multimodal composistion

After reading the two texts "Thinking about Modality" and "Why We Blog" it seemed the theme and ideas behind "Thinking about Modality" stood out to me more. "Why We Blog" is simply an observation on the motivation people have to blog and the content of peoples blogs. The similarity between the two pieces i saw was the discussion, or lack of discussion in "Why We Blog", of blogging for educational or academic purposes. It seemed the majority of people who blog write in a lackadaisical manner. While blogging is a personal medium of communication I believe there was a lack of attention to the communication skills required to be able to "write" a blog in the first place. "Thinking about Modality" discusses quite frequently the lack of need for composition teachers because they teach a traditional and dying form of rhetoric. I believe comp is not a dying form of rhetoric but a founding form which gives writers the basic knowledge and ability to write and use "all available rhetorical means of communicating effectively." If you did not have the basic writing skills to appeal to and persuade your audience in the beginning you would be sunk trying to write a convincing argument no matter how many forms of multimodal communication you choose to use. Yes, there is much meaning to be had by using sounds and pictures to illustrate a point but if you do not posses the ability to first organize and interpret an argument than what are you illustrating but a bunch of pictures. In response to "Thinking about Modality" I say why get rid of or downplay a composition teachers role when it is the first step to being able to use as well as interpret multimodal composition? So the world is changing and we need to adjust to the new technologies which are becoming more and more prevalent in our time but that does not mean the basics of writing rhetorically are becoming obsolete or useless, mearly more important in giving students and other writers a foundation in rhetoric.
Some of my favorite collegiate classes I have taken include comp 150 and 250. While I am an old man in a sense that i prefer written assignments (despite my horrific handwriting) and bound texts it is inevitable that multimodal texts are becoming more popular and much more use full and can improve as well as add a little spice to your writing. But hey that's why I am taking an interactive media production class. Despite how traditional you like to be you must stay current with the technologies of our world to stay on top of all of the new and upcoming composition (which is currently me) but that does not mean you should forget everything you learned in comp because that is the basis of your multimodal composition.
The phrase that keeps popping into my head every time this conversation comes about is "is the movie better than the book?" I say NEVER! But you must respect motion pictures as a legitimate form of communication just like written word, spoken word, song, or pictures. Reading these pieces has shown me that my love for composition will not only apply to but greatly assist me in creating multimodal arguments and using them to help illustrate an idea and create a better understanding of my work to my audience.