Writing and me this year has been an interesting thing. I've done quite a lot of it, for quite a few different classses. Thats kind of what happens though when five of your classes are essentially english classes, just some are elective and very nontraditional. Nonetheless, I've done my fair share of writing this year.
The things is though, all of it has been different and all of it has served a purpose, and all of it is something that has helped me in one way or another. Teachers always say that the more you write the better you will become at it, and that very much is a true sentiment. This year has only increased how true I see this being.
First there is AP English Lit with Mullins. Your traditional I'm-going-to-make-you-work-super-hard-and-give-so-much-work-that-you-want-to-cry-hysterically-and-i'll-just-sit-back-silently-watching-and-laughing english class. But it was a good english class, I've honestly learned a lot (except the whole meter and feet thing in poetry, I dont know an iambic tetrameter from a pteradyactle centameter, and I STILL cannot count syllables...) but regardless of my inability to preform tasks that most third graders can do, I still liked this class. It gave me a chance to improve my more formal writing side, the things that I will continue to use in college. I've learned a lot about how to formulate an essay effectively and that is something that I'm glad to be able to do (even if it is not always the most effective essay) and will most likely continue to hear Mullins voice in the back of my head everytime I go to write an essay saying things like "Is that a claim that just started that paragraph? No? YOU'RE WRONG!" or "Are you really ending your paper in quote, seriously?" In my head Mullins sounds a lot like a sarcast, snarky, and judgemental dictator, ruling over the land of essays, grammatical rules, and AP English Lit.
Then theres my Women's Studies independent study, where I pretty much just write a lot of papers (when I actually do write the papers...) However, it is another place where I've gottent to practice formal writing and its been kind of fun, because these not only need to be formal, but a lot of the time I have to submit my own personal opinion into them. Getting the write balance of formality and me has been interesting.
Newspaper and Sportswriting kind of get jumbled together because the type of writing I do in them is really similar, just on different subjects. However between these two classes I'm more than ever sure that I want to be a print media journalist (even though I will forever be broke and print media is a dying art and blah, I ignore this and take the more "Ohhhhh! Look my names in INK on PAPER and it will be FOREVER!). However I've learned the ways that journalist are required to write and the little technical aspects of them that they need to do and I find it fascinating. So whether I decide to do sports journalism, war correspondence, political something another, or end up writing reviews of local elementary school plays, Turner and Knight have helped me determine that I really want to be a journalist.
Last, theres Creative Writing. Creative writing is like my safe haven. It is were I can write things they can completely suck and Egan just smiles and says "It's okay try again and see if you can do better" at least thats probably his version of what he says, not the real "NO! That's WRONG! Change everything about yourself!" Then again, maybe it is something more towards the middle of the two.... Either way, I love creative writing. I love filling the pages of my journal with chicken scratch that one day may grow up to be beautiful words typed up on a page. Creative writing lets me explore myself in a way that nothing else does, and its a style of writing that nothing else can fill.
Like I said though, theres a lot of classes that have influenced my writing this year and I am honestly glad for each and everyone of them.
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