the personal essay
This essay asks you to focus on a single PLACE that has had an impact on your life. By focusing on one place and a group of related events that has happened at this place, you can begin to acclimate yourself to examining your life through writing. You will use in-class exercises and examples of essays as a model. We will look at many different styles of essays. This includes short stories, vignettes, personal essays, amongst other texts. This is a creative nonfiction assignment, a story told in several parts that should range from different perspectives or points in TIME. You may incorporate various individuals, using descriptive language dialogue, imagery, etc.
This is not a “five-paragraph” essay. This paper should be written like a short story. We will look at how to incorporate dialogue, description, temporality, while specifically discussing a place. This is your second assignment for this class and the freedom of it will allow you to show case your writing style. A successful essay will blend the analytical with the personal. We’ll be listening to a podcast from 99% invisible that acts as a personal narrative about a place. Hopefully, it will kick-start some inspiration and thought about how we can talk about place.
Like any good story, the narrative structure you choose to use, and the details, descriptions, and dialogue you choose to include (or not include) will affect how you communicate your story/stories to your audience. Each writer has their own story. The best writers are reflective about their stories—what motivates them, what their strengths & weaknesses are, etc. The same is true of teachers & tutors. In order to understand who you are becoming as a writer, it is essential to reflect on how your own experiences have shaped you.
As writers compose, they are impacted by the past experiences that inform how they perceive themselves as learners and writers. This assignment will prime you to be more attentive to and reflective about those experiences and perceptions. You may design & format your narrative in any way you think will help you achieve your purpose. For example, you may want to include artifacts or images. Or, you may want to use textual features like asterisks or headings. Your essay may be fragmented or unified. These choices are up to you.
Again, as with the first paper, you’ll want to avoid places that are cliché or have been written about often. These include: your high school, your childhood home, your grandmother’s house on a holiday, your beach or cruise vacation, a mission trip you took, your sorority or fraternity house.
Some thoughtful, interesting, and exciting examples of places that I have read from students include: a recovery center, a sewing room, the music building at high school, the activities office, the JROTC training field, Port au Prince Haiti, the kitchen table, the hair salon, the barre of a ballet studio, el campo in Colombia, a tutoring center, a rowing boatyard, a coffee shop in Minnesota, a local library, the fields in Lutsk, Ukraine.
I reserve the right to deduct ten points per day from your final grade for late submissions. After three days, late submissions will not be accepted
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