eProfolio

Samuel Michel

Response to Looking Around by Lamott Anne:

1.    “If you look at people and just see sloppy clothes or rich clothes, you’re going to get them wrong”

I like this quote because it explains the saying “don’t judge a book by its cover”. The clothing on a person should explain to you how they are as a person because the person can be dressing on their mood. Or they can be going to a interview and are trying impress someone.

2.    “I honestly think in order to be a writer, you have to learn to be reverent. If not, why are you writing? Why are you here?”

I don’t believe this quote because sometimes you have to break the rules in order to get your point across some times. You can’t always be reverent because you sometimes write for the public and the public likes honesty.

3.    “Sometimes you run into someone, regardless of age or sex, whom you know absolutely to be an independently operating part of the Whole that goes on all the time inside yourself, and the eye-motes go click and you hear the tribal tones of voice resonate, and there it is--- you recognize them.”

I like this quote because it is a fact. There’s a person for everyone where you can’t help but change for the better or sometimes the worst. I believe that there’s another half to everyone because we don’t feel complete til we encounter that other person. When do encounter them is when I believe the inner us comes out.  

Response to the reading The Spirit of Vision:

“ Working at the writing center with many students like me has taught me to examine the world around me as a Korean American, to validate my cultural perspective.”

    I like this quote because it shows how exciting it can be to around other people. Other people that understand you and can relate to on day-to-day basics. I think that it’s great to network with other people that are different but have a goal like you as well. It’s all about finding people that best complement you because they can also better you in the long run.

“I didn’t know why my writing didn’t sound right to me or why I shied away from letting others read my writing.”

    I like this quote because it explains what happens when you’re just putting words on the paper and not actually writing with passion. Or when you don’t write what you mean it’s as if you’re not being yourself in a way. Especially if write is your hobby it won’t feel right. It will be as if your writing isn’t your own, it’s not you.

“Upon reflection, I see that my reasoning behind my cultural suppression was that I thought my Indian reservation-type language was not appropriate in my new academic world. I felt that I had to leave my culture behind in order to be successful. “

   I understand that quote very well because I use to feel like that but true is that the culture is part of you. You can’t lose that because it is what makes you who you are. You can’t lose that because it is what made you and built you. It’s where you got some of your smarts, your strengths and of course your family. They people that love you are from that culture and your background so you need it to survive and to learn from.

ESSAYS

Samuel Michel 

English: Essay 1

    Writing is a way communicating with others and also a way of expressing one’s self. We use it in many ways such as creating sighs, making symbols and illustrations. It is also a way to keep track of history because if we didn’t writing down our history no one would remember it. With that being said I use writing as a way to express myself and to show people my thought process.

    I started writing basically the same time I started drawing. My writing is connected to my drawing because I use words or symbols in them or write something about my drawing to help explain it (just in case). I started drawing when I was junior high school as a regular class but I grew to love it as it became part of me. It change me as a person and showed me that I can write as well as I can draw. So I started writing poetry as I got older to speak about the things I would say out loud or face to face with another person.  Poetry means a lot of different things to people, but to me it’s an expression of words and emotions all put into one to give me a chance to show a part of me no one else has seen.  

    As I got older my skills in writing advanced and my intelligent also increase to a point that my metaphors felt deeper. I started connecting with people through my writing  which made me writing even more just by listening to there side or they’re journeys in life. People started relating to me from that and then I realize writing isn’t as bad as I once thought it was.  The more I wrote I seen how deeply I was connected with writing and how much about myself I didn’t see before nor said before. In a result of that I started holding back on showing people my writing and started showing them different ones that are less reviling. I also started realizing people can’t know too much about you because some things are meant to not say out loud. The world should know only some much about you because no one is really an open book, there are chapters in our lives that no one wants others to know. 

   It is health to writing it helps get things off your chest that you’ve been holding in for awhile. It can be a relief source or a way to tell someone something you couldn’t tell him or her in person. I use it for those reasons til this day. I guess even from the beginning I realize this is a purpose for writing.  If everyone wrote something about himself or herself and read it, they would be able to understand where they are in life and how other people relate or don’t relate. How they can change some things in their life and how other things are just meant to be understood. I write so some things can be understood and to teach others what I learned so it won’t be repeated. It’s kind of like history but the history is about my life mistakes and my victories but also about me. Me as a Christian, Me as a basketball, me as son, me as a brother and me as a friend. Who I am is what I write about, what I write about is who I am. 

Growing up (Essay #2)

  Samuel Michel

         At the age of seven everything was fun. Moreover, nothing bothered you other than missing the latest episode of Power Rangers. All we did was go outside to the park and play until our parents came to get us.  We were care free; and didn’t have anything to worry about. The community that I lived in, everyone knew each other or went to school with one another. The amount of friends never really mattered because everyone had their own little set of friends. I was a quiet kid, never talked much but everyone knew who I was. One thing I’ve always done was play basketball because I seen my older brother play all the time with his friends. Nonetheless, my dream is to become a basketball player and my brother always wanted me to be better than he ever was. (Thesis statement)?       

        At the age of seven, I was always with my older brother (name). He took me almost everywhere he went and I always had fun being around him. Furthermore, he taught me a lot of things.  My passion for drawing stems from him, watching him draw a lot. I use to be sick a lot growing up and my mom would get worried if I went out by myself. She thought something would happen to me. As a result,  my brother figured that if he took me outside then she wouldn’t be as afraid. I was always a quiet kid so he didn’t have any problem hanging around me nor taking me places. If I wasn’t with him,  I was home reading or playing with my toys.  Moreover, I didn’t watch that much television unless my cartoons were on and when they were on,  I was glued to the television. My childhood was priceless for the most part, I always had someone watching over me or getting something for me. I never liked the fact that I would get sick or would randomly pass out at times. I don’t like people worrying about me or feel like I should be watched at all times.        

      My journey from the age 7 to 14 is something that most people would call scary or crazy. Well just like any other kid in my community, I went to a regular day of school and walked home with my friends of course. Just as we were about to go to our own buildings,  a group of men approached us and asked “what set ya in?”. Well we were all clueless to what one of them were talking about. Moreover, we did the only thing we knew to do which was run in different directions.  Just as I was looking back to see if my friends were running as fast as I was,  I heard a loud POP and everything seem too slow down. I couldn’t believe what I saw because I’ve never seen so much red liquid leave a person’s head, let alone my own friend. I walked towards my friend who was on the ground lifeless. Since I didn’t see him move I was kind of fearful. I heard my heart beat getting louder as if it was right next to my ears. The red liquid seem to not stop leaving his head and when everything seem to move at regular speed, I heard screaming, the ambulance and police officers. I went home still in shock but angry at the same time. I felt like I should have done something at least besides run. I found out the next day in school that he was killed by a gang. I knew ever since then that I grew hatred towards those kinds of people.

        I later became the very thing I hated the most, fueled by my rage and the thirst for vengeance. My rage became the very thing of my life, angry for everything and at everyone. I was in a gang that later on I became the leader. I never forgot why I became in it the first place, using my intelligent to finding out who killed my friend. My friend that was so dear to me and had nothing to do with them at all. Finally I found the man responsible for it. I figured he was no match for me taking kickboxing for 3 years. Furthermore, this gave me the strength I needed and the rage I had, there was no stopping me. So my group and I went to where he lives. Wanting to do this for so long, I couldn’t wait to finally look him in the eyes for doing what he did to my friend. When I saw him, I rushed towards him with the same rage I had for so long and my group right behind me.  When he looked me in my eyes, I don’t know if he saw the pain or the rage or even both but he was afraid. It was as if he knew what was to come of him, I don’t think he knew whom I was but I knew damn well that he was. I don’t know if it was all the years of kickboxing that taught me, fighting is only for defense or if it was the voice in my head or my heart that said let him go. But I knew if I had hit him, I would have been the same man that killed my friend so I just walked away…

         My thoughts of rage and revenge faded, as I got older. I was back to thinking about becoming a basketball player, back to hanging out with my brother, back to being me. I was happy even though the memory of my friend was still there; I knew that he would still want me to be a happy kid. Above all, I loved my childhood. When it was negative, it was very negative. However, when it was positive,  it was very positive. The lessons I learned helped me to become who I am today. That’s how I learned that your past can only change you only if you allow it to.

Samuel Michel                                                                                                 Symon from 7-28 (Essay #3)

10/11/12

       Symon to me was one of the most interesting characters the films 7 up, 21 up and 28 up. First he was the only black kid out of all the others and his views on things were different. At the age of 7 he was brought up in a children’s home where he lived with other kids until he was 13. He also wanted to go see his mom since he was in the children’s home but he felt a kind of freedom because he was about to learn and have fun with his friends until a certain time. He enjoyed having a strike lifestyle because it kind of builds character. He likes the whole waking up early and going to sleep at a certain time because he feels that he is always ready for the next day. His life around that time was a well-rounded one and through out the 7 up – 28 up he remained that way. 

          At the age of 20-21 he was able to see his mom but she was acting different from what he was expecting her to act like. She didn’t seem as happy as he wanted her to be. She was kind of depressed or sad at times and he didn’t really know why. He felt like he needed to protect her all the time and that he needed to be there for her. He got along well with her but he felt more comfortable when he was away from her. He doesn’t really feel that mother and son relationship between them; it’s more like a friendship. Another thing that seem to bother him was that fact the he didn’t have a father there. His friends would ask him when your mother is out to work where is your father and he would reply that he doesn’t have one. 

      Not having a father around seem to bother him in a way, I’m thinking probably because all his friends had one and he didn’t have a father or was curious to why he didn’t have one. I think that living that way shaped him up in a way because now he stands up for himself like he doesn’t need one in a way.

         Simon also went to school with the education to becoming an electrician but worked in a freezer. He enjoyed the job nevertheless because it’s the people he work with there that keeps him going. He built some kind of teamwork within the people he works with. It’s kind of like he knows there’s a lot of work to wake up to everyday but the people he’s around, his coworkers, is what keeps him at that job. He knows that he has the abilities and the knowledge to have a better job but he likes it there, he like the hands on job and getting his hands dirty in a way. But he also knows that he can’t work in that place forever because he knows that his mind will go dead. He’s kind of young in the mind as he said. It’s as if the age hasn’t really sunk in his mind yet, so he plans on picking up a trait so he can do something after his leaves the freezer. He doesn’t really have any dreams but if he had one he would most likely follow it.

         At the age of 28 you can see that Simon grow up even more. He’s more mature and he has a family now. He has a wife and about 5 kids to think about and take care of. He more focused on making sure that his kids have a good brother and sister relationship because it’s always a great thing to know that you have family to have fun with. He also does his best to teach them about school and encourages them that school is a good thing and that education should be a goal in their lives. He also does the same lifestyle he had when he was a kid because he believes that it was a good way of building yourself. The way he lived in the children’s home he’s try to mimic that for his own children. He wanted his kids to become just as good or even better then he is. So they wake up early then go to school after that they would sleep early. Its kind of similar to the way he grew up in boarding school, which from his belief is the best way to grow up because everyone needs some kind of discipline in their life.  Another thing he wanted for his kids is to give them what he didn’t have as a kid. First off is being a father to them. He didn’t have a father when he was younger for one reason or another but he said that he would be there for them. When they need him or not but he knows that being there would be a big change from how he was. He doesn’t want any more kids because he got just the amount he wanted and they’re a handful already. But he is happy with his life at the age of 28 because he has a family and is able to take care of them.

        From watching the episodes 7 – 28 up “give me a child when he’s seven and I will give you a man” I believe that it wasn’t bad or good but interesting in a way. It was good in the sense that we get to see where life takes us from our experiences as a child. A young mentality usually shows us a picture of how our mind set is going to be in the future. Sometimes the dreams you have as a kid change when you get older because of the environment or what you encounter doing your journey through life. The bad thing is that it revealed things about these people lives that they didn’t want to show or to tell the world. It was like since they were in it from the beginning then they can’t get out of it. I can’t say that I fully agree with this film but I know that if I had a chance I would this film for the world to see and understand not everyone can win but it makes everything in life that much sweeter. But I am also glad I got to learn that you can adjust and adopt to changes in life and still be happy with the way things go or have gone.

Samuel Michel 

Essay # 5

Reflection Letter

       My portfolio is a reflection of me and who I am.  The writing I did for my English helped me say things that I haven’t said before or at all. I now believe that writing is an expression of who you are and what you can say without using verbal language.

       In my portfolio I tried my best to put a little bit of me in everything that I write so that everyone or anyone that reads it can see my point of view and where I stand. After that semester I realize how important it is to write your thoughts down. It’s a way of tracking our history because without history we wouldn’t know where we would be right now. In other words I’m saying that writing is a way of expressing myself and in all through my Portfolio you can see a tend be of me or you can see where I’m coming from or how I feel. 

       I learn how to put feelings in a storyline within my writing. To have your reader draw into your work as a form of Art. The ability to use words to show or project an image to the reader’s mind is kind of like designing a movie. I learned to use that ability to make my work more powerful then the first time I started writing. To create a form of painting but by reading, I learned that you could have that talent to do so. Both good and bad writing still shows the reader that type of write that you are. This semester thought me that I would have to use my language carefully because I don’t want to be misunderstood by others.

      As I got more into this semester my skills in writing advanced and my mental ability also increase to a point that my metaphors got better. I started connecting with my readers through my writing, which made my writing better. Just by listening to there side or they’re journeys in life I found a way to fusing it with my writing. People started understand me and then I realize writing isn’t as bad as I once thought it would be.  The more I wrote I seen how deeply I was connected with writing and how much of myself I didn’t see before. In a result of that I still hold back on showing people my writing and started showing them different ones that are less reviling of myself. I also started realizing people can’t know too much about you because some things are better left unsaid. But overall the writing part of this semester has been good to be because I learned all that I didn’t before.

       Listening more and talk less can be the same as read more and write even more then ever. 

ESSAY #4