Personal Essay Topic

Choosing a personal essay topic has come to be one of the more difficult tasks i've had recently. Out of all the possibilities, the one that stood out was from the day we brought our own object to class. 

My topic is the miniature marimba keychain given to me after making All-Region band in 7th grade. This is very symbolic of who I am as a person today. I chose this because it was so dear to me and a big turning point in my life. The question I have for my topic is how such an insignificant gift can give me motivation that would craft the rest of my life. I hope to explore this in my paper and the ways competition has both helped and hindered my life.

Artifacts of my Writerly Roles

Write a blog entry reflecting on the following:

- What writerly roles you play

- How your writing stlye, purpose, content, etc. differs from character to character

- What recipients or audiences are assumed in those characters

 After collecting all my writings for this week, I have picked them apart and have been able to analyze my roles as a writer. I have come to find that I have a large amount of writing personalities and different roles, each with their own style. 

First of all, I am a friend. My close friends are who I talk to the most, and the majority of it is texting. For me texting is fast and simple. All rules of grammar and spelling are thrown right out the window. The goal is to get as much information passed along saying the fewest words possible. Looking back on the conversations they seem almost pointless. They begin with one side saying "Hey whats up?" followed by a typical "nothin." No new information was given, and yet it seems necessary to ask. 

This is far from how I act as a student. There are still two parts to me as a student. I am a note taking student, then an assignment completing student. When taking notes I write neatly, but quickly. I sometimes don't have time to write full sentences so I abbreviate. The abbreviations all make sense in my head, but may look like nonsense to any other people. Like "Y = C + I + G + X - M" looks confusing, but I know it means "Gross Domestic Product as expenditures equal the sum of consumption, investment spending, government spending, and exports, minus imports." When do assignments that will be turned in and graded, I use my best writing skills. I use my knowledge of grammar and sentence structure as best as I can. Never do I use slang or profane content.

 

Most importantly, I am a son. My parents and I have a good relationship, and we tend to keep up with each other  and how our lives are going on a daily basis. Most of our communication is done through the phone. In the scarce amount of written communication to my parents, I found my role differs slightly between my mother and my father. My mother is very technologically challenged. She is utterly confused by  the operations of a computer, and texting is as time consuming as a full phone conversation. My writing to her is usually on a question, answer basis. I use complete sentences and appropriate language when her, no slang words. Its usually kept to a maximum of two sentences, or a short phrase such as "I love you." When writing to my dad, my son role is more on business terms. My father and I have many opportunities to lead worship at different churches and since I don't get to see him during the school week we communicate through e-mail. I set up schedules and an order of worship down to the timing. I act very efficiently and professional. Often one of us needs something done. "Can we get twelve copies of the song with the horn charts in a separate folder by Tuesday? Also, I will send you a file of the second song I transposed tomorrow that I'll need five copies of."  Even though he's my father, I must also act as a co-worker. 

I Believe That I Can Learn To Write Well

"One belief, though, undergirds them all: the most important thing that influences a writer's growth is believing that he or she can write well." 

Ballenger's concept relates directly how I live my life. As a child I was brought up with the belief that there are no limitations on my success. I was free to be my own person, but taught to do so full heartedly. The challenges and goals set out for myself could not be face without full belief in myself. My parents were amazed by the variety of things I did growing up. I wanted to do well in school, so I got straight A's. I wanted to play football, I started on varsity. I wanted to play percussion, so I made 1st chair All-State twice. I wouldn't have been able to do such things without first believing I could succeed. I believe that confidence enables further success, beyond the success of hard work. One can only grow so much by just putting forth effort. If you have no belief in yourself and what you're doing you limit yourself. 

Writing is difficult for me. Often times I doubt my ability to do well at writing, and it hinders my potential. This class is made to make me a better writer, and I completely agree with Ballenger's way of thinking. For me to get all I can out of this class, I must believe in myself. I must  believe I can write well. My skills will develop with an optimistic point of view. 

I can write well.

Letter of Introduction

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Aaron. I hail from Bedford, Texas where I have lived for the majority of my life. This is my first year at TCU and I am enjoying every bit of it. I am currently a business major with aspirations of one day either owning my own recording studio or working as a music producer. While TCU is a wonderful school I am currently waiting to receive an evaluation of my application to Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. If I am accepted I would study Music Production in there Curb School of Music Business. I've grown up around music and it has crafted who I am today. I learned to play drums at age 6, follow by piano at 8, guitar at 12, and bass at 13. Unlike the typical high school student, I never had a real job. I was very blessed to be able to use my gifts in music to share them with others through worship music as a job at Alliance Community Fellowship and First Baptist Church of Hurst. My friends all thought it was unfair that I got paid to do what I love, even when I would gladly do it for free, but shouldn't everyone feel that way about their job? Now that college came around I have been lead here to TCU. I have come to love this school and friends I have made here. Although I stepped out of the line of every single person in my extended family to attend Baylor University, they are all proud that I picked a place that suits me. 

English has never been my favorite class to take, but it was that way because I did not excel in it. I spend little time practicing my reading and writing outside of what I "have" to.  My hope for this class is that I will learn new information and develop skills to improve my writing. Outside of any classwork, my personal writing consists of emails and music lyrics. I have little confidence in my writing simple because I know my writing is rare. I would like to write a story if I had the time. I have a big imagination but a very difficult time conveying those stories through writing. Poetry and lyrical writing are my favorite types of writing because of their loose form and freedom. I dislike writing abstracts or research papers simply because it bores me to write about other peoples ideas and information. My sister is a writing fanatic and it always bugged her how my poor my writing was in middle school. Although it still isn't great, my sister has influence the way I right for the better. With practice and teaching I know i can improve my writing. I am excited to be in this class and am really looking forward to becoming a better writer. 

I have read and agreed to the terms of the course syllabus.