Personal Essay Topic

It was hard to decide what topic I was going to chose for my first essay. I decided I would write about my experience i had with stereotyping. The exercise we did in class made me realize that i could right about my experience. My stereotype experience came from where i went to high school. I went to a small private high school in Oklahoma City. Many people in the Oklahoma City area would also consider kids from my high school to be filthy rich and spoiled. If i ever went up to a person that I met for the first time they would just assume that. I met a group of girls one time and that was the first thing they said to me "Oh so that means you are really rich?" It would always be very frustrating when people would say things like that because the stereotype is not true. I know many friends from my high school that are not as well off as many of the people that are making these stereotypes about my school. I hope while looking into this stereotype about my high school. I understand since its private school that assumptions can be made but i believe its unfair for people to make statements like I have heard before just because of a school you go to. I am excited to write about this topic because i have never before and i have been dealing with it for a couple of years now.

Writerly roles

Many people have different writerly roles. It was very interesting to finally for one week to collect all of my writings and to see what they are like. I have never done this before and I thought it was a great exercise. It helps to let the writer know what type of writer they are. That is one of my main goals for this class is to try to find out what type of a writer I am. Obviously from collecting my writings of the week I could tell that there many different styles that I write to different audiences. And I think its true for everyone when I say that you write different when its to a friend or to a job you are applying for.
When i collected all of my writings they varied greatly. Some were just simple posts such as "what have you been up to lately?" on facebook or more serious in an email setting up an meeting. I am not a big list maker. During class when talking with my neighbors most of them had made lists throughout the week with things they have to get done or want to get done. I never have really made lists unless it's a packing list for a long vacation I was going on. I know my mom is very big on list making and many people can not do much with out making periodic lists. Many of my writings came from short conversations on facebook or in emails. In the past week i did not have any major serious writerly roles. I never realized that most of my writings were very informal usually just to friends from back home or here at TCU. I like the casual writing styles on the internet were you can use slang and not have to worry about missing a period or comma. Some of my emails were a little more serious but it was still to recipients that are not as strict and serious. I am not saying that i do not like writing papers but the casual writing is fun. That is why i enjoy this class so far because of all the informal casual writings to a relaxed audience. I know soon are writerly roles will be heightened but the blog writings and short writings in class are fun.
Overall I found out a lot about my writerly role during this exercise. I realized that most of my writings are very casual and the audience is usually to friends. I enjoy this type of writing. But I also didn't realize how much we write throughout the week. I have always just thought that we were practicing when we were writing the big research papers and etc. But almost everyday even out of class we are practicing and if you look at those occasionally you find out what type of writer are you.

Second Entry

I believe that I can learn to write well by a lot of practice. Bellenger in his first chapter says that being confident is one of the best values of being a good writer. You have to believe in yourself that you can be a successful writer. Having confidence in yourself will allow you to grow as a writer. I believe this is very true. You have to believe in yourself to get anywhere in life. I think being confident is very important in areas besides writing. A main example i have personally dealt with is in sports. All of my coaches have always taught me that you have to be confident going into a game or match that you are going to win. It is never good to get to full of yourself and cocky but you need to be confident in yourself and your team. It does not matter even if your opponent looks bigger or stronger you still have to be confident. I think this idea also applies to applying for jobs. You have to be confident going into the interview that you are going to do a great job and answer every question completely. Its ok to be nervous going into an interview but at the same time you need to be confident. It goes same with writing. Even if the topic is a subject you do not know a lot about you still need to have the confidence that you are going to write a good paper. I agree with Bellenger about his comment about being a successful writer and growing as a writer you have to be confident.

First Entry

My name is George and i was born and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I am a very big fan of the University of Oklahoma football team. I have always loved and playing a watching sports. I tried many different sports growing up. But in high school i played basketball and volleyball. My high school had the only mens volleyball team in the state. My favorite hobby is probably skiing. I have been skiing every year since i was three years old and want to continue that for the rest of my life. I am glad that my parents introduced me to skiing when i was young. I fell in love with in from the beginning. I have only been skiing in Utah but someday i hope to go other places including outside of the United States to ski. I also enjoy going sailing on my dad's boat. I also enjoy traveling around the world. I am also interested in visiting and learning about new cultures. I have had the privilege of traveling to places all around the world and planning on traveling to Cambodia and other countries in southeast Asia. I am a intended business major right now but im not sure what area. I'm interested in going into the restaurant business. My dad is in the business now and has gotten me interested in it.
I am excited about taking this English class. I want to improve my writing skills this semester. I always enjoy writing about personal experiences. I wrote a twenty page play my senior year about a personal experience in my family that i deeply enjoyed writing. I am not a big fan of poetry. I have never felt like I am good I writing poems. I enjoy writing new stories that are fictional. My father would have myself and my brother write in a journal whenever we would go on vacations. I think this is a great idea that many people should do. This will allow me ten years after a vacation somewhere around the world that I will know exactly what i did that day. I would suggest to anyone else to keep journals when they go on vacations or if you wanted to keep one everyday. I have had many other difficulties in writing besides poetry. I have not always been great with a strong finish. Sometimes I just dont know how to bring together the end of an essay. I hope that taking this class will help me develop the ability to write strong finishes.
In conclusion, I love sports especially skiing. Also unlike what many people think especially the ones from Texas, Oklahoma is a great place. I have read, understood, and agree to the terms of the course syllabus.