Steven Yang

Cassandra Blandford

UWRT 1103

22 November 2015

Reflection

This semester has been one big roller coaster ride. Throughout the course of this class,

I’ve explored and learned about myself in ways I’ve never considered. From writing a memoir

regarding my personal journey of literacy to the explorations of critical thinking through our

discussions and daybooks, piece by piece I’ve started to become a critically thinking reflective

learner. So how did I change as a person these past couple of months regarding my thoughts

towards this Final Topic? Let’s find out.

Many journeys are sought to find purpose, accomplish goal, and even to answer

questions. I wanted to know why companies like Apple had such firm grips on society and the

industry. Why is Apple so successful? What makes Apple special compared to others? Why does

society often get attracted by the allure of their products? What caused Apple to become a

“religion of cult”? These are all questions I wanted to find answers to. But how to approach it?

The question session gave light to the many different aspects of Apple and its hold on society as

well as aspects of the industry in general that may shine light upon this mysterious matter. From

advertising, to social media, to its status as a symbol of the better off, Apple has many things that

most companies would give anything to have; trust in its customers. Its model for marketing and

production has resulted in mass crowds of people every year in front of Apple Stores scrambling

to get the latest from Apple. But why? Despite all these questions, we still don’t have any

answers. However, over the course of my research and this class, I’ve come to realize that not all

questions have answers. Some things are simply too complex to simply have a simple answer.

Maybe with time we’ll find the answers of why society behaves the way it does, but for now I’m

happy with the little answers I’ve found to my big questions.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, but I’ll be honest, I had no idea

where to start in the beginning. Over and over I scoured “The Google” with basic searches of

“Apple and society” or “Apple fanaticism”, but time and time again results rarely yielded many

answers. I realized that this was simply not a topic discussed in this way much on the internet. I

don’t know why though. One would think that something so rooted in modern society would be a

source of talk and discussion of why it’s there and how it got there, but alas no. I think part of the

reason I found little info using Google is because simply not many people realize the situation.

Apple is one of those companies that people just take for granted and don’t question as people

assume its products benefit society for the better. However, when it comes to things like fast

food chains or questionable factory conditions in outsourced factories, the internet is ablaze with

criticisms and debates. The fact that Apple has given society something to be distracted by is

remarkable and shows the ignorance of the general public. Eventually I managed to find

reasonable resources using databases and blogs and documentaries, but the journey of finding

these sources helped me realize the boundaries and blindness of society.

While my research rarely yielded many complete surprises, there were instances where I

found my findings to be really interesting and unexpected. As part of my research, I decided to

look back at the history of Apple Inc. My reasoning was “why question the present if one cannot

answer the past?” Going through articles and timelines of Apple’s history yielded many pleasant

but little surprises. Often have I heard that Apple was born in a garage, which I never took

seriously, thinking that it was simply a publicity statement. But over time I began to realize that

not only did Apple really start in a garage, but that their tale of success started like so many

others, through hard work and a vision. Being born in a garage wasn’t something to be ashamed

of, but to be awed and praised by others. To have come so far from such humble beginnings was

truly a surprise. This single fact would lead me to continue my research as I realized that I not

only had passion for the subject, but that we could all relate to starting out small and

insignificant.

In writing this paper, I decided to dedicate as much time and research into the final

product. As a result, I used what I’ve learned in this class regarding the Writing Process to

change it up a bit. Instead of using the famous Two Draft approach that we’ve all grown

accustomed to, I used the concept of a zero draft to start with. My first draft, I simply wrote what

was on my mind, even if it was related. The goal was to clear my mind of any extraneous

thoughts so that afterwards I would feel mentally refreshed and not bogged down by the thoughts

of a stressed college student. While some things I still stressed about afterwards, I began to write

my second draft right after the zero draft. From there I would leave it for a day or two and then

touch to again, using inspiration gained that week to continue my writing. This proved to be very

successful as I found many errors and areas I found could be fixed and improved upon.

During this class, we had ample opportunities to use peer review groups to my advantage.

I’d figured that I was open-minded and that a second opinion would be useful to know. However,

it didn’t quite turn out like that. Despite my initial dreams of what peer review would be like,

little opinions were given out. Comments like “I totally agree with you” or “Wow your paper is

amazing!” was not the kind of feedback I was looking for. Sure grammar mistakes were pointed

out, but even grammar can be flexible at times. However, I came to realize that peer reviews do

pose a sort of obstacle at times. We are all human. As a human, we are bound to certain typical

traits. One of those traits is stubbornness. We all have our own opinions of things whether or not

we try to be open-mined and not one-sided. Tis human nature. But I’m not cynical. Though peer

reviews didn’t help me as much as I would have liked, the Question Session definitely did help

me start me on my research. I had no idea where to begin my research and had no questions to

ask, but the amount of feedback and response of my topic during that session blew my mind

away. I was expecting to come away empty handed, but no, the response was phenomenal. There

was so much to ask, so much to find out!

This research project has been very different from research projects I’ve done in the past.

Typically, research papers were taken literally; as in strictly research. And while that may be

good for the purpose of being good at researching and organizing your information, it wasn’t

very analytical. Rarely was I given the opportunity to talk about my opinions about the research

or to critically respond to my findings. Research papers became very formulaic and basic, so I

am very thankful for this project to show me that research projects CAN be interesting, and CAN

be fun.

Overall, this has been a very informative semester. I’ve learned so much in the past 3

months, it’s scary to think that it was just months ago that I was so ignorant about myself as a

person and how I thought so one-sidedly. I learned that to be literate isn’t just being able to read

and write, but to be informed and observant about ourselves, society, and the world around us.

To be “globally” literate is to realize that we all undergo changes over time, and that with change

we all develop the knowledge that we carry with us throughout life. Life is one big adventure,

but it’s also one big mystery waiting to be uncovered and solved. However, I can’t say that I

learned it all alone. I’ve had the help and support from my professors, my friends, and my fellow

classmates. Together in this class, I’ve learned more than I ever could about myself and others.

As a famous singer once said, “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails

to always reach my destination”.