This major paper, to me, was a way for me to make up for the relative lack of investment that I had in the second major paper. I definitely cared a lot about this paper, because--as with the first major paper--the topic was close to me. I wrote about the poetry organization I am a part of, Project: Student Poetry Initiating Thought. The center of the paper was to conduct an interview, which lied far out of reach from my comfort zone. Being acquainted with the person I interviewed, Sean Glatch (the slam coordinator), definitely helped me be less anxious about undergoing such a formal way of communication--not to mention recording it. Overall, the interview was professional yet casual, allowing it to flow smoothly. 

The interview allowed me to gather several genres within this chosen community of practice. I chose not to speak of all of them in my paper due to how many there are, taken that genres are everywhere.  That being said, focused on the Project: S.P.I.T. sponsored poetry workshop (Tuesday Knights), the organization's GroupMe, and its social media. Having familiarity with all of them gave me some advantage in terms of explaining them. Otherwise, it would've been more taxing to properly represent the community in my paper, as it would have been if I had followed through with my initial desire to do my assignment on the vegan and animal rights UCF organization, Knights for Animal Rights.

In speaking of Project: S.P.I.T.'s genres, I utilized Kerry Dirk's "Navigating Genres" and Ann M. Johns' "Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice: Membership, Conflict, and Diversity." Information about the organization was gathered through, of course, my interview with Sean, their Facebook account, and my personal experiences and knowledge about what being a member is like. The way in which I combined the latter in order to form a cohesive analysis is honestly something I am proud of, for it has been my first genuine research paper. I cared about this essay on a personal level, and I hope that it showed through my writing.  

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