Alexander Papadogiannis

A.P. Lang Syntax composition

Intermediate Combining.

When a person has something to say they put down their ideas in a series of
sentences. These sentences connect those ideas like beads on a string; this is called writing,
which seems simple. But in reality when we observe skilled writers, their ideas and sentences
are often much more complex than we realize. While in math straight lines might connect points
in a shape it is much different in writing.  Even though writers have a process to follow, they
often work in a zigzag fashion following an internal logic based on hunches and
discoveries.  Their craft, their creation, their expression of ideas is often messy, it can
unpredictable and details are rarely preplanned.  Writers usually follow a process when crafting a
piece; this process allows the uncovering, the inventing, and even the clarification of meaning,
and not just its expression.  
                If anything writers know one thing from experience, and that is, words aren’t mere
tools for expressing ideas, they are much more! Words allow people to think with depth, they
allow people to think with precision.  These words are carefully pieced together and put on paper
from there they are constantly revised.  Writing is like a climbing a path up a hill, at first it can
be difficult but when you reach the top you feel your spirit nourish and you feel like you
accomplished something great, writing shows your true character and it leads to meaning in your
life.  
 
Unclustered Combining.
 
The potter hunches over his clay, carefully adding drops of water to its rough
surface.  The surface begins to glisten beneath his moving fingers.   He gently places the gooey
lump of clay on the wheel and begins to spin it.  He smoothes the clay with his hands, his slender
and graceful hands that are constantly moving.  He face is still and full of concentration, as he
works with care trying to change the clay from its solid form to a moldable figure.  Once it is in
the state that he desires, he will make an object from this soft clay.  He centers the soggy cone of
clay and allows it to writhe against his carefully cupped fingertips.  He indents the clay with his
thumbs and it begins to flatten he spreads it against the palm of his hand and gently pushes
deeper and deeper, creating clay walls that reach for an overhead light.  Using his hands he
guides the clay’s progress, bending it into a cylinder.  A cylinder that is narrow at the base but
wide at the top, one hand enters the turning shape as the other pushes from the outside.  There
are traces of fingertips all around.  The potter works his shape with care he broadens it into an
elegant bowl one that has a thin walled and a slightly curved lip much like a child’s pout.  The
once hard clay is now curved and magical, his work is now beneath his hands, responding to his
slightest touch, the wheel slowly comes to a stop. The potter is smiling, his face is tranquil, his
wrinkles have vanished for the moment as he has transformed a once dark lump of clay into a
wonderful work of art.