The challenging component this semester was the transition from high school English reading and writing level to college level. It is mainly because High school writing did not have many expectations from students, its main focus was on the ideal five-paragraph essays. As compared to college, writing is mainly geared and focused on one’s ability to thoroughly answer the assigned prompt. Initially, I was not sure if I was capable of handling a fast-paced course, however, I quickly adjusted to the change and I am glad that I chose to stay. In English 10, I have learned many valuable elements that I can incorporate into my everyday writing. I have included my writing from project 2 a rhetorical analysis on, “Black Lives Matter”, which effectively demonstrates my growth as a reader, thinker, and writer.
Scrolling through the possible essays to assess, it didn’t take long to find one that was eye catching. A Title by the name of Walking While Black by Garnette Cadogen caught my attention for obvious reasons. Cadogen depicts one of the terrors black men risk enduring every day in the United States. Cadogen’s storyline, techniques and informal language enables readers to connect to his story. The beginning of the essay takes us where his love for walking begins-his hometown Kingston, Jamaica. He creates a storyline, starting from his last night strolls in his hometown and walking us through how he ended up in the New York City being slammed against a cop car by a handful of policemen interrogating him.
I then described my life and who I was. After describing this, I explained my experiences in confronting racism. The point of the essay was to state that racism is still alive and can be present anywhere. After writing this essay, I learned that my mechanics and style was not where it should be. Even with the revisions Mr. Heldenfels made in the draft, I still made mistakes with mechanics and tense shits. I had written comma splice and has several spelling mistakes. I looked to improve my mechanics after writing this essay.
The essay that I am writing stems from the short story by Sherman Alexie titled “Flight Patterns”. In this story it gives us some insight on even though people are subjected to discrimination, there is always light at the end of the tunnel.