1. Why do you write?

I write so that ideas in my head become physical. Sometimes to have something to look back to another day when the ideas have long left my mind. And sometimes to be able to sort out what’s mixed and confused within my head. On paper it is easier to take out the unwanted and the brilliant.

2. How does language make it hard for you to write?

Sometimes, to my knowledge, I have no words for what I want to express. Or there is so much for me to put down, it’s overwhelming. Another thing that happens very often for me is that I think about ideas that only Spanish speakers would understand (I’m Mexican), but there is no way to translate it so that a reader in English could understand it.

parallelwanderer:

1) What are you most proud of about this essay?

2) If you could re-do something about this essay, what would it be?

3) What have you learned about yourself or your writing process in writing this essay?

1. I am proud that I was able to fully think through this essay and actually find a source

2. I wish I could have thought more thoroughly before I actually wrote it

3. I learned even more of the pros of psychology. There are so many interesting branches to go into and I need to look at them more closely.

parallelwanderer:

1) What are you most proud of about this essay?

2) If you could re-do anything about this essay, what would it be?

3) What did you learn about your writing process while writing this paper?

1. I am most proud of the way I am able to express my opinions on this case better than many people who tried in Oakland.

2. Actually turn in a rough draft. I really wish I could have had feedback.

3. Coming up with an opinion is difficult, and then elaborating on my points is even harder.

parallelwanderer:

The first part of this assignment is to choose or take a few pictures of your home (where you grew up or where you live now), or another home that you are familiar with. You will use these pictures to think about the place you’ve chosen as an essay—so, the reverse of how we thought of it in class….

Home

Deep down a long driveway behind a house lies our little bitty house. The way I remember it, the way it was before they painted it a shit green, it was a simple while house with a blue door and a window next to it that I was able to fit through. 

I can’t remember what our cozy house was like before my father decided to put tile; he placed soft green and blue tiles on our floor inspired by our trip to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium that summer. All the walls were also a soft blue, which gave the house a cheerful glow, which was not the case for our family later on. 

Upon entering our house, you would find yourself in both the kitchen and the living room; they were together. Straight across stood our television stand, which consumed a large part of the living room, along with the sofas worn with my and my sister’s childhood. 

To the right is the kitchen, with old appliances that surprisingly worked then. Above the microwave was another window, too small for an adult, but somehow was broken into.

To the left of the entrance of the apartment is a doorway hidden by a curtain: my and my sister’s room. Also painted blue, we had an old Mac computer on an old desk. I had an obsession with Pokemon and I had all kinds of Pokemon merchandise- including my comforter. My sister, on the other hand, had a Winnie the Pooh blanket.

Our back yard, which we were not allowed to wander off to unsupervised, consisted of a downwards slope made of stone ledges and greenery. The slope ended at a creek- Sausal Creek- which was closed off by a fence. Every so often we would have a raccoon scurry through the fence. To the right of the yard stood a gigantic pine tree. The pine made me anxious whenever we had earthquakes; I was afraid it would fall on our house.

parallelwanderer:

After receiving feedback on your essays from your peers…

1) What sort of feedback did you receive? Are you surprised by anything?

2) What changes do you need to make to your essay to address their concerns?

3) What is the greatest strength of this essay so far? How can you continue that?

4) What element do you need to work on the most in this essay?

1. I mainly got comments along the lines of “very interesting, just finish the essay.” See, I only brought half to class >.>

2. I need to rewrite my whole first paragraph and the thesis. I’m very repetitive.

3. The way I told about my panic attack. I can tell it got the readers’ interest. I need to sum up what the panic attack meant.

4. The thesis is what I need to work on most.

parallelwanderer:

1) What are you most proud of about this essay?

2) If you could re-do anything about this essay, what would it be?

3) What did you learn about your writing process while writing this essay?

1. I am proud to be speaking about my anxiety and realize that ever since I started taking therapy I have been thinking more positively.

2. I think be a little bit more organized, and start it sooner.

3. I get stuck sometimes when I have all the thoughts I need for the essay and then I have the sudden urge to write them down when I’m still writing other ideas. It’s vexing.

parallelwanderer:

Choose one of the essays to analyze: either Sedaris’ “Me Talk Pretty One Day” or Borges’ “Blindness”. 

How do they tell their stories? Is it effective? What are some elements which you liked and would like to try to incorporate into the way you write your essay?

Shoot for around 250 words, please :)

**I forgot to mention that, since I missed ~half of my office hours today, I will be in my office from 1-2 on Wednesday. I apologize for missing them, and you if you visited.**

David Sedaris speaks  to his audience in a comical  tone about his experiences in a French class in Paris. He talks about his shyness, about overcoming the way he takes his professor’s disdainful remarks to heart, and realizing he is not alone when it comes to not gaining anything from the course. Finally, there is the sense of triumph he gains when he fully understands what his professor tells him.

What made this reading so comical to me was the way he would write senseless words for French words his professor spoke that he didn’t understand. He depicted his professor as an arrogant woman who only finds joy in putting down her pupils but singling out different things she said to different students, and chronicling the way they reacted.