Final Blog

1) My favorite essay was probably the research project. Even though it was the longest, I felt like that one was the easiest to do because I didn't have to research anything. It felt like I was just having a normal conversation with my friends and family and I just put that conversation onto paper. I felt like I got a lot out of that assignment because I learned about my friends' and family's writing experiences that I didn't know before and it gave me more confidence when it comes to interviewing.

2) My least favorite essay was probably essay 3. It is the only essay so far that I didn't get a grade for and had to revise. It didn't enjoy reading the two stories and comparing and contrasting them. I will have the revision done by tomorrow morning I hope but definitely by tomorrow.

3) My favorite reading was the reading about Mo Yan. It was interesting reading about how he came from a poor neighborhood and how it was a struggle to survive when he was younger to how he won a noble prize.

4) Overall this semester was really enjoyable and I am happy was able to be a part the class. All the assignments have really helped me become a better writter

Reflection on Essay 5

Essay 5 was really enjoyable to write. Normally I don't like to write papers on things I have to research but I really did not mind researching for this project because it was about something I enjoyed and found interesting. The Harry Potter series are some of my favorite books and movies of all time. I love the Harry Potter series because of the characters and the great plot that always left me in suspense. Doing research about J.K. Rowling helped me answer to some of the questions that were left over when the plot ended. The only difficult part was writing the 4-5 pages. I felt that it should have been 2-3 pages. I thought I repeated a lot of the things that I said in Essay 5. Overall, the positives outweighed the negatives and this was a good final project to close out the semester.

Reflection on Essay #4

Essay 4 which was the research project was a great experience. Interviewing people about writing was more enjoyable and interesting than I thought it would be. All the interviews were laid back and I wasn't nervous about interviewing people because I was interviewing people I am around everyday. The interviews helped me receive information about my friends and family that I did not know before. I learned a lot about my mother's views and experiences with writing, The hardest part was just putting the interview on paper. That in itself was not that difficult. I had the interview on a different paper and I just had to type it up and type up my response to the interview and what I thought about the project as a whole. Overall, this was a good project to end the year. Even though this is not the final essay, it felt like the final essay.

Research Project Blog

This research project is definitely the longest assignment we have had so far. It really hasn't been as difficult as I thought it would be. I have realized with an assignment as long as this, it is best to create a schedule. You work on some of the assignment and some of it another day. Doing it in pieces is the best way to approach. I started doing the interviews first. After I was finished with the interviews, I started typing immediately. I typed my introduction and that was it. Then the next day I typed the questions I asked to the first person I interviewed and their responses. I am currently typing the questions I asked the second interviewee followed by their responses. If I keep up with my current schedule, I should have everything done by Friday, maybe Saturday at the latest. I still have to write the questions and responses from the third interviewee, my response and conclusion but scheduling the assignment out has really helped me and I should finish it a couple days before it is due.

Response to Mo Yan

I really enjoyed reading Mo Yan's preface to his novel. It was interesting reading about his life and how it was a struggle for him to get on his feet and move on with his life. He came from a poor family and lived in a poor area of China. The main problem he had while he was growing up was having enough food to eat. In the first couple pages he says that he was a skinny kid and he was so skinny to the pint where you could see his bones sticking out. I think that the fact that he included his struggles as a young kid actually kept readers interested and people who read his work would want to continue reading to see how he dealt with the problems and he overcame them to be the writer he is today. Another thing that makes his writing enjoyable to read was he added to humor to his work. Even though he was talking about his struggles, he still tried to make the reader laugh by using sarcasm. He also says that he was never a writer that wrote with big words or with vivid details. He was a writer that was simple and straight to the point and that what was so great about his work. I can relate to this because I feel like I am the same type of writer. It was enjoyable to read his work and his speech at CCNY on Monday should be interesting.

Mission Statement For My Next Work

I want to be able to show my readers how writing is viewed by people of different age, gender, and ethnicity. I would also like to know more about my friends' and family's writing experiences. Lastly, I want to gain more confidence with interviewing so when I interview people in the future, I will find it a lot easier which will make my interviews better as a whole. 

Reflection on Essay #3

I felt like the critical analysis essay was the most difficult of the three papers we were required to complete so far. It was 4-5 pages long and it required reading two stories. For the most part, i would say it was not too difficult. Reading the stories was easy due to the fact that they were actually interesting. Like I said the most difficult was just the fact that it had to be 4-5 pages and I didn't know what else to write about. Also, the essay question was vague and it made it difficult for to pinpoint what to write about.

One improvement that I feel like that I could include in my essay is adding more details. I feel like I got my point across but adding more details would help get my point across better. It would also add more substance to my essay which will make it better to read and understand, and just make it better overall.

Response to Stephen King Excerpt

Reading this excerpt from Stephen King really opened my eyes on some things when it comes to writing. I never really thought of having a specific place where one goes when he or she is reading.

"I'm in another place, a basement place where there are lots of bright lights and clear images. This is a place I've built for myself over the years", he says.

I have never thought of reading like this. Maybe it is because reading is not something I do for enjoyment. For me, reading is something that I just do with out some process I have to follow beforehand. I am sort of confused by what he means. Does he go to his place to escape the outside world or only when he is reading or writing?

The part of his excerpt which I really found interesting is when he talked about telepathy in reading and writing. When writing about what someone is looking at, he is saying that the person is going to notice and write about the same details. Most of the time the person is going to see the same details as the other person

"Do we see the same thing? We'd have to get together and compare notes to make absolutely sure, but I think we do", he writes. 

Details that one includes would be different. Some people are more simple and they would just write about the see. While some people have more sense of detail, and they would include more details when writing. It all depends on the person. 

"There will be necessary variations, of course: some receivers will see a cloth which is turkey red, some will see one that's scarlet, while others may see still other shades."

The point is that people are gonna having almost the same thoughts when looking at something they see which is sort of like telepathy. This could also be the same when reading. People are gonna read the same text and most likely thing about the same things. This concept of telepathy in reading and writing is something I agree with.

Freewriting about My "Writing Process"

I don't really have a set writing process. If I know what I want to write about and the details are clear in my mind, all I really have to do is organize them and see which ones I want to put in the essay. I don't make a physical outline of how my essay is going to be organized. Even though it would be nice to make an outline, it is easy for me to outline the essay in my head. Maybe for this essay I will make a physical essay. I think I have a writing process but it is a simple one. Organize the ideas in my head, outline the essay, and type. 

Reflection on Essay # 1

I enjoyed writing the literacy narrative. I liked that I was able to choose a topic that interested me and was able to convey my thoughts and opinions on the subject. I believe this is the first time since my junior year of high school where I was able to choose a topic and write about it. Most essays since then have been about something or someone which caused me to do research. This assignment reminded me of the assignments I would get in my creative writing class in high school. Since it was my own thoughts and opinions, I found the assignment very simple and straightforward. The only hard part of the literacy narrative was trying to remember some examples that I could include in the paper.

For the most part, I felt like I completed the paper to the best of my abilities. I stated my views and attitudes towards reading and writing, I also provided examples that backed up my views. If I could add something to my essay, it would be a paragraph dedicated to how I would improve my reading and writing skills. I would go in depth on some of the things I would do to become a better reader and writer and how improving those two skills would help me in the future. 

In conclusion, I would say the literacy narrative was a good first assignment. It took me a minimal amount of time to complete and I enjoyed writing it. I just wish there would be more assignments like this.

Free Write

Click on the image and drag it to a new tab. Then zoom.

Response to Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue"

After reading Amy Tan's short story "Mother Tongue", my views about the type of English one speaks and how it is received by others have changed a little bit. I enjoyed reading this story. I feel like I can relate to this story because I also have parents whose primary language is not English. Me and my siblings understand my parents just fine when they are speaking English to us but some people outside of our family have trouble understanding them because it is a sort of broken English. Me and my siblings sometimes find ourselves translating words for my parents or even explaining their words to a person they are having a conversation with. Most of the time, other people understand my parents just fine even with the type of English they speak.


I always thought that most people would assist a person or try their best to assist that person despite that person speaking a different form of a language. There are a couple examples in this short story that say otherwise such as this.


"She said she had spoken very good English, her best English, no mistakes. Still, she said, the hospital did not apologize when they said they had lost the CAT scan and she had come for nothing." The hospital workers treated her with disrespect because she did not speak perfect English. Then her and daughter came and talked with the hospital staff. "And when the doctor finally called her daughter, me, who spoke in perfect English — lo and behold — we had assurances the CAT scan would be found, promises that a conference call on Monday would be held, and apologies for any suffering my mother had gone through for a most regrettable mistake."The hospital treated her daughter better because she spoke "perfect English." I liked how this story gave us these example because it helped me visual the situation.


I also enjoyed the ending. She changed her major to English because it was her true passion but also, I think she wanted to change the perception that people have to study the field they are strongest in. When she wrote her first book, she made it so easy to read that even her mother could call it easy. She responded, “So easy to read.”