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Writing has the power to effect and change the way a person views the world. When we write we connect with the reader and persuade the reader to see and feel what we feel, this is the concept of change writing. Mary Pipher "Writing to Change the World" demonstrates the idea of change writing. Pipher’s examines different text well explaining her own ideas to help us draw parallels to how change writing occurs. Within this text I will define and explain the concept of change writing by giving my own thoughts and examples to help build a better understanding of change writing.
Mary Pipher defines change writing as “Writing to connect…Like good therapy it creates the conditions that allow people to be transformed. (p. 6). The belief that one must come with an open mind in order to be effective by writing is important. When we write it is not to be met as an argument but as an opportunity to see things in a different point of view. The writer when writing isn’t always aware of the audience they might attract. Pipher directs your attention to The Diary of Anna Frank explaining that Anna Frank wrote in her diary as a form of therapy for herself as a way to escape from the oppression of World War II but was not aware of the effect that years later it would be used to change people’s perspective of war and basic human rights. This example of change writing shows the power of an unaware author whose words effected the world. Another form of how therapeutic writing can be seen as change writing is in Natilie Goldberg’s “First Thoughts”. This article talks about the exercise of writing from a first thought stand point and how unloading all these ideas that aren’t met with judgment can improve one’s writing. This article just like the Diary of Anna Frank shows the therapeutic side of writing and how it can change the reader or the writer itself.
Change writing also takes shape in knowing ourselves. When we write we are putting a piece of ourselves in the text. This is our voice. Mary Pipher’s demonstrates this with a writing exercise she gives her students. The exercise is to write a poem entitled “Know Thyself” which you creatively list your background and personal traits about yourself. This exercise is used to show how our writing describes us as a person. By taking a look in the past and your environment you start to see how these things become a part of you and shape the way we look at the world. When we know ourselves we can focus that part of us in our writing and give our writing that personal voice that the reader will hear and relate too. Pipher gives us ideas of where we may start our writing and promise that we will see our true value as a person. This form of writing can be seen in Amy Tan "Mother Tongue”. Tan writes about how well at a conference her mother was attending she became self-aware of the way she spoke in a professional background and notice the very different ways she spoke in comparison to the way she would have spoken to her mother. This self-awareness made Amy Tan write her books from a stand point of the relationship she has to her mother and helps the reader creative that world and bond with the story. The way these examples reflect on change writing is with the idea of knowing and using your own voice and experiences and creating that bond with not only you and the text but between you and the reader.
Change writing can also be seen as a way for us to take control in our life. With computer blogs and social media being a popular form of writing we have the opportunity to speak our mind and show our interest. This format is the motivation we use to write. When we write we in a sense create our own world where we have say and can voice those opinions that maybe outrageous or in some areas taboo to say out loud. With this freedom of judgment we can express ourselves to the fullest form. It doesn’t have to be ground breaking opinions either, we can write simple stuff like McDonalds has the best fries or Mac computers are far more superior then PC just as long as we write what matters to us. These opinions may be the same ones as the reader or persuade the read to give something another shot and it is with that piece of writing that you effect the lives of others around you and in turn effect the world you created. Pipher gives the example of this demonstration with Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Dostoyevsky lived in a time when hopelessness seems to be all around but in that hopeless world he created a new world with his text urging us to find the hope in everything and love everything around us.
To reiterate the concept of what change writing is it is any text that invites world change. I believe that all writing of any kind is intended to change the world, from the smallest notion like a comment about the weather or your feelings about the current state of the earth’s Ozone layer it comes down to writing what matters to you. When we write what matters to us that is when we are really passionate and at our best as writers. Writing personally to someone or writing to yourself. The thing in common with both writings is that when someone reads it, it now affects the reader as well. This may give the read a whole new out look on life that in sense changes the world. Anything we write will be met with some type of reaction and this reaction could spark a person’s interest even if we don’t mean it too. Our writing can reach so many people these days and our ideas can be heard so easily it would be a shame to not use this power to change the world.
Mary Pipher defines change writing as “Writing to connect…Like good therapy it creates the conditions that allow people to be transformed. (p. 6). The belief that one must come with an open mind in order to be effective by writing is important. When we write it is not to be met as an argument but as an opportunity to see things in a different point of view. The writer when writing isn’t always aware of the audience they might attract. Pipher directs your attention to The Diary of Anna Frank explaining that Anna Frank wrote in her diary as a form of therapy for herself as a way to escape from the oppression of World War II but was not aware of the effect that years later it would be used to change people’s perspective of war and basic human rights. This example of change writing shows the power of an unaware author whose words effected the world. Another form of how therapeutic writing can be seen as change writing is in Natilie Goldberg’s “First Thoughts”. This article talks about the exercise of writing from a first thought stand point and how unloading all these ideas that aren’t met with judgment can improve one’s writing. This article just like the Diary of Anna Frank shows the therapeutic side of writing and how it can change the reader or the writer itself.
Change writing also takes shape in knowing ourselves. When we write we are putting a piece of ourselves in the text. This is our voice. Mary Pipher’s demonstrates this with a writing exercise she gives her students. The exercise is to write a poem entitled “Know Thyself” which you creatively list your background and personal traits about yourself. This exercise is used to show how our writing describes us as a person. By taking a look in the past and your environment you start to see how these things become a part of you and shape the way we look at the world. When we know ourselves we can focus that part of us in our writing and give our writing that personal voice that the reader will hear and relate too. Pipher gives us ideas of where we may start our writing and promise that we will see our true value as a person. This form of writing can be seen in Amy Tan "Mother Tongue”. Tan writes about how well at a conference her mother was attending she became self-aware of the way she spoke in a professional background and notice the very different ways she spoke in comparison to the way she would have spoken to her mother. This self-awareness made Amy Tan write her books from a stand point of the relationship she has to her mother and helps the reader creative that world and bond with the story. The way these examples reflect on change writing is with the idea of knowing and using your own voice and experiences and creating that bond with not only you and the text but between you and the reader.
Change writing can also be seen as a way for us to take control in our life. With computer blogs and social media being a popular form of writing we have the opportunity to speak our mind and show our interest. This format is the motivation we use to write. When we write we in a sense create our own world where we have say and can voice those opinions that maybe outrageous or in some areas taboo to say out loud. With this freedom of judgment we can express ourselves to the fullest form. It doesn’t have to be ground breaking opinions either, we can write simple stuff like McDonalds has the best fries or Mac computers are far more superior then PC just as long as we write what matters to us. These opinions may be the same ones as the reader or persuade the read to give something another shot and it is with that piece of writing that you effect the lives of others around you and in turn effect the world you created. Pipher gives the example of this demonstration with Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Dostoyevsky lived in a time when hopelessness seems to be all around but in that hopeless world he created a new world with his text urging us to find the hope in everything and love everything around us.
To reiterate the concept of what change writing is it is any text that invites world change. I believe that all writing of any kind is intended to change the world, from the smallest notion like a comment about the weather or your feelings about the current state of the earth’s Ozone layer it comes down to writing what matters to you. When we write what matters to us that is when we are really passionate and at our best as writers. Writing personally to someone or writing to yourself. The thing in common with both writings is that when someone reads it, it now affects the reader as well. This may give the read a whole new out look on life that in sense changes the world. Anything we write will be met with some type of reaction and this reaction could spark a person’s interest even if we don’t mean it too. Our writing can reach so many people these days and our ideas can be heard so easily it would be a shame to not use this power to change the world.