Journal #7; competition

Heck yeah! I think competition is a force for good in many cases. For me, competition has always forced me to work harder than I have ever worked before. When I was little I was involved in competition dancing and soccer. While I knew winning wasn’t everything, it still felt amazing when I won. Whenever I was beat, I took a step back analyzed what went wrong and worked harder in the studio. I personally believe that competition allows a person to be the best they can be without them realizing it. Some of my greatest accomplishments have come out of being competitive. For instance, in school I work hard and study with friends but in my mind I play a little game when it comes to tests or papers. Its fun and a slight adrenaline rush to see who did better.

In travel writing competing for the best trip can help writers and travelers find unknown areas. These areas could be the coast of Ireland or the Australian reef. For travel writers, competition can help to push a writer past their comfort zone. Competition can also force writers to experience new things without a second glimpse. I think travel writers may feel the same adrenaline rush when it comes down to the moment when they find out who led the better adventure. While its challenging to decide which location is a better place, I think the competition can come from who left their comfort zone and tried more things. 

Competition is also good for business. With present legislation there is restrictions on monopolies in the United States. This helps to create competition within businesses because every company needs to be successful and profitable to remain open. Each business has to fight to retain and receive new customers. This ‘fight’ is supported by consumers jumping from store to store in search of a better bargain. With all that being said competition is ultimately the reason why our economy thrives the way it does. 

Based on these three points; I think competition in travel writing is essential. Competition forces a writer to think of new ways to travel or new places to explore. I think competition in travel writing also fosters innovation because some of the areas a traveler will explore have been touched by a scarce amount of people requiring a traveler to develop new ways to trek across the area.

Journal #6; to use humor, or not to use humor

To me humor is not a necessity in travel writing, or any writing in general. I think it is exceptionally hard to portray humor while writing because a writer can never truly know their audience. In Cahill’s Pecked to death by Ducks he uses sarcasm to show a sense of self-deprication and humor. For example on pg. 316 his character asks “‘Is it fun, yet.’” Ironically, this a line I would typically use if I was in a situation where I was supposed to have fun but instead I was bored out of my mind. While minor sarcastic remarks were used throughout Cahill’s piece, I do not feel any value was added to the overall story. I think the overall message of the story would have been the same even if there was no humor used.

Then there are Twain who uses hardly any humor in his piece Roughing It. Throughout this piece there is a large attention to detail that allows a reader to transport themselves into the work and experience what Twain experienced. By substituting detail for humor Twain is able to explain what his journey was like without adding any fluff to make a more enjoyable piece of work to read. Another piece that complicates the humor puzzle would be that not all travels are exciting and humorous. As Russell demonstrated throughout Mirror Images sometimes people travel to places that are not necessarily safe or a typical tourist” destination such as a post-war Bosnia. With this being said Russell is very serious and straight to the point with her experiences and the various things she encountered while traveling place to place in Bosnia. 

Ultimately I believe Pico Iyer says it best by saying “We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves” (p.1). The journey of finding yourself and ultimately who you are is not always pleasant, but sometimes the best way to describe how you got to where you are is through straight details and experiences. Since it is often difficult to convey humor in writing, I don’t feel it is a crucial aspect of travel writing. Since a travel writing piece can use intense details to explain how a character or person is feeling during a specific moment, the use of humor would only make the subject lighter and sometimes easier to read and possibly digest. Everyone will have a different take on using humor but to me its easier to be sarcastic in person than in writing.