Literacy Snapshot
Receiving the golden clip award for outstanding story writing was my greatest
writing achievement. I never considered myself a highly proficient writer. Whenever I picked a
topic, it would either be criticized as being too bland or odd for the assignment. During my sixth
grade year, my teacher assigned the class a writing assignment. The topic of the writing
assignment would be our choice, and it was required to be typed with ten pages in length plus
completed within two weeks. I was intimidated. I felt I wasn’t going to complete the assignment
in time, nor receive a passing grade. Anxiety began to set in.
The thought of the writing assignment in itself was stressful and overwhelming
because of the responsibility and expectations required from it. Not long ago, my parents told me
that they would expect more responsibility on my part, such as completing my homework
assignments without their supervision. Being on my own during this enormous writing assignment
was beyond scary in my mind. This was also the first writing assignment where I had to type my
own words on a computer screen without assistance, and on top of that I didn’t own a personal
computer at my house during that time. In order for me to type my writing assignment, I was
forced to work in the school’s computer lab. I had never been in the computer lab before, and I
didn’t feel comfortable being in an unfamiliar environment. I knew this was going to be a difficult
writing assignment because it was my first big step into independence.
I began the writing assignment at a slow pace by, brain-storming the basic idea, I
knew almost instantly what I wanted, a short fictional fantasy about a boy and a girl who have to
fight off an army of plant monsters which were resurrected by a mystical book. I knew a fantasy
story would hold my interest through the writing process because of my great passion for the
genre itself. After conceiving the plot ideas, I began to jot down specific details and events which
would occur in the story. I watched a few of my favorite movies to gain inspiration from scenes
that I thought were simply cool or interesting. Near the end of the brainstorming process, I
decided to squeeze in events that were based off of real situations which happened in my life in
order to further help me relate and connect with the story. I put in events such as the two
characters being attacked by their neighbors crazy dogs which was loosely based off my
experiences with my grandfather’s dog. I felt that my grandfather’s dog was unnecessarily
aggressive, and would attack me at any moment. It was a fun and wonderful experience
brainstorming the plot, the feeling didn’t last long unfortunately.
When I began the writing assignment itself, the fun rapidly began to decline. While
typing my story in the computer lab, I noticed I was typing at a slower pace than everyone else
around me. It was slightly embarrassing and increased the pressure weighting down on me. I was
not familiar enough with the computer at the time; therefore, I lacked the experience to work
proficiently. I literally spent thirty minutes trying to locate the backspace button to correct my
constant flow of mistakes. Time was the greatest factor working against me during the writing
process, the first week past before my eyes with only a few measly pages competed. Time became
the personification of the antagonist who was standing in my way from accomplishing my writing
assignment, and tension began to build.
I decided to switch my approach on the assignment, so I could speed up the writing
process itself. First I acquired help from my parents. We all went over the basic structure of the
story. I proofread the newly structured draft for common word and punctuation mistakes.
Realizing that only two days were left before the writing assignment was due, I devised another
plan. I spoke one on one with my teacher in attempt that she would allow me to spend a few more
spare hours in the computer lab. She fortunately agreed which worked strongly in my favor.
I managed to complete the writing assignment on the day it was due. Completing
the writing assignment filled me with joy and accomplishment. I managed to successfully take the
responsibility given to me and produce results. Personally I thought the writing assignment itself
was horrible. I rushed while working on the final draft, and I knew that there were still some
common mistakes. I assumed that I would simply receive a passing grade. To my surprise, my
story was chosen in the top ten ranks for best stories of the class. My teacher explained to me that
I had such imagination and originality which the other stories in the class lacked. My grammar and
sentence structures however were messy and disorganized. I still to this day refuse to reread my
"award winning" writing assignment.
It was a great accomplishment, not in the writing itself but in the recognition. It
was a great feeling to be picked out of the class for an academic assignment, and writing did that
for me. I did obviously struggle with the assignment, I was overwhelmed by the responsibility,
time was working against me, and I was forced to change my writing strategy a bit, but in the end
I managed to complete my assignment. The Golden Clip award was the first self-encouraging
achievement I had ever earned and is my greatest writing accomplishment still to this day
Autoethnography
The culture that I am apart of is a spiritual belief known as Witchcraft. The
practice of Witchcraft began around the year of the 1600's and is practiced by spiritual followers
still to this day. Witchcraft is a belief that encourages the followers to support and nurture nature.
Witchcraft has also been misunderstood as the religion of wicked faith, because of its unfortunate
past history. Witchcraft has a broad variety of rituals and spells which are greatly unique, along
with interesting variety of materials included in ritual processes. When it comes down to it,
anyone who supports Witchcraft believes in one fact, which is that unseen spirits and energy do
coexist in the world we live in.
Witchcraft is the belief that every living creature on the face of the earth has a
spirit, which is an animalistic view. It is said that when living spirit dies, it caries on in the world in
the form of a spiritual energy which remains connected with the origin which is nature. Witchcraft
followers believe that the proof of spiritual existence is shown by being spiritually connected with
the origin, nature; Which is the symbolic essence that holds and interconnects every living spirit
and energy in the world. Witchcraft followers believe its their duty to restore harmony and peace
with nature; they must keep in mind that nature always comes first in the order of importance. A
majority of the witchcraft followers believe that the moon is the source of all the power which
enables them to fully interconnect and communicate with the energy and spirits around them
during sacred rituals. Witchcraft in itself is the appreciation of nature and all living things
connected to it, witchcraft allows us to be thankful for what we have in our world through faith
and rituals.
Witchcraft is often misunderstood as a religion that worships the elements of chaos
and evil. During the beginning of the 1600's, Christians believed that Witchcraft was an evil faith
which involved the direct communication with Satan himself. Soon the great witch hunt began to
spread all across the world; One example being the Salem Witch Trials, which involved the
hanging of those who were accused of practicing Witchcraft. Another reason why Witch craft has
been misunderstood is th image people carelessly give it. The people who practiced witchcraft
were named witches, which were often portrayed as being a scary horrible monster, like a vampire
or a werewolf. Witches are usually visually shown as being an ugly looking woman who dresses in
a menacing black cloak, and rides a broom stick; The holiday Halloween is strong proof of that
since many people dress up as witches in a sort of horrific looking style. Even the media sends
messages to the modern people about witches in stories like the movies; This has been occurring
since old folklore stories. In the mythological stories, the witches have often been thrown into the
stories as the beings who are the wicked evil ones, the villains basically, which threaten the
innocent and must be stopped by the protagonist at all cost. But of course it can’t be true, they
are non-fictional stores after all.
Witchcraft includes rituals that involve the specific purpose of keeping balance
with nature, nurturing nature, and making connections with the energies around us every day.
Most Witchcraft rituals are defined as charms and spells, which are cast to bring good luck and
fortune into the lives of the followers. There is a belief that most of the spiritual power comes
from the moon itself. An example of one spells involves collecting pennies from the ground, and
when the moon is full you set a tray of pennies under the shine of the moon until the next
morning, you then gather the pennies and glue them to the inside of your shoes in order to bring
good fortune with you wherever you go. Another ritual that is more common is the reading of
one’s tarot cards, which is simply reading a person’s future by deciphering what the cards, which
are drawn, are telling them. The Witchcraft rituals overall are just way’s for us to connect with
nature and to have a belief in spiritual existence by using its energy to cast good luck charms
which can help us and also bring good fortune into our everyday lives.
The common materials which are used in the practice of witchcraft are often
natural materials that are purely connected with nature itself. Some of the materials can include
herbs, bark, skulls, and anything else material-wise, that you think will help you feel closer to the
origin and the energies around you. The materials in a way define who you are as a spiritual
believer in witchcraft, every material in this world is connected with nature, so therefore any
material you wish to use during ritual is considered connected to nature. There is no right or
wrong between what to use material-wise for your rituals, it’s all personal. Many people who
believe in witchcraft often wear some personal materials which they believe brings good fortune
into their lives, and it doesn’t have to be anything that’s greatly sacred. Good luck charms can be
anything that is special to you as a person, such as a ring someone gave to you many years ago.
Anything works. As long as it’s connected with nature and personally special to you, its
considered your sacred object.
Witchcraft is basically the belief in spiritual energy and the importance of nurturing
nature. Witchcraft is often misunderstood because of the myths and stories which portray the
witches as worshipers of Evil. The rituals involved with witchcraft often revolve around nurturing
nature, keeping balance with nature, and making connections with nature and the spirits that are
around us all the time. The common materials used are connected to nature, and have a strong
emotional connection to the follower personally. Witchcraft has become a culture which I am
willingly involved in, and I hope will forever teach us to appreciate everything that belongs in the
world.
This I Believe
I have a strong belief in the importance of art. Our days are always full of constant
stress and pressure. Art is a creative outlet which contains expressive carefree energy which can
allow us to sooth our minds. Art is a process that allows one to daydream and brainstorm which
helps us devise solutions to problems which we are stuck on. Art can also be simply used to
entertain us during phases when we are bored out of our minds.
Art is a way of removing the stress and conflict which we have hung on our minds
constantly. We all have stressful days which are filled with pressure, responsibility, and frustration
during our daily routines. Sometimes the stress can be overbearing for the individual, and their
schedule needs to be changed up a bit with spontaneous surprises, a go with the flow kind of
attitude one can say. Instead of working on homework during a routine, one could change it
around in order to bring more life and color to one’s day, such as doodling a random drawing in a
sketch book which has the potential to eliminate all the stress and pressure from our lives for a
short time. Art can often be compared to dreams we have, dreams separate us from reality which
can allow one to sooth the mind and remove some of the sense and purpose weighting on our
thoughts, it helps us become more in touch with our inner creative selves.
Art can also fix the problems we have by helping us come up with solutions to
those problems. Sometimes we become stuck and baffled in the complicated world in which we
live. We feel like we’ve tried everything possible to find a solution, and we come to the
conclusion that there are no other options left to fix the issue. We suddenly begin to dig a deep
hole for ourselves, which makes it even more difficult for one to find a solution. However if we
stop for a moment, clear our minds, and begin to sketch images on a blank sheet of paper, our
minds automatically being to wander. We start to think of ideas in various abstract ways, ways we
would of never thought before. For example, if we have a oral presentation coming up and we
want to write out a basic structure of what we plan to say, there may be a chance of us becoming
overwhelmed and lost in it. To fix that problem we must simply take our minds off the issue for a
short time, ignore the inner critic within us, and go into a world where there isn’t stress nor
worry, a world where all the ideas just flow out, which can be attained by simply drawing a
mindless image.
When it comes down to it, art can simply be used as entertainment to the people of
the world, it can be compared to a television set, but better. As a society we rely heavily on
technology, we use it in many productive ways, but we also tend to overly use it in the
entertainment category, which can become unhealthily addictive to the individual. Art can be one
of the more primitive and natural ways to entertain the individual, the simple thought of looking at
a blank sheet of paper and not knowing what’s going to form on that simple empty space is
mysterious and exciting. An example would be entering an art contest which can be fun as well as
challenging, the thought of competing against other artists in a competition is a thrilling
experience that can bring out the best in one artistically.
Art is very important to the individual; It can help people in so many ways. Art can
be used to help brainstorm our minds and look to the abstract side to things which can form great
ideas. Art can also be used to entertain us in more productive ways than by simply sitting on the
sofa and having our eyes glued to the television screen. Art can even be used as a stress reliever
for us in our day to day lives, it can bring new surprising emotions into our lives which can put a
shine on some of those long repetitive days. Without the practice of art we could loose touch with
some of the most important elements that make us human, the ability to be a creative spirit.
Writing Analysis
My writing process is very fast and direct. Whenever I write my essay assignment,
ideas tend to simply flow out of my mind when I am simply brainstorming. Most of the time
however, the ideas I think of won’t even make it to paper because I simply won’t be able to fit all
of them into one assignment. The topics of my essays literally come to me within five minutes of
brainstorming in my head. Whenever I draft my essay, it’s always at the same place, during the
same time with the same exact method, typing on word processor on my home computer at 5-6
pm. When it came to revising and editing, I used basically my instructor’s comments, and my own
self-analysis.
When I first begin with the pre-writing phase I instantly come up with literally
three different topics that I could choose from within five minutes that are related to the writing
assignment, it’s a very rapid process for me. I have always been a person who has an unlimited
amount of ideas flowing through my mind, I am a very creative person and write short stories as a
hobby sometimes, so therefore, I always have an infinite amount of main ideas lurking in my brain,
which I could successfully use. Whenever I think of ideas I always go into a sort of a trance,
everything around me is ineffective to me at that point. I go into a world where the ideas flow,
and nothing matters but the ideas themselves. It’s hard to say what my emotions are like
whenever I come up with ideas, I think of so many various ideas at one that it’s difficult to say
how one certain idea makes me feel a certain way because it comes so fast. There are times
however, I find myself smiling or laughing and beginning to feel emotional whenever I conceive
an idea which feels strongly good to me.
Whenever I draft my essay, it’s always in the same condition, at home on my
computer during the same exact time, 5-6 pm. I find it very easy and useful to use the word
processor because of it automatic spell check which allows me to save time from looking up
words in a dictionary in order to find a single word which is spelled wrong; I am also very
efficient while typing on the computer, plus the words are more legible to read when compared to
my hand writing. Whenever I structure my essay, I always go from start to finish. I never find
myself working back and forth from different sections simply because I can become confused
whenever I work on an "out of order" structure. It’s absolutely necessary for me to write in
chronological order, otherwise my speed of work will begin to drastically decrease. Its always
topic, body paragraphs, then conclusion for me; If I have issues with a paragraph I don’t skip it, I
simply cease working on that paragraph for a short time and come back to it later when I have a
solution.
Then it comes to my least favorite part of the writing process, the revising and
editing portion. When working on my last three essay’s for this semester, I must confess that I
didn’t use much resources when revising my essays. The only resources that I used were the
comments from my instructor on improvement, and simply my own self analysis on how I could
improve my own writing structure. One instance during my first draft of my autoethnography, my
instructor told me that my conclusion had some obvious errors in it because it brought up new
ideas that were not presented in the body paragraphs, and conclusions were only meant to restate
and sum up previous ideas. Another example was when I self-analyzed my whole second draft of
"this I believe" essay, none of the other students in the class had finished their essays that day, so I
went over my whole essay during lab time and revised parts of the structures which I felt were off.
One of the most important corrections being improvement on topic sentences for two of my body
paragraphs of that essay. Whenever I edit errors in my paragraph I always rely on my self-analysis
because I feel it’s my responsibility to locate the mistakes which I have created in my own
paragraphs.
My writing trial is a very rapid and simple process, most of which is very brief and
doesn’t take an enormous amount of time. The ideas I come up with for the topics relating to my
essay assignments are very brief and don’t take much time because of my talent for coming up
with reasonably good ideas in such a short amount of time. When I begin drafting my essays, I
always use the computer because it’s an accurate and efficient tool for me, I can draft a fairly
good rough draft withing a short time. The drafting structure of my essay must always be in
chronological order or my efficiency will start to decline. Then finally the revising and editing
process involves me mostly relying on my own self-analysis, and sometimes the advice and
comments from my instructor. Whenever I write my essays, it’s a very fast, straightforward, and
heavily self-reliant process.
