Time To Reflect

Whew! I can finally wipe the sweat that's been dripping from my forehead this whole quarter. I feel like I have been running a marathon, praying that I can reach the finish line.I am here now. Through all the late nights, after a long day's work at the Fred Meyer Pharmacy. Listening to raging customers complain about how long their presciptions are taking to be filled. In the back of my mind, I screaming, " Well I could be doing other things like English homework!" As I sit at my computer my two babies pull at my leg, trying to snatch my attention away from the screen. This is where my single mom multi-tasking skill comes into play, pulling my hair while holding my eyelids open just to stay focused! It's a hard tasks to equally divide one life into three different lives ( home, work and school).Along the race I strained a couple muscles from not strecthing the ideas of critical thinking in my major writing assignments.But I continued on by enduring the strength of analysis to slowly pick up my speed to get through section by section. Although it was a struggle having assignments back to back using skills that I have never really inquired; the thought of living a better life from gaining knowledge through education put me back on my feet! Now I can say I have had run of a lifetime!


The main theme in this quarter was to explore the ideas of living in our diverse society. It was split into three different sections Identity, Community, and Tradition. Each category had its own way of bringing out thoughts and ideas that I never really came up in my life, maybe just unnoticed. For example throughout the Identity section it really pulled my thinking out of the box regarding assumptions made on one' s identity based upon their outward presentation. One of the first essays that I read called "Dude looks like a Lady," written by Kathy Wilson conveyed a message that physical presentation was a leading factor in the way one can define your identity looking in from the outside. One of Wilson's strongest points that help prove this message was "My point is , people get so twisted over female presentation that my bald head is a cause for pause."(22) This is one of my favorite quotes because the message is very strong to me. I guess from personal experiences I can relate to the author more than I expected. I am really shy when it comes to sharing my thoughts and writings assignments. One thing that I came to enjoy doing were group assignments and discussions. The Tradition and Community Units was my breaking point when I decided to explore more with sharing my opinions and conclusions on the essays and movies we were required to depict. I had a lot of fun. I don't think that I had many arguments only positive conversations that opened my eyes. I can now see how many different communities lie right in front of me! ( from text-messaging to shopping on eBay) It's amazing that communities can provide us with a sense of stability,accept who we are, and give us what we need.Tradition made me realize how many of them that my family still follows after decades.(Sunday dinners, Forth of July BBQ)

I defiantly got way more out of the class than I thought. My thought was that all English classes had to do with was trying to figure out what Shakespeare had to say!
The pieces that I chose to display reflect what I have learned this quarter. My strongest pieces that I favor are my two blog assignments that are posted. It seems I can write better under pressure if it's something I can relate to or just plain out like!
From this class I discovered all my strengths and weaknesses. Now they are showcased for you all to see.