When I was in the first grade, I remember taking a spelling test. It was the basic of basic words, and yet, I still managed to innocently spell "of" "uv", my only mistake, and I glanced over at Brittney Martin, a neighborhood friend and resident idea of perfection, who had gotten, surprise, all of them right. And you know what, I still hold a grudge against her. Everyone knows that one person who is literally the best; they're smart, they're good-looking, athletic, never say a bad word about anybody, and you want to hate them, because, hello, they're perfect, but they're so nice that you can't.
(I'm not sure if this story relates to the rest of the post, but I thought I would share it)
I sincerely enjoyed reading this essay, I really related to the points of comparison. Whenever I would get an essay back after submission, I would eagerly turn over the stabled papers and scan the rubric and scores. And what I seemed to notice consistently was that I would get high scores in the "Voice" category. I enjoy putting in my own little quips of inquiry and opinion, which is why I think I enjoyed writing the personal essay so much. I was able to put in my own experiences and stories and yet keep my standing as a narrator. Today in class when we discussed ourselves being the narrators of all of our pieces of writing, I went back over my previous works. I realized that I had lost my voice in the various research assignments I've compiled, that I've simply regurgitated facts with half-assed commentary I came up with to satisfy the Writing Center and my teachers to avoid red marks and circles marring my papers. I think my goal for this class and as I explore who I truly am as a writer is to keep the integrity of myself and my voice alive in my papers and essays.
One of the things I hope you discover, Shona, is that as narrator of your own work you will find that you possess more than one kind of voice, and that whichever one you're using you're finding your own way of saying things.
ReplyDelete