Taking an Approach

          In Harris's chapter, "Taking an Approach," he introduces the idea of how to dissect a piece of writing and make it your own. He outlines two basic methods of taking an approach. The first method, the one which he describes as "weak," merely involves accepting the work of others as correct and following in the footsteps of their writing. He describes this method as adopting, rather than adapting. By adopting a piece of writing, there is little, if any, room for expansion of an idea or growth of a work.  The second method of taking an approach, and the preferred method by Harris, is to challenge the piece of writing and push it to further limits. By taking this approach, a writer is able to examine a text, analyze its strengths and weaknesses, and respond by providing an argument that acts to further the conversation. In the daily media that we all subscribe to, whether it be twitter, facebook, CNN, or the New York Times, writers are constantly taking an approach to some sort of news story or event and challenging it. On Twitter, people constantly are responding to other tweets, providing argument for or against some sort of story. In the New York Times, writers, while still providing a reliable and clear news story, insert their own personal argument to the stories they write, and often times counter what is said by other writers for different news sources.While in the New York Times it is not always clear where the approach is taken, it is much more obvious in blogs. In the blog that I have been following, Hullabaloo, the posts are clearly written with a certain approach to them. They challenge the statements made by conservatives and argue them false or flawed, then provide personal argument for the "correct" way of thinking. By taking an approach that challenges a piece of writing, conversation is maintained and continued, allowing discussion of a story to virtually never end.