Jared Balduzzi

     Imagine being able to create something that upon viewing, caused your audience to become obsessed over the piece. Imagine being able to walk into any business and upon presentation of your piece, caused the owner or CEO to hire you on the spot. Wouldn’t that be amazing? Although somewhat over-exaggerated, that’s sort of how a portfolio works. A portfolio is used to showcase your abilities, skills, and talents to apply for jobs, college or even training programs. Although a portfolio is usually created in hopes of achieving some sort of goal, a portfolio can be used as a reflective piece. Something to demonstrate what you learned over the course of time. While I’ve made a few portfolios in the past, none stand out significantly as the one I’ve recently created. My e-portfolio demonstrates my growth as a writer over the semester through the deliberate arrangement of elements including my papers, exercises, and discussions. 

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     Creating this portfolio wasn’t an easy process for me. With all the assignments I’ve created throughout the course of about four months, I had to really think about which pieces demonstrated my growth as a writer. This was challenging for me because I wasn’t exactly sure which pieces were considered my best work. Rather than going off of what someone else thought, I went off of my own instincts as a writer, making this portfolio essentially more reflective of me. I ended up choosing two essays, three exercises and three discussions to represent my progress as a college freshman a writer.

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     Even though alot of time went into deciding the content, the construction was the most difficult aspect. I had to think about many design choices, such as the colors of the backgrounds and where I would place everything. The reason I chose to arrange these elements in this fashion is that I wanted to present the strongest elements in the foreground. I know that when someone is reading or looking at a portfolio, you want to show off some of your best work in the beginning. You want to persuade your audience into seeing that your work isn’t a waste of time, but rather a privilege to witness. This is why I place my final drafts before anything else; I want the audience to witness these pieces and decided whether or not the rest of the website is worth visiting. The same can be applied when mentioning my other pieces; although they are all intricate and unique, people would rather read about why punk rock is art then seeing a discussion the author participated in. 

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     Although many of these pieces reflect my progress as a writer, none are as strong as my “Chiaroscuro” paper. This paper is so strong that my photographic piece of me submerged within the shadow is featured on my home page. It is the first visual you notice as you access the page because it catches the audience’s attention. I feel that this paper is the strongest element of the portfolio because it reflects who I am. Although the “Who Am I?” poem does an interesting piece about me, the “Chiaroscuro” paper goes more in-depth, outlining my individuality. This paper essentially describes who I am and how I became the person I am today. In my opinion, nothing stands close in comparison to this piece. This is why I placed that image on the front page because its the equivalent to a centerfold within a magazine. Creating this portfolio began to feel familiar. 

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     The craft of this portfolio, in a way, reminded me of writing an essay. When writing an essay you have to have a clear goal, a clear thesis, a clear purpose or else your reader is going to be left in the dark, not understanding the message. You can just place pieces or points in random places; it has to be articulated and well structured. You to create a sense of flow that guides your reader down the current. You want your reader leaving, with a clear understanding of the message you were trying to convey. The same process can be implied when creating an e-portfolio, you want to demonstrate a clear purpose; why the work you present reflects the person you are. Just like a paper, your e-portfolio needs a hook, something that upon presentation will attract the attention of the audience, creating this feeling of want. 

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     Although there are many similarities between the portfolio and traditional essay, a key difference that makes the process of creating these two pieces differ from one another is the digital aspects. Usually within a traditional essay your not able to hyperlink material. This is an important difference because rather than having to spend time explaining a term or phrase, you can link it to the source. This makes information on your website less excruciating to read and it adds more depth. This isn’t saying that a traditional essay is any less impactful as suppose to the portfolio but it definitely can the piece more engaging. When adding my punk rock paper in my e-portfolio, I definitely took advantage of this feature. I didn’t want to over link material, but I felt I added enough of it to give the audience a more in-depth experience. 

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     Another reason why the e-portfolio demonstrates my growth over the semester because it exists within the conversations of other established, class read texts such as Claudia Rankine’s Citizen. One of Rankine’s main focuses within her text is to allow individuals’ stories about the tragedies or events that influenced their lives in some way, to be shared. Whether it changed their perspective on life or opened their eyes towards commonly ignored issues, Rankine uses her text to convey a message to the reader, a feature that can be noticed through my portfolio. Some of the pieces within the portfolio are representations of my stories as an individual. Within section IV of Citizen Rankine states, “Memory is a tough place. You were there. If this is not the truth, it is also not a lie” (64), which, in other words, explains that it is hard for people to share their stories. Talking about your experience essentially causes you to recall the pain. Even if a story told isn’t true to your past, it probably is for someone else.

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     When looking at Claudia Rankine’s text, everything can’t be simply viewed. It needs to be processed and thought out. You have to look under the hood if you want to identify the problem or meaning behind the mysterious sound. My portfolio can be compared to this ideology in the same matter. Rather than just reading every paper and written assignment featured, you need to take the time and ask yourself why. Everything is placed on this portfolio for a reason, just as Claudia Rankine uses every haiku, imagine, or poem. Everything has a deeper meaning that contributes to the overall message. 

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     Through the demonstration of my papers, exercises, and discussions I can finally reflect and visualize my progression as a freshman writer in college. Although the creation wasn’t exactly smooth sailing, it was a highly enjoyable experience. In the end, I learned a little more about myself as an individual. I learned more about what I perceive as unique and how I visually express myself through that content. My e-portfolio essentially acts as a medium into the mind of Jared Balduzzi. 

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Work Cited

Rankine, Claudia. Citizen: An American Lyric. Minneapolis: Graywolf, 2014. Print.

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