Grand Finale:"Why I Write"

Why I Write

      In the past, I was never much of a writer. I always had these thoughts in my head, but it was hard to put them on paper. It was not until I got into my Composition class that I fell in love with writing. Well, I fell in love with my own writing. I write because I gain a sense of freedom. I have never been a talker, so to be able to write without any one interrupting my thoughts was empowering.

      Thinking back on this year writing has made me better. I write because it is the bridge from the old me to the new me. I write because I have nothing to fear, but myself. I write because I needed to know where I stood with controversial issues of the world. I write to put my mind at ease and say things to people without verbally saying it to them. I write as the voice to millions of girls like myself. We know who we are, but are not sure who will accept that. I write to let myself know that I have an opinion as a woman and I still am able to voice them if necessary.

      I only write for assignments at school. Composition class has now changed that. I will write to tell myself how I really feel. I will write to see the pain. I will write to allow myself some closure. I will write so that I can no longer just hold in my feelings. I will write for the peace of my family. I will write for the sake of my sanity. I will write for that voiceless girl that used to be inside of me. I will write and never stop writing about what I see around me. I will write to continuously document the woman I will never be. I will write to always know how far I have come. I will write to see all the hard work I have done.  I will write to share my world. I will write as an outer body experience to see where I am in this world that surrounds me.

      I write me see what Darrianna honestly thinks. What goes on in her head as she is walking through the halls? What goes through her head at the sight of her mom’s husband? What does she think of the women around her? Are they worthy of her admiration? I will write to put a stop to a family cycle. The broken homes and hearts. I will write to keep a clear mind and view of the world I will be in soon. I will write my own fantasy and make it my reality. I will write to remind myself that being a child is only temporary. I cannot control what goes on around me, but my writing can. I will write because I cannot say all the things that hurt me. I will write to put in prospective all the things that I have seen. I will write to see a young woman’s thoughts grow and see all of her dreams. See how they played out and see how her life has changed. I will write to see if even after writing what things will remain the same. I will write for me and my mind, body and soul. I will write solely and selfishly for me, because I refuse to let all the pain in life take its toll.

     

My Multigenre Project: The Coldest Winter Ever

This is my multigenre project over the book The Coldest Winter Ever .https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4JE9zfgL8u7cFJUVDdBRmJQNnc/edit?usp=sharing Through this project I have gotten a better understanding of the character and author of the book. I have also taken a closer look at myself and wonder how others view me as a woman.

Reading Response: Article Six "Plagiarism LInes Blur for Students in Digital Age"

http://schools.bvsd.org/p12/Casey/library/Pages/Plagiarism.aspx

 I agree our generation believes that everything on the web does not belong to anyone. Teresa Fishman said, “It’s possible to believe this information is just out there for anyone to take.” Sometimes teens have research papers to do and end up copying what an author says, because they chose to be lazy and not really think about what the author meant in their terms. I do not understand how a student can accidentally plagiarize a piece of writing here at Parkview High School, because in every grade there is that one teacher that pounds how to do citations in our head. Citations are really easy now that you can just fill out the genres basic information in and the generator will produce a citation.

A way to fight plagiarism is to teach students early on how to summarize pieces of writing and to learn to put things in their own words. This helps the teacher and student. Teachers know their students writing, so it will be easy for the teacher to know what their student meant if the writing is in their terms. The student will actually will do better during their presentations. Students grasp on t0 knowledge more if it is presented in a way that is understandable for them.

 Plagiarism is copying someone elses work. I wonder if it is the same if someone copies a concept. After Twilight came out, a lot of other vampire movies came out. Honestly, it was really annoying. People need to start making up their own characters that will be a phenomena of their own. The same thing happens with celebrities. After Justin Beiber it was okay to sign young children that seemed to sound good, but everyone wants to make a fuss about how they are becoming rebels. Another annoying "plagiarism" copy is with clothes. All clothes are the same trend, but with different prices. Somewhere along the line maybe people will begin to be original and realize that repeats are really annoying.

Reading Response: Multi-genre Book Projects "Speak"

The project is about a book, called Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. This project is actually the reason why I wanted to do my multi-genre project on a book.
The project includes poetry, an expository piece, dear readers, and visual pieces. The different genres were very effective, because I got an overall understanding of the main characters struggles in the story. The project includes nine pieces of work. There are four poems with pictures, an expository piece on rape, a list, visual of graffiti, a picture of a tree that she continually draws, and a dear reader for the introduction.

The author did research on the expository piece. The essay gave statistics on rape. Melinda, the main character, was a rape victim of her friend's boyfriend. The author was completely imaginative with the poetry pieces. All of the pieces were about a single subject and included a visual. The poems to me seem like the authors way of making a transition from one piece of the project to another. The transition pieces are effective, because they give you an understanding of the character. Poetry gives the reader a personal understanding of the topics and emotions the character portrays.

I really liked the authors use of poetry. I am not a fan of writing poetry, but the author of this project made it the main focus. The poems are short, but get the point across. She even did a two voiced poem of the main character and the man who raped her.

Everything in this poem goes together. The series of events are not out of order and I like the serious approach. For my project, I want to use the dear readers as a transition piece rather than poems.





Rape is something that is hard to speak out against, but if no one speaks many more will happen.



Reading Response: Article Five "The Secret to being Memorable and Persuasive"

I always find a memorable part in a book that I am reading. Those sayings or ideas always stick to me. Usually they are catchy or clever. The quotes are hardly ever long and are extraordinary things said in such simple words that I could not come up with myself (hint: keep it simple stupid). I cannot ever seeing myself memorizing a country song or a classical piece of music if the hook is not seem catchy or interesting to me. I love R & B and rap music for their catchy and memorable hooks. The metaphores and connections made in songs are eye opening and make you realize how much of an art words are.

In the article, Joe Romm said "Studies suggest that if a phrase or aphorism rhymes then people are more likely to view it as true." If a phrase seems so well put together and it sounds like words were always meant to be together, why not think it is a true statement? As a child, my sisters would say, "Fatty, Fatty you look like your daddy," to me. Those words rhyme and they were so true. I would not get mad, because I knew that I was such a great person that my only problem was my weight. Other than that I was perfect. Some phrases do not even have to rhyme in order for them to sound true. The way you talk personally changes the meaning. "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Those words do not rhyme, but the way people recite those words has power.



Lil' Wayne is a very provacative rapper, but he is one of the greatest for a reason.



Reading Response: Article Four "Dave Barry on College"

I was very relieved to see the subjects that Dave Barry encouraged his readers not to major in were not subjects I was interested in anyway. I plan to study psychology. His view on the major of psychology was very funny, but seemed true. Psychologist always want to use a rat to compare to human abilities. Every time the rat wins. Put any animal against a human and I bet the rat will win.

I am not going to lie: people who take like a philosophist do seem to be on drugs and on a whole other planet. I tend to pretend to understand and walk away. There is no need to always quote someone and not break it down to those who do not understand a word you are saying. Why try to educate someone if you are not willing to elaborate what it is they are supposed to understand?

I am going to college next year, but like Dave Barry said, all but very few of my hours spent in class will be usless and forgotten. I guess I will take as many psychology classes as the school offers just to learn new things that technically cannot be proven. Psychology interest me and I should be very facinated by what my classmates will try to prove.



Reading Response: Article Three " 7 Bogus Grammar 'Errors' You Don't Need to Worry About"

I find it funny how Ben Yagoda writes that it is okay to start a sentence with a conjunction. Sometimes some sentences do sound better if they begin with a conjunction, but many teachers will make you go back and find another way to start your sentence. I have a problem with ending my sentences with a proposition and not wording things correctly. It is like I know what I am trying to say, but when it is written down in what is supposed to be proper English, it does not look right. See! I did it. The sentence before would sound better if I wrote "It is like I know what I am trying to say, but it does not look right written down in what is supposed to be proper English."

I usually write an English paper in my head before I write it down. The problem with that is I always use a passive voice and assume people know what and who I am talking about. This never fails. A teacher always questions who or what did such and such in the sentence. The passive voice always leads to my wordiness and inability to word sentences in the correct order. It was a relief to know that someone else thinks the passive voice in writings is a grammar error that people do not need to worry about.



I will no longer allow the fixations of bogus grammar errors make me seem like a bad, wordy writer.