"All Writing is Autobiography" & "Writing what Matters: A Student's Struggle to Bridge the Academic/Personal Divide"

"All Writing is Autobiography" (WaW 65-75) (Questions 2, 5 and 6)

Q2)  In what ways, according to Murray, is writing autobiography? Can you categorize the ways that Murray believes writing is autobiography?
A) According to Murray, the way we write is autobiographical. "...my autobiography exists in the examples of writing I use in this piece and in the text I weave around them."

Q5) Consider the implications of Murray's arguments: If he's right, how do his ideas change the way you think about writing? Would they encourage you to write any differently than you currently do?
A) If he is right, then I feel that any writing I ever make, non-fiction or fiction, will always be autobiographical. I would write more and more if that were the case. However, I disagree with Murray. His argument that all writing is autobiographical is interesting, but I think otherwise.

Q6) Consider the last few texts you have written, whether for school, work, or personal reasons. Consider the ways that these texts are -or are not- autobiography in the sense that Murray describes.
A) They were autobiography because they're accounts of my life.

"Writing what Matters: A Student's Struggle to Bridge the Academic/Personal Divide"
(WaW 199-205) (Questions 1, 2 and 3)

Q1) Strasser writes that "The devices of grammar and rhetoric remain superficial skills until a writer employs them to express important and powerful feelings, thoughts, and ideas" (para. 1) . Why? And do you agree?
A) The devices of grammar and rhetoric remain superficial because they can be false when examined closely, but with powerful feelings, thoughts, and feelings, they can be proven correct. I completely agree because I am one to examine things very very closely.

Q2) What seems to be at issue for Strasser is creating "personally meaningful writing" in response to school assignments. Is there actually anything in Stanley Fish's advocacy of a writing course that teaches reasoning which would seem to rule out such personally meaningful writing? In other words, is Strasser right to assume that Fish's insistence on writing in order to exercise one's grammar will actually lead to meaningless writing?
A) Strasser is wrong to assume that. Writing, any writing at all, to exercise one's grammar would be meaningful. Full of meaning. Anyone who would write just to exercise their grammar skills should be applauded.

Q3) In your experience, does school create a separation of mind, body, and spirit that Strasser quotes bell hooks as identifying (para. 4)?
A) To me, school causes no separation. School strengthens me academically and mentally. I enjoy school over most things.