Table of Contents

Table of Contents In the Words of Frank, I did it My Way! Intro to Critical Thinking Critical Thinking Intro to Voice and Audience Piece Voice and Audience Piece Intro to Revision Piece Revision Piece Intro to Writer's Choice Writer's Choice End Song

In the Words of Frank, I did it My Way!

In the Words of Frank, I did it My Way!

Whew, I never thought I would make it to the end, but the hard work and time span seemed to prove me wrong once again. I never really thought of myself as a strong and powerful writer, but in a way I guess this course has seemed to help get me a step closer to reaching that goal. I would have to say that preaching out my opinions is one of the ways of strengthening my writing. I am a very outspoken person and I like to get my point across to others. I feel as if I don’t do this that my opinions will either go unnoticed or I will myself. I like the leisure of being around others and also hearing what they have to say, because this not only builds relationships, but also helps give my views a slightly different turn that I would have never thought. I will admit that I am a people person and I love the company of my friends, and that I am also an extremely laid back individual, except when it comes to work, if you catch my drift. My life in a sense is kind of like a box of chocolates you never no whatcha gonna get, but I like it that way. This is one of my aspects on life, that it comes at you way to fast and it’s unpredictable, so go with the flow and allow things to happen the way they are. I believe that too much planning ahead in life kind of ruins the excitement of surprises and it’s just not as fun as expecting the unexpected, and besides who knows you may get a sumptuous piece of chocolate! As you can tell I try to be a little comedian about my life, but I never know if I am overdoing it, or making myself look like a complete fool!
This course has really opened my eyes on what it is like to live a different life. I never really paid close attention to other communities, traditions, or my own personal identity, or someone else’s. Understanding these three aspects of life really helps people, and myself, gain knowledge of other individuals, and not just themselves. Without understanding these topics people wouldn’t be as open and as welcoming as they are today. I believe that having a diverse society as we do to this very day is an important key factor in building a better world and toughening relationships between different nationalities and cultural beliefs. One essay the really touched me in this class was, “Masks,” by Lucy Grealy. This essay was about Lucy’s life after going through cancer and having nearly half of her jaw taken out. People constantly made fun of her and hurt the feelings of someone who did not deserve such treatment. I always ask myself why people have to be so cruel sometimes and tease someone just because of the way they look. Judging appearances is one of the flaws I find in today’s society and without the readings from this class I would not have realized how terrible it has gotten.
For are final assignment in this class we were asked to choose four of our writing assignments that we thought best to fit these four topics each demonstrating: critical thinking skills, skills at revision, awareness of audience and voice, and lastly writer’s choice. Starting of with cultural thinking skills I chose my very first paper in the course, Judgment Day. I chose this piece, because I expressed a lot of my personal opinions throughout this essay, and expressing yourself to me is one of the strongest ways to get your voice out there and let people know your views. For the piece that demonstrates your skills at revision and reseeding your work, I chose the timed write on the movie Lone Star. I felt like I did not have enough time to really get my point across clearly, and that there was a lot more to be said, but just not the time to allow so. For the next piece that illustrates my awareness of audience and voice I chose the timed write on the film Bend it Like Beckham. I chose this writing, because in this film it really shows what its like to be an outsider and the steps into becoming accepted, and another point that this movie shows is how religion plays a part in guiding your life. Having these multiple topics really sets the roots for starting a proper discussion between others and that’s why I chose it for this particular topic. The last piece that I chose for the writer’s choice area was my blog on my own community. The reasoning for choosing this piece is that this shows who I am and what my interests are, and without showing this piece the reader would not have a sense on what makes me who I am.
I hope by reading this typed out essay of whom and what I am helps you get a broader understanding of who I am. Without these ever so descriptive paragraphs on who I am and what I have gained in knowledge from this class you would kind of be lost on what I am really about and how my views are expressed through my writing. Having said this I hope you take the time to enjoy reading about me and the assignments that I have chosen, so strap in and get ready for the ride of your life, that leads into my very own.

Intro to Critical Thinking

Intro to Judgment Day

I chose my essay Judgment Day for a writing that demonstrates my critical thinking skills. My essay Judgment Day has a lot to do with judging others and how we use judgments as a way of accepting others. As I said in my reflective letter, that I am a people person, and being a people person I am not one to go and quickly judge someone solely on their appearance. I feel that this is a poor way of trying to get to know someone and it can also be a way of hurting someone’s feelings if those judgments are expressed out loud. In one part of my paper I discuss the life led by Lucy Grealy, an individual who recovered from cancer and had almost half of her jaw taken out. Throughout her life she was constantly teased and made fun of and it was all, because of the way she looked. By making such rude remarks we are really hurting the individual who is receiving them, just for a few laughs that are uncalled for. I am really sickened on how people can make such remarks and that is why I chose this paper, because I feel that I have shown my greatest way of critically analyzing an issue that has really touched and formed a part of who I am. Hope that my insights give a sense on just how judgments are such a tremendous influence on people’s lives.

Critical Thinking

Judgment Day

Throughout our lives we have become accustomed to judging people by their appearance on the outside, but by taking a little extra time we might be able to get to know the person’s interests and for whom they really are on the inside. Judgments by first impressions are one of the most commonly used techniques to characterize a person. Sometimes these judgments can be appreciated, while at other times they can one of the most harmful things in our lives. People criticize others just because of the way they look, but when they speak their opinions out loud that is when feelings get hurt.
“Masks,” an essay written by Lucy Grealy, she describes what life was like with a face deformity that she had gotten from cancer. When Lucy was nine she was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a lethal form of cancer. Due to the cancer Lucy lost nearly half of her jaw, not to mention the three years of chemo she had to go through. Lucy underwent several surgeries to reconstruct her face. Already the life of Lucy sounds pretty tough. Now put yourself in Lucy’s shoes and envision being teased, ridiculed, whatever forms of mockery imaginable. Doesn’t sound enjoyable, does it? Well this is what happened to Lucy on a daily basis.
“Hey, girl, take off that monster mask-oops, she’s not wearing a mask!”(42) In sixth grade Lucy was told this by a group of boys. It didn’t stop here other horrible remarks that Lucy received were: “I bet David wants to kiss her, don’t you, David?” “Yeah, right, then I’ll go kiss your mother’s asshole.”(45) “What on earth is that?” “That is the ugliest girl I have ever seen.”(45) Why would anyone deserve hurtful comments like this, just because of the way they look? Why must we judge on appearance so quickly without even knowing the person? People often use judgments as a way of determining if a person is acceptable, or not. It is also a quick way of accepting people as friends. What is the sense in using judgment as a way of accepting, or making new friendships? People could appear approachable and accepting, but who’s to say if that person isn’t cold hearted, or dangerous. These attributes could be avoided just by getting to know that person.
Another story that relates to the matter of judging and accepting others is, “High School’s Secret Life,” by Emily White. Throughout this story Emily describes the cafeteria life at Calhoun High in Seattle, WA. Emily digs in deep and uncovers all of the different “tribes,” contained within the Calhoun High. From band geeks, nerds, jocks, to punks Emily describes how each “tribe,” is different, and how each group has their own territory in the cafeteria. Another way of identifying people, that Emily wrote, was by the clothing that people wore on the high school grounds. In her essay, Emily stated that, “The popular kids at Calhoun dress overwhelmingly in the ubiquitous trendy brand Abercrombie & Fitch.”(18) It is very fascinating how the clothing that a person wears is a way of showing their identity. From the eyes of a student, the high school cafeteria it is a haven for critiquing people’s appearance and finding out the identity of others.
Judging peoples appearance is everywhere and can not be avoided. In both of these stories, Masks and High School’s Secret Life, people are constantly evaluating others appearance. As far as the evaluation goes in these stories Lucy had it harder than the students at the high school did. High schools have a lot of various groups throughout the campus, but more than likely there is more than one person contained within that group. Even if the group only has three people in it that is better than constantly being singled out like Lucy was. Throughout her life Lucy did have several friends, but she was also limited, in some sort of making any new friends, just because of the way her face looked. Acceptance is not a self choice. You could try to change your clothing to become more acceptable, but who’s to say if that will even emit to change the way people view you.
The way we look is unchangeable. That is why people should take the time to dig underneath the skin and really get to know that certain individual. It is true that looks can be deceiving, but who are we to say that person shouldn’t be trusted when we don’t even know them. When we put others down just because of their appearance, we really hurt the feelings of that person through an unnecessary action. By making these rude remarks the victim receiving them loses their own identity. The more we put people down the more their self confidence is degraded. This could lead to lack of friends even suicidal thoughts, and nobody deserves to carry a burden like that, but by taking that little extra ounce of time to get to know a person on the inside and their interests, judging appearance would be a thing of the past.

Intro to Voice and Audience Piece

Intro to Holly Jolly Christmas

For the voice and audience piece I chose my blog, Have a Holly Jolly Christmas. In my blog, “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas,” I discuss my family matters over the holiday. In this blog I tried to reach out to others who have crazy large families like my own. I always think its fun to reflect and look back on family memories and also plan for the upcoming ones as well. I think that looking back on good times is a way of being at piece and remembering those who you love, which is why I decided to share this story of mine so people can get different aspects on how different families celebrate the holidays. Doing public writings such as this one really gets people in touch with those who they can’t get in touch with often, or making new friends. I benefited from doing this by coming out of the box and sharing a little bit about myself. I hope this reading on my family during the holidays helps get your memories going and helps bring you to that happy place to where you can look back on your very own.

Voice and Audience Piece

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas!

Christmas time is one of the craziest times of the year for my family. Both Christmas Eve and Christmas are celebrated with big family gathering and tons of food. I come from a Greek family and we are big on food and family. Mostly all of my family lives within the same city and it's hard to go anywhere without being seen by your relatives. When the holiday season rolls around my family holds a huge Christmas Eve party at my parent’s house, including about one hundred people, or so of family and friends, not to mention the mounds of food included. My family tries to change up the feast every year a little bit, but we still have the traditional yearly food, and there is always enough for everybody and then some. The next day being Christmas my family has the traditional Christmas breakfast and then later on we head over to my aunt's for, yet another, and rather large, gathering. On Christmas dinner we always have the same meal consisting of ham, lamb, different types of salads, fruit, the list goes on and on. Having these yearly feasts is one of the things that I look most forward to, not just, because of the great food, but because of the time we have to catch up and bond with our family and friends. Also having such a great amount of food is a great way to converse. Food seems one of the most efficient ways of getting to know and relate to a person, so the next time you get a bite to eat with someone your also taking the time to get to know a person and catch up with those who you haven't.

Intro to Revision Piece

Beckham Intro

The piece I chose as my revision piece was my timed write on the film Bend it Like Beckham. In our response we were asked to write about how the film defines on what it is to be an outsider and how this definition upholds or challenges your own cultural understanding of what it means to be an outsider. In my original writing I mainly discussed the circumstances in which people were put in that made them feel like an outsider and in some parts I got a little sidetracked and I did not include my own personal view on this question. To change that I added more about my views and how my own life has cultural differences and took out unnecessary information. Without adding my own experiences the paper looked more like a report. I think by adding my thoughts helped strength this paper, because when an article, essay or writing has personal experiences shared by the author it just makes that writing that much more interesting and stronger.

Revision Piece

Original Post
Being an outsider can be one of the hardest things to overcome. In the film Bend it Like Beckham, two girls Jess and Jules, struggle from being an outsider from their families and friends. People should not have to feel like an outsider just because of the way they look or what their culture or family allows. Each person is different and shares different interests than what their parents or friends grew up with. Sometimes these interests can set that person aside from the others making them an outsider.

In this film Jess's family is very strict on the guidelines of their religion. A particular scene that points this out is when Jess's family finds out for the first time that she is playing soccer. This does not settle with her parents very well and they do not approve of this game. This makes Jess feel like a huge outsider from her family. She wants to proceed in playing soccer, but she has to show more interest in her religion. Jess does not like to get too caught up into her religion. Having these strict guidelines can be hard for a person to accept their religion. Especially when your interests lie some where other than what your religion accepts. Having these guidelines for religion can make a person feel like an outsider, from their own religion. Just because they are not sure how to show interests in something they are just not into.

Jess's friend Jules also runs into conflict with her family. Jess and Jules being such close friends raises suspicion upon their sexuality. In the movie there is a scene where Jule's mom confronts their relationship in front of Jess's sisters wedding. With Jule's mom exploding in front of Jess's family embarrasses Jules tremendously and makes this whole situation very awkward for Jess and Jules. Imagine how out of place Jules felt with her mom blowing up like that in front of a large group of Indian people. This would be so humiliating that would be. Imagine how hard it was for Jules to come face to face with Jess's family again. Misunderstanding a person can make you feel like an outsider and can also make the person you’re judging also feel like one.

Another part of the movie that both Jules and her mom are in conflict is, Jules mom trying to understand her interest in soccer. Throughout the film Jules mom does not understand why she is so interested in this sport and why it’s so hard for Jules to become more "lady like." Jule's mother feels so distant from her daughter making her feel like an outsider. A lot of people share a strong relationship with their parents, but there are some cases in which different interests can set you apart. The hardest part about sharing different interests than your parents is that they grew up with different interests than us. In Jule's case this difference between her and her mom is the sport soccer. Sometimes it is hard for parents to understand their children, but later in the film Jule's mom finally takes the time to learn the sport of soccer.

Being an outsider is hard and it is hard to overcome. Culture is so define in many parts and sometimes can set strict rules to be followed. People can be interested in a different culture than their own making them feel outside of their own cultural bubble. Being "in or out," is a hard thing to accept, but it can be one of the easiest things to be fixed. All people have to do is expand their horizons and accept different cultures, interests, sexual orientation, which ever the case maybe and realize how easy it is to accept.

Revised

Being an outsider can be one of the hardest things to overcome. In the film Bend it Like Beckham, two girls Jess and Jules, struggle from being an outsider from their own friends and family. People should not have to feel like an outsider just because of the way they look or what their culture or family allows. Each person is different and shares different interests than what their parents or their culture grew up with. Sometimes these interests can set a person apart from the others making them feel like an outsider.

I n this film Jess's family is very strict on the guidelines of their culture. A particular scene that points this out is when Jess's family finds out for the first time that she is engaging in the sport of soccer. This news does not settle with Jess’s parents very well and they do not approve of this game. This makes Jess feel like a massive outsider from her own family. She wants to continue playing soccer, but in doing so she has to show more interest in her culture. Jess does not like to get too caught up into her culture just, because of the intensity of it. Having strict guidelines in culture is hard for a person and it puts a person in a spot where they don’t want to disappoint their family members. It’s especially hard when your interests lie some where other than what your culture, or family accepts. Having these cultural guidelines can make a person feel like an outsider, from their own culture and their family, which in Jess’s case is true.

Jess's friend Jules also runs into conflict with her own family. Jess and Jules, being such close friends raises suspicion upon their sexuality. In the movie there is a scene where Jule's mom confronts their relationship in front of Jess's sisters wedding. With Jule's mom exploding in front of Jess's family embarrasses Jules tremendously and makes this whole situation very awkward for Jess, Jules, and Jules mother. Visualize how out of place Jules felt with her mom blowing up like that in front of a large group of Indian people. Imagine how hard it was for Jules to come face to face with Jess's family again. Misunderstanding a person even your own son or daughter can make you, or in this case your parents, feel like an outsider.

Another part of the movie that both Jules and her mom are in conflict is when Jules mom trying to understand her interest in soccer. Throughout the film Jules mom does not understand why she is so interested in this sport and why it’s so hard for Jules to become more "lady like." Jule's mother feels so distant from her daughter making her feel like an outcast. A lot of people share a strong relationship with their parents, but there are some cases in which different interests can set you apart. The hardest part about sharing interests different than what your parents grew up with is trying to have that relationship with them. In Jule's case this difference between her and her mom is the sport soccer. Sometimes it is hard for parents to understand their children, because they grew up with different surroundings, but later in the film Jule's mom finally takes the time to learn the sport of soccer, so she can share an actual mother and daughter relationship with Jules.

Being an outsider is hard, and it is hard to overcome. Culture is so define in so many aspects and sometimes can set strict rules to be followed. People can be interested in a different culture than their own making them feel outside of their own cultural bubble. I myself am interested in a culture completely different than my own. I play several Japanese instruments and I come from a Greek and Yugoslavian family. Many people ask me, why are you so interested in this culture when you are from a totally different one? This question hardly bothers me, just because my interests lie somewhere other than my own culture I still have that part of me where I appreciate where I am from, but having other cultural interests is a way of getting to know others and experience new things and bring your life to new heights, and in this film that’s exactly what happened. Both Jess and Jule’s were selected to go to the United States and play soccer. Being "in or out," is a hard thing to accept, but it can be one of the easiest things to be fixed. All people have to do is expand their horizons and accept different cultures, interests, sexual orientation, which ever the case maybe and realize how easy it is to accept.

Intro to Writer's Choice

Intro to Eisa Taiko is a Community

For my writer’s choice for this assignment I chose my blog on the community of taiko drumming throughout the world. I feel that this is one of my strongest pieces, because for five years of my life I have dedicated my time in learning taiko, and by writing this piece I am giving people the opportunity to read on what a large part of my life is. Without this piece I feel as if the reader would be lost on who I am and what are my interests, so that’s another reason why I chose this piece. I feel that if people share something they are passionate about in writing it gives others a chance to absorb who that person is and can in a way relate to who they are.

Writer's Choice

Eisa Taiko is a Community
Eisa Taiko is a form of Okinawan drumming that is quite a large community throughout the world. I would say the number of groups that shares this interest is what forms the grounds of this community. What really holds these groups together is the pure appreciation of the sounds and the meaning of what Taiko is really about. In ancient times our ancestors of Ryuku, now known as Okinawa, believed that Taiko was a way of connecting people throughout all the nations, they believed it was a way to bring people together through the beat of the drum. Not only is there a community of taiko drummers, but there is a larger community of listeners and viewers that helps build a stronger and bigger community.

A lot of taiko drummers share the appreciation for taiko and its true meaning. Taiko is a great interest to have and it makes a person feel good about their selves. Having people feel at peace also makes the performers happy to share their music with the audience. The only difference that could work against the cohesion of this group is different cultures. Other cultures have their own way of showing what their community is about. This to me is a very minimal aspect of what would hold this community back, because people are interested in finding out about other cultures and their different communities and performing is a great way of doing so.

The community of Taiko is like my second home. I have been taking part of this community for nearly five years. The thing I enjoy most is performing and seeing people get out of their seats and dance along. Nothing beats the feeling of seeing you making others feel happy. Even though I am not of Okinawan descent I do not feel out of place one bit, because the people in my group are always welcoming no matter what the case maybe. Lastly the other benefit of belonging to this community is traveling and have other groups come up here. We always have people come here from Okinawa and it is such a privilege to unit with people oversea. The community of Taiko is such a strong one and I hope that more and more people are able to observe the beauty of this community.

End Song

The Last Hoorah

Well now the time has come to say goodbye. I hope that you enjoyed my very complex, yet simple portfolio. Taking this class has really helped strengthen me as a writer and taught me a new lesson in team work. Throughout the endless posts on discussion board to those nerve racking timed writes, English 101 has really made an impact on my life and gave me new aspects on life. Without the knowledge gained from this course I would still be lost in trying to find my own community, culture and identity. This class was a huge eye opener for learning and I encourage others to look out there and take in useful material like I have learned and use it in their everyday life. So here’s to you English 101 for bettering my writing and helping me become a more understanding person. WRITE ON!!!!!!

Test Post!!!