FINAL REFLECTION

What do I think of when I think of the word "wobble"???

"About to fall off"

I have never been good at writing good essays or reading wordy books. I'm the kind of person who likes to get things done the way I want it. I like Math because it's constant. I feel like writing and reading is easier for people who grows up around people who uses good use of language. It don't matter how hard I try to write an essay, it's still not a good paper compared to others. I look around myself in my English classroom and I see different students, and it seems like they were born around good language. Sometimes I hesitate to participate in class because I feel like my comments either aren't understandable, professional, or useful.

I once read a story in my English class called "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan. I can relate my life to hers in so many way. Like her parents, my parents are from a different country so their english is broken. Growing up in a house with my parents mostly speaking Khmer, a language in Cambodia, well spoken english was something I never really felt comfortable english. As a kid, I grew up with family and friends who have always talked with broken english.

Growing up, I listened to a lot of rap, r&b, and hip-hop. I liked hearing rappers rap with such slang and bad words. I never realize that most of the rappers I listen to had such bad grammar. Most of my classmates in school liked that kind of stuff. In middle school I witnessed things that influenced me, such as fights, COOLNESS, and of course BROKEN LANGUAGE.

It wasn't until my senior year in high school that I finally realize what good english is. Good english to me is being able to talk english CLEARLY with intelligence. Going into my first college English class, I was nervous at first. But after mid way through the quarter, I then realize that I have to keep trying and never giving up on my english.

Literacy Narrative Reflective: Lake's Natural Blood

I believe it all begun when Lacy wanted each individual in the class to think about a story we can reveal literacy in. I felt like if I was to go creative I should make my literacy look real. For example, sensory details are such a factor. I want to write about something important in my life. To give off the exact atmosphere of when it happened on text. My focus on this literacy narrative was not to force myself to write, but to enjoy writing about something I loved. I was sitting in the library narrowing my choices down and it came down to one. "My experience at Lake Wylie"

I knew that this was what I was looking for all along. I love camping. I love smelling the scent of the forest. And most important, I love it when the lake is so peaceful. I actually wish one day I can own my own lake house. It would be so superb and unreal.

As I was writing, I begin to imagine how it was at the lake recently. I put myself in a memory where I was at Lake Wylie one weekend over the recent summer. I wrote down everything as much as possible,  trying to grasp that moment. Every second of it counted. I wrote and wrote and wrote until I couldn't think of anything else to reminisce. The hardest part about thinking about the whole moment is distinctively small things, such as exactly where I was.

Although I finished about three pages of my first draft, I felt like something was missing. Earlier in the semester, I remember hearing two stories in my english class. One was called "Mother Tongue", by Amy Tan. The other was a video by Ira Glass with him explaining the use of an anecdote. Both of these stories were two amazing piece of art that I admired so much so I wanted to use their ideas in my story. This required me to write a second draft for my literacy narrative. Amy Tan inspired me so much because in "Mother Tongue", she tells a story about part her life and showed that no matter how different things may be, right or wrong, just reach for the stars. I begin to do that as I write, seeing what was most valuable and less valuable of my memory at Lake Wylie and turning it into something as a piece of artwork. To do that, I wanted to use a anecdote, who Ira Glass explains to well about. An anecdote was going to help me have different catalogues. It was actually going to help me be at Lake Wylie. How does the air smell? How does the ground feel? It was coming to me.

I sent both my first draft and second draft to my english teacher, Lacy Manship. She commented on both of my pieces, and I knew what I had to do. I then combined my first draft with my second, putting it together and making sure things were aligned. It was harder to re-write these pieces together than it was to write two drafts, because I had to connect one moment to another, and that took time. I finished up writing the final draft in the school library, and a victory shout was in my head.

This project wasn't bad at all because I actually was able to create such a vivid imagination of an important memory and put it on text. I usually don't write much either. It felt so awesome writing this piece of art, something I can consider a real art from me. I felt that this assignment probably gave me more to search for when I'm at the lake next time.

Ethnography Project Reflection: FOOD

Man, this was tuff stuff. It took time and focus to actually put this project into place. It seem to first start off when my English teacher, Lacy Manship, assigned her students to pick a place on campus that reveals underlife. I had so many options, including the Atkins Library, East Deck 2, and even the trail by the green house. Though it was hard to pick, my general question to myself was "where do I usually  hang out on campus?" and that narrowed my choices to one. CONE Building. Nearly every day at school my friends and I eat at CONES. It has television, music, performances, fast food restaurants, and just a cool environment to be around. Plus, it is closer to the library and closer to most of my classes. I picked this place because it's where I generally eat at, and so FOOD or EATING was one hell of a choice.

It was time to work with others in the class. My teammates on this FOOD Project were Deshaun Smith, Rabee Khan, and Drew Wall. All individuals were great to work with because we enjoyed each other's company. One of our favorite mission in this project was going out to eat! We usually try to observe how others choose their food and what eat, but at the same time, we observed how we ate. There was a time in Atkins Library where we four were all kind of tired since it was 8am on a friday, and it was coming to the point where the final project must be executed. Overall, working with these guys went well. We each had a different perspective on FOOD so it gave the project more to talk about.

Revision was constant. We had to make sure we observed all that can be observed when others are eating, or else we would had to come back observe again. Editing the video took most of the day to complete. Interviews needed to coincide. As a team, we revised our teamwork ethnics, video, and our thoughts. We first wanted to find the underlife to EATING, identifying an individual, but that couldn't produce a message. So we thought hard in class, and it finally came down to us with the help of Lacy of course. We wanted to send a message, and there were so many. Deshaun then spoke and said "You should be open-minded to other's disposition." This caught every group member's attention because it can be said to anybody in the world. We were thinking about hunger, the poor, obesity, and anorexic.

Creating this video was such concentration. With one computer to do it all, we had to make sure we agreed as a team as what we want on the video. As I said earlier, it took nearly a day to finish up this video, mainly due to the editing and different opinions on how the video should be made. At the end of the day, it was a work of art!

We enjoyed each other's company so much. This project got my group and I thinking more outside the box and how much creative we could get.

Click here to see our Ethnography Project: FOOD (Video)