WRITER: Micala Khavari
MODE OF WRITING: Travel blog
WORD COUNT: 350 words
CONDITIONS: Took 43 minutes to write, sitting in Halls lounge, instrumental music, and coffee.
When I was little, driving south on I-25, the only thing amidst the monochrome pallet of the road, was the rising golden peak of the Ritchie center. My young mind marveled at the piercing glint of it. It seemed to be the mast of a ship that I could not comprehend to know. Now that I’m older, and attend the University of Denver, it seems odd to me that all of these buildings and people are just off the highway. Still, the top of the Ritchie Center has once again served as a gateway to so much more. A contained world, surrounded by strips of stores; nightclubs, sushi, and haircuts.
I’m very glad for this ecosystem of bustle. It’s the variable that stays the same when DU shifts into break mode. Which, for the upcoming winter break, I’ll be staying on campus, existing in the liminal space between quarters. Living in an empty room of one of the ghost-town dorms, working desk shifts, and cooking my own meals. Especially as an RA in a freshman dorm, without access to a kitchen. I’m excited to budget and plan meals. To have a roommate that I have to share things with. It makes me feel like I’m my age—whereas for the rest of the year, I feel the separation of responsibility from my peers.
Campus also provides an excellent home-base for making daytrips into the city. It can seem like a bubble, but it also feels like I can be close to city life. Only a few RTD stops away from the art museum, 16th Street Mall, and the Denver Public Library. (Yes, I do consider DPL a gem of the city). I’m a Colorado native—I grew in a suburb of Denver just twenty-five minutes away from it. But, the opportunity to be a tourist in the city, still is ripe with promise. These excursions are trips that I can’t afford in my schedule typically. But I’m given ample time to pursue whatever I want to see over break. While I’m working, I’m also given time to study and read whatever I truly wish. Although I’m still at school over break, I assure you, I will be given plenty of break.
For our project around the writing process, the writing sample shown is the result of a similar approach I have across genres. Notably, writing takes me a long time, no matter what I'm writing. You'll see on the video that it took me around 43 minutes to write and edit around 350 words. There are a few reasons for this. First, I listen to instrumental music while I write and I might have just started staring into space because I got lost in it. I think what also made me spend more time on this, was the time it took me to recall information. Specifically, information on what I thought I knew on Travelogue writing. The last time I had written a Travelogue was in an online class that Professor Colby taught last fall. I knew I couldn't write a complete entry for the genre, so what took really long was trying to remember just how a Travelogue should start. From what I recall, effective articles in the genre start with imagery of the place. As you read my entry, you'll notice I spend a lot of time on the imagery of DU. For the future, I wonder what it would be like to turn on the track edit feature on Word, and record my screen as I write. Could I then find out how many edits I make on average a minute? Do I have more edits for different genres of writing? Do I really write slowly, or was it just this prompt and genre that had me stuck? All questions to probe in future through analysis of recording my writing.