Interview

The person that I interviewed for class was Stephen Myers. This interview was a bit complicated for me considering that the person I was interviewing is a very good friend of mine and I knew the history behind most of the things that he had. It took me a while to decide what object I was going to use for this interview,until he took of his coat and I realized he was wearing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hoodie. I figured that this would be something that he would be able to talk about easily and would give an insight into who he is.
The hoodie is very simple, white with two green stripes down the arms and green ties on the hood. There is a picture of The Turtles on the back of the hoodie and the line "Turtle Power" underneath. There is also the TMNT logo on the left side breast pocket area. The hoodie was a bit wrinkled and the cuffs around the sleeves are kind of dirty.
The main impression that you get from the hoodie and him in general is that he enjoys toys and child-like things. He was also wearing a keychain with the "Peanut Butter and Jelly Time" logo on it and red chucks with a piece of yellow duct tape on the heel. His outfit seemed to have a geek sort of feel to it and that was the impression that I got from our interview.
"You can't go wrong with TMNT." That is what he said when I told him that I was going to ask him about his jacket. The story of the jacket is a simple one, but one that reflects back on the person that he is. He told me he bought it at Hot Topic almost exactly a year ago. The first time he wore it was to a Gentlemen's show on St. Patrick's Day (a celtic punk band). He wore it because it had green in it but that isn't the reason he bought it. He said that the reason he bought it was because he was trying to stop wearing so much black and intergrate color into his wardrobe. He said he also already had a few TMNT t-shirts and matching is important.
I asked him how he felt about the hoodie, what would happen if say it got burned to a crisp. His reply was really interesting and should be quoted so that I don't leave anything out. He said, "All things are sentimental but having this jacket isn't a necissity . If it got burned I would be pissed, but I wouldn't cry over it and bury it and have all the people who are burying their loved ones look at me funny."
After the interview I can sufficently say that, while I didn't learn that much about this item or a touching story about the meaning behind it, I learned a lot about the person. A lot of his personality came through talking about the jacket and I thought that ended up being more interesting that learning about the item that I was asking him about.

Selzer Article

Selzer makes a very convincing argument for an extensive study of the writer by giving us a detailed and through analysis of Nelson's entire writing process as well as his habits over multiple documents. In multiple parts of the document he talks about the percentages of time that Nelson spends on drafting, writing and revision. It is readily apparent to the reader that Selzer has been keeping track not only of the time that Nelson spends on each draft and seperate piece of writing, but that he is also keeping track of the thought process that goes behind it. There are several places where Selzer brings up a discussion that he had with Nelson and takes time to point out the reasons that Nelson gives for his decisions. There is one such instance, where Selzer quotes Nelson's reason for making his paragraphs so short is to, "give the reader a chance to breathe." The quotes and the specific details are what makes his argument a sound one. Afterall, in a technical document logos is the most important support you can give.