Reflection

When I started this class, I was struck by the almost “Dead Poet’s Society” feel it had to it.  There were no individual desks, no whiteboard at the front of the room for us to glue our eyes to.  Instead, it was a roundtable, around which sat a bunch of people I didn’t know and one excitable man with very wide eyes and a slight air of worldliness who claimed that he was going to change my life or expand my horizons or something of that nature.  I was skeptical to say this least.

When I left this class, it was with Bryan Polan crying his eyes out (almost giving the illusion of rain because the guy is so tall), and with the wide eyed man’s closing remarks ringing in my ears and leading me to tell Bryan and Oliver Scherick that we need to “live more” whatever that means.  So yeah, it’s been a trip.  I’ll try to tackle it chronologically.

The first piece, the remediation, was something that I have actually been chomping at the bit to do for a while.  The piece I chose to remediate was an open letter I had written about 18 months ago for an English class at this University.  The open letter was in response to Eric Teetsel, a noted anti-gay activist.  In my letter, I paint myself as the white knight savior of all things good and homosexual, and I knew it would secure me a good grade even if it was in no way representative of the true story of my brother’s coming out.  This piece gave me the opportunity to do that, and I am not exaggerating when I say that I think it is one of the best three things I’ve ever written.  I tried to take a topic that has the potential to (and sometimes does) turn slightly dark and still treat it with an overall lighthearted and semi-humorous tone.  I find that this often doesn’t work, but in this piece I came away feeling like it did.  Maybe you’ll disagree.  That’s your prerogative.  But you’re wrong.

The remediation was a much more difficult project for me.  I really had no idea how to turn my (and more importantly my brother’s) story into something new and different.  In a perfect world I’d get a few million dollars to shoot a movie with somebody devastatingly handsome to play me and someone slightly less handsome to play my brother.  Unfortunately that option was not available to me.  I eventually settled on the audio/interview idea, and I am glad I did because it gave me the opportunity to get Sammy’s thoughts on things and also to ask him questions that I have never had the chance to ask.  I think it takes the piece and turns it slightly on its head, which is the point of the remediation assignment.

The Why I Write piece was one that I struggled with for a while, but when everything finally clicked into place I think it turned out really well.  I actually wrote the intro to this piece last, because I felt that the three reasons given on their own added up to be a rather dark piece.  I wrote the introduction with an intentionally gregarious tone to offset this, and I think that decision was for the best.  Truth be told I don’t really know why I write, and I think the piece did a good job of expressing that self-doubt while also giving me the chance to explore the possible reasons.

All told I thoroughly enjoyed Writing 220.  There was a lot of work associated with it, but I never really felt overwhelmed.  I also looked forward to the class as a respite from what sometimes seemed like a never ending slog of homework, professors, and lectures in all my other classes.  This class forged friendships.  It was impossible not to become friends with the kids who you sat around a table with and talked about life for three hours a week.  I will spend time with Bryan and Oliver this summer, and we will certainly try to “live more” even though we still don’t know what that means.  And I’ll be sad that I don’t get the chance to walk into North Quad twice a week with the opportunity to speak my mind anymore.  This is the class I will miss most from this year, and that counts for something.