Journal #3

 After reading "Katriel and Farrel--Scrapbooks" I would believe scrapbooks to be everyday writing. Scrapbooks contain mostly pictures, which may not be interpreted as writing. But just like everyday writing it must be edited, read, interpreted, and have an author. The only difference i can see between a scrapbook and a personal journal is the use of pictures instead of words. One would immediately identify a personal journal as a form of everyday writing, just because of the use of words. However, as many people know, a picture can tell a thousand words.
 Just a few paragraphs into the article Katriel and Farrel propose a new genre of everyday writing, Life History. The genre of self. This genre is home to almost all autobiographical texts, one of which is scrapbooks. Scrapbooks are, as said by the article, "the social construction of the self through time and the transformation of experience through material readily at hand". This new theory of Life History as everyday writing adds much to our class discussions of everyday writing. Not only does this add a new and concrete genre to build upon but also gives us an example to propose other genre's upon. Before this article we thought of genres such as political, personal, informational, etc. Our now new definition of the Life History genre is much more complex and specific than our previously broad and redundant definitions of the "advertising" genre. Not only does this change our perception of genres but also our view of what is qualified as everyday writing. Previously, we were hesitant to include pictures as a part of everyday writing. With this new article it is hard to dispute that pictures are not a part of everyday writing. Katriel and Farrel have improved our viewpoint of everyday writing greatly.