Tanking the Thighs

So, I’m sitting here in my dorm room reading the Denver Post and watching The Office, and enjoying myself. I have been reading the letters to the editor and remembering the one time my classmates and I wrote a letter to the editor in response to another person’s letter. It was in my AP Government class and our teacher brought in the editorial section of our local newspaper and read aloud a letter to the editor.
The letter was by an unsatisfied citizen saying that in no clause in the constitution does it give congress the power to make any laws they want, especially about the laws affecting us in Oregon. However, since we were all in AP Government and we had learned the constitution very well and knew that it was under the “Necessary and Proper” clause which allows congress to make all laws necessary and proper to protect the good of the welfare and the safety of the union.
What our class did in return is composed a letter, together, in return to the editor, addressing the author of the letter and in a formal style, somewhat made a fool of him for saying that, “no where in the constitution does it say that congress can form laws about whatever they want”. Every day in class we read the newspaper to see if our letter was printed and in fact, two or three weeks later our letter was printed in the newspaper. Unluckily, it was about two weeks before school ended so we could not see if the man responded to our letter, and I forgot to look in the papers, but it was really fun to write a letter in response to another letter to the editor.

Up to the Knees

So, the next assignment for our writing class is writing about a time of literacy for us, so I have decided to write about reading the novel “Kite Runner” by Khaled Houssini just because of how much I have used references to the book since I have read it.
While writing this essay and any other essay about the book I realized how much the book related to anything and everything in life. On the new SATs there is a required writing section that has two quotes and a question and the writer has to form a side of an argument for or against the statement and prove it using current events, literature, history, or personal experience. I ended up taking the SATs 3 times (not that my scores were very bad, just because I knew I could do better on them, which I did every time) and two of the three times I ended up incorporating the book into my essay. I also wrote about it on my AP literature test and in comparative book essays in my classes.
Writing this essay has actually made me realize how great the “Kite Runner” is and how amazing Khaled Houssini is at writing stories that make the characters become almost real people. It was also a special book for me because I read it with my mom and we could share it with each other and share our interpretations of the story. This book really did impact my life and this assignment helped me realize it.

The Ankle Depth

First off, just experimenting here, I don't really do the whole writing out thing, like a journal or anything for that matter, so anything that is in here may be pertained as dull, seeing as how i do not do this...ever. Anyway, off with the discussion of class:
So, we just got done reading the first half of Two or Three Things I Know for Sure by Dorothy Allison for out first year writing class, and it turned out to be surprisingly interesting despite my first thoughts. However, there were some parts that i did not agree with as well.
I enjoyed her style and voice in the writing, making it personal by the way she describes her family, and the fact that she puts photos of her family in the book makes it even more believable, even though they could be just some random photos ripped from another fake family photo album. She also has some great repetition with the two or three things I know for sure statements to transition at the end of a point.
However, I didn't like how she would say "I shouldn't be saying this" and then continue on, she should have just stated what she wanted to say and then leave it at that. And that is what i thought of the book so far.

Fresh Pow.

At the beginning of this year, I dreaded writing a three-page paper, even though I have written ten-page papers every year in high school. I always just thought it was just a lot of work to write so much on a little topic. But, since the beginning I have changed my outlook into saying, “ Thank God its only a three page paper”. Having written, now four long papers this last quarter, each over five pages, including the one in Spanish, it has become much easier for me to write longer papers. I have learned how to expand on my ideas, make more complex sentences, and make papers more fluid sounding.
Other things I learned are how to correct my papers and check them over to make sure they sound good, and help others correct their papers. We did many things in class and workshops that helped me adopt these abilities and make them better. First of all we did the writing workshops, where we worked with partners and wrote them letters about their papers and what they could do to make some better progress on them. This not only helped me learn about myself and my grading/critiquing abilities but it also helped me learn how to approach my papers and correct them in a different way. All in all, I learned a lot about my writing abilities this last quarter and I cannot wait for next quarter to work on more papers and have them be easier than before.