A Look Back...

Although this class has seemed to be a real thorn in my side at times, I will walk away feeling like I know how to analyze a subject, and articulate my thoughts better than I could when I started ten weeks ago.  I have returned to school to pursue an engineering degree and took this class to satisfy both my English and diversity requirements.  I have always done well in any subject that pertained to math or science, but the idea of this English class created a bit of anxiety for me.  I have not had to do any legitimate writing in almost fifteen years but my wife assured me that I could do it.  Easy to say, for an English major who has taught five years of high school English.  With her support and my nose-to-the-grindstone attitude, this experience hasn’t been so bad.  The workload has been manageable, and the reading has been insightful.  The day I opened my email, and discovered that I received a B- on my first paper, I was a little dejected.  Two office visits, and what I thought was a much better paper later, words cannot describe how deflated I was when my second paper came back two points lower.  It was the proverbial punch in the gut.  The days that I received my grades for my first two essay assignments were by far the most painful moments I’ve had in my return to academics.  However, the conversations that I’ve had with Lolly and Andrea after the fact have taught me some of the finer details about writing and maybe to relax a bit also.

I am 33 years old, and have a beautiful family at home who both supports, and inspires me to continue full steam ahead.  Being a father and a husband is a role that I covet, and I cherish every moment spent with my wife and kids.  My son is nine, and my daughter just turned six months old.  It is my goal to show them that when you put your mind to something, and pour every ounce of energy you have into it, you will be rewarded.  Maybe you get knocked off course a time or two, but in the end, hard-work pays off.  I grew up with a father who preached to me about all of the things that I needed to do in life.  I however, would rather show my children the way to success, than beat them over the head with the same ideas day after day. Given the fact that I have a great job, that more than provides for my family, many have wondered what I’m doing chasing a degree.  That idea reveals much about my personality and journey through life—never really stopping to smell the roses.  I am a person who never seems to be completely content with what I have achieved in life, and am always trying to add a new wrinkle here or there.  Becoming an Engineer is the next chapter for me, on my journey through life, and I will leave no stone unturned in an attempt to make this dream become a reality.

The themes covered this quarter have been identity, community, and tradition.  I began the quarter just relating identity to who a person is, but over the course of the quarter found a deeper meaning.  I came to the realization that identity is something that is formed over the course of one’s life, and is influenced by many factors including culture, religion, and gender.  The movie Bend it Like Beckham, helped define what it means to be an insider or an outsider and strengthened my understanding of identity.  Community had a pretty simple definition when I started this class.  I have come to realize that all of the groups that we are a part of become a community in some fashion.  Communities can be detrimental when they are focused about a misguided notion but for the most part I found that they are an intricate web of support for their members.  The viewing of The Visitor focused on boundaries and helped to create a correlation between identity and communities.  The quarter culminated with the exploration of traditions.  I once thought of traditions as the basic holidays, but now look at things like family meals and weddings as traditions.  The major idea that will stick with me about traditions is that they provide a basic framework that will continue on into the future, but will be changed over time to suit the needs of those practicing it.  This quarter has provided me with a much deeper understanding of the three major themes covered.  The interactions on the discussion boards, major essays, text reading, and films have all been instrumental tools in developing my insight on these topics, and will leave a lasting impression.

With this quarter culminating we are compiling our best pieces of work that illustrate strengths in four different areas—critical thinking, revision, audience awareness, and a culmination piece of our choosing.  I have chosen the second timed writing assignment to show a bit of critical thinking, the first timed write as a revision project, a discussion post from the tradition unit to highlight audience awareness, and our final paper concerning traditions to reflect my strongest work of the quarter.  These are all pieces that stood out to me and made the choices easy.  

Lou Holtz once said, “You were not born a winner, and you were not born a loser. You are what you make yourself be.”   I feel as if I have worked extremely hard this quarter to come to some kind of conclusion about the intricacies of our society, and become a much stronger writer.  I feel that I have gained skills that will pay dividends as my academic career advances and as a member of society.