Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

Every person in the world sees everything, every particle every atom, differently. These differences may be small, smaller in fact than the atom itself but, they are there. The reason this happens is because each and every person lives an entirely different life. They experience different things in different combinations and they hear and see different stories. In 10th grade English and History class this topic was an underlying theme that varied in importance depending on the assignment.

As a class we spoke about Language, and what it means to each individual. There were many different beliefs and ideas flying around the room. However, when we were to told to write a Language Autobiography each child in the classroom successfully came up with their own idea, and used their own stories to back it up. I personally wrote about the language I grew up with. Although it was English, it wasn’t the same English that so others use. I grew up originally because my family taught me with words.

This teaching through language led to so many other things in my life. I grew up loving words and the father I get in my life the more I love them and the more I want to share them with others. When we were assigned to write an Op-Ed, a persuasive news piece, I knew immediately I wanted to write about Creative Writing. I’ve always believe that creative writing is something that all people need, something that schools should be teaching. During my Op-Ed I stated, “The ability to express yourself creatively in an environment like school is the kind of opportunity that not enough people get but everyone should.” This statement was one of my chances throughout the year to expose people to my way of thinking, my lense.

We did get a chance to explore creative writing in my class. In the beginning of the year we learned about a project known as the Keystone Pipeline. This was a proposed pipeline that would be built from Canada all the way to Texas. We explored a lot about the effect this pipeline would have on many different people. To explore this more thoroughly we had to write 3 or 5 monologues, depending on if you had a partner, from different perspectives. My monologues, written with a partner, gave me a chance to go through all of the different experiences that this pipeline was causing. I got to see through the different lenses of many different people, and even objects. The first monologue I wrote was from the position of one of the natives being kicked out of her home, I wrote, “ I’m not worth it, and this is my only chance. I may never be allowed to leave again but, (pause) well I’m taking advantage of a bad situation. It’s not a good thing. At least, that’s what they told me.” This young girl was in a hard position. She wasn’t sure what was right or wrong and she wanted to run away but was faced with the question, ‘Is now the right time?’ Because we had to write more than one monologue I got to explore another lense. I decided to follow a different path. One of an adult male who had gotten a job working on the pipeline, I wrote, “Oh but let daddy tell you about this new job. (stop rocking both kids, hold out) Daddy’s building a pipeline, that’s right. For all the oil way up here in Canada to get all the way down to Texas. Probably the longest pipeline in history.” This man was in a completely different situation than my previous character. Just writing this I felt a different lense snapping on, for a moment.

The fact that each person has a different lense is something that I feel like I have always known. However I have never explored it quite the way I did this year. As a class we each delved deep into our own personal experiences and then shared them with each other. This sharing was what really led to my own understanding of other people’s lenses. Because I began to hear some of the stories that people told, because I began to recognize the way they told them. I began to see through their lense. I understand that because of my lense it is unlikely that I will ever get a perfectly clear picture of how they see the world but I know that it is not the same as me. No one sees the world just the way that I do. I, like everyone else that has ever existed, am an original, I see things the way I see things because I am me.

Other pieces of my work:

Journal about the Pledge of Allegiance

Journal about defining freedom