Previous Writing Experiences

            Last semester, I took a themed English 101 section. My section’s theme was reading and writing about The Blues. My section entailed reading different pieces of blues music and of observing the piece’s lyrics, wording and artwork on a deeper level. My final portfolio in English 101 included four essays written throughout the semester. My first two essays were close readings. The first essay was a close reading of the lyrics of Blues by Kevin Young. In this essay, I argued that the author’s use of fruit and meat in the lyrics represents truth and lies. The second essay was a close reading of the cover art for Riding with the King by Eric Clapton and B.B. King. My argument in this essay was that blues music presented a medium for Caucasians to learn from African-Americans, demonstrated by the relationship of King and Clapton. My final two essays included a research component. My third essay was a historical analysis of Vietnam Blues by J.B. Lenoir. In this essay, I asserted that Lenoir was speaking against the United States government’s mistreatment of African-Americans, the poor, and Vietnamese citizens during the Vietnam War. My final essay was a comparative analysis of I’ve Got a Woman by Ray Charles and Gold Digger by Kanye West. In my essay, I claimed that the lyrics of the two songs represent the change in men’s perceptions of women over the last half-century. I would have to say my historical analysis of J.B. Lenoir’s Vietnam Blues is my greatest accomplishment from English 101. This essay was my greatest accomplishment because I was able to find a large number of reputable sources to back up my points. I also feel as if I was able to connect my points together very well throughout the entire essay.

            My best writing experience was during my Global Politics class I took through the University of Dayton back home in Ohio. In this class I was required to write a term paper analyzing a political event following World War II. I wrote my essay about the Polish Solidarity Movement of the 1980s. My paper included numerous sources and was well over ten pages in length. However I consider this paper to be my best writing experience because I was writing about a topic that I was truly interested in learning about. As a Polish-American I was writing about a topic that I connected to. I felt truly interested to learn as much information as I could about the topic. My worst writing experience was my first essay in English 101 where I had to give a close reading of Kevin Young’s Blues. This was my worst writing experience because I found it hard at times to find many points within such a small text. At times I felt as if I was repeating points in my essay. I feel that my positive experience has affected me more as it helped me learn that there are topics I feel passionate about writing about. This experience also taught me better research techniques. As a result of this experience I am able to find an interesting topic to write about when given the opportunity to decide my topic.