My paper went through some highs and a lot of lows, but to begin the story of how my paper transpired, I will outline how I got to my paper topic. During Professor Burton's first few weeks of introducing us to the concept of awe, I realized that I found wonder and amazement through food. I wrote a blog on food and discussed how it gave me energy and allowed me to further experience illumination. From that moment I took interest in food's ability to create awe, which lead me to write about women's connection with food.
The Pecha Kucha project continued to inspire my interest in food. After watching the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, I knew that food inspired people to create. In Jiro's eyes he did not view food as a source of survival; rather, he focused on foods transcending powers that could reach a higher power. His ideas reminded me of the Romantic philosophers definition of language. Like language, there are different levels of depth that come from food, but you have to find the source that allows food to produce its highest purpose or form. These two blogs really affected how I began to look at food.
I knew what I wanted to say, but I still needed a venue to submit my paper to. At first, I thought that I would never be able to find a journal solely focused on food, but after a lot of searching I found these venues. I did include journals and conferences that did not focus on food, but I really wanted to submit my senior capstone to those venues dedicated to food and literature. After researching the aims of each magazine, I decided to submit my research to Graze magazine. Because I chose a magazine I decided that my paper would probably have a higher chance of being accepted if I wrote less than 15 pages. My next step was to outline my paper and find scholarly sources and critcism.
After I started the process of constructing my paper, I decided to focus my creative project on women and their experiences with awe. I decided to interview women at different stages of life, and see how food affected their experiences with awe and liberation. After interviewing my grandmother, I developed a deeper connection to food. Because of these interviews, I began to think about the problems of food, and how traditional gender roles could restrain women from reaching higher tiers of progression. These thoughts lead to multiple drafts of my paper. Although I began working on my paper, I still felt like I lacked direction. Although +Amber Z gave me a lot of great direction, I still felt that my paper lacked a common thread. I discussed concepts of Adam and Eve, literature, eating disorders, and feminism. Even for a large paper, I tried covering too many concepts.
I hoped that by talking to enthusiasts and experts I would be able to refine my paper topics. I did find the assignment to be both helpful and overwhelming. I went to the Women's studies center. Although my ideas were welcomed with enthusiasm, they never got back to me. Next, I went to the Women's Center on campus to find experts on food and its affects on women. I found a lot of interesting information, which lead me to new articles to read and areas to research. I also tried connecting to a few different teachers at BYU, Either I never received a response, or I decided that I would no longer focus on certain topics that they could have mentored me in. I wrote two new drafts, and I tried reasearching and contacting Graze Magazine.
After writing these drafts I was finally able to meet with Professor Horrocks. It was an enlightening and frigthening experience. After discussing where my paper was headed, I realized I needed to rewrite my whole paper. I had done so much research and developed so many ideas, but they didn't really say anything new. Luckily I remembered other thoughts that I had, and, with Professor Horrocks help, I was able to develop an idea that would add something new to the conversaion of women and food. I now realize that my decision to change my ideas so close to the paper's due date was a lot more work than I thought it would be. Although I do feel like my ideas are stronger, I am not sure it my paper was as succesful as I hoped it could have been.
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