No Reality is Absolute.

Hi all.

I loved our discussion on the correlation of perception, reality, and language the other day. I feel like we could have continued the conversation all day. Language creates reality, and language defines reality. What a crazy concept.  I'm sketchy and a wrote down some things people said in class during that conversation. I just love the intellectuality we have within our bunch.

Brandon Pytel: "because of language, no reality is absolute." Brandon's statement is an accurate representation of our conversation. Every given word can have a thousand meanings, all based on a person's connotation and assosiciations for that word. Words are so indefinite. At the same time, when used correctly, words can have such an accurate desciption of what we feel, see and think. I love words so much. I love how certain words can evoke specific images. I love how words can have so much weight. This is why I'm a dork. Although I guess if all of you guys are pretty solid writers, you might feel the same way.

Language is a way to solidify the reality around us, although like Brandon said, our words never provide an absolute reality. I use words to figure out what's going on in my life. My thoughts are often a scramble of words and ideas. Writing is a way to piece the mess together, figure out what I'm thinking, and draw conclsuions about my life. I got through some of the most confusing situations of my life by writing everything I was thinking down in a journal. By wrting, I figure out my reality and can analyze my life. I love to think about why I do the things I do. By writing, I can draw these conlusions.

Another quote from our discussion was from the lovely Kari Hemmert: "perception is reality". How wonderfully true. Kari used the example of "it's only awkward if you make it awkward", and I love that rule in life. It shows how we all percieve things differently, not only based on our past expiriences, but based on our attitudes.

Writing center advisors need to be aware of the different perceptions each writer may have. Our perceptions form our realities, and these realities are displayed through our writing. Advisors need to help each writer convey their own reality.