Reflection
The essay I had difficulty with, but felt satisfied the most with once finished was Driving with Dad. This essay was not easy for me to write because I admitted some things that I found hard to say or write. My relationship with my father is difficult and it is apparent in my story that we do not always see things the same way, but my opinions as well as sly remarks are kept to myself. The writing process for this story was as important as the trial period of the piece. After writing a few paragraphs I would read this story to my mother, for an insider’s opinion and to ensure that I am not being too dramatic with my description of my father. The other person I would read this to is my boyfriend. He has not been around my father at all, but he helped me with the amusing aspect to the story to keep my focus as important as my reader’s attention. With an insider and an outsider’s opinion I feel that I maintained a decent balance of pure truth and amusement throughout the story. Some of the decisions I had to make while writing this paper were whether to leave out certain opinions about my father in case he were ever to read this piece or to put them in because they are just as much a part of the story as the actual events taking place. I decided that my opinion is as important and included my comments where I felt necessary in the story.
Another problem I had after I finished the story was deciding what enough information was and what was too much. I omitted some paragraphs because I tried to explain what my point is without realizing that it is understood through the story itself and doesn’t need an explanation. After revising, the story was shortened in some areas and longer in others. I added the paragraph about my great grandmother’s funeral at the end of my revising to try and bring a point to my story. I wanted it to become clear that despite the situation family is there for you. As I wrote my opinions and comments throughout the story I realized that my father’s intentions throughout the entire ordeal were purely to help me and my intention was to make him out as the bad guy. At the time of the driving events I did not think that anything that my father was trying to teach me was for my own good. I never appreciated the fact that he pushed me so hard because if he hadn’t I would have given up on learning to drive a manual transmission. I began writing the story with the purpose of exposing my father as the harsh and demanding person I have always seen him as, but came out of the story with a realization that he is not trying to control all aspects of life, mostly he is just pushing me to do the best I can. I also never appreciated the time he took out of his day to ensure that I was practicing driving and to make sure I was doing it right. I also felt it was important to include details about my family life as subtly as I can so that I wouldn’t divert the point of the story too far, but I could give some insight that I am not the only one that has difficulty with my father. My brother and I are very close in age and we have gone through similar situations with our parents learning to cope with their children growing up. I feel that this story also takes a position on what it is like growing up with my parents. Our father does not do much of the moral support, but he will always back us up. My sarcastic tone throughout the story helps bring out the real me. I am very dry and my attitude toward everything is very similar to my attitude throughout the story. I am also not very ambitious, especially with learning to do new things. My story helped me realize that I was being immature with the way I handled learning to drive with my father, and I will never tell him that I have come to that realization. Much of this story has to do with my difficulty in admitting that I may have acted wrong, or I could have handled things differently. That is what makes this story hard for me to read to anyone that knows my family, myself included.
The whole story bases around the idea that I am moving from the backseat, being driven where ever it is that my parents are taking me, to learning to drive and getting myself there. The point is that I have taken on a new position as the driver of my own life and no one can steer me anywhere I don’t want to go. I changed through this event because it not only helped me acquire a new skill, but gave me insight on what it is to take on something challenging. The satisfaction of learning and mastering something is amazing and it is important that that stays relevant in my story as a major focus. I enjoyed what I learned so much that I went on to buy a new car that was stick which is actually humorous to me now that I have written my story. And, my father isn’t such a bad guy after all.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Sunday, April 22, 2007
reflection
The essay I had difficulty with, but felt satisfied the most with once finished was Driving with Dad. This essay was not easy for me to write because I admitted some things that I found hard to say or write. My relationship with my father is difficult and it is apparent in my story that we do not always see things the same way, but my opinions as well as sly remarks are kept to myself.
The writing process for this story was as important as the trial period of the piece. After writing a few paragraphs I would read this story to my mother, for an insiders opinion and to ensure that I am not being too dramatic with my description of my father. The other person I would read this to is my boyfriend. He has not been around my father at all, but he helped me with the amusing aspect to the story to keep my focus as important as my readers attention. With an insider and an outsiders opinion I feel that I maintained a decent balance of pure truth and amusement throughout the story.
Some of the decisions I had to make while writing this paper were whether to leave out certain opinions about my father in case he were ever to read this piece or to put them in because they are just as much a part of the story as the actual events taking place. I decided that my opinion is as important and included my comments where I felt necessary in the story.
As I wrote my opinions and comments throughout the story I realized that my fathers intentions throughout the entire ordeal were purely to help me and my intention was to make him out as the bad guy. At the time of the driving events I did not think that anything that my father was trying to teach me was for my own good. I never appreciated the fact that he pushed me so hard because if he hadn’t I would have given up on learning to drive a manual transmission. I began writing the story with the purpose of exposing my father as the harsh and demanding person I have always seen him as, but came out of the story with a realization that he is not being controlling in all aspects of life, mostly he is just pushing me to do the best I can.
I also felt it was important to include details about my family life as subtly as I can so that I wouldn’t divert the point of the story too far, but I could give some insight that I am not the only one that has difficulty with my father. My brother and I are very close in age and we have gone through similar situations with our parents learning to cope with their children growing up. I feel that this story also takes a position on what it is like growing up with my parents. Our father does not do much of the moral support, but he will always back us up.
My sarcastic tone throughout the story helps bring out the real me. I am very dry and my attitude toward everything is very similar to my attitude throughout the story. I am also not very ambitious, especially with learning to do new things. My story helped me realize that I was being immature with the way I handled learning to drive with my father, and I will never tell him that I have come to that realization. Much of this story has to do with my difficulty in admitting that I may have acted wrong, or I could have handled things differently. That is what makes this story hard for me to read to anyone that knows my family, myself included.
The whole story bases around the idea that I am moving from the backseat, being driven where ever it is that my parents are taking me, to learning to drive and getting myself there. The point is that I have taken on a new position as the driver of my own life and no one can steer me anywhere I don’t want to go anymore. I changed through this event because it not only helped me acquire a new skill, but gave me insight on what it is to take on something challenging. The satisfaction of learning and mastering something is amazing and it is important that that stays relevant in my story as a major focus. I enjoyed what I learned so much that I went on to buy a new car that was stick which is actually humorous to me now that I have written my story.
The writing process for this story was as important as the trial period of the piece. After writing a few paragraphs I would read this story to my mother, for an insiders opinion and to ensure that I am not being too dramatic with my description of my father. The other person I would read this to is my boyfriend. He has not been around my father at all, but he helped me with the amusing aspect to the story to keep my focus as important as my readers attention. With an insider and an outsiders opinion I feel that I maintained a decent balance of pure truth and amusement throughout the story.
Some of the decisions I had to make while writing this paper were whether to leave out certain opinions about my father in case he were ever to read this piece or to put them in because they are just as much a part of the story as the actual events taking place. I decided that my opinion is as important and included my comments where I felt necessary in the story.
As I wrote my opinions and comments throughout the story I realized that my fathers intentions throughout the entire ordeal were purely to help me and my intention was to make him out as the bad guy. At the time of the driving events I did not think that anything that my father was trying to teach me was for my own good. I never appreciated the fact that he pushed me so hard because if he hadn’t I would have given up on learning to drive a manual transmission. I began writing the story with the purpose of exposing my father as the harsh and demanding person I have always seen him as, but came out of the story with a realization that he is not being controlling in all aspects of life, mostly he is just pushing me to do the best I can.
I also felt it was important to include details about my family life as subtly as I can so that I wouldn’t divert the point of the story too far, but I could give some insight that I am not the only one that has difficulty with my father. My brother and I are very close in age and we have gone through similar situations with our parents learning to cope with their children growing up. I feel that this story also takes a position on what it is like growing up with my parents. Our father does not do much of the moral support, but he will always back us up.
My sarcastic tone throughout the story helps bring out the real me. I am very dry and my attitude toward everything is very similar to my attitude throughout the story. I am also not very ambitious, especially with learning to do new things. My story helped me realize that I was being immature with the way I handled learning to drive with my father, and I will never tell him that I have come to that realization. Much of this story has to do with my difficulty in admitting that I may have acted wrong, or I could have handled things differently. That is what makes this story hard for me to read to anyone that knows my family, myself included.
The whole story bases around the idea that I am moving from the backseat, being driven where ever it is that my parents are taking me, to learning to drive and getting myself there. The point is that I have taken on a new position as the driver of my own life and no one can steer me anywhere I don’t want to go anymore. I changed through this event because it not only helped me acquire a new skill, but gave me insight on what it is to take on something challenging. The satisfaction of learning and mastering something is amazing and it is important that that stays relevant in my story as a major focus. I enjoyed what I learned so much that I went on to buy a new car that was stick which is actually humorous to me now that I have written my story.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
...
The essay i will write my reflective piece on is Driving with Dad. I feel that this is the story i worked the most on and feel the closest to. I guess the general point is in the fact that writing this story i realized what my relationship with my father is like from a general honest point of view as in this is how it is/was/will be. There's no made up parts, its all the truth without trying to make anyone look like someone they are not. My point is honesty to myself and admitting things despite my lack of wanting to. I dont know what i will use for an organizing principle.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
relationship/material
How did your relationship to your material affect your composing process? Describe / compare the composing processes you usedfor the revised essays.
The relationship I have to my material differs in each piece. My relationship to my Carter story is one that i am still exploring and trying to figure out what it all means to me and i dont think that i am ready to get deep enough into that at this point in my life that i would be able to create a workable piece of literature, mostly because i am far too confused about it myself to ever expect someone else to understand it. My relationship to my nature piece is also sort of confusing. I want to work on the piece because i do understand what i felt about being outside and what an experience it was for me to be on my own with my friends and nature, despite the main intention on their part being "lets party". My relationship to my driving piece is better than any other piece. I analyze my relationship with my father on a pretty much daily basis and by writing about an experience i wont soon forget i can look back and see how my relationship with him has progressed, unlike the other works their is no progression at this time that directy affects my life. My relationship with my father will affect me daily until i move out again or one of us dies, even then i will analyze every aspect of my relationship with my father because much like my experience with losing carter.. i dont fully understand it yet. But my relationship to the work about my father affected my composing process because i could see the here and now and the "what was then" parts. being able to compare today to back then helped me see what i was getting at while writing this piece and maintain an interest hopefully on a readers aspect.
The relationship I have to my material differs in each piece. My relationship to my Carter story is one that i am still exploring and trying to figure out what it all means to me and i dont think that i am ready to get deep enough into that at this point in my life that i would be able to create a workable piece of literature, mostly because i am far too confused about it myself to ever expect someone else to understand it. My relationship to my nature piece is also sort of confusing. I want to work on the piece because i do understand what i felt about being outside and what an experience it was for me to be on my own with my friends and nature, despite the main intention on their part being "lets party". My relationship to my driving piece is better than any other piece. I analyze my relationship with my father on a pretty much daily basis and by writing about an experience i wont soon forget i can look back and see how my relationship with him has progressed, unlike the other works their is no progression at this time that directy affects my life. My relationship with my father will affect me daily until i move out again or one of us dies, even then i will analyze every aspect of my relationship with my father because much like my experience with losing carter.. i dont fully understand it yet. But my relationship to the work about my father affected my composing process because i could see the here and now and the "what was then" parts. being able to compare today to back then helped me see what i was getting at while writing this piece and maintain an interest hopefully on a readers aspect.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Composing an Essay
Composing Driving with Dad
Activities- Prewriting, rough drafts, writing and reading to my mother, getting input from my mother and an outsider for perspective on what an audience wants and what I’m getting at, writing, reading, writing more.
Focus: I chose my focus by considering what memories I would like to relive and which ones I wouldn’t. I know that I don’t want to write about something that will be dull to everyone else because there is no relation to the topic. I felt that with this story the topic was general, learning to drive parallel to my relationship with my father. I organized my essay by choosing how I would like to segment it, where I would like to start, think about what background information I would like to give and what could be left out. Once I figured out what was important to the story, I began writing. Also, as a part of composing a story, I like to read what I write to people that may have been a part or a bystander to the situation I am writing about. For this story, I reflected on how I came about buying the car and learning to drive with my father, but read to my mother as I went along to see her reaction as an audience and her input as a character that I hardly involved, but knew what happened throughout the situation. I did not use journal entries for this, I remember most of what happened very clearly without having to look back at written accounts of it. I discovered what I had to say as I went along. I realized once I started getting into dialogue that my tone was going to be dry and that my point was to sympathize with both my father and I at some point in the story. I realized that it wasn’t just me learning something, but that my father was learning how to teach something. This helped me get through the story without losing focus or being too dull.
Activities- Prewriting, rough drafts, writing and reading to my mother, getting input from my mother and an outsider for perspective on what an audience wants and what I’m getting at, writing, reading, writing more.
Focus: I chose my focus by considering what memories I would like to relive and which ones I wouldn’t. I know that I don’t want to write about something that will be dull to everyone else because there is no relation to the topic. I felt that with this story the topic was general, learning to drive parallel to my relationship with my father. I organized my essay by choosing how I would like to segment it, where I would like to start, think about what background information I would like to give and what could be left out. Once I figured out what was important to the story, I began writing. Also, as a part of composing a story, I like to read what I write to people that may have been a part or a bystander to the situation I am writing about. For this story, I reflected on how I came about buying the car and learning to drive with my father, but read to my mother as I went along to see her reaction as an audience and her input as a character that I hardly involved, but knew what happened throughout the situation. I did not use journal entries for this, I remember most of what happened very clearly without having to look back at written accounts of it. I discovered what I had to say as I went along. I realized once I started getting into dialogue that my tone was going to be dry and that my point was to sympathize with both my father and I at some point in the story. I realized that it wasn’t just me learning something, but that my father was learning how to teach something. This helped me get through the story without losing focus or being too dull.
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