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Thursday, June 3, 2010
My Reflections of English
Hello, and welcome to the gallery of my literary work! My name is Amanda Goodrich, but I much prefer to be called Mandy Moody. I prefer this because Mandy is a shortened version of Amanda, and Moody is my dad’s last name. I am a seventeen year old full time college student, and I spend most of my life in a class room. I spend any free time I have reading anything I can get my hands on, and writing whenever a scrap of paper is nearby. I am deeply entrenched in my family and in my faith. Without these two things holding me together, I would be a completely different person that I have turned out to be. Although I have been told I am mature for my age, I have very little life experience. When I started school my hope was to expand my views and meet people who are much different than I. This was definitely something I got to achieve in English 101.
When I first started this class, I had every intention of breezing through it. I figured it would be a very easy class to pass and exceed in. I thought English was always my best subject, and I basked in the attention of past teachers. In the first week of taking this class though, my gloating was abruptly put to an end. Assignment after assignment, and essay after essay I received grades lower than I expected. I will admit, these grades caused a great deal of sweat, anxiety, and tears. I realized very quickly in the game that stylization is not a replacement or as important, as substance. It’s one thing to write a creative opinion piece, it’s another thing entirely to write an objective analysis piece. This class helped me to grow as a writer because it forced me to write something other than skin deep essays. It forced me to write deep, analytical papers that really made me think and examine a subject. This class also didn’t allow me to just rigidly stick to my own opinion without considering those of others. I had to step back, and objectively acknowledge other people’s views on a subject. Sometimes this involved admitting that maybe there are two sides to a scenario. Although it was a great deal of hard work, overall this class has benefited me supremely as a writer.
The first subject that we dove into in this class was identity. Not only have my beliefs regarding the aspects of identity been changed from this class, but the very meaning of the word itself. Before this class unraveled what an identity truly is, I believed it to be a two-dimensional word equivalent to “personality”. Readings from out text as well as fellow students thoughts have shown me that personality traits are but a fraction of what makes up an identity. I now know that identity is a multi-layered and constantly changing summary of what a person was, who they currently are, and who they will be in the future. Since identity is made up of all these things, it’s hard to pick out just one aspect of it to analyze. Picking just one contributor of identity out like we did in our first essays is also very difficult. The reason why this was so hard is because everyone is right. Every text reading, student essay, and opinion were right about identity. It’s impossible to pigeon-hole identity down to one trait or cause, because there are an infinite number of possibilities.
My perceptions towards what a community is and how one works have also been altered because of this class. Before when I thought of community, I thought of a neighborhood, city, town, or any other location. By the end of the community unit I began to realize that community is a chameleon of a word. As brought out by our second blog, community can be a verb. It can also be a lifestyle, a hobby, even an online form of communication as brought out by the essay “MySpace Outage Leaves Millions Friendless” by the publication The Onion. I have also learned that community also doesn’t always produce positive results. This was proven from the reading “The Secret Society of the Starving” written by Mim Udovitch.
From our Tradition unit I have learned that balance is necessary for tradition to survive. You cannot hold on to an old tradition for dear life hoping that everything will stay exactly the same throughout the years. Yet if you willingly let a tradition go, you lose a part of your history. This is where the balance is vital. Since the modern world moves at such a fast pace, tradition has to adapt to the changes to avoid being left behind in the dust. While this is true, this unit helped me develop a greater appreciation for traditions and what they mean to a culture or a family.
There was a common element that I learned from all three of the units for this quarter. Whether we are talking about identity, community, or tradition I learned that there is no right or wrong answer to the meaning or the causes of each. I believe this is what makes this a diversity class. All three of the units were understood to be different based on who was talking about it. Everybody in the class had something new, exciting, and interesting to add to the topic. The culmination of everyone’s opinions allowed my own views and perceptions to expand and take in new knowledge. This enlightening of my perceptions is something that I will be forever grateful for.
For this last assignment we were asked to bring together the pieces that best displayed our skills as a writer. We were told to choose a piece that best demonstrated our critical thinking, how we have improved, our ability to write to an audience, and a piece of our choice. This was actually the hardest part for me out of this whole complex portfolio. After days of changing my mind and analyzing my work I finally figured out what I want to display. Our first timed write based on the movie Bend It like Beckham adequately showcases my critical thinking skills. Any of our papers could have worked as my revision piece, but in the end I chose our second timed write. For our voice and audience piece I chose a discussion forum that generated a great deal of conversation and debate. I chose this piece because it was easily relatable to my audience no matter what age or culture of the person reading it. Last but also my favorite was the tradition blog. I wrote about an old family tradition that has been left in my childhood, but still has plenty of emotion to share with others. I appreciate you taking the time out to read through my journey in English 101D.
My Journey Through Critical Thinking
When I first started this class, I can honestly say that I had no idea what analysis meant or what it entailed. Even now, it requires a great deal of effort to accurately use my critical thinking skills on written assignments. Many poorly written papers can attest to that fact. I am now confident in my ability to analytically examine a topic, and write an effective paper on it. Out of all my assignments, I am most confident in the critical thinking skills of my first timed write. This paper accurately portrays my analyzing skills as a writer.
This assignment was based on the movie “Bend it Like Beckham” and asked the question of how the film defines an outsider, and how it questioned my own beliefs towards what an outsider is. I was able to answer this question in an analytical way and also able to make it relatable to my audience. For example I started my introduction with: “a sense of belonging is like an onion. There is not just one thing that gives you a sense of belonging or makes you feel like an outcast. There are layers, and some are deeper than others.” This gave my audience a visual aid and at the same time broke down a complex subject into a way easier to understand.
This assignment was based on the movie “Bend it Like Beckham” and asked the question of how the film defines an outsider, and how it questioned my own beliefs towards what an outsider is. I was able to answer this question in an analytical way and also able to make it relatable to my audience. For example I started my introduction with: “a sense of belonging is like an onion. There is not just one thing that gives you a sense of belonging or makes you feel like an outcast. There are layers, and some are deeper than others.” This gave my audience a visual aid and at the same time broke down a complex subject into a way easier to understand.
How To: Pick Apart A Film
A sense of belonging is like an onion. There is not just one thing that gives you a sense of belonging or makes you feel like an outcast. There are layers, and some are deeper than others. Some of these layers include cultural, racial, and gender belonging. Each of these layers are important, and they were all prominently demonstrated in the film Bend It Like Beckham. The most defining layer of what it means to be an outsider is the setting. Being an outsider truly depends on where you are at the time. An outsider in one group or area of the world is the one making a person feel like an outsider in another.
Nobody is a universal outsider and everybody fits in somewhere. Each of the protagonists from the film had the chance to play both the insider and the outsider. The main female character Jes was constantly changing from insider to outsider, depending on where she was and who she was with. Within her own family she didn’t feel like she belonged, yet she felt like part of the group with her teammates from the football team. Even though she shared no cultural or racial similarities with these girls, their love of football brought them together and made them a group. The same principle applied to Joe, the football coach. He was cocky, confident, and demanding on the football pitch because he belonged there. When he went around to Jes’ house to convince her parents to let her play on the team, it was apparent that he was not welcome, so he was meek and respectful. Although each of these characters was obviously outsiders at some point, they were an integrated part of the group at other times.
My cultural understanding of what an outsider is was challenged throughout this film. I had previously believed that a person chooses whether or not they wanted to be an outsider. I believed that the factors of belonging included confidence, and motivation, rather than circumstance. When defining an outsider, the film brought out very little regarding whether or not you choose to belong. In the film Jules is portrayed as an energetic, feisty, determined athlete, yet even she got to know what it was like to be an outsider at times. On the soccer pitch she was a star, but felt out of place and awkward at home with her mother.
Just as a river is constantly changing, a sense of belonging is never stagnant. Nobody gets to be an insider permanently, just as nobody has to be an outsider permanently. Being an outcast has very little to do with choice, but has more to do with where you are and who you are with at the time. Cultural, racial, and gender belonging were all brought out in this film, but they were not the defining attributes on whether or not the characters were outcasts. Jes didn’t completely fit in with the people from her own culture, but because of their mutual love for football she felt comfortable in the company of her English friend Jules.
My Own Redemption
It took me awhile to figure out which assignment we have done throughout the quarter needed the most attention, and thereby winning the spot as my revision piece. This was a particularly hard task because there are at least five major assignments that could use a do-over. After much thought and reviewing, it was my second timed write that won out.
The Shawshank Redemption was a deep and multi-tiered film that deserved much more analysis that I was able to five it in under an hour. My original paper did not meet the requirements at all, and had a tendency to repeat itself. The only strength it had going for it was that it met the length requirements, and it was remotely about the movie. The weaknesses in this case far outweighed any strengths.
The original writing prompt for this assignment was “Based on your own perception of non-conformity how did the film and group discussion that ensued challenge these perceptions?” My original draft didn’t even remotely cover this topic. It talked around the subject, rather than just hitting it on the head directly. A prime example of this from my writing would be when I said: “consider dictatorships in history and the mob mentality that ensued. If more people had refused to conform to the rules those dictators were putting down, it is likely that genocide could have been prevented.” Although in my head I had made a connection, I realize now that that thought sounds winded, off base, and vague. Other problems I had with this paper were sentence cohesion, and a narrow thesis. This is my chance to fix all of that. In my revised draft of this timed writer, I started with a well placed thesis statement that was previously lacking. If I have learned anything at all this quarter it is that without a thesis, you have no paper.
I hope that my second go at this assignment will result in a smoother paper with well planned thoughts, paragraphs, and overall theme. I believe that my revised paper will give the movie the analysis and thought that it is justified.
Shawshank Revisited
Conformity at Shawshank
The meaning of conformity is constantly changing. Its different for every place, and has been different through different time eras. Actions and thoughts that were not acceptable one hundred years ago are considered normal now. What is considered over the line in Europe may not be so heinous in the United States. This same principle applies to the movie the Shawshank Redemption. Obviously, since this film takes place in a high security prison, morals and values are going to be different than for those in a normal society. Non-conformity in prison is different than non-conformity in the real world. Even though that is true, this film still challenged my own personal perceptions of what conformity and non-conformity is. I have always considered non-conformity to be a bad or rebellious thing. If you don’t follow the society you belong to, trouble will follow. People have to obey the laws, regulations, and principles set down by their society. Even if these said rules are unspoken. The Shawshank Redemption challenged my perception by showing me that not only can non-conformity be a positive thing, but a life-saving one.
Andy Dufresne was a perfect example of how not conforming to the society you belong to can be a good thing. Society can be defined as the setting where you live, you work, where your family is, or any place or group of people you belong to in one form or another. Even though he didn’t deserve to be, Andy belonged to the society at Shawshank prison. This society in itself was a non-conforming one in comparison to the “outside”. Within this convicted community though, Andy was a non-conforming outsider, and it showed. All of the men in the prison besides Andy, were uneducated, rough around the edges, and guilty of the crimes they were convicted with. In comparison Andy was educated, clean cut, well mannered, , and innocent of the murder he was accused with. Throughout this entire two and a half hour portrayal of his stay at Shawshank, he stayed innocent, educated, and well mannered. In the beginning of the movie, this proved to be a problem for Andy. A prime example of this would be how “The Sisters” took a violent homosexual liking to Andy because of the fact that he stood out. He was accused by Red of being a “wimp, with a silver spoon up his a**.” For the first two years of his life in prison, the way he stood out and silently refused to conform to the society of prison life kept him in a state of constant misery and weariness. He was brutally beaten and sexually attacked. Later on, it was the fact that he WAS different that saved him from this permanent cycle of misery. Without being the educated, seemingly meek man that he was, the warden and the guards would not have recognized him out of a crowd. His talents in financial situations is what saved him in the end. If Andy had conformed to the society around him, and let himself become rough, loud, and a criminal, he would not have been able to eventually escape from prison. Without the money laundering scheme the warden has, Andy would have had no money after he escaped, and people would have eventually found him and brought him back. Due to the fact that Andy exposed all of the evil activities in the prison, finding him was not of the highest priority. So, the fact that the warden recognized him as educated and different among a crowd of criminals was vital to Andy’s survival, and eventual escape.
Andy Dufresne changed my opinion about how conformity and non-conformity affects a persons life. Although I know this was a fictional movie, the principle that this movie portrayed can be applied to real life scenarios. For example, consider dictatorships in history and the mob mentality that ensued. If more people had refused to conform to the rules those dictators were putting down, it is likely that genocide could have been prevented. Not conforming to your social community is not always a bad thing as I once thought. By silently refusing to be a part of the physical, and sexual attacks on others, by using his energies towards positive things like building a library, Andy saved his own life. Without this mentality, this attitude, and this demeanor, his escape plan could have never have came through. The warden and the guards would have never picked him out of a crowd of convicts, and his success at Shawshank would never have happened. This setting a part, this non-conformity to the social rules and regulations of prison life, let Andy have a future outside of Shawshank.
The Benefits of Non-Conformity
Non-conformity is another term for “breaking the mold”. It can also be considered as defying the laws and principles of your society. A non-conforming choice a person makes doesn’t have to be on a major scale to fit into non-conformist territory. It could be as simple as wearing clothes outside the norm of your community, or as serious as breaking the laws of the government. The lead character Andy Dufresne from the movie The Shawshank Redemption fit into the category of both a major and a minor non-conformist. Everything from his dress, his mannerisms, his personality, and his future plans were as different from the rest of his community as night is from day. This film and the group discussion that followed changed my personal perceptions of what non-conformity is, and the results that follow. Before I saw this movie and the example the lead character set, I saw non-conformity as a bad thing. My brain has always put non-conformity equivalent to rebellious and rebellious equivalent to something bad. I had a narrow minded view of what situations a non-conformist could be put into. As this movie showed, non-conformity from a society that is doing something wrong can be a good thing, even a lifesaving one.
Andy Dufresne and his escape was a perfect example of how not conforming to the society you are placed in can be a good thing. Andy could not possibly have been more different than his prison-mates than was possible. If you had looked up the word “non-conformist” Andy Dufresne would have been there. He looked, dressed, talked, walked, thought, and acted in the complete opposite way of anybody else at the Shawshank Prison, including the people in charge. It was very easy to see from the beginning of the film that Andy was a well-educated man, who knew what he wanted and how to get it. Since all of the other prisoners were rough around the edges, dirty, guilty, and uneducated Andy stuck out like a fly in milk. Even after nineteen years of undeserved prison life, Andy’s demeanor had changed very little. This non-conformity throughout his stay in prison is what ended up providing him with a future outside of Shawshank. Andy could not have made his escape without the job that the warden has loaded him down with. The warden would not have given that job to Andy without knowing for sure that he could be the trusted, educated, and rightful person for the money laundering job. The warden knew that he needed someone who was quiet, educated with numbers, and ambitious. If Andy had decided to fit in with the rules and principles that were being employed by his fellow inmates, the warden would have overlooked him as a potential candidate. But Andy took initiative and used his intelligence to get him places he wanted to go at Shawshank. Even though he faced opposition for his non-conformist attitude, this is what saved him from an unjustified punishment in the end.
Non-conformity is a general term relevant to the location and time where you are at. One person’s conformity is another person’s non-conformity. Does this make the act or choice wrong? Of course not, conformity is relative. The same is true for Andy Dufresne’s situation. His attitude in a society outside of prison would have been considered normal and expected, but in prison it was foreign and unwanted. Even by his best friend in prison Red he was said to be “a wimp, with a silver spoon up his ass.” Yet it was this meek and intelligent attitude that allowed his escape. The warden would have never trusted a stupid and rough convict with the scheme he was a part of, but he knew that Andy was different. This non-conformity to the society of the Shawshank Prison allowed Andy the freedom he deserved.
The meaning of conformity is constantly changing. Its different for every place, and has been different through different time eras. Actions and thoughts that were not acceptable one hundred years ago are considered normal now. What is considered over the line in Europe may not be so heinous in the United States. This same principle applies to the movie the Shawshank Redemption. Obviously, since this film takes place in a high security prison, morals and values are going to be different than for those in a normal society. Non-conformity in prison is different than non-conformity in the real world. Even though that is true, this film still challenged my own personal perceptions of what conformity and non-conformity is. I have always considered non-conformity to be a bad or rebellious thing. If you don’t follow the society you belong to, trouble will follow. People have to obey the laws, regulations, and principles set down by their society. Even if these said rules are unspoken. The Shawshank Redemption challenged my perception by showing me that not only can non-conformity be a positive thing, but a life-saving one.
Andy Dufresne was a perfect example of how not conforming to the society you belong to can be a good thing. Society can be defined as the setting where you live, you work, where your family is, or any place or group of people you belong to in one form or another. Even though he didn’t deserve to be, Andy belonged to the society at Shawshank prison. This society in itself was a non-conforming one in comparison to the “outside”. Within this convicted community though, Andy was a non-conforming outsider, and it showed. All of the men in the prison besides Andy, were uneducated, rough around the edges, and guilty of the crimes they were convicted with. In comparison Andy was educated, clean cut, well mannered, , and innocent of the murder he was accused with. Throughout this entire two and a half hour portrayal of his stay at Shawshank, he stayed innocent, educated, and well mannered. In the beginning of the movie, this proved to be a problem for Andy. A prime example of this would be how “The Sisters” took a violent homosexual liking to Andy because of the fact that he stood out. He was accused by Red of being a “wimp, with a silver spoon up his a**.” For the first two years of his life in prison, the way he stood out and silently refused to conform to the society of prison life kept him in a state of constant misery and weariness. He was brutally beaten and sexually attacked. Later on, it was the fact that he WAS different that saved him from this permanent cycle of misery. Without being the educated, seemingly meek man that he was, the warden and the guards would not have recognized him out of a crowd. His talents in financial situations is what saved him in the end. If Andy had conformed to the society around him, and let himself become rough, loud, and a criminal, he would not have been able to eventually escape from prison. Without the money laundering scheme the warden has, Andy would have had no money after he escaped, and people would have eventually found him and brought him back. Due to the fact that Andy exposed all of the evil activities in the prison, finding him was not of the highest priority. So, the fact that the warden recognized him as educated and different among a crowd of criminals was vital to Andy’s survival, and eventual escape.
Andy Dufresne changed my opinion about how conformity and non-conformity affects a persons life. Although I know this was a fictional movie, the principle that this movie portrayed can be applied to real life scenarios. For example, consider dictatorships in history and the mob mentality that ensued. If more people had refused to conform to the rules those dictators were putting down, it is likely that genocide could have been prevented. Not conforming to your social community is not always a bad thing as I once thought. By silently refusing to be a part of the physical, and sexual attacks on others, by using his energies towards positive things like building a library, Andy saved his own life. Without this mentality, this attitude, and this demeanor, his escape plan could have never have came through. The warden and the guards would have never picked him out of a crowd of convicts, and his success at Shawshank would never have happened. This setting a part, this non-conformity to the social rules and regulations of prison life, let Andy have a future outside of Shawshank.
The Benefits of Non-Conformity
Non-conformity is another term for “breaking the mold”. It can also be considered as defying the laws and principles of your society. A non-conforming choice a person makes doesn’t have to be on a major scale to fit into non-conformist territory. It could be as simple as wearing clothes outside the norm of your community, or as serious as breaking the laws of the government. The lead character Andy Dufresne from the movie The Shawshank Redemption fit into the category of both a major and a minor non-conformist. Everything from his dress, his mannerisms, his personality, and his future plans were as different from the rest of his community as night is from day. This film and the group discussion that followed changed my personal perceptions of what non-conformity is, and the results that follow. Before I saw this movie and the example the lead character set, I saw non-conformity as a bad thing. My brain has always put non-conformity equivalent to rebellious and rebellious equivalent to something bad. I had a narrow minded view of what situations a non-conformist could be put into. As this movie showed, non-conformity from a society that is doing something wrong can be a good thing, even a lifesaving one.
Andy Dufresne and his escape was a perfect example of how not conforming to the society you are placed in can be a good thing. Andy could not possibly have been more different than his prison-mates than was possible. If you had looked up the word “non-conformist” Andy Dufresne would have been there. He looked, dressed, talked, walked, thought, and acted in the complete opposite way of anybody else at the Shawshank Prison, including the people in charge. It was very easy to see from the beginning of the film that Andy was a well-educated man, who knew what he wanted and how to get it. Since all of the other prisoners were rough around the edges, dirty, guilty, and uneducated Andy stuck out like a fly in milk. Even after nineteen years of undeserved prison life, Andy’s demeanor had changed very little. This non-conformity throughout his stay in prison is what ended up providing him with a future outside of Shawshank. Andy could not have made his escape without the job that the warden has loaded him down with. The warden would not have given that job to Andy without knowing for sure that he could be the trusted, educated, and rightful person for the money laundering job. The warden knew that he needed someone who was quiet, educated with numbers, and ambitious. If Andy had decided to fit in with the rules and principles that were being employed by his fellow inmates, the warden would have overlooked him as a potential candidate. But Andy took initiative and used his intelligence to get him places he wanted to go at Shawshank. Even though he faced opposition for his non-conformist attitude, this is what saved him from an unjustified punishment in the end.
Non-conformity is a general term relevant to the location and time where you are at. One person’s conformity is another person’s non-conformity. Does this make the act or choice wrong? Of course not, conformity is relative. The same is true for Andy Dufresne’s situation. His attitude in a society outside of prison would have been considered normal and expected, but in prison it was foreign and unwanted. Even by his best friend in prison Red he was said to be “a wimp, with a silver spoon up his ass.” Yet it was this meek and intelligent attitude that allowed his escape. The warden would have never trusted a stupid and rough convict with the scheme he was a part of, but he knew that Andy was different. This non-conformity to the society of the Shawshank Prison allowed Andy the freedom he deserved.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
I Embrace The Audience
I have considered the discussion boards for this class the place where most of people’s ideas flourish and grow. It’s a playground for analytical and creative writing, where you can say whatever you want. The only rules are you follow the question and be cordial, but you could expand the idea to wherever you wanted to go. It was in these discussion boards that I was able to generate discussion among my peers, and include them in my writing. In particular was the first discussion board in our Identity unit called “How did we manage to survive adolescence?” This was a discussion comparing and contrasting two women’s essays, and then adding our own thoughts on what high school was like. Since this post did in fact generate discussions among my peers, my own feelings towards the subject were challenged as well. Instead of just me challenging others, I was also challenged. This type of writing has expanded my literary skills because in such a casual setting it is easier to debate what someone else is writing.
In this discussion forum I tried to appeal to my audiences memories and bring out their own personal experiences in high school by giving a detailed description of my own. Even if my audience didn’t have the same experience as I did, they could still relate to the adolescent awkwardness in general. Since high school was a memorable and traumatizing experience for all of us, my entire audience could relate to what I wrote when I said: “teenagers especially find courage in groups.” I believe that my entire audience was able to relate to this statement whether they were a teenager or an adult. Also by ending my post with the question “Isn’t it interesting how you don’t need anybody else but yourself to make high school a negative experience?” allowed people a chance to either affirm or challenge my convictions of high school, which couldn't help but generate a detailed and analytical discussion amongst my fellow students.
In this discussion forum I tried to appeal to my audiences memories and bring out their own personal experiences in high school by giving a detailed description of my own. Even if my audience didn’t have the same experience as I did, they could still relate to the adolescent awkwardness in general. Since high school was a memorable and traumatizing experience for all of us, my entire audience could relate to what I wrote when I said: “teenagers especially find courage in groups.” I believe that my entire audience was able to relate to this statement whether they were a teenager or an adult. Also by ending my post with the question “Isn’t it interesting how you don’t need anybody else but yourself to make high school a negative experience?” allowed people a chance to either affirm or challenge my convictions of high school, which couldn't help but generate a detailed and analytical discussion amongst my fellow students.
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