Cars Model Intro

Gonzo Journalism is a specific genre of writing that meshes fact and fiction with creative results. Hunter S. Thompson founded the style, and to many people’s opinion, he is the only one who will ever write in that particular style. However, I challenge that opinion. The research I have found on Gonzo Journalism unfortunately is so conflicted; it hasn’t even been able to assign a definition to encompass exactly what the term ‘Gonzo’ covers. In this paper I plan to begin with a brief review of the style, and how it came to be while consulting the other sources in the field. With that information I will create a working definition of what Gonzo Journalism is. Putting that definition into effect, I will give present day examples to support my hypothesis.

Thursday - 4-8-10

My paper on Gonzo Journalism is primarily a Definition paper. As stated in Chapter Eight of Lunsford’s book, Arguments of Definition are exactly that, a paper that sets out to give a definition to something. Most of the research that I found dealt with defining what exactly Gonzo Journalism even was – they debated whether or not it was fact or fiction or journalism or storytelling among many other things, just as in Selbers article Multiliteracies for a Digital Age where the sole purpose of the paper was do decide what exactly should be considered digital literacy. There is a lot of mystery as to what should and should not fit under this umbrella. Some say that only Hunter S. Thompsons writing should qualify, others are much more lenient. Towards the end of my paper it becomes more of a factual paper, such as described in Chapter Seven of Lunsford’s book – Arguments of Fact. The fact that I am proving is whether or not Gonzo Journalism is still around today. The reason the fact has to be argued is because not everybody is willing to see the truth of it, or maybe people aren’t ready to accept the operational definition that is used to establish the truth in question.

Research Review

My research on Gonzo Journalism has been very profitable to my research inquiry. There has not been much controversy in the discussion however, as I am only studying a literary style and not a high-importance issue. None of the people I have research have done any studies or crunched any number so there is nothing that I disagree with. I have learned quite some interesting things and am very glad that I took part in the research.

Core One

I was only sixteen years old the first time I taught a design program to a group of thirty of my peers. I gave them a five hour crash course in everything they would need to know for the next year in my high schools yearbook class. It was also the first time I realized the digital divide between my peers, who only needed those five hours to be proficient enough, and my teacher, a woman in her forties who I would end up spending the rest of the year slowly teaching the application to over and over again.


The topic of Digital Literacy has become quite an issue. There is such an emphasis being put on the importance of teaching children about the computer in the digital age. Because of this, there is growing debate about what we need to do or what we should do to prepare the youth for a functional life in the technological era, but unfortunately, many are not taking into perspective that today’s children, unlike many of their teachers or parents, are starting as toddlers with technology at their fingertips.


I can remember as far back as elementary school playing on the computer, not just for fun but also with learning based software. Being part of the generation that grew up with computers, learning computer interface was as commonplace as learning the alphabet. It was just part of growing up. For the most part the internet’s success and place in the world had already been established by the time I came around to learning it, unlike Danielle DeVoss in Literate Lives of the Information Age. DeVoss had to work to establish and prove what the internet was capable of; in fact this became the main point of her dissertation as a PhD student at Michigan Technical University. (186) By the time I was in third grade I was bringing home PC Games from school that were aimed at teaching kids everything from grammar to geography. To me, it seemed like the coolest thing in the world, my parents however, who were still adapting to the amount of time computers were playing into their lives were still a little sketchy on the idea.


Personally, I can’t remember ever really struggling with adapting to computers like my parents did. I have been able to teach myself virtually everything about computers that it has been necessary for me to know, ranging from basic Microsoft Word to completely uninstalling and reinstalling an Operating System onto my personal computer. I took a class in the sixth grade that taught me how to type on the QWERTY keyboard without having to watch the keys, how to navigate without a mouse and the professional applications of Microsoft Office. I taught myself Online Design and other publisher’s version of online yearbooking, programs where you had to design layout within a digital media. I have also taught myself ACDSee, a off-brand Photoshop, and have been able to do everything from basic color correction to completely reworking photographs.
I don’t claim to be a digital genius though, there is still plenty more that I could learn. For most people there is plenty more that they could be versed in when it comes to technology. However, it isn’t necessary for every single person to be up to date with the very last word in technology. Just as not everybody can operate heavy machinery or construct buildings, such advanced knowledge becomes people’s specialties. Selber struggles with the fact that many people are just becoming users of technology instead of creators, what she calls “functional literacy” however I have to disagree (25). That is not entirely a bad thing, not everybody is a creator by nature. To put it into perspective- how many people are users of automobiles but not creators? Brandt talks about technology as an unavoidable part of life, and to some degree, it is. However, she takes it to an extreme that is no longer necessary, statements such as this one showcase that belief “ . . . we assist and study individuals in the pursuit of literacy, and we also recognize how literacy is in pursuit of them.”(183) Although literacy is an undeniable issue, she markets it to be a never ending struggle for students. A perfect example of why this is not true is a friend of mine. He’s man in his late twenties, let’s call him JM, who works as a graveyard shift mechanic at a well-known theme park, he has little to no working knowledge of a computers interface, or iPod technologies. He is still in the age of CD’s and paperbound books. When questioned about it, he very passively admits that he has no intentions and no need to learn such technologies. Obviously, this mannerism isn’t for everybody, but it argues that instead of technology being an undeniable truth, it is a lifestyle choice.


I couldn’t imagine my own life without digital means, as a college student, my goal is to graduate with a degree in English (Creative Writing Track) and work my way into the professional field of Freelance Writing. For this need to become more adapted to the shortcuts and tricks of writing and processing programs – everything for Microsoft Word to FinalDraft: a program specifically for screenplay formatting. I also enjoying dabbling in photography, and although I have a basic, working knowledge of Photoshop, I would love to learn more. I want to be able to adapt to technology as it comes out, however, I can’t say I desire to on the cutting edge. Because as Selber puts it “There will never be a final word on computer literacy; Technology and its constitutive contexts are dynamic, contingent, and negotiable by nature.” (29)



Works Cited:


Deborah Brandt, College Composition and Communication, Vol.49, No.2 (May, 1998), pp.165-185.


Selfe and Hawisher. Literate Lives of the Information Age. Mahwah: Lawerence Erlbaum Associates, 2004. Print.


Selber. Multiliteracies for a Digital Age. USA: College of Composition and Communication, 2004. Print.

Audience Awareness Article

My audience awareness article examined ten case studies of professional and published writers. It set out to question if writers trained in rhetoric approached their audience differently than those without the training. They found however that it was not training but the style of writing they choose to use that determined how much consideration a writer gave its audience.

Carol Berkenkotter College Composition and Communication, Vol 32, No. 4 (Dec., 1981), pg. 388-399

Core One: Part Two

When I look into the future I see myself at a desk working peacefully on the next Great American Novel or editing the final version of the next Summer Blockbuster. If you haven't guessed it, I fancy myself a writer and every writer relies on some basic technology in their profession. Microsoft Office is a great place to start, but for more streamlined scripts their is software out there made just for your convenience. Final Draft would be an excellent place to start this new process, although there are many others out there like it, from my knowledge it is the most accepted. There is also software out there to help with book writing, specifically NewNovelist.
I would love to keep up to date on the latest technology as it comes out, but I will probably never consider myself cutting-edge.

Core One: Part One

My literacy, like anyone's literacy, could always stand for improvement. As for as Work-Oriented programs go I have successfully mastered (and by mastered I mean that I can competently maneuver the program) the majority of Microsoft Office. The Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, Works and Publisher features I can work on without batting an eye. Excel on the other hand does present a slight problem, I can use the basics and although I am aware of what else it is capable of, I have had some problem with committing these skills to memory.
When it comes to more media related components I feel that I am right in the middle. I can, with the help of a program, create a web page. I know basic HTML, Photoshop, several editing programs and music composition programs. I am a Jack of all Trades in this situation, but a master of none.
When it comes to "for-fun" activities I tend to revert away from technology by choice. I would much rather curl up to a book than the Wii system. I can maneuver a Wii, but find it troublesome. I love my Sims3Computer Game, but hardly have the time for it. I do enjoy my time on the internet, but primarily the Internet is for information and communication. I use to post my Poetry to the web, however, with copyright problems, I don't feel comfortable enough to do that anymore. I would love to learn software such as FinalDraft to enhance my art, but have not yet got that far.
For now, I resign to say that I am a user of tools, rather than a creator.