Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

Posted by Alexis Dean in English 2 - Block on Tuesday, June 11, 2013 at 7:39 pm

There comes a point in everyone’s life where they are forced to remember things. Whether they be for good or for bad. This is that time for me. It is time for me to think back on everything we have done and evaluate upon that. Its time for me to focus on work that may have been good, or the ones that I completely rocked.

This year for me has been one full of ups and downs. Some of those worse than others. I’ve struggled with staying focused as well as completing tasks on time. But when I did hand in those assignments, they were magic. “Growing up there has been (and still is) something that clearly divides our family. It is not the color of our hair or whether or we share the same eye color. A speech barrier has affected more than half of my family.” Read more of my Language Autobiography here.

There have been times this year when I did not believe that I could go on any longer and there was no way that I would be able to finish out the year strong but I had to do it. Mr. Block began to assign more work that I could relate to and that made it a little less difficult to fail at. “There will always be things that one does that someone else hates, but that is the give and take with life. You never know what you are going to get, so you deal with it, no matter whatever hand you are dealt. Its a game of give and take, and there is more giving than taking, but hey! That’s what life is.. A bunch of uncertainty.” I look back on these words and realize you cannot change what you have done, however you have the power to adjust the course for the future. In the past year, I have learned that in these two subjects and just about the world in general. You can only change yourself... You can’t change the world. Read more from my Letter Assignment here.

I was inspired to keep writing and to keep sharing my writing with the world. I wanted the world to know how proud I was to be apart of a class where I had the freedom to write whatever I pleased. When I pleased. One of the journal entries this year was titled “Never shall I forget.” in which you could write about anything. I at the time had been thinking about my relationship since the topic on hand that week was relationships within countries and relationships between people and objects. I remember writing this great poem about my relationship and it went a little something like this. “Never shall I forget the day he held me in his arms, For I did not want to let go. Never shall I forget the late night phone calls, The ones that were had so that he would be the last voice I heard before bed. Never shall I forget how much I love him. Never shall I forget the person I gave my heart to. For all these things worth remembering, I never shall forget. Never shall I forget the day I saw him. I fell in love instantly and I knew we were meant to be. Never shall I forget the day I got the courage to talk to him. He liked me too. Never shall I forget the day he asked me to be his. Never shall I forget our first kiss by the backstairs. Never shall I forget the butterflies I get everytime I hear his name. Never shall I forget the day he said I love you... because I love him too.”

At that point, my knack for writing became something that could no longer be tamed. We were learning more about different writing styles and we were getting prompts to write about and the benchmarks challenged my every being. My favorite project from the year had to be my monologues about the Keystone Pipeline build. I wrote the monologues and was more than ecstatic to show everyone. Here is a little excerpt “What brings you here today? My land? You want my land? Why? No! You can’t have it! I won’t let you! (Angrily Speaking) I can’t believe you thought you could come in my house and take my land! This is mine! I bought it and I refuse to sign it over to you. TransCanada? Who are they? Why do they feel the need to take what isn’t theirs? (Pause) A pipeline? From Canada all the way to Texas? Why the hell do they need all that oil anyway! Go dig somewhere else! I dont care how beneficial it is to the company, the other states, or anyone else for that matter. I worked my whole life for this land and I’m not going to throw it away for a project that will be gone in five years after all of the oil dries up! (Pause, looking to her left) Calm Down? Me calm down? At a time like this? I’m sorry Mr. Jameson, not to sound rude, but thats not going to happen. There is more to the land then just a place to be. My children were born and raised here, my grandchild born in this very house. There is an emotional connection involved in this house and there is no amount of money that can change the way I feel about this.” Read the full monologues here.

There are so many more pieces of work that I am proud of from this year and that can demonstrate to the fullest but would not nearly have enough time to write about all my experiences with each one. So below I put a list together of a few of most pride worthy work for you to enjoy. Feel free to go through the links and read whatever you would like! I hope you enjoy my writing.