- Doing the exhaustive documentation before reflecting on my text can help me create an argument because I was able to lie out all my information first, and then make claims off of the details. In going through my text and writing down everything I can think of, I can be more clear in choosing what to argue when having all the information first, rather than deciding as the initial information is being written down. Doing the exhaustive documentation first can make choosing an argument harder since one might forget the points they think of when explaining the details of the text. If the exhaustive documentation and reflecting the text were done at the same time, maybe some points would be made in the moment as the information is being absorbed, rather than thinking of arguments after the details have been written down already.
2. “We’ve run out of ways to weaponize sadness, and so it becomes an actual weapon. A buffet of sad and bitter songs rains down from the pop charts for years, keeping us tethered to whatever sadness we could dress ourselves in when nothing else fits, “ (Abdurraqib, 26). The subject here, Carly Rae Jespsen, writes and performs sad music as a method of relatability to her fans. While fans may not necessarily be sad, the sadness in her songs brings this emotion to life. This matters when you are a public figure trying to influence your audience. In Carly Rae Jepsen’s approach, she helps her fans connect to her music through enlivening sadness and loss, which a big percentage of the audience may be going through already.
Abdurraqib’s subject, Future, wrote an album about heartbreak and what failure and loss has turned him into. He does a lot of drugs to run away from his grief and make him lose track of time. This is a perfect comparison to the death of Abdurraqib’s mother. “All of them ruminate on the same handful of emotions., revealed in the same methods of darkness and escape. I guess, when you work so hard to dodge the long arms of grief, it is impossible to allow all grief stages to move through you,” (Abdurraqib, 272). Abdurraqib explains that when he and Future attempted to run away from grief, it needed more time to settle within them which ultimately made the grieving process longer.