to life experience or the academy (he chooses life experience). I think my point is that there are these hoops one has to jump through in an institution that is defined from a point of exteriority, that unfortunately disrupts (but of course does not negate), the attempts to move beyond merely “satisfying the standards” of what has been presented as English Studies. I think that’s why I appreciate Cixous so much: the very format and flow of her writing defies convention yet she has very poignant things to say about the way we speak, write, and ultimately think.