5/4/2019 3 Comments Final ReflectionMy author identity has definitely changed throughout this course. I started out thinking I couldn’t become a better writer or even if I was one at all. I didn’t think highly of my work and everything inside of me told me my work wasn’t good enough to present. I went from not having any confidence in my writing to now having confidence. My mid-term reflection was poor I was lacking a lot of the material needed for my website, and could’ve easily given up after not hearing the feedback that I wanted and needed to hear. That was my wake up call to prove myself to my professor and push pass my doubts of myself and express it through my writing. That’s when my author identity changed, and the moment I felt like I could do this. It was my moment of clarity, before I would’ve never cared. That’s when I realized my author identity changed…my purpose/ mindset changed.
This course has changed my theory of writing in so many ways. The concepts Professor Mangini introduced to us that suck with me throughout this course is being a part of a discourse community. I never heard of the term until this course and like how he used it in a way to make it easy for us to be able to open up to each other and communicate with one another. I truly appreciate this effort because it was one of the things that helped me open up a bit during this course. I felt like I stepped out of my comfort zone. I use to view writing as just throwing some things together for a grade. Now I view writing in a different light and kind of enjoy it. I’ve watched the growth in my own work and notice that I’m more descriptive, focused, and passionate about the topics I’m writing about. My past writing experiences are really different then my present. Mainly because I’m a completely different being, I am not the same person I was ten-twelve years ago. I evolved from a young girl into a woman, so my outlook and mindset has changed tremendously. Before I didn’t really care to learn, I had a lot of self-doubt and I didn’t work hard, high school in all honesty was a joke. I now have a goal that I’m trying to obtain, and a clear direction of what I want to do in life. I have supportive people around me, driving me to learn and put my best foot forward. The only thing that’s the same from now and then is self-doubt I still have that from time to time, it’s definitely a work in process. I take it one day at a time as my confidence continues to build the doubt with fade away. This class over all was overwhelming at times because it seemed like a lot of was being asked of me at once. But I can honestly say I learned a lot, gained so much confidence in myself, and pushed past some fears. I plan to speak up in class more and not have a fixed mindset. I will always remember that whatever environment I’m in as long as we are all there sharing the same common goal we are a discourse community. I will always remember the term making meaning I plan to carry this term in every aspect of life.
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5/4/2019 0 Comments Research Paper: The FinaleFinally I’m coming up on the final lap. This Research paper has honestly wore me out. I started off my paper so strong and knew in my head the direction I want to go toward. I really just had a hard time executing my message. I’m so passionate about my topic because I was once a young girl looking to the media for trends and guidance. I use to want the perfect body because that’s what I saw advertised. Women are more than just sexual objects. It was very important for me to show a different side of women and make that the main topic. Many women in the world have tremendous accomplishments but fade to the sidelines because they either take the backseat to a man or are body shamed because they don’t look the part.
This research paper was difficult to write I won’t lie, but the purpose behind the message made me want to put pass all the feelings of defeat. During the process of this research paper I used quotes from the documentary Miss Representation,to help support my thoughts in research paper. Throughout all the different stages of this paper I struggled. There were a lot of helpful tips learned in this course, creditable sources, and quote from the documentary to help form my views on how sexism, gender discrimination, gender power and how they affect the vast majority of women in the world leaving them feeling empowered. This is the half way mark of the research paper I should be either finished the paper or at least half way through. I’m neither, I am still at the beginning stages of my paper. I’m having major writers block and feel discouraged as I feel like I won’t meet my deadline in time. These past couple of weeks we were introduced to some concepts that might help us along the way in our process in writing our research paper. We talked about creditable sources, and In-text Citations. Using In-text Citation we need to focus on the summary, paraphrasing the text and using direct quotes to help support my ideas to help produce a better final project. We discussed arguments/ counter arguments. We also talk logical fallacies, and different acronyms that were used throughout this course such as DAT, TPS, PIE, etc. These are all things that we can use to help us with the writing process with the research paper. We also had write an empathy letter to help build our memoir, write a Sympathy letter to help structure/build our research paper, and Write a counter facial to show different ways of writing to integrate into our paper to help strengthen our final project.
Empathy Letter… Dear Dad, It’s me Dom, It’s something I’ve been meaning to get off my chest all these years. First off I want to say I forgive you. I also want to tell you I’m sorry. I came into your life unexpectedly and abrupt changing your life forever. I robbed you and mom of your childhood making you instantly become adults. For mom it was easier for her to adapt I grew inside her and lived with her so our bond was better she instantly loved me and you grew to love me. Mom always said you were wild growing up you started drinking and partying at a young age, your household wasn’t the most structured so you became a product of your environment. You dropped out of school in the eighth grade really having no direction in which way to go in life. You found a passion for cooking and are actually really awesome at it, It’s one of the things I admire most about to you. I just want you to know I don’t hate and I forgive you because as I struggled to find myself and know my worth all these years, I realize you never knew yours. Sympathy Letter… Dear Girls, I just want you to know I love each and every one of you. If you haven’t heard these things lately regardless of age, race, and gender identity. I want you to know you are smart and beautiful in your own way. Be happy with yourself love who you are and embrace being you. Live out every dream imagined and know your worth as long as you know that you will always be on top. Counter facial What if when I ...Looked up at my dad an saw him staggering up the stairs I would’ve just grabbed by little brother Chris quickly before he made it to the steps and began singing the theme song to curious George to him that’s his favorite movie… I would smile at Chris make us a snack grab his rabbit and a cup of tea and prepare to watch his favorite movie. My mom could’ve just went upstairs because she noticed my father was drunk and help him lay down and get conformable to sleep it off and prepare for the next day. Me and my father would have never fought, I would have never been arrested and the whole story would’ve changed just like that. The last time I wrote a research paper was over ten years ago. I have the same exact feelings as I did those ten years ago. Writing this paper has brought on a lot of anxiety, I think honestly because I lack confidence in my work. I feel like it’s not good enough to present the finished product; I have a clear message of what I want to argue and inform the readers on but I don’t quite understand how to execute my thoughts.
My research paper will focus on empowering women and helping young girls and women understand the power behind our voices. I would like to share a brief introduction to my paper to help give you a better understanding of the direction I’m aiming towards for my paper. I’m trying to send a message that we want to shift/ change the negative standards of society to positive ones and promote positive images of women. We want to show women who are smart, women who are physically strong, women who are strong mentally and women who show they are in control of their own destiny. The women that we usually see in the media are women that are over sexualized for the personal gain of selling a product. We need to figure out how we can transition into the mask we want to become and stop living up to social media standards? The empowerment of women has been on the rise, however it still affects our being, knowing and doing. Facing obstacles like sexism, gender discrimination, and gender power are things that would normally deter you from your dreams/goals but we have to shift our mindset and believe that we can rise to the occasion because we are females and we are fearless. The whole message of paper is to show young girls and women that we can be anything they want. Push pass the media’s images of who they think women should be, we can be the next Michele Obama, Layla Ali, Mona Davis, Serena Williams, and Hillary Clinton if we want too. We are so much more than a physical object, we are “beauty and brains” and beauty comes from within. I believe we have much more to offer the world, and that’s what I plan to argue in this research paper. |
Dominique Alexander Archives
May 2019
CategoriesAll Identity Narrative Reflection Research Project Writing Process |