As a child I had a wild imagination, creating stories, immersing myself in fantasies, and escaping to my own world, where the wild things are. Somewhere along the line I feel like I lost sight of that genuine creativity. All through high school I found myself just “getting by” with my writing as a student. I guess you could say that it was a rare moment when I was truly passionate about what I was writing. I was fortunate enough to have a teacher my junior year who pushed my boundaries and guided my writing style into a more advanced standing. However, senior year I was pushed straight back into mediocrity with a teacher who preached the philosophy of “it’s my way or the highway.” And no, I’m not exaggerating. Therefore, you can understand by I chose to write about Harry Potter during my AP exam, it was the only novel of “comparable literary merit” that I could write passionately about. Despite my grievances with the rhetoric and composition taught in high school, I hope to leave all of those pessimistic views and make a complete 180 and return to that state of imagination that consumed my life as a child. I mean everyone wants to be a kid again in one way or another, why not in writing, just without the crayons.
As a developing writer I can confidently say that I have acquired quite a few strengths, starting with my ability to accept constructive criticism. Despite my previous bitter emotions towards my high school teachers, I was always able to listen and recognize what I need to improve on as a student and writer. Another strength that I have developed is my ability to whole-heartedly invest in a piece of work, hold on there’s a catch, when I have a strong opinion or find myself passionate about. I know most people can definitively say the same thing, however, my best work has come from topics where I have more than an ounce of interest.
While that can be considered one of my greatest strengths, at the same time it serves as one of my biggest weakness as a developing writer because I don’t care to give it that 110% that I would do with topics I have interest in. Tough luck, everyone has to indulge in situations that they don’t necessarily agree with or feel motivated by. So I plan to look at the vast differences throughout Penn State as inspiration to take everything in and give it a fair chance. On a more technical level, I also hope to improve on my transitions from one paragraph to another. For some reason in high school, I was always under the impression that my ideas flowed throughout my work, until I was corrected of that notion when I received my paper.
I believe that I have been afforded an excellent opportunity within this course through peer review to have my work be seen by eyes other than the teacher and mine. On a personal level I plan to grow as a writer by giving everything a shot and allow myself not to be narrow minded in my opinions. Hopefully these actions will not only improve my skill as a writer but as a person as well.
A form of memorable art I stumbled upon a few years ago on a spur of the moment trip to the National Gallery of Art, still to this day resonates with me. The photography of Robert Frank, most famously known for his work traveling across United States and capturing the day-to-day lives of Americans from the early 1920’s to late 1950’s. One of the things that struck me the most was his ability to encompass both a rawness and beauty during the hardest years of our country’s history. Frank truly has a talent for exposing the emotions of every passing face captured by his camera, and most notably, without the support that color ordinarily offers to a message. I’ve enclosed one of my personal favorites from his collection because it reminds me of the young Kate, who had quite the amazing imagination and which I hope to return to. http://www.shanelavalette.com/images/journal/dannywilcoxfrazier01.jpg
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