Navigating Genres

I really enjoyed this essay, as it opened my mind to a lot of things I already knew but now I feel are much more recognizable. The theme of this essay was genres and recognizing the different type of genres that are ostensible when writing. Genres can dictate the tone of different writings such as, as mentioned in the reading; Facebook statuses, job interviews, jokes, essays, etc. Genres are forms of different type of communication styles. You wouldn’t write a letter addressing the board of admissions in a friendly laid back manor saying “hey what’s up guys” you would write the letter from a professional stand point and giving yourself back up and credit on to why you should be accepted into their institutions. A part of the article that really stuck out to me was when Dirk says, “Miller is saying that all genres matter because they shape our everyday lives”. I find this quotation to be utterly true and I really like the example given about the website “The Onion”. I as well think The Onion is hilarious but if someone didn’t know the meaning and goal behind the newspaper there would obviously be some type of confusion.  Being a communication major tying in genres to our daily communication and how we are interpreting certain scenarios based on genres goes to show that we need to more competent in our way of communicating.