VIsual-based Memoir- Analysis paper
Jin Cheng
Dr. Lauren Holt
ENG 221RW
November 21, 2014
Rhetorical Analysis Paper for Visual-Based Memoir V1
Throughout the semester, we have devoted ourselves into a series of multimodal explorations of the concept of place and how place shapes us. In the previous Text-Based Memoir project, I discussed about how places that I resided or shortly stayed had shaped my personality and identity. However, in this Visual-Based Memoir project, I focus more on the present, on the place that I currently stay, which is the campus of Emory.
I was able to observe and reflect my life from a third-person perspective by working on this project. Through those camera lens, I recognized that my daily life in Emory seems to have a very specific routine since all the things happened to me take place in very certain, limited and identified places. These places seem stable and lifeless, but they actually turn to be really vivid after I put in my emotions and memories. The memoir as a whole is formed by a series of photos and videos. The reason I chose to use videos instead of photos at some time is that I think video clips can convey ideas more vividly than static images. I was able to present a whole dynamic process in a video clip.
Being away from home and living in a country that I was totally unfamiliar before, I experienced a life in Emory that was filled with adventures and challenges. Instead of being anxious or unsafe, I in fact consider that Emory enables me to live my life like a miner mining gold in a treasure trove.
The first video in my memoir records the appearance of my dorm. Before I went to college, I had never lived in a dorm and shared my living space with a person that is not my family. Back in home, I had a very flexible schedule and I could do whatever I wanted in my room. However, different from how I used to be, I have to accommodate my habits to those of my roommate when I live in the university dorm. We shared a bedroom, a kitchen, a restroom and a small living room. Under this small and cozy space, my roommate and I have tried our best to understand each other’s previous lifestyles and established a relatively harmonic new lifestyle that are acceptable and adjustable for both of us. We study cuisine menu together and share our views on a variety of topics, from political issues to TV shows. Although I sometimes wished I could have a more private space, my experience of living with my roommate has been truly fascinating. Before I came to Emory, I had my own room and I could manage it in my own way. However, under this common space, it is my responsibility to understand and take care of my roommate. I stopped just considering my own advantages and started to think for others from their prospective. Because of the place change, I was compelled to rebuild my personality. Nominally, both spaces were the rooms in which I lived and rested. However, my room in Emory became to a distinctive place to my room at home because I developed myself and gained the experiences that I had never had before.
The second video clip records a journey that I go through every day. Shortly after I leave my hall, I will shortly encounter the crossroads. And usually, I have to wait for the traffic light to turn green. A traffic light sounds quite common and I should have seen thousands of traffic lights in different places during my life. This one was really special because it coincidently became a place that set me thinking and influence my everyday life. Every time I stood here waiting for the traffic light, I had a different mood. If I got up early and I knew that I had enough time for breakfast, I would wait there in a relaxed mood and quickly go over my plan for the whole day. This process made me feel that everything was in good order and well arranged. However, if I got up late, I would wait there breathlessly after running down the stairs of my dorm. At this time, I always had messy hair and anxiously pushed the traffic light button. Undoubtedly, a day started in a mess would be a mess as well. This small intersection became my little meditation place that I could go over my schedule. It always reminded me to live and work in a good mood since I had examined many times that a good mood could definitely help me get my life be better organized.
After that these videos, I have a couple of photos that capture the beauty of Emory campus in this autumn. Emory is a beautiful school that benefits from the mild weather of Atlanta. Differed from the place that I lived in China, Atlanta presents distinctive sceneries among the four seasons. The city I lived in China, Shenzhen, is more southern than Atlanta in terms of the latitude. Therefore, I had never experienced the cycle of the seasons before I came to the U.S.. Living in the campus of Emory, I could easily tell seasonal changes according to the leaves of those tall and leafy trees. This difference reminded me that I was in a new place all the time. Under this new environment, I had to put on more clothes and enjoyed the characteristic scenery in different season. That was an extraordinary experience for me and made this place full of amazing memories that I could not have in Shenzhen.
The remaining photos are took in the places that I usually had conversations with classmates and friends. I mainly took the photos in Starbucks and a restaurant called Falafel King. Both of them located in Emory Village. Falafel King is an Asian restaurant and provided great Asian food. Sometimes I was sick of the American food at DUC so I walked there with my friends. Although the food there was not actually Chinese food, I could still have a sense of getting close to my family. The small restaurant became a place for me that I could feel connected to the place I grew up and I used to live.
Emory campus is actually very small, comparing to other universities in the United States, but it is big enough for me to experience such a wonderful life that I can have the sense of freshness. It seems hard to keep freshness living in such a small place. However, this is precisely how Emory has influenced me and shaped my identity. Back in Shenzhen, I had always been an explorer. I went to the latest restaurants and saw new exhibitions. I was required to settle down after I got into Emory. Everything took place in such a limited space so that I was able to observe every little changes that took place in the campus. I transformed, from an explorer to an observer. I became more calm and less frivolous. That was how Emory had shaped my identity.
However, the memories I created in Emory, though fresh and amazing, do not simply replace my previous memories back in China. They enable me to look back my old life from a different perspective. They make me cherish the time that I spent with my family and my old friends. As Price says, “place attachments deepen and strengthen as experience accumulates” (Price 127). The old memories are even strengthened by the new memories. They integrate together, making me be more confident about what kind of life I want to have in the future.
Work Cited
Price, Patricia L. "Place." Dry Place: Landscapes of Belonging and Exclusion. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota, 2004. 118-27. Print.
Dr. Lauren Holt
ENG 221RW
November 21, 2014
Rhetorical Analysis Paper for Visual-Based Memoir V1
Throughout the semester, we have devoted ourselves into a series of multimodal explorations of the concept of place and how place shapes us. In the previous Text-Based Memoir project, I discussed about how places that I resided or shortly stayed had shaped my personality and identity. However, in this Visual-Based Memoir project, I focus more on the present, on the place that I currently stay, which is the campus of Emory.
I was able to observe and reflect my life from a third-person perspective by working on this project. Through those camera lens, I recognized that my daily life in Emory seems to have a very specific routine since all the things happened to me take place in very certain, limited and identified places. These places seem stable and lifeless, but they actually turn to be really vivid after I put in my emotions and memories. The memoir as a whole is formed by a series of photos and videos. The reason I chose to use videos instead of photos at some time is that I think video clips can convey ideas more vividly than static images. I was able to present a whole dynamic process in a video clip.
Being away from home and living in a country that I was totally unfamiliar before, I experienced a life in Emory that was filled with adventures and challenges. Instead of being anxious or unsafe, I in fact consider that Emory enables me to live my life like a miner mining gold in a treasure trove.
The first video in my memoir records the appearance of my dorm. Before I went to college, I had never lived in a dorm and shared my living space with a person that is not my family. Back in home, I had a very flexible schedule and I could do whatever I wanted in my room. However, different from how I used to be, I have to accommodate my habits to those of my roommate when I live in the university dorm. We shared a bedroom, a kitchen, a restroom and a small living room. Under this small and cozy space, my roommate and I have tried our best to understand each other’s previous lifestyles and established a relatively harmonic new lifestyle that are acceptable and adjustable for both of us. We study cuisine menu together and share our views on a variety of topics, from political issues to TV shows. Although I sometimes wished I could have a more private space, my experience of living with my roommate has been truly fascinating. Before I came to Emory, I had my own room and I could manage it in my own way. However, under this common space, it is my responsibility to understand and take care of my roommate. I stopped just considering my own advantages and started to think for others from their prospective. Because of the place change, I was compelled to rebuild my personality. Nominally, both spaces were the rooms in which I lived and rested. However, my room in Emory became to a distinctive place to my room at home because I developed myself and gained the experiences that I had never had before.
The second video clip records a journey that I go through every day. Shortly after I leave my hall, I will shortly encounter the crossroads. And usually, I have to wait for the traffic light to turn green. A traffic light sounds quite common and I should have seen thousands of traffic lights in different places during my life. This one was really special because it coincidently became a place that set me thinking and influence my everyday life. Every time I stood here waiting for the traffic light, I had a different mood. If I got up early and I knew that I had enough time for breakfast, I would wait there in a relaxed mood and quickly go over my plan for the whole day. This process made me feel that everything was in good order and well arranged. However, if I got up late, I would wait there breathlessly after running down the stairs of my dorm. At this time, I always had messy hair and anxiously pushed the traffic light button. Undoubtedly, a day started in a mess would be a mess as well. This small intersection became my little meditation place that I could go over my schedule. It always reminded me to live and work in a good mood since I had examined many times that a good mood could definitely help me get my life be better organized.
After that these videos, I have a couple of photos that capture the beauty of Emory campus in this autumn. Emory is a beautiful school that benefits from the mild weather of Atlanta. Differed from the place that I lived in China, Atlanta presents distinctive sceneries among the four seasons. The city I lived in China, Shenzhen, is more southern than Atlanta in terms of the latitude. Therefore, I had never experienced the cycle of the seasons before I came to the U.S.. Living in the campus of Emory, I could easily tell seasonal changes according to the leaves of those tall and leafy trees. This difference reminded me that I was in a new place all the time. Under this new environment, I had to put on more clothes and enjoyed the characteristic scenery in different season. That was an extraordinary experience for me and made this place full of amazing memories that I could not have in Shenzhen.
The remaining photos are took in the places that I usually had conversations with classmates and friends. I mainly took the photos in Starbucks and a restaurant called Falafel King. Both of them located in Emory Village. Falafel King is an Asian restaurant and provided great Asian food. Sometimes I was sick of the American food at DUC so I walked there with my friends. Although the food there was not actually Chinese food, I could still have a sense of getting close to my family. The small restaurant became a place for me that I could feel connected to the place I grew up and I used to live.
Emory campus is actually very small, comparing to other universities in the United States, but it is big enough for me to experience such a wonderful life that I can have the sense of freshness. It seems hard to keep freshness living in such a small place. However, this is precisely how Emory has influenced me and shaped my identity. Back in Shenzhen, I had always been an explorer. I went to the latest restaurants and saw new exhibitions. I was required to settle down after I got into Emory. Everything took place in such a limited space so that I was able to observe every little changes that took place in the campus. I transformed, from an explorer to an observer. I became more calm and less frivolous. That was how Emory had shaped my identity.
However, the memories I created in Emory, though fresh and amazing, do not simply replace my previous memories back in China. They enable me to look back my old life from a different perspective. They make me cherish the time that I spent with my family and my old friends. As Price says, “place attachments deepen and strengthen as experience accumulates” (Price 127). The old memories are even strengthened by the new memories. They integrate together, making me be more confident about what kind of life I want to have in the future.
Work Cited
Price, Patricia L. "Place." Dry Place: Landscapes of Belonging and Exclusion. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota, 2004. 118-27. Print.