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“No word matters. But man forgets reality and remembers words.”
― Roger Zelazny
― Roger Zelazny
3/18/2020 0 Comments ReflectionHello again everybody. For today’s blog post in my English Composition I Course, I will be doing a reflection based on my experiences in this class. I did a vlog (blog on video) to explain what I would go through in class, what I've used to better my writing, how I value writing and my identity as an author.
My Video Reflection
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2/26/2020 1 Comment February 26th, 2020Telling Myself A Different Story: A Memoir Counterfactual Welcome back everybody. For today’s blog post in my English Composition I course, I will be working from Creating and Emotional Scene with Dialogue and Symbolism. I'll be looking back into that memory and questioning my decisions and actions. Asking "if I did this instead, how would this change the outcome?" This type of thinking and writing style is known as Counterfactual. For more information about this subject, I encourage you to listen to Rewinding & Rewriting: The Alternate Universes in Our Heads (NPR Hidden Brain Episode). Now if you're more of a reader than a listener I recommend reading Mark Twain's Two Views of the River.
In my recent Memoir, I stated, “When my Ex came to my house, I already knew something was up because ever since our breakup we didn’t really have a reason to talk.. It was really weird because we knew each other really well, had a relationship and weren’t talking for a long period of time so it made me very nervous seeing her unexpectedly.” I was wondering what if I didn’t answer my door? I think she would’ve left it at the door and I pick it up thinking it could be anybody that has left it there or she would leave with it devastated because she couldn’t show how she felt to me within that time. Also thinking, another quote from my memoir where I stated, “Then I saw that she went into her back pocket and pulled out wrapping paper. I was about to laugh, because it seemed like nothing. But I kept a straight face, and she gave it to me, she told me how much she loved me and gave me a kiss. Then she left.” What if I laughed and didn’t take her emotions seriously? She probably would’ve lost all respect for me and also think that I saw her as a joke from the beginning of the relationship resulting in thinking I broke up with her because of it. Another major quote in my memoir, I stated, “The minute I received it, I realized that it would give me good motivation. And it did. I still use it today to remember what we had, how much we felt for each other, although so young.” I’m thinking, what if it didn’t give me any motivation? What if it made me have a different motivation? What if it made me think about someone else? All I could say is that my perspective of life could be very different than how it is now. I probably would’ve thought about everybody back in my country, not only her. It could have given me bad thoughts on our past relationship or it would have meant nothing. The final quote I thought about was when I stated in my memoir, “It was noon and my father was asleep, and she decided to come to my place because I told her the day before that I would be leaving the country pretty soon. And she knows that I was born there and it was inevitable so I couldn’t grasp why she was being so emotional.” What if I didn’t tell her I was leaving? If she found out she probably would never trust me again because I wasn’t honest with her plus although we broke up, she might have felt she was the reason for me leaving especially if I didn’t tell her. 2/16/2020 3 Comments February 16th, 2020Composing an Emotional Scene with Dialogue and Symbolism
Welcome back everybody. For today’s blog post in my English Composition I course, I have to write about an emotional moment I have shared with someone in my life. We have to use these stories My Name is Margaret (Maya Angelou) and Hills Like White Elephants that connect the theme to our narrative scene. Hopefully, you enjoy it. When my Ex came to my house, I already knew something was up because ever since our breakup we didn’t really have a reason to talk.. It was really weird because we knew each other really well, had a relationship and weren’t talking for a long period of time so it made me very nervous seeing her unexpectedly. Then she dropped to her knees and started crying. I told her it would be fine, but she didn’t want to hear that. She was determined to give something to me. The way that she looked at me, with her eyes tearing up and her hands trembling, I could tell that she was more nervous than me. Then I saw that she went into her back pocket and pulled out wrapping paper. I was about to laugh, because it seemed like nothing. But I kept a straight face, and she gave it to me, she told me how much she loved me and gave me a kiss. Then she left. The minute I received it, I realized that it would give me good motivation. And it did. I still use it today to remember what we had, how much we felt for each other, although so young. It shows that material objects do not impress me that much. I do like material objects, but although this is cheap I still kept it because of the emotional value. Every time I look at this band, I remember how much she meant to me. And how sad it made me, when she came crying. It was noon and my father was asleep, and she decided to come to my place because I told her the day before that I would be leaving the country pretty soon. And she knows that I was born there and it was inevitable so I couldn’t grasp why she was being so emotional. Nevertheless, I heard her banging on the door, and calling me. My father woke up, yelled at me, and went back to sleep. When I went outside, she knelt down, and looked at me with tears dripping on the ground, it also made me sad, so I grabbed her. I looked her in the eye and said it was all going to be okay. Then she kissed me and pulled a gift from her back pocket. It seemed small so this made me feel like laughing. But I didn’t, I held it in. She handed it to me; so I kissed her and that she left. She even walked like she was about to fall. So I opened the gift. There it was, plain black, cheap, no design; I tried it on, and there was an unusual grip on the hair on my risk it was uncomfortable at first. But eventually I warmed up to it. 2/11/2020 0 Comments February 11th, 2020Writing Process RoundtableHello again everybody. For today’s blog post in my English Composition I Course, I will be having an imaginary conversation among three authors in a roundtable discussing a writer’s writing process. In this dialogue, I will be using 3 quotes from each author to develop the dialogue and the links to these authors will be shown below:
I believe that writing in general is broken up into sequences to help the writer get a better feel of what he needs to improve on. Don Murray replied, “The writing process itself can be divided into three stages: pre-writing, writing and rewriting. The amount of time a writer spends in each stage depends on his personality, his work habits, his maturity as a craftsman, and the challenge of what he is trying to say. It is not a rigid lock-step process but most writers most of the time pass through these three stages.” To be honest with you guys, in the past I always believed that writing was a waste of time so I never put a lot of effort into doing it. Mary Karr commented, “Every writer I know who's worth a damn spent way more time ‘losing’ than ‘winning'." I am the type of person to take breaks when I have a hard time writing, it makes me feel good and when my brain feels refreshed, I am able to think twice as better than before. Anne Lamott responded, “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes including you.” I remember having an English class in 11th Grade, my teacher would make us do projects which included segments called ‘drafts’ and pretty much, my first few drafts were horribly. I’m not sure if it’s a thing where you would come out with bad first drafts then it starts to get better overtime. Are there any insights? Anne Lamott responded, “Now, practically even better news than that of short assignment has the idea of shitty first drafts. All good writers write them. This is how they end up with good second jobs and terrific third drafts.” For some reason, whenever I would write anything, whether it’s a story or an essay, I would always get a bad grade or be criticized for poor conduct and I would usually be less motivated to do other writings. What would any of you guys have to say about this? Don Murray responded, “No matter how careful are criticisms, they do not help the student when we teach composition we are not teaching the product, we are teaching a process .” Whenever I do writing, I would usually rewrite them to check for grammatical errors. What are other reasons why rewriting is a good tool? Mary Karr commented, "Rewriting on the page is safer than revision in, say, painting, when you can paint past a good place and wreck a canvas. Performers can't revise at all. A writer can always go back to an earlier draft. The point is to have more curiosity about possible forms the work could take than a sense of self-protection for your ego." What are some true underground strategies that only a few writers use to get the best out of what they’re writing? Don Murray responded, “Reading through history cultivates in a writer a standard of quality higher than the market place. History's harder- but also more stable and the books are better because they have been culled over years.” I need to understand something, what are the difficulties or process that teachers go through when teaching a writing course to students with little or no experience? Don Murray again responded, “We have to be patient and wait, and wait, and wait. The suspense in the beginning of a writing course is agonizing for the teacher, but if we break first, if we do the pre-writing for our students they would not learn the largest part of the writing process. “ If people are too afraid to express their emotions through writing, what is the best advice to give that type of audience? Anne Lamott made the final response, “You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.” 2/11/2020 0 Comments February 11th, 2020A Letter to My Author-SelfThis story is tied in with writing letters to fallen friends and family. Reconnecting with those a distant memory about existence refreshes, the quest for answers, and even direction or exhortation. This pushed me with thoughts on the best way to reconnect with my very own lost self. This would be my author-self, and in the accompanying letter I'll be searching for reclamation with my creator self and getting one with that self by and by.
Dear Juicy John, I wish we had a better connection with you. I always feel like you have potential, but I didn't have the urge to make you become the best version of yourself. It's like a shy person in High School. Always at the back of class, too scared to talk to people, never putting up your hand to answer questions, knowing that you know the answer. Some parts of me feel like writing is boring but another part of me feels like I could make writing somewhat exciting by bringing certain thoughts to life. Sometimes I wish it could be different. I apologize for hiding you in a place that restricted you from becoming a potentially great writer. I apologize for not giving you a chance to enjoy writing which could have been one of my hobbies or passions. The reason for not bringing you out for all these years is that I would usually be critiqued heavily on my writing, either essays, stories, poems, etc. Most of the time my teachers would give me a bad grade or would say that my writings don't grasp their interests. I would usually get the lowest grade in my class so at that point I laid you to rest because I thought that there was no point in bringing you out anymore. To be straightforward I truly don't have the best idea of how to bring you out in a flash and not exactly when I need you to compose and task. Possibly my initial step is tune in to music and shut everybody out only for the time span. That way it would simply be you dominating and not to hinder you while you compose. Besides, on the off chance that I can't do stage one, at that point I would attempt to locate a peaceful spot since you for the most part say it for all to hear what you need to compose and to you it bodes well. I would also workout to my peak limits because I feel like pushing to exercise outside of my comfort zone and reaching new limits require a lot of self talk to keep you pushing and I think that mentality of getting out my comfort zone would carry over to my writing. Moreover, you request help with this in light of the fact that typically I don't however, you do on the grounds that you wanna pass this class regardless. However, I'm not very sure that these are the means to bring you out more presumably the music for the most part. Ideally, I can make sense of it while I am right now attempting to be a superior author and prepared for the following test after this class. Regardless of whether it's simply to get into the following English class. I simply need to express profound gratitude for staying aware of my garbage and expectation you can pardon me indeed. Sincerely, Jeanliq Mendez 2/11/2020 0 Comments February 11th, 2020Creating My Multi-modal Website
Hello everybody. This is my second blog post in my English Composition I Course at DCCC. The purpose of this blog post is to explain why writing is multi-modal and why it is important. Also, I will be explaining how C.R.A.P. should be used when designing websites.
1/23/2020 3 Comments January 23rd, 2020The Proust QuestionnaireHey there! Well, this is my first blog for my English Composition class. The first blog assignment we have to do is answer The Proust Questionnaire. This questionnaire is made up of thirty-five questions and it basically is for whoever is reading this gets to know me a bit more. Hopefully, it helps to get to know me better.
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Jeanliq MendezI will use this blog to explore the messy processes of writing and to make meaning. Archives
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