Throughout the course of English 111, I have been reintroduced to the things that I used to love. The aspects of the course that was the most significant to me were composing letters/snail mail, playing scrabble, and turning away from the screen to write.

Snail mail has become something that I enjoyed a lot throughout this course. Whenever I receive a piece of mail, it makes me smile, because it shows that other people are thinking about me and they do care. Letters are on a very personal level, so when I get one, it makes me feel good on the inside. It is also proven that with each letter, writers experience higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction, and lower levels of depressive symptoms (Shain,12). Writing to someone the old-fashioned way is a lot more sincere than an email, text message, etc., and it is the best way to show someone that you care about them.

Playing Scrabble is the most exciting thing that I look forward to. I used to play it when I was younger, so it reminds me of old times. We play it twice a month in class, and it gives me a chance to bond with friends and gain word knowledge. I look forward to wordplay day every two weeks because it gives me time to turn away from the usual assignments and be able to enjoy myself while also broadening my vocabulary.

I have learned in this course that turning away from the screen and writing longhand is important because, it boost your knowledge. I am able to learn faster, and I am also able to recall more and understand more deeply when writing longhand. Studies suggest that those who write out their notes by hand have a stronger conceptual understanding and are more successful in applying and integrating the material than those who take notes with their laptop. I am also able to be more creative when writing on paper because there is nothing to make you follow a set pattern. It is three-dimensional, so it is able to be folded, cut out, stapled, or glued. When I am writing longhand I am less distracted, then when I am using a laptop, because when you are using a laptop, the internet is just a click away, and it makes it very easy for me to get distracted. Writing longhand is also better because it calms the brain made jittery by constant connectivity.

All of these aspects from the course of English 111 was the most appealing to me. I enjoyed Snail mail, playing scrabble with friends, and writing longhand. This course has definitely reintroduced me to things that I used to love, and that is why these aspects of the course were the most appealing to me.

Works Cited

Shain, Susan. “We Could All Use a Little Snail Mail Right Now.” The New York Times. 8. Oct. 2018.

Gene, Tara’s father is a paranoid, delusional man who spends most of his days preparing for the days of abomination, stockpiling food and ammunition for the family. Gene runs a scrapyard and enlists his children as his “crew”. He refuses to send his kids to school in fear that they will become “socialist” or “gentiles”.

His kids sustain many injuries while working for him, but will not allow them to go to the doctor. He says that their mother, Faye, will heal them. He describes doctors as being corrupted by satan. In Chapter four, Gene says that the most hateful sinners were those who would not make up their mind. “Those who worship at the alter of god one day, and offer a sacrifice to satan the next.”(33). He frequently contradicts himself. For example when Tara was in the play “Annie”, he hated her going into town. “Theres no telling what kind of cavorting takes place in that theatre, “He said. “Its probably a den of adulterers and fornicators”(87). He kept saying that he was going to put a stop to her going, but every single time on opening night he was in the front row. He said he hadn’t kept her out of the public school for all these years just to see her get corrupted on stage, but yet he was still there every time, watching her preform.

This reveals Tara’s father, Gene is inconsistent. Tara uses word choices like he “marched” right to the office box and bought tickets for the next night. This means that he walked with a pace to get the tickets to see her. It was almost like he was excited to watch her preform because when they were in church the next Sunday he did not talk about doctors, or Y2K, or the illuminati, all he had to talk about was the play over in town, where his daughter was singing the lead.

In chapter six, when Tara was helping her father at the scrap yard, he wanted her to jump in the scrap bin to settle the iron after it had been dumped, so Tara jumped in, just like he said, and started to settle the iron. Gene had began to move the scrap bin, going full throttle, making sharp turns, Tara could barely hold on. On the last turn a spike of iron was flung towards Tara. It pierced her in the leg. She shouted that she was stuck several times, but he never heard her. She ended up falling into trailer. Gene came up to her and asked her what had happened. When Tara said that she fell out, he asked her how she had managed that and he sounded “disappointed” like Tara was not good enough. Sometimes he feels like Tara is good enough, but other times he feels like she will never be enough.

This demonstrates how Tara proves that her father, Gene has inconsistencies.

Speaking in front of people has always been something that has terrified me. It has always been a challenge for me because my anxiety and nerves would get the best of me. An early memory that I recall about reading/speaking that I recall vividly was in twelfth grade.

My teacher, Mrs. Gilmore, was making us read a play aloud in class. She announced that it was written by “William Shakespeare”, and that the play was called “Macbeth”. She explained to us a little bit about the play, she said that it was about a Scottish general who received a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he would become king. He was consumed by ambition, so he took action. She said that he ends up murdering King Duncan, because he wanted the throne to himself, and that he ends up feeling guilty about his actions.

Everyone had to have a part in the play. So I quickly started to scroll through the pages, trying to find a part with the least amount of lines possible. I ended up picking the part, “Lady Macduff”(Which did not have to speak until scene 4, act 2). My anxiety was okay for the first couple of days, because I knew that I would not have to read. But the more scenes that we read, the more nervous I started to get. It was getting close to my scene, so I started to count the number of pages until I would have to read. I constantly stared at the clock , counting every minute, every second, until finally the longest hour and a half my life had went by. Phew! I did not have to read.

The next day, I knew that I would have to read, and at this point I was just ready to suck it up, and get It over with. My stomach was in knots already by now. I opened my mouth, voice trembling, and I started to read aloud. My part in the play was fairly short, so before I knew it my part was over, and it definitely for sure was not as bad as I thought it would be. I do not really know why I worry about reading so much, because I sound just like everyone else. Reading aloud just makes me very self conscious. I worry about what people will think of me, when at the end of the day, they probably don’t even think anything about it.

I feel that today, the more that I get out of my comfort zone is the best for me. Like I said, reading aloud is something that makes me very uncomfortable and it is very stressful for me, but I feel like the more that I am pushed to do things that I may not like, or necessarily feel comfortable with, the more I start to improve in those areas, and there is always room for improvement.  

Cheerleading has always been something I’ve had a passion for ever since I was little. I was in cheerleading for nine years. I started out with optimist cheer, then middle school, and finally high school. My favorite part about it was always Friday night football. I really enjoyed it and I created a bond with eleven other girls. My cheer coach had a big influence on me. She taught me that even when life gets hard, I should keep pushing forward. I never really expected to get an award for cheer, but I received two awards, one my junior year, and one my senior year. It was truly an honor to receive them. Cheerleading is something I’m passionate about, and its something I hope to continue in the future!