Geez is NOT Spelled Geese

I submitted my blue eyes/gay marriage essay for peer review/workshopping for Exposition today, and we went over it. I like constructive criticism. It's helpful. However, I don't like constructive criticism when it reads like a personal attack. Tell me if an argument doesn't work. Tell me if I'm inconsistent. Tell me if my writing is weak, and where it's weak. I may not agree, but I'll listen.

However, don't ask me: "is all this anger derived from your mother's homosexuality?" Those of you who have read the essay – it was right after I had the part about the pledge of allegiance at the beginning. To my words 'words hold more power than most people realize,' he wrote "do they?" That seems a little odd to me. But then, maybe I do just think differently from most. Other comments included a "wha" at one point, as well as an "ok, we get it." I think the sole constructive comment was in response to my extremely sarcastic, 'Since we all want to be in the likeness of Jesus Christ, we must strive to be brown-eyed,' where he wrote, "whoops, why would anyone (ie Christians) want to read beyond this?" He might have a point there. But in the midst of his other comments, it's hard to take him seriously. With my statement, 'to calm the opposition, I suppose we ought to consider some sort of alternative … ' he writes, "They're already way too steamed to care at this point." Then goes on, when I'm making my 'shocking event' argument to say that (and I do quote): "Geese how does this help? Nobodys calm!" Geese! The new 'geez.' At the end, he goes on to write, "TOO ANGRY" in a little box, as well as (again, I quote) "your passionate… too passionate…your blind with rage, no one responds to that (with anything but anger)."

So. Needless to say, I was more than a little miffed by that too. I mean, don't tell me that a sarcastic paper is excessively angry and that I'm blind with rage. I wasn't. Actually, I was just being flippant. Even the 'I wouldn't read past this point' comment wasn't so bad – I've written similar before. I don't know. Plus, geez, as I said, is not spelled 'geese.'

Even though I'm writing on a topic that's rather controversial, I expect some respect – and I deserve it. I don't think I'm a perfect writer; I know I'm not. The whole point of the workshopping is to make something better. Needless personal attacks are … well, needless.

What has it been, this past week or few days or whatever? Open season on me?

Ah, well. Other things are halfway decent. Spring break is almost officially here. And my roleplaying has gotten extremely interesting. I love the interaction between my character and this other one. I love the tenseness, what's going on in the game world. It's new, different, and fun. Even if we end up dead, I won't regret any of it, because it really has been great. Of course, I say so now, but if it really happened, I know I'd be upset. Even so, at least it'll be fun in the meantime, and I do enjoy all of this.

I was thinking about writing and roleplaying in class. In both, conflict is interesting. And with conflict comes a risk, especially in an rp environment where once conflict is started, half of the control is given to those around you. It'd be like trying to stop a ball from rolling otherwise. It's different from writing in that regard – you could be so hopeful, want so desperately for things to work out, could know how it could work out, but it's not always in your control. The unpredictability is what keeps me going, though, even with the slight idea of what might happen. It keeps me interested. It's also less pressure on me, to be able to play off of others instead of simply replying on myself, since sometimes creativity eludes me. It's writing, character development, but getting so deeply immersed in the world, so deeply into the character's mind that you know how they would react, respond – hell, how they see the world. All interesting though.

I only like relying on other people for it when I can, though. When things are worth it. Here's to hoping I keep finding people who are.

Raissa's Word of the Day:

-Defenestrate: to throw someone or something out of a window.