Writing a personal narrative was one of the toughest writings I have had to do in a long time. The work itself wasn’t necessarily hard but getting out all the small details I encountered during my traumatic experience and on to paper is what made me have to work harder. After I wrote my shitty first draft, I was concerned. Not only for my grade in the class but I also thought I had lost all my writing skills I had gained throughout my high school experience. I had some peers read it and make simple grammatical corrections but other than that I was on my own until my meeting with Mat. With my conference date approaching I began to worry since this was the first writing he would be reading and overall his first impression of how good of a writer I would be. When I finally got to my conference all my worries went away. Mat gave me suggestions on what to fix and what to leave. Some of the comments he made were regarding the fact that he seemed a little lost and I needed to tie up loose ends. I also needed to create a whole separate scene on why soccer was so great to me so the audience could feel what I lost and why it was such a big part of my life. He gave good tips on how to create this scene, one being a flashback of a specific moment in my soccer career that really stuck out to me, and other being a flashforward to a time after. He told me to add in more details about the actual collision with the goalie, so it makes the audience feel the pain I felt and to point out all the highs and the lows. Since lacrosse was never a dream sport to me, he said to take that whole scene out because it seems like I was just settling for something decent instead of continuing to search for something great. By making the corrections Mat suggested, I am hoping to get a solid grade that will overall lead me to getting an A in this course.
Project 2 took a lot of time and consideration when thinking about a topic to choose. I wanted to make sure I was choosing a community that I was interested in joining while also learning more about each individual factor that plays a role in deciding where someone will end up living. Throughout the process of picking my specific question, Mat helped me so that I would not run into issues dealing with some apartment complexes. These issues would mainly sprout from the idea that the companies do not want a bad reputation, so if I were to publish something that showed negative aspects of their communities, they would not be okay with it. Throughout this process, I learned how to find academic sources and how to analyze each of them. I was also able to connect all of them to the same topic, even when they had nothing to do with each other. I really enjoyed being able to go and interview people involved in this community. I was able to learn in a real-life scenario by talking to faces that are actively involved in this complex. I got to go on a tour of the Republic, which allowed me to see all the things included in this living space. I could see how the employees acted around residents and people who were interested in living here, while being able to give all the details about this complex and what each layout included, while also talking about the financial aspects of living off campus.
After completing the final project of the semester, I was able to look back and see all the things I have accomplished throughout this course. Not only did I learn how to write a personal narrative including dramatic details, but I was also able to complete a research paper in which I learned how to analyze academic sources and review working texts throughout a community. This third and final project was my favorite of the three, because I was able to have fun while making the podcast and it was a lot more casual then the other two projects. While touring the Republic, I was able to get a lot of useful audio clips that are present in my podcast. These clips include some of the employees talking while on the tour, the key fab opening a gate for access to the pool, and music that was blasting at the pool on a hot and busy day. By putting these into my podcast, people will get to hear what the community at the Republic tends to be like without having to go there. To distribute my podcast, I will be posting it to my public Facebook page so that people can have access to it. I will also be sending an email to Katherine Rodriguez, the general manager at the Republic, thanking her for the interview and the time she spent allowing me to get to know her and this area better. In the email I will be attaching the podcast so she can see the work I did and how she was a big part in helping me finish this project to the best of my ability.