Quarter Review

This quarter has been fun. I was surprised when I found out we’d be making blog posts for homework, and for a little while in the beginning I’d been frightened- what if something goes wrong? What if I can’t make my posts because my computer crashes or I forget to do them? I soon found out that the blog posts were a fun, lighthearted part of my weekly homework; before long I was making my fiftieth post, more posts than anyone else in the Freshman or Sophomore classes. It became a sort of... way to entertain myself. Bored? Make a blog post! Nothin’ to do? Make a blog post! Trying to slack off? Make a blog post! I was actually quited disappointed when we took a couple weeks off to do other things in English like read books and do essays on them. Of course, this quarter of blog posts still taught me things.

I've been searching for years for the mistake I was making in all of my pieces. I would write these great stories, these wonderful narrations of a made-up world that fills up my every waking moment. But there was always something wrong with my pieces- there was always something off about them, something that made me throw them in the trash each and every time. At one point I started working on a long-term project (which I will now have to go back and edit) that started out great but started turning into a disaster. My teacher finally helped point out where I was having difficulty- Mr. Sutherland* noticed that I was putting too much detail in certain places and not enough detail in others (when I mentioned this insight to my mom she gasped, grabbed the edge of her chair, and said, “Oh! That’s it! We’ve figured it out!”). Using this feedback I began to be more aware while writing, and I do believe I’ve improved over the past month and a half. Along with this fun I’ve had real growth and time to think about my changes.

My favorite post would have to be “Rhythm”, although I do love the “Am I an Alien?” chain and I plan on continuing that throughout the year. I like “Rhythm” because it’s just so random but beautiful. It’s about being peaceful through a beat, your beat, and it makes everyone seem individualized (isn’t that what they want anyways? To be different?). It’s a people-pleasing post. And the “Am I an Alien?” series is just a really fun side-project that I enjoy working on. Some of my posts are from a chain called the “30 Day Challenge” in which you write thirty posts (not, apparently, over the course of thirty days, though) and each post is a letter you would write to a different person, like your crush or your parents. So far I've only gotten to around the sixth post in this Challenge because I'm stuck on the next 'assignment', where I must write a letter to my favorite actor/actress or TV character. I don't watch TV that often, so this should prove to be fun...

If you were to walk into my  house and watch me write these posts, such as the ones above, you would find me sitting on my bed with my backpack and random papers strewn out in front of me and my laptop on my, uh, lap. There would be no books open, no research showing, no tabs on the computer so that I can switch to them to read up on things. That only happened once (Am I an Alien?- Part 1). Most of what I write comes from personal experience or just random thoughts entering my head. At the beginning of the year Mr. Sutherland told my class that we could do one of two things on our blogs... A) take part in the “Arena” which means that we would do constant debates and responses on our blogs or B) take part in the “Journey” which means that we would write posts about creative things we’ve done or something that is currently taking up a lot of time in our life. I chose the Journey, and Journeying is exactly what I’ve done.

I’m inspired by many different things. Sometimes I write my posts out of anger- I don’t want to start shouting at people on the spot because, generally, when I get angry I stop thinking. I have a point, but I’ve forgotten what it was or I can’t formulate the words to explain it. If I write it down I can remain calm and actually get my sentences out without stuttering. I can edit my paragraphs, review my argument before I send it out for everyone to read. Sometimes my posts are inspired by general creativity- I have several posts that are fiction I based off of good music I listen to. I also have three posts that are stories- two of them are chapters of a book I’m working on and one of them is just a Scary Story, which Sutherland apparently thinks is disgusting- I agree. I remember when I made him read it... I later told my mom his thoughts about it, and what he'd said: "Ewww!!!" I then asked her if I could read it to her- she declined the offer and gave me a strange look. I think I deserved it.

I definitely think I’ve improved over the past quarter. With Sutherland’s advice and my own realization that he was right, I dedicated myself to making my paper’s more balanced when it came to detail. Although I’ve never posted it (which I might, maybe, possibly) I wrote an essay for writing class that turned out better than I’d expected. I just need to ask Mrs. Corbally if that's alright before I take any actions. My writing has already improved, and I’m having fun with every minute of it. In fact, sometimes I think I write and make posts too much... Even though I was reassured it’s OK...

*Aka Freddy.