Final Reflections

I'm always tremendously impressed with Banks works, and his ways of writing and thinking, respectively. Banks, both in his keynote at CCCCs and in this written piece on Digital Griots, has a skillful way of considering print, orality and digital media as all important components of literate activities as well rhetorical practices. His take on how the DJ can be re-imagined in a new century, mixing and remixing, and as part of a digital story, and how DJs act as key players in making connections in narratives and mastering a range of techniques and technologies was a compelling argument.

Furthermore, I heed Banks' appeal that Rhet/Comp needs to value cultural diversity while investigating social contexts. At the same time, it is true that writing is an active performance and that if you want to understand a writer then you must understand the culture, not only the individual. I had never really reflected on that. Instead, I really have only emphasized the importance of understanding the self, as a writer, to my students. However, I never paused to really consider the effects and impacts of culture on writing habits and practices. An important point for me to consider and to work into my own reflexivity, as well as important when urging students to consider their own cultures and influences on their writing practices.

Lastly, Bowen pushed me to think about my own ageist bias and the ways in which I regard certain literacies as more valuable than others. I enjoy reading pieces like these, narratives, as I find them more personal and engaging. Yet, at the same time, I found it interesting how Bowen explored and wove together the themes of a literacy narratives with adaptations to digital media and technology, to tell Bev's story and to suggest how individuals "innovate to make meaning in their daily lives." To end, this piece made me pause and smile, reflecting on how embodied rhetoric is, especially recalling Bev's insistence that the chair be upright when she used the computer to allow her to type properly.