"How to Write a Sentence", Defining Democracy, and Practice Writing Sentences

Since AmCon takes the place of a writing class, I knew we would be working on our writing skills quite a bit.  Since I really like details and find it easier to understand them than big, overarching concepts, I found this article really helpful.  There are many things I can do to improve my writing.  Instead of just editing and rearranging at the end of a writing assignment, I can read it out loud.  This forces me to slow down, hear how it sounds and if it flows right, and see if it makes sense.  The article has two tips I will try to incorporate into my writing:

One tip is to, "...make sure that every component of your sentences is related to the other components in a way that is clear and unambiguous (unless ambiguity is what you are aiming at)" (Fish 20).  Writing ambiguously is a real skill, since it requires you to understand the topic at a deep level and leave the reader to interpret the meaning of your reflections about that topic.  For now I will stick to just writing clearly and making sure all of the pieces fit together, like pieces in a puzzle.

Another, similar tip is to go beyond the grammatical structure and clarity and look at the content and ideas.  Ask questions like, "'What does it go with' or 'What does it support?' or 'What information does it give about some other part?'" (Fish 21).  Too often I focus on the grammar and the "Does this sentence make sense?" aspects of writing.  This is kind of putting the cart before the horse, since your ideas need to be thought-out and developed before you try to make them sound eloquent.



This whole year we've talked about democracy. A lot.  It is still hard to define because even though we want to make a clean, manageable definition, there are always other ideas, contradictions, and exceptions that pop up.  Here's my shot at trying to define democracy:

A democracy is a political system in which the people are represented, involved in decision-making, and free to act without fear of unjust consequences.

Then again there is the question of what is justice and what constitutes a just consequence, but that might be another blog post.



Lastly, here's my cheesy version of a sentence rewritten from Jim Cullen's "The American Dream".  His sentence goes, "[Andrew Jackson's] 1829 inauguration, with its mob of cheese-eating, beer-drinking country bumpkins trampling the White House carpet, chilled the old order" (69).  Here is my sentence:

"St. Olaf's spring semester, with its horde of Marshmallow Matey's-eating, tea-drinking college students crowding the Cage, brought new energy and students returning from study abroad."