ANA APFELBACHER

Sitting down at the kitchen table I opened my computer only to immediately get hit with the screen's brightness which was all the way up making my eyes squint. I glance at the time—it was 8 pm. My fingers danced their way to the keyboard ready to unleash their untold story. I felt the excitement racing through my body as I began to write freely.

 

I've always loved to write. Ever since I was younger I remember being in advanced writing programs where I was challenged to write stories and write a book to potentially be published. When I started high school writing became harder because I didn't find writing as fun and creative rather it was stressful and pressurizing and involved a lot of nonfiction reading and rhetorical devices. Starting college with the mindset that W131 would make me feel just like writing courses in high school did was extremely pessimistic of me, but once I started implementing in that creativity of designing a website and being able to have more freedom to do research and immerse myself in my own writing projects I began to love it. I was able to find that inner love for writing that I once had. I'm grateful to have taken this W131 course in college rather than in high school because this class has had such a positive impact on me.

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When W131 first started I had four goals in mind that I wanted to improve on. The first being that I wanted to be able to love to write the way I used to. I was able to do so in being able to freely choose my topic for my immersion experience. I had always been passionate about the topic of immigration since I come from a family who has had immigration experience. I, personally, have never migrated but my entire purpose of choosing this topic was that despite it being a familiar contact zone I still wanted to look past surface level information and dig for more immigration stories. The first few weeks of class were when I learned about contact zones based on Mary Louise Pratt's "Arts of the Contact Zone". Mary Louise Pratt defined contact zones as, "I use this term to refer to social spaces where cultures meet, clash and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical" (Pratt, M.L., 1991). Learning about contact zones helped me realize that I didn't want to learn something entirely new I wanted to immerse myself in something I already knew a bit about but dive-in deeper.

 

The second goal I had for this semester was to be able to be more creative with my writing. By this, I was able to use entry formats and change-up perspectives throughout my narrative essay. This was also the writing project I chose to revise for my final ePortfolio. I integrated my mom and I's perspectives into one narrative to show a connected story. Each entry was a part of a bigger picture, a bigger purpose.

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The third goal I had for this semester was to be able to hook readers with my introduction. This is something I struggled with in the past. Introductions can be difficult. The way that I formatted the introduction to my narrative using Berehulak's article introduction, "YOU HEAR A MURDER SCENE before you see it: The desperate cries of a new widow. The piercing sirens of approaching police cars. The thud, thud, thud of the rain drumming on the pavement of a Manila alleyway — and on the back of Romeo Torres Fontanilla," (Berehulak, D., December 7, 2016) as reference to showcase my own imagination and creativity allowed me to portray the scene from the documentary I had watched for my immersion experience without having to say it was the scene depicted in that documentary.

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The last goal I had for this semester was to be able to improve on connecting to my audience, readers, and viewers through all of my writing projects. One of my favorite implementations that allowed me to establish a deeper connection to my audience was the YouTube video I uploaded that demonstrated my reflective thoughts on my immersion experience. Individuals are able to not only meet me but also see the passion I showed for the work I was creating and putting so much time and effort into. In order to fulfill this goal I also revised my Overview for my final ePortfolio.

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Overall, throughout the course of this entire semester I have not only become a stronger writer but I have re-ignited the fire inside me that I used to have for writing. I'm thankful to have been able to take this course in college and I'm even more eternally grateful to my professor—Deborah Jayne Oesch-Minor—for believing in not only me but in my writing as well.