Project Two

I felt that project two was a bit more difficult than project one because it seems like it was sort of an awkward in between stage while project one and three were for a specific reason. Project one was to really think out the problems of our service site and to get a strong sense of the site overall and project three seems to actually focus on researching assistance for our sites and to really feel like we’re going to make a difference. As I mentioned towards the beginning of the semester, I’m more of a doer than a planner so the idea of planning for project three with project two feels a bit unnecessary for me, despite the fact that I can understand that it really is important to slow down and take my time to do this things. When I wrote project one, it was really simple to map the entire thing out in my mind and just sit down and write, even if I didn’t go in order, it was simple to answer all the questions. Whereas when I wrote project two, I felt it was extremely necessary to take it one step at a time and I didn’t have that sense that it all fit together, but rather I felt that I had to really take the time to understand each topic throughout the paper, and it didn’t seem to flow as one the way project one did and the way that I imagine project three will work. Overall, I know that project two was an important step in the whole process of benefiting our sites through letter-writing, I just felt a bit awkward with it personally due to preferable writing styles.

Citizenship

cit·i·zen·ship noun
the state of being vested with the rights, privileges, and duties of a citizen.

To be a citizen literally means the definition above, but it also means that you're apart of a greater community and something intricate. Specifically to be a citizen in a democracy such as the United States means to have a voice and an opinion of your quality of life and it is something that should never be taken for granted. While I do attend Elon University within the city of Burlington, I do not personally consider myself to be a citizen of Burlington only because I have not become involved outside of the Elon community beyond Kopper Top. I do, however, consider myself to be a citizen of San Diego, California, and the United States. I consider our civic responsibility to be to appreciate our priveleges and to exercise them by voting and expressing one's personal voice because if a citizen doesn't exercise their rights, then why do they have them? In the past year, I have registered to vote and voted on a notion passed in California.

Shitty First Drafts

In the article “Shitty First Drafts,” author Anne Lamott discusses the importance of first drafts and how their initial quality is not crucial, but rather what does matter is getting one’s thoughts out on the page so that with future drafts it because easier to trim the edges and get them better and better. To be honest, I feel like one of my favorite parts of the essay was the opening paragraph in which Lamott described a clear image of a writer sitting down carefree to write a novel with none of the everyday worries that boggle the rest of the writers who are less privileged. I just found this portion really entertaining because I could instantly recall at least five movies I’ve seen that provided the exact same image, the “ideal writer” if you will. To be honest I feel like this almost discourages realistic writers from pursuing the dream because they may feel as if they’re doing something wrong if they are unable to sit down and instantly pump out a Pulitzer Prize worthy piece of literature. Actually, now that I’ve continued to think about it, I can recall one scene from a movie that shows a more realistic approach to the writing process. It’s from the movie “Something’s Gotta Give” in which Diane Keaton’s character, a playwright, has a scene in which she leaves and returns to her computer repeatedly over the course of days, in a frustrated angst of writer’s block. Another part of the essay I found interesting was when Lamott wrote, “We do not think that she has a rich inner life, or that God likes her or can even stand her, (Although when I mentioned this to my priest friend Tom, he said you can safely assume you’ve created God in your image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.)” I don’t have a whole lot to say about this except that I just found the entire statement very interesting and partially true as well as partially false. Personally, I believe that even if I hate a person, God will always love them even if he doesn’t approve of some of their actions. However, I do know people who would believe that God is capable of hate and that another person (who they also happen to dislike) had committed something worthy of such hatred. I really just found it to be a interesting concept.

Life Lessons

When Deborah, the director of Kopper Top, handed me a halter to get onto a horse named “Image,” I instantly begin to worry because I felt like any comfort I once felt around horses had slipped away. The way she spoke to me about the entire situation seemed to make me feel like she expected me to know far more than I actually did and it made my heart start racing. As soon as I led Image away from the stall and up onto the driveway with about four other horses, I begin to feel a bit more in my element. Diane, another woman who worked at Kopper Top, stayed with the five of us volunteers and proceeded to teach us various “porcupine” techniques, which were various ways to control the horse and its movements and successfully direct it to where it should move at that moment. I feel like although the skill will assist us with our work at Kopper Top, it will also provide us with personal abilities. One of the key points made was not to make eye contact with the horse while directing because it put to much pressure of the horse to perform perfectly, and also not to look back at the horse when leading because it said you didn’t trust him to follow. I feel like those are two lessons to take into account whether they involve a horse or not, I mean it’s very important to remember that we shouldn’t expect others to perform perfectly in any respect or chances are they’re more likely to crack under pressure and fail. In addition, we should always remember to trust those around us before we feel the need to not trust them. In society, it is more common not to trust those around us and then to grow to trust them, however a personal rule of thumb for myself is to trust until I’m given reason to not trust. Perhaps this is a more naïve outlook but according to the teachings I absorbed from Kopper Top, my personal beliefs go hand-in-hand. I’m excited to continue taking lessons from this experience and to hopefully assist in changing another individual’s life by the end of this term.

First Impressions

When I pulled up to Kopper Top for the first time, my anticipations were not as high as I had hoped for multiple reasons. First of all, I had heard less than enthusiastic responses from a few of my peers who had gone previously, and also the overall appearance of the facility was less than uplifting. It became clear rather quickly how desperate the need for service was at this site, not so much for the actual purpose of the clinic, but more because the owners were clearly having difficulty both running a program and maintaining a facility. Kopper Top is primarily a program that allows mentally and physically handicapped as well as otherwise ill children to work on basic skills through communication with animals, primarily through horseback riding. Before arriving to the site, I had anticipated assisting with a lesson, and to be honest I was terrified by this notion. Personally, I rode casually for about four years when I was an adolescent and have not continued to do so for the past four or five years. At no point did I ever consider myself an expert and the thought of being given the responsibility to watch over another life, while having to work a skill I do not feel confident about, was horrifying. However, I feel it’s important to conquer such fears, and in response I planned to perfect any previous knowledge I had of horses and continue to build on it so I could become a beneficial asset to the facility. Upon arrival, I quickly realized that I was not expected to assume such a great responsibility and I also realized that the program was not solely for the clients who rode the horses and interacted with the cats, dogs, and ferrets, but in actuality it was greatly for the volunteers to learn life lessons beyond simply helping others.

Understanding the Writing Process - Blog 1

1. I absolutely love writing, whether it's in my own personal journal or an essay for an English assignment. However, I would consider myself a "Heavy Reviser," meaning that I'm not crazy about taking my time and carefully planning my every decision. Having a positive outlook at writing really allows me to write more easily because it's something I enjoy to do rather than something I dread.
2. I am definitely a Heavy Reviser, with one exception which is that when I know I have an assignment coming up, I have a tendency to think about the topic every now and then, maybe while I'm doing some other tedious work, but I never jot down notes, or prepare outlines the way a Heavy Planner might.
3. I have to be in a proper mindset and really understand what I'm writing about because if I sit down without understanding the material, I tend to get distracted a great deal more easily than if I know what the assignments asking of me and how I should be responding. If I'm comprehending the assignment then I just have to turn on my ipod and sit down and write for a few hours.
4. I usually write in one sitting but if I don't, then I usually write the bulk majority of an essay and leave one or two paragraphs to be completed.
5. No I wouldn't say that technology has influenced my writing process whatsoever, because I write in the exact same way when it's in a personal journal or for any hand written assignments.
6. Like I said previously, as long as I comprehend the material and the assignment, I am good to go because then I just write as it comes and I generally try to use good grammar and sentence structure so, grammatically revising isn't always necessary in my essays. As for revising material outside of grammar, unless a point feels really awkwardly worded, or a paragraph doesn't transition well, I'll usually read an essay once through and feel finished.
7. If I get a chance to discuss essay material with another student it usually helps me in understanding the overall assignment and really getting my thoughts straight, as well as hearing opposing views helps me to better support my own stance on a subject.
8. Honestly, I truly believe that I write better under pressure because unless it's a 10+ paper, I am very capable of pumping out a successful 5-7 page essay in less than a day, in fact I'd say it would usually take me less than 3 hours. Usually what I do is, if I have waited until the last day or the two days before it's due, I'll make sure to get the rest of my work finished and out of the way so that in one night all I need to worry about is the essay.
9. I don't generally have any sort of rituals that I've recognized to date.