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Chouathong Lo
Professor Raymond
UWRT 1102-014
14 April 2016
Semester Long Multi-Modal: Writing Project Nine
A conversation with a group allows information to be gathered about an audience when
discussing a specific topic. In my scenario, I discussed the topic of Cannon Mills to a study
group. The goal that I had planned was to determine if they knew of Cannon Mills, and if they
did what did they know. Furthermore, if any one of the individuals knew about it the
conversation was to continue.
During the study session, we went about the usual ritual of completing whatever work we
had along with casual conversations. As we all began conversing I brought up the topic of
Cannon Mills and asked, Do any of you know of Cannon Mills? I was not surprised when the
majority of them said they heard of the name and knew that they dealt with fabrics, but did not
know much thereafter. The conversation continued with my brief explanation of the history of
Cannon Mills and its impact on the nearby community of Kannapolis.
When I described how Cannon Mills had its name changed a few times from Cannon
Manufacturing Company to Cannon Mills Company to Fieldcrest-Cannon Corporation and
finally Pillowtex Corporation, I was surprised by the reactions. Pillowtex was the word that
sparked their attention because everyone said they remembered hearing about the enormous
layoff that happened in 2003. Surprisingly, a couple of them said, My parent use to work at
Pillowtex.

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The discussion with my friends evoked me to research into how many people were
affected by the layoff and the path that many took afterwards. At the moment of the study
session I was determined to research more about the enrollments at Rowan-Cabarrus Community
College. I determined this starting position because it offered many individuals that were laid off
another opportunity at education, and eventually another job.