COLLEGE: The last frontier (but not really)
College is the place where my writing has flourished the most. My professors have helped me so much, my experiences have widened what I can write about, and growing up has helped me to discover myself as a writer. However, I'm still learning, and in attempting to write about my college experiences with writing, I felt like it was too soon to really absorb exactly how my writing experiences in college have effected me. Therefore, I'll do the short (effective) history of my writing experiences according to year and how they have influenced my writing style today.
Freshman year of college: Attended a theatre college in New York City. I learned to play guitar during this year, and therefore ended up writing LOTS of songs during this time period. I was very lonely in the city, so I started to write in a journal (a real one, not electronic). The journal has been lost in transition since then, but it had around 40 entries or so. It helped me discover my love of writing without a keyboard in front of me. It was just me, my hand, a pencil and some paper. It was definitely an intense time in my life, and writing helped me document all this, even though it all remains in my memories now.
Sophomore year of college: Got my heart broken for the second time. However, it was different because I think I knew what love was when it happened this time around. I must have typed out a hundred letters to myself. It was pathetic at the moment, and sad too, but it kind of helped me discover myself as an independent woman (cliche, I know, but writing it all down and looking back on it now gives me encouragement).
Example letter to an ex-boyfriend:
"As I sit alone in my living room, sadly watching He's Just Not That Into You, I begin to feel a bit optimistic (contrary to the fact that this movie is fairly pessimistic and I feel absolutely no sympathy towards any character in this movie). The last time I saw this movie was in a dark theatre, sitting next to my boyfriend. We kissed the whole time, barely even glimpsing up at the movie. I guess I never gave myself a chance to like it. But watching it over again, I'm actually starting to listen to everything the characters have to say, and though I sympathize with them, I do understand EXACTLY what they're going through and how often these scenarios occur. I have seen people go through hard break ups, who drink their health away, smoke their lungs into oblivion and become the kinds of desperate people that they always said they would never become, running back to a man who clearly is not interested anymore. I myself am going through a fairly hard break up at the moment. I was pursued by an incredible guy. We had a fun relationship, the epitome of a young and lustful relationship. We wanted to be each other's everything, never be apart, talked about forever together. In the 7 months we dated, he had become my everything. But we did not have a happy ending. My heart was broken when he said he did not want to be with me anymore. I dwelled on every word he said, every lie he told, every promise he made me and every misread signal I've ever received from him. He seemed like the perfect man in my eyes, but after he left me, I began to see that ALL MEN ARE THE SAME. If they want something, they will pursue it hard. But the minute that they're over it, that's that. We get no say in the matter whatsoever, regardless of the fact that we may believe this person could be "the one". Perhaps they were a mere road block in your pathway to finding something greater, something much greater. I am a young 20 year old. I used to look at people who had been in long term, young relationships and be envious of them. But now I look at them, and just imagine how much worse the heartache will be for them once their 4 or 5 year relationship comes to an end. They haven't known anything but their significant other for all those years. I'd be scared to be in something like that. I say it's better to love em and leave em before things come to a grinding halt when you're least expecting it. Everyone must deal with break ups. But it's the people who find the glimmer of hope in that dark time that always rise to the top. I strive to be one of those people, a girl who dares not to dwell on the past, but to imagine how enlightening the future will be."
(Apparently, melodramatic writing is my forte.)
Junior year of college: This was one of my most successful years in my writing career thus far, and I have a couple of amazing professors to that for that. I took my first course with Dr. Minnick, an awesome professor at WMU who encouraged me to keep moving even though I was struggling. I had a lot of difficulty in this linguistics class, so I went to see her for help. She went above and beyond in helping me and her pep talk gave me the drive to write one of my best research papers to date, on the globalization of English. I was eager to prove to her that I was motivated to do well, and this really forced me to work hard at succeeding in the course. I also took a course with Gwen Tarbox, who is still a big influence to me today. Her course exposed me to the first time I ever wrote a really massive paper in college, which was around 15 pages (minuscule now that I think about it). She stopped at nothing to help her students improve their writing. She took time out of her day to help me when I was struggling, and this helped me write a fantastic paper. She helped me further develop my style and helped me gain confidence as a writer. I ended up taking another course with her in Fall 2010 and felt even more confident about my writing abilities.
Google Document link to my paper for Developments of Modern English with Dr. Minnick:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lnMwvzsr2m-VWEP0v_PWVQMrrBmlhZP1xviT9BqVQZk/edit?hl=en_US&authkey=CNrQmbkK
Senior year of college: My senior year of college was one of my most difficult years to date. I went from my junior year, which was monumental and amazing, to a summer filled with failure and depression. This trickled over into my senior year, which left me feeling unconfident and incapable in terms of both my academic life and my social life. My first semester was slow and although I achieved a satisfying grade point average, problems with my home life left me feeling hopeless and alone for a majority of the time. In January, one of my best friends Kyle passed away in a car accident, which only added to the hopelessness, stress and loneliness I was feeling during first semester. He was a really talented writer, often producing his own original plays and was always an encourager in my becoming a teacher. Without him around, I had lost a special resource in my life that provided me with the motivation to move forward in my career as an educator. However, with the support and encouragement from family and friends, I was able to absorb this moment as very defining in helping me flourish and move me forward. I think that his death inspired me to keep doing what I love, because that's the type of person he was. He never let anything get in his way. I won't either.
Freshman year of college: Attended a theatre college in New York City. I learned to play guitar during this year, and therefore ended up writing LOTS of songs during this time period. I was very lonely in the city, so I started to write in a journal (a real one, not electronic). The journal has been lost in transition since then, but it had around 40 entries or so. It helped me discover my love of writing without a keyboard in front of me. It was just me, my hand, a pencil and some paper. It was definitely an intense time in my life, and writing helped me document all this, even though it all remains in my memories now.
Sophomore year of college: Got my heart broken for the second time. However, it was different because I think I knew what love was when it happened this time around. I must have typed out a hundred letters to myself. It was pathetic at the moment, and sad too, but it kind of helped me discover myself as an independent woman (cliche, I know, but writing it all down and looking back on it now gives me encouragement).
Example letter to an ex-boyfriend:
"As I sit alone in my living room, sadly watching He's Just Not That Into You, I begin to feel a bit optimistic (contrary to the fact that this movie is fairly pessimistic and I feel absolutely no sympathy towards any character in this movie). The last time I saw this movie was in a dark theatre, sitting next to my boyfriend. We kissed the whole time, barely even glimpsing up at the movie. I guess I never gave myself a chance to like it. But watching it over again, I'm actually starting to listen to everything the characters have to say, and though I sympathize with them, I do understand EXACTLY what they're going through and how often these scenarios occur. I have seen people go through hard break ups, who drink their health away, smoke their lungs into oblivion and become the kinds of desperate people that they always said they would never become, running back to a man who clearly is not interested anymore. I myself am going through a fairly hard break up at the moment. I was pursued by an incredible guy. We had a fun relationship, the epitome of a young and lustful relationship. We wanted to be each other's everything, never be apart, talked about forever together. In the 7 months we dated, he had become my everything. But we did not have a happy ending. My heart was broken when he said he did not want to be with me anymore. I dwelled on every word he said, every lie he told, every promise he made me and every misread signal I've ever received from him. He seemed like the perfect man in my eyes, but after he left me, I began to see that ALL MEN ARE THE SAME. If they want something, they will pursue it hard. But the minute that they're over it, that's that. We get no say in the matter whatsoever, regardless of the fact that we may believe this person could be "the one". Perhaps they were a mere road block in your pathway to finding something greater, something much greater. I am a young 20 year old. I used to look at people who had been in long term, young relationships and be envious of them. But now I look at them, and just imagine how much worse the heartache will be for them once their 4 or 5 year relationship comes to an end. They haven't known anything but their significant other for all those years. I'd be scared to be in something like that. I say it's better to love em and leave em before things come to a grinding halt when you're least expecting it. Everyone must deal with break ups. But it's the people who find the glimmer of hope in that dark time that always rise to the top. I strive to be one of those people, a girl who dares not to dwell on the past, but to imagine how enlightening the future will be."
(Apparently, melodramatic writing is my forte.)
Junior year of college: This was one of my most successful years in my writing career thus far, and I have a couple of amazing professors to that for that. I took my first course with Dr. Minnick, an awesome professor at WMU who encouraged me to keep moving even though I was struggling. I had a lot of difficulty in this linguistics class, so I went to see her for help. She went above and beyond in helping me and her pep talk gave me the drive to write one of my best research papers to date, on the globalization of English. I was eager to prove to her that I was motivated to do well, and this really forced me to work hard at succeeding in the course. I also took a course with Gwen Tarbox, who is still a big influence to me today. Her course exposed me to the first time I ever wrote a really massive paper in college, which was around 15 pages (minuscule now that I think about it). She stopped at nothing to help her students improve their writing. She took time out of her day to help me when I was struggling, and this helped me write a fantastic paper. She helped me further develop my style and helped me gain confidence as a writer. I ended up taking another course with her in Fall 2010 and felt even more confident about my writing abilities.
Google Document link to my paper for Developments of Modern English with Dr. Minnick:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lnMwvzsr2m-VWEP0v_PWVQMrrBmlhZP1xviT9BqVQZk/edit?hl=en_US&authkey=CNrQmbkK
Senior year of college: My senior year of college was one of my most difficult years to date. I went from my junior year, which was monumental and amazing, to a summer filled with failure and depression. This trickled over into my senior year, which left me feeling unconfident and incapable in terms of both my academic life and my social life. My first semester was slow and although I achieved a satisfying grade point average, problems with my home life left me feeling hopeless and alone for a majority of the time. In January, one of my best friends Kyle passed away in a car accident, which only added to the hopelessness, stress and loneliness I was feeling during first semester. He was a really talented writer, often producing his own original plays and was always an encourager in my becoming a teacher. Without him around, I had lost a special resource in my life that provided me with the motivation to move forward in my career as an educator. However, with the support and encouragement from family and friends, I was able to absorb this moment as very defining in helping me flourish and move me forward. I think that his death inspired me to keep doing what I love, because that's the type of person he was. He never let anything get in his way. I won't either.
Kyle
Skipping class, we were driving fast
A little Michael Jackson, had him full blastin'
The windows down, we took on the town
We were the queens then, we were just teens then
Late night hangouts, throw aside our doubts
We'd just live, never started sentences with "if"
We had it all, broke down all walls
We had it made, memories I'd never trade
Off to college, full of knowledge
Full ride scholar, you're be makin' them dollars
You were still there for me, still cared for me
Miles apart, but you were always in my heart
Stood for your rights, still young and still bright
You always took the hit, when others spit
On your sexuality, but in reality
You were the real man, they'd come to understand
But then the call came, there's no one to blame
It all happened too fast, it was like a blast
Of fire to my heart, can we go back to the start?
Before you got in the car, before you only got so far.
Stepped on the gas, you were driving fast
I bet you had Michael Jackson full blastin'
The windows down, you took on the town
You were the queen then, queen until the end
A little Michael Jackson, had him full blastin'
The windows down, we took on the town
We were the queens then, we were just teens then
Late night hangouts, throw aside our doubts
We'd just live, never started sentences with "if"
We had it all, broke down all walls
We had it made, memories I'd never trade
Off to college, full of knowledge
Full ride scholar, you're be makin' them dollars
You were still there for me, still cared for me
Miles apart, but you were always in my heart
Stood for your rights, still young and still bright
You always took the hit, when others spit
On your sexuality, but in reality
You were the real man, they'd come to understand
But then the call came, there's no one to blame
It all happened too fast, it was like a blast
Of fire to my heart, can we go back to the start?
Before you got in the car, before you only got so far.
Stepped on the gas, you were driving fast
I bet you had Michael Jackson full blastin'
The windows down, you took on the town
You were the queen then, queen until the end
