Assignment Page 99

Part A- The Two Descriptions
The Positive Description
Within the dimensions of looking outside through a pane of glass, there exists this courtyard of unique beauty and ease. Racks of bicycles intermix with the surrounding green trees and asphalt. In the distance, the red of the morning sun is just beginning to come into focus while the light of fluorescent lamps still shows through the windows of other dormitories just within eyesight. The light emphasizes our view of how far our country has succeeded within technological aspects since the early and dark time before Edison. In a window, a blue sign stands perfectly square within frame: “McCain”. Signs of architectural integrity promote the intertwining feel of nature within the sparkling trees beginning to form a layer of moisture and the architecture of red brickwork and sedimentary rocks of Chandler and Eagle Halls.

The Negative Description
Within the dimensions of looking through this cold and hard piece of human innovation, there can be seen a scene of complete travesty slowly showing the wavering of what is and what is to become. Cold harsh metal stands surrounding a view of asphalt, ashtrays, and trees poorly trimmed with a mass of dirt surrounding the base. In the night sky, the light of the streetlights drains the sky of its beautiful stars and enhancing a scene that the sky is slowly bleeding into nothing. The effervescent lights in the far off squares of cold hard rock show people still up working at something that should have been finished long ago. Within a window stands a sign perfectly squared but crumpled in certain locations of the sign creating a mixed scene of pride and contempt. The boxes are all shaved into the exact same scene of efficiency yet still there beer cans lay directly outside my window opened and punched indicating a shotgun.

Part B: Self Reflection
In writing the two descriptions, it was necessary for me to portray this feel that this courtyard of Chandler and Eagle Halls were a view of areas of JMU that have not gone through a project of beautification. It’s clearly shown that I am a negative thinker on viewpoints because my negative seems a lot more developed. I tried to find ways to make the positive reflective scientific development and how much we have achieved. In the negative, I try to portray that the achievements have taken away natural beauty. I feel my descriptions involving the positive can yet be dismal because I’m comparing it to what it was say even as close as 300 years ago. The negative I had a bit more fun with on diction. The best phrase probably includes the bleeding of the sky because it helps portray a loss of natural beauty within the heavens. I relate it to the present with the McCain sign because it brings up the patriotism within me yet has been placed where it can wrinkle and distort the view of what he is trying to promote. Architecture was a bit harder to incorporate because of its relative simplicity to the rest of the scene. It is really quite unremarkable and I had a truly hard time creating a positive image out of it. The beer can was completely avoided in the positive because I feel there is no way to describe discarded trash in a positive aspect. I’ve learned quite a lot from this assignment in understanding how hard it is to write from an omnipotent point of view. There will always be a slight bias no matter how much you try to cancel it out. Since doing the assignment, I found some of the books that I read to be quite biased.