Power To The People...Which People Exactly?

So, I’m writing this without our textbook in front of me because I’m watching the Grammys, which is rarely ever all that good. But every year I watch it in hopes that it will rock. And I have to say that Kendrick Lamar just killed it! Talk about a politically charged performance —  double wow. One big step forward for the Grammys.

Anyway, back on topic. I took a sneak peek at my students next assignment in their textbook and instantly recognized what I had just read in Lindemann. The task instructs the students to rewrite Luis Rodriguez’s Always Running from a different character’s perspective. Before they dive into writing the story, they have to fill out a graphic organizer, brainstorming as many narrators, audiences, forms, and topics that they can.

I forget exactly what chapter, but Lindemann talks about the different components of a written piece: the narrator, audience, form, content, and topic. (I may be conflating these with terms in my student’s textbook.) I had never seen writing broken down like this before, and it made me think about how influential an audience is. It seems like audience dictates everything. Now that I think about it, before I write anything, I unconsciously consider my audience — a lot. Who will read this? How can I write this in a way that will please them/peeve them/inspire them/impress them/tickle them/comfort them? My audience dictates my diction, my syntax, my tone — my voice.

So when it comes to writing, who really has the power? The audience or the writer?

Now back to the Grammy’s where Alice Cooper, garbed in a blood stained, white ruffle shirt is fronting a band with a maniacal looking Johnny Depp. One step forward, two steps back.