Blog Assignment # 8 - Final Thoughts

My Creative-Non Fiction class has been the most entertaining and knowledgeable class this semester. This class was more like a party for writers. I enjoyed the readings from the text and the enthusiasm my classmates brought in with their writing and reading. I’ve definitely learned how to write better descriptively, but I am sure I can do a lot better. I liked how there were no rules or guidelines for our assignments and blogs. I was able to write whatever I wanted, and whatever made me most happy. The assignments were fun and it helped me be creative. For the most part, the five assignments were all written differently. I had fun exploring new ways to write and I will definitely carry that over in my future career as a writer. Overall this class was definitely a breather from all my other courses filled with rules and guidelines. This class showed me even with a set of rules and guidelines there can always be a time where I can cut loose and let my words fill the pages.

Blog Assignment # 7 Author's Note 2

I decided on several majors to make my family proud of me at first. It was either something in medical field because all my uncles and aunts from my mom’s side of the family are all doctors or nurses. My dad’s side of the family their all engineers or computer experts. Being stuck in the middle those two options were my only choices. However, being a doctor or computer expert isn’t me. I like to help people and I’m pretty tech savvy, but that’s not me. My real passion lies within a pen and a simple sheet of paper or blank word document. Writing is something that I’ve always been good at. I feel like I can’t escape it. My brain is always coming up with ideas that need to be put on paper right away. It was either be an English major or drop out of college. Dropping out of college is like the biggest sin a south-Asian child can ever make, so the only logical choice was to tell my parents that I want to be major in English. That was the most heart wrenching conversation I have ever had with my parents.

Author's Note -  This assignment was probably the most difficult assignment for me to write because it was just too upsetting and a little disappointing for me to write about. I have a lot of speculation that a lot of my classmates perceive me as the typical South-Asian stereotype who always gets good grades and wants to probably major in something in the medical field. I’m sorry to say, but I am not a stereotype, I’m a person first. However, after getting my words down on the screen, it got easier and easier to write about. This assignment felt really refreshing. It was like a therapy session for to get out all my emotions in one giant essay without fumbling with my words. This is also the first time I wrote something in the person perspective. I’m not too keen with writing something or reading in first person. Urgh, the Twilight series, that series has totally destroyed my ideology of first person point of view. However, this assignment was new and exciting, I enjoyed being challenged and writing this assignment. 

Blog Assignment # 6 Midterm Reflection

After half a semester of this course, I’ve gotten a better understanding of a creative non-fiction class. It’s not all just reading books based on true stories. This course so far has taught me how to think critically about a situation in a piece of literature. I’m not too keen on reading anything non-fiction, I’m more of a fiction reader and writer, however taking this class I’ve definitely improved in my descriptive writing. Before I used to write giving little to no detail at all, now I just can’t stop writing about what’s in my room or a small flower about to bloom.

I’m not too keen on first person point of view either, but I like how this course takes something that is difficult for me to write, and turns into a leisure experience. The memoir essay which was due a week ago was entirely written in first person. I had a great time writing all the different scenarios and dialogue in that essay. This class is easier to deal with assignments than all my other English classes. There aren’t many rules or guidelines we have to follow in this course, which is something I also like about this class. This is the only class that helps me be creative and really cut loose. I’m not restricted into writing something. If something pops into my head during an assignment I should just write it out.

Creative writing is something I was always good at, at least according to my friends and online fans who read my work. However, writing creative non-fiction is something so brand new to me. This course challenged me in a good way and I’ve definitely improved as a writer because of this class.

Blog Assignmet # 5

What’s Inside You, Brother – Touré

“Life is never faster than in the ring, except when you’re reeling from a razzing punch.” – Touré 725

This entire piece is about one’s man struggle with boxing and life. He finds boxing as a place of fulfillment. Where he can be himself and not have others just simply judge him. He feels a sense of belonging when he is boxing. Boxing makes the character in this entire piece worth living. The quote above pretty much summarizes the entire piece. This is what life is; it has its ups and downs and if you’re not ready to face life head on, you’ll get knocked down with ease.

“But you know all that, so you fire through the round in constant, unstoppable motion, lighting the entire universe on glorious, ecstatic, religious-fervor fire with your Ali-ese, and of Black, and of beauty.” – Touré – 728

This is what most people in life feel every day. We all have problems when it comes to racial stereotype. We all are trying to belong somewhere when the major minority doesn’t allow it. For African Americans it is a constant struggle. They’ve gone through some much abuse throughout history that they would do anything to have a place on this Earth. That goes for any other minority that does not involve the rich white man. We all know they’re the ones in charge of this country. The line above shows the reader how Touré is proud of being who he is. A boxer and black.

“No matter what,” Touré said, looking directly at me, “I’ve got to fight, always fight, even in the face of sure defeat, because no can hurt me as badly as I can.” – Touré 731.

These final few words in the short story are an important message to anyone who reads this. It sends out a good message to the readers. You are your own worst enemy. You can either sit by or watch life go by and let your own “whisper” torment or torture you, like Touré’s whisper – His white classmates and friends. Or you can do something about it and take a stand against what you believe in.  

Blog Assignmet # 4 - Photograph

The circus is a place for people where society does not appreciate them. Unfortunately society shuns people if they are not “normal” enough. What is normal for society? Normal is where people only care about material things or if they are popular among others. The circus however, does not take popularity or material things into account. Being at a circus, one is care-free and most of all happy. Being in a place where they belong in which society deprives them of. People with dwarfism are people, they are little people. Society does not turn the other cheek with people with dwarfism. It would be better off if there were no people with dwarfism. People like this turn to the circus, it is there place of belonging; their home. Little people need a place of their own. A place in which they would fit in and be happy. A place where people do not judge them for being tiny or awkward. The circus is their answer.

In the photograph there are three people standing behind a trailer parked outside a grassy plain. Two are grown men about the size of a five year old child. They are both wearing long white sleeve shirts and black baggy pants. The one on the left is a lot slimmer than his heavy twin counterpart. Both men have on black boots which seem to be a fashion goofy due to their oversize baggy pants. They both have on flat hats which look like a cast surrounding their heads. The one on the left seems to be holding an animal, possibly a pig. In the middle of these two men is a young boy wearing a white shirt and shorts which is nearly knee high. His auburn hair waving in the wind, who seems unsure as to what is going on. Both men are holding the hands of the little boy. The heavier man in the picture is pointing straight at the camera, possibly to tell the small child to smile. They all have a happy grin on their faces, feeling proud to belong somewhere.    

Blog Assignment # 3 Author's Note

Blog Assignment # 3

The airplane had landed onto a dirt and rocky surface. The passengers all groggily waking up from their sleep. Some rubbing their eyes, while others sipped the last drop of water from their plastic cup. A young woman was adjusting her thin black frame shaped glasses to the bridge of her nose with her index fingers while running her fingers through her short black hair. She was petite for her age with a thin oval shaped face. Her brown eyes darted to the small square shaped window of the plane. The sky was a clear blue and the clouds were stretched over the horizon in a straight line. There were goats and cows on the roads pulling giant carts filled with mechanical parts for an airplane, rice bags, and fruits. Olive colored security jeeps were everywhere. Short and tall tan colored men and women in brown uniforms and small triangle shaped hats were in those jeeps. The badges on the uniforms were reflecting off the sunlight. The roads weren’t even a road, just dirt with cars, people, and animals stepping on it like elephants.

I was inspired to write this as a vignette assignment because my trip to India was the most inspiring moment ever. It was different and not a part of my daily routine life. The essay I wrote is pretty straight forward. There are explanations given if needed in the essay. No one read this assignment, I just figured this would be the best thing to write about. If I had to choose this assignment for a portfolio, I’d definitely proof read this essay and possibly add more to it. Writing a non-fiction piece versus an academic assignment, it is easier to write a non-fiction piece, because there are no rules or guidelines. I’ve definitely learned a lot about descriptive writing with this one essay, which is good because description is my weak point when it comes to writing.

Blog Assignment # 2

Annie Dillard – “Total Eclipse” 283 – 294

“Up in the sky where we stood the air was lusterless yellow. To the west the sky was blue. Now the sun cleared the clouds. We cast rough shadows on the blowing grass; freezing, we waved our arms. Near the sun, the sky was bright and colorless. There was nothing to see.” – Dillard 286.

This quote grabs my attention because, Dillard uses repetition of color and adjectives to describe what is going on in that one paragraph. It is easy to picture what the narrator is seeing in the mind of the reader. I like how she describes the air being lusterless and yellow, instead of just giving no interpretation of air at all. The ending of this paragraph grabs my attention because it also uses a sense of emotion. There was nothing to see; it gives the reader a sense of emotion, a sense of fear or curiosity as to what might happen next.

“All the distant hills’ grasses were finespun metal which the wind laid down. I was watching a faded color print of a movie filmed in the Middle Ages; I was standing in it, by some mistake. I was standing in a movie of hillside grasses filmed in the Middle Ages. I missed my own century, the people knew, and the real light of day.” – Dillard 287

In this paragraph, Dillard describes the eclipse as if being frozen in time and being transported to another era. The narrator seems to be afraid and unsure of what will happen next. I like the comparison between the being trapped or frozen in time to an eclipse because of the sense of uncertainty and emotional fear to the reader.

“Did you see that little white ring? It looked like a Life Saver. It looked like a Life Saver up in the sky.” – Dillard 291

Best metaphor ever in the entire passage. An eclipse is a life saver in the sky. Out of the entire passage the line from the college student is my absolute favorite because it snaps the narrator back to reality and the reader as well. Annie Dillard uses many metaphors and similes in her writing. She also uses a variety of repetition when it comes to descriptive writing. The flow of her descriptive writing is like a river stream which seems to go on endlessly.