Eloise Palandro- English Q2 BM

ARTIST STATEMENT Some ways that Noah’s memoir influenced me include the way that he wrote as if he was talking to a friend he’d known his whole life rather than a billion people he’d never met. I didn’t want my memoir to sound like a story I am telling a college administrator as a way for them to accept me into their college, but to a friend who actually asked me to talk. Noah had been accepted into many different cultures, due to his skin color, ability to speak multiple languages, and just his overall personality. He just never felt he truly belonged to any of them for the longest time. Because being accepted isn’t belonging. This vignette I wrote was more about me getting used to a new culture I now belong in. I really liked how in Noah’s memoir he would be telling a story and then go off into a little tangent about something that almost had nothing to do with the original story he was telling. I tried to copy that throughout little portions of my memoir because I think that makes the whole thing easier to read. And like I said before I think that adds to the effect of writing as if you are just talking to a friend. I tried to explain having divorced parents as best I could. This is difficult because the way I experienced it is different than how everyone else with divorced parents experiences it. I even experienced it differently than my sister. It’s hard because everyone reacts to it differently. I was lucky because my parents got divorced when I was really young. For most of my life, My parents haven’t been together and that makes it easier to get used to it. Having divorced parents isn’t really a part of me. It’s a fact. It’s a way I can connect to people. But it isn’t me. It doesn’t make me who I am. Because I didn’t let it. I haven’t let it change my thoughts on relationships or love because your parent’s love life won’t be your own.