21st Century Writing

Three challenges of writing in the 21st century that Yancey also describes as opportunities are developing new models of writing, designing a new curriculum supporting said models, and creating models for teaching that curriculum. Yancey explains that writing has faced many challenges in the past, but it has prolonged "in spite of" societies that devalued writing, prohibitions against colored or female writers, and objections to young writers. Yancey's main argument is that we as people need to write more freely and write more than we do now, as well as come up with ways to teach others to do the same. Yancey says that writing doesn't receive the type of cultural respect that reading does because of societies inability or lack of "want to" to change things; reading can control what people think, while writing allows people to break free and think creatively, outside of the box. Reading makes a person feel warm and intimate, while writing creates a feeling of hard work. I can remember recently I was reading a book about a favorite musician of mine, I would get lost in the book and feel like I was actually in his life. Writing, however, doesn't provide that same feeling of affinity, as it feels more like work. Many people, as well as myself, associate writing with work or test taking, as well as other aspects of academia. Process writing is the process in which an author or a student writes their paper. Factors of process writing are invention, drafting, review, reflection, revising and rewriting and publishing. Self-sponsored writing is a type of writing that belongs to the author, not an institution, and is free and composed for the use of anyone. The 21st century can be considered the Age of Composition because more people than ever are writing their own stuff, if only for the sake of participation. Everyone that writes is in some way, shape, or form is a composer and is contributing to the world's pool of compositions. The point Yancey is trying to make in this article is that literacy isn't just starting to change, but it already has changed, and is still changing everyday. Literacy is not just one thing, but it covers all types of writing. Literacy is defined by Yancey is the ability to read and write, but being able to write and contribute just as well, if not better, than you can read and take in.