This assignment walked me through the concept of "They Say, You Say" where in you use a common take on a piece of rhetoric and expose a new facet that was probably not seen before. This action of taking a different position on a topic allows you to stand for your opinion and argue it in a natural fashion. I also in this assignment considered which aspects of Carl Thompson's travel writing book that I wanted to add to me essay and also found relevant secondary sources to back up my argument, quoting them in proper MLA format.

Say, Say, Say

Part I:

Pico Iyer’s article “Why We Travel” corroborates Carl Thompson’s idea of modern travel writing. Carl Thompson in his book aptly titled “Travel Writing” in its first chapter after the introduction discusses the woefully broad category that travel writing consists of, and the lack of a proper all encompassing definition. He later goes on to discuss the various disciplines that have been branded as “travel writing” ranging from nature writing to what he describes as the “modern travel book” (Iyer 19) describing it as a “flexible genre” (19) but mostly constituting what would be considered a “subspecies of memoir” (19) where in the author relates his or her personal tale as they travel from one location to a more so unknown location. This concept of modern travel writing is what I will be discussing in my RA essay. I will argue that despite Iyer’s article itself not particularly belonging to the category of modern travel writing, that instead it is a herald of the genre, which purposefully encourages travellers to go out and write about their experiences, using his own as a template for what good travel writing should exude.

Part II:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/media-spotlight/201703/bored-in-the-usaLinks to an external site.

One may ask why does it matter that we travel? Why do we need to find ourselves? According to this article in psychology today over 90% of Americans battle with boredom on a daily basis, BOREDOM. If anything traveling is an effective way to to not waste away in your bed doing nothing, and studies show that just being bored can incline people to question whether life has any meaning or not. Travel provides a revitalization of the soul to help those lost within themselves to grow more as people and experience exotic places and people.

https://psychcentral.com/blog/how-travel-can-benefit-our-mental-health/Links to an external site.

One may also ask, how do you know that travelling is actually all that helpful? This article references various other papers by psychologists and experts on the subject of the benefits of travelling. Including but not limited to the enhancement of relationships, the increase in creativity, and the reduction of stress that accumulates from everyday life.

Part III:

Jury, Hannah. “How Travel Can Benefit Our Mental Health.” Psych Central, Psych Central.com, 8 July 2018, psychcentral.com/blog/how-travel-can-benefit-our-mental-health/. Accessed 1/28/2019.

• Hannah Jury works in marketing and communications for a small holiday cottages company in the UK and is an advocate for travel. It should be noted that this author has compiled credible sources in her article, which for the most part I will be drawing from.
• The author’s main argument is that traveling provides many mental benefits for someone stuck in a roadblock in their life. She references a study by Cornell University, which concludes that the anticipation of going on a trip is enough to increase happiness.
• I chose this particular source because like Pico Iyer, the author wants the reader to travel, and go through a positive life experience. Since they have similar if not identical goals, Jury’s evidence will be impactful in supporting both Iyer’s and my claims.

Vitelli, Romeo. “Bored in the U.S.A.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 3 Mar. 2017, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/media-spotlight/201703/bored-in-the-usaLinks to an external site.. Accessed 1/28/2019.

• Romeo Vitelli received his doctorate in Psychology from York University in Toronto, Ontario in 1987. In 2003, he went into full-time private practice and has been an avid blogger since 2007.
• Vitelli’s warns Americans everywhere that struggle with boredom, the dangers towards their mental psyche. His article is meant to raise awareness towards the potential harm that comes from being bored. Vitelli corroborates his message through polls from journals and data from apps, where people frequently mention their boredom and then speaks on the negative impacts on their lives.
• I chose this source because one of the driving forces behind Pico Iyer’s article is the fact that people in modern western societies are discontent and desire deeper meaning in life, the fact that so many people are bored, and that their boredom negatively impacts their emotional psyche displays the validity to Iyer’s argument, and why it is meaningful.

Thompson, Carl. Travel Writing. Routledge, 2011. Accessed 1/28/2019.

• A professor and lecturer in the English department of Nottingham Trent University in the UK.
• Is on a mission to describe the overarching concepts and trops of the travel writing genre. Uses references to many other authors and professors who have participated in and thought about travel writing.
• Because this very assignment demands that I use this as a reference. And also because both Iyer and Thompson both discuss travelling, and the writing that is attached to that journey.

Iyer, Pico. “Why We Travel.” Salon, Salon.com, 26 Sept. 2011, www.salon.com/2000/03/18/why/Links to an external site.. Accessed 1/28/2019.

• Pico Iyer, is a British-born American essayist and novelist, best known for his travel writing. He graduated from Oxford university with a major in English literature have travelled widely throughout the world to gain inspiration for his writings. He has married a Japanese woman named Hiroki Takeuchi and currently lives in Japan.
• Pico’s rallying call to travel is based in a desire to see others discover themselves and grow as people through travel. Iyer relates many personal experiences to hammer home his points and makes more so pathos based appeals rather than logos. Perhaps Iyer writes about his own personal examples as a picture of his own personal growth, that can come from traveling.
• I chose this article because I believe that Pico Iyer’s argument has the most to do with travelling, and is also objectively the best travel essay we have read to date.