Name: Taylor Silman

Module 5: Discourse Communities

Step 1:

Step 2:
First, I would like to give credit to Adichie for the wonderful talk on Single Story. Her
message really opened my eyes to many different stories that Ive not only told but my peers as
well. Adichies main theme of her talk explains that we shouldnt just have one story about a
particular place. We shouldnt just read/ listen about one story because otherwise we miss out on
other stories about that place. Therefore, we create this so called biased opinion about that place
and we get caught around that one story we hear. This relates so heavily towards my critical
inquiry project and how many people get wrapped around one story about a particular place,
thing, or idea. They start forming opinions about that specific noun without even learning about
other stories. For example, my critical inquiry topic is the corruption in the Criminal Justice
System. In our society today, the media is portraying many different stories that about how the
Criminal Justice System is corrupt and how the people who work for the CJ system make it
corrupt. All these different stories revolve around the same meaning. Even though there are
multiple stories, they revolve around one central idea instead of many different ideas. People
only hear about the story on corruption, but they dont hear about the positive stories about the
CJ System. They dont hear about how the system solves crimes and how they bring down
criminals. I think with our society today; many people are only hearing one story about a
Name: Taylor Silman

particular noun and they only grasp that specific story without hearing others. Maybe this
concept of Single Story is why there is so much fighting and arguing in our society today.
Step 3:
It is very important to write about difficult and challenging topics that take us beyond the
classroom and into the real world because it helps open our eyes to new ideas, concepts, and
stories. When I read What is it My Business, I grasp the idea of writing about a hard topic and
how it can be challenging. My critical inquiry project entails the corruption in the Criminal
Justice System; how the people inside the CJ system act maliciously. Whats challenging about
my topic is that it deals with negatives and the effects this corruption brings to our society. For
example, we hear and read about all these news articles/ reports on police brutality and how the
police force is acting in malicious ways towards the citizens of the United States. Well whats
challenging is that this topic is very controversial. Hypothetically speaking, if it looks as if Im
verging towards the side with the CJ system, this makes me look bad as a person because this
corruption effects the lives and emotions of many people. It shows that Im going against the
people who are being affected by this corruption, therefore; this creates arguments, fights, riots,
protests, etc. When I write about corruption in the Criminal Justice System, I tend to write
objectively. I tend to control both sides of the topic without portraying any biased towards a side.
I make sure to understand and tell both sides of the inquiry without affecting anyone in the
process. As Tonya L. Wertz-Orbaugh explains how she felt unqualified to write about the
Holocaust as she states, I was unqualified to write about, I feel like I tend to grasp the same
concept. With my topic, I feel like I dont know enough to fully take both sides of the inquiry
topic and formulate a perfect response that takes an objective aim. But as I research more and
more, I feel more and more confident to write about my difficult and challenging topic.