Critical Complexity
When I heard Mr. Sabol announce the topic for W131's latest assignment, an exploratory essay, I was furious. Of a world of scintillating and fascinating topics, he picked "writing" as the subject of the class's papers. Writing, of course, was not my favorite theme; I felt the topic had been so overused over the course of the semester that writing any more about it would be futile and destructive to any shred of creativity the class had left. Furthermore, I had expected to be allowed to explore the topics that interested me the most outside of class[d1] .
Regardless of my expectations, I had been stuck with an assignment I didn't want to do. I kept asking myself why on earth I should write about writing[d2] . For that matter, I didn't understand what purpose it would serve. At first I just viewed the topic as a way to give W131 students more homework. Perhaps it was a way of cruel fate driving me over the edge of sanity. Maybe it was just a matter of giving Mr. Sabol what he wanted to hear from our exploratory papers, not a matter of free thinking and the true exploration of our external and internal worlds.
However, a notion began nagging at the back of my mind there had to be a better answer than the ones I had come up with before. They were answers to the problem that were born of frustration and impatience, not of careful thought and consideration. I decided then that, as simple and perhaps insignificant as my personal problems with the topic were, I needed to address them in some way. Addressing my problems with the assignment would make me take time to think critically about my dilemma and find the answers that could help me become more motivated with the topic[d3] . I felt it was the only way I could even begin my exploratory essay without pulling all my hair out.
Of course I didn't have the answer to my initial question yet What's the purpose behind writing about writing? As I...
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