Blog #3: Pre-Writing for Personal Narrative

My first option that I could write about for a personal experience would be my mission trip this past summer to Toronto.  I could discuss the city and the people there, what we saw, what we did, and what affected me, and what emotionally grabbed me.  I met a man there that took us on a tour and showed us around the city and talked about the homeless people there.  His name was Anthony, and he actually was a homeless man and a crack addict.  I could write a lot about Toronto, especially with the ethos, pathos, and logos aspects included.

My other option would be my experience in Mexico this past February for my eldest brother Jonathan's wedding.  Things of discussion would consist of my speech for being one of his two best men, the other best man being my other brother, Jordan.  I could discuss going to the Mayan Ruins, going in the biosphere, the culture and weather, what it was like being the youngest person on the resort and interacting with people that were my brother's age all week.  Another very abroad topic.  It will be hard to pick which one to choose!

Questions:  I think they're all covered!  If I need anything, I can ask in class.

Summer

        This past summer I spent three days in Chicago and I got to spend it with family. The first day I  went there it was on the Fourth of July.  We started the day out by going to Chicago's China Town, seeing the culture change immediately after we walked in, getting a taste of a different atmosphere. One thing that I got from China Town was their signature bubble tea; a drink or slushie that contains Tapioca. We walked around and took a water taxi to voyage our way there and back that took about 15 minutes each. Passing under a very beautiful old bridge, getting water lightly splashed on our skin, and getting a gorgeous view of the city from the water taxi were some of the benefits of taking it.  Later on in the day, we grabbed some dinner along the Chicago river at Dick's Last Resort, where we had a very comedic dinner.  At Dick's, the waiters/ waitresses role is to be vain towards you.  Although the jokes were a little harsh sometimes, the food on the other hand was spectacular as I ordered some fish and chips.  The fish were wonderful, being topped off with some tartar sauce and even smelling spectacular.  Following that, Jonathan, my brother who lives there in Chicago, took us down closer to the river.  As I stand and look around for a second while we are crossing a bridge over the Chicago river, I look around in awe, seeing the skyscrapers up in the clouds, the people rushing from place to place trying to get a good spot for the fireworks, and just the liveliness of the city seemed to amaze me.  We followed Jonathan down into the dock, where we were originally planning on sitting by the lake side, we were surprised with the presence of a boat that we got to rent!  We got to rendezvous down the river in the boat, where we got a front row seat of the Chicago fireworks.  Playing summer music in the boat, seeing the fireworks explode in the distance with different sights and sounds, it was quite a way to spend my holiday. What a great start to the weekend, huh?

       The next day, our family just shopped and hung out in the city, doing some random things throughout the day.  Around dinner time, my parents made their trip back to Orion after getting a nice bowl of ice cream; I got to stay in Chicago with my brother for a soccer game for the following day.  This wasn't just any soccer game, it was a game where Lionel Messi got to play in. I have seen Messi play on tv, I have seen him score 5 goals in a game before, and I have seen him make the sportscenter top10 plays multiple times, but I never thought I would get the opportunity to see him in person. Before I went to the game though, I played some pick-up basketball and went to Lake Michigan. I biked from place to place with my brother using the new innovation that the Chicago transportation offers: Divvy Bikes. You rent a bike for 24 hours and you drive from station to station in 30 minute intervals. At Lake Michigan, I was greeted by the sound of a nearby club playing party music.  The bass while passing by it was so deep and loud that it was hard to distinguish between that or your own heart pumping.  Putting our Divvy bikes in a nearby bike station, Jonathan and I played some catch on the beach, eventually moving into the water. After some biking and lakeshore action, we went back and got ready for the game.

      We arrived at the game on a beautiful sunlit day, where we saw plenty of soccer fans wearing several different jerseys, but of course the one jersey that was seen most frequently was Messi's. People were literally chanting his name as they were to walk in, building up the excitement even more. Lionel Messi is considered the best soccer player in the world, winning the Fifa Player Of The Year four times, and who I got to see in person.  The game was a charity game, and all of the ticket sales went to pay for a charity for children. It consisted of some other superstars rather than Messi, and some Northwestern players who were called up to play hours before the game because some of the originally planned people had some trouble making it, apparently due to promotions, which ticked off a lot of people.  Anyways, watching a player like him play is just something else, with his vision that allows for the best passes, dribbling it close to his body and at a very quick speed.  It was pretty neat seeing Messi score a hat trick (3 goals) and then a bicycle-kicked goal by a Northwestern player, which really got the croud to stand up and cheer.  This play ended up being the top play on sportscenter the next day.  After the game, we saved some time and avoided driving in traffic by taking the Divvy bikes back to Jonathan's, going through Lincoln park and crossing from road to road, going at a speed that pushed my hair back as it flowed. After arrival at Jonathan's, I got some sleep and left for Orion the next day on a train.

Blog #1

When handling major essays, I first like to come up with a map or outline.  Organizing is key when writing, and outlining is very helpful.  I also like to come up with a good opening sentence, three great supporting details, and a reassuring closing statement. 

When it comes to my confidence in my writing, I have gained more confidence as I have written more and more.  At the start of my junior year, I probably was not nearly as confident in my writing as I am now.  My strengths as a writer would be that I come up with great topics.  It is very easy to find a topic that is very narrowed down, that potentially could not have a lot of support for it.  However, I am good at finding a topic that is much more abroad.  Another strength would be that I have gotten better at my vocabulary usage.  Also I tend to write more than I need to, which can be a good problem; I always can take unnecessary stuff out!  Something that I could definitely improve on as a writer would be my citation abilities and my run on sentences.  I don’t know why, but I just seem to struggle when it comes to my citing and I look forward to fixing that.  When it comes to running on a sentence, I tend to just type what my mind is thinking, whether it’s grammatically incorrect or correct.

As I am take English 101 and 102, I am planning on overall becoming more knowledgeable as a writer.  With writing more and more essays, I hope that I can fix more of my problems with essay writing.  I hope that writing different types of essays, such as personal experience, informative topic, Non-Fiction, etc., I can broaden my writing horizons and become a more genuine and more readable writer.  I also plan on not only learning how to write and things such as that, but I also hope that I can get more prepared for college in general by taking this class.