As a Biochemistry major, it could be assumed that it is easy for me to see any English course as a simple requirement, a box to be checked off, and that it will have little to no impact on what my future career goals are oriented to. I know that to be truly false. This ENC 1101 course has been enjoyable and it has opened my eyes to the power a good understanding of one’s own writing and the writing process itself can entail. Now, to give a bit of context, I took a break from my education following my high school graduation and I enlisted in the Navy. I was a medic. That came with it its own set of hardships, challenges, and accomplishments and I know that I came out of it for the better. I grew much and through the years have gained a perspective that might differ from some of my peers. So, when I started this English course, even though my intent is not to pursue a career that entails I be an English major, I knew I should take it seriously for I have learned that every experience has a worthwhile lesson (or lessons in this case) in it and I still have much to discover about the writing process. And quite wonderfully, I have indeed gained incredibly valuable insight and learned many lessons that do have real-world applications throughout my time in this course.

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Prior to this course, the way I would process my writing lacked any sophistication. I would simply write but I wouldn’t be mindful of how I was writing. It wasn’t until I became cognizant, through what was taught in this class, of the concepts of rhetorical choices, understanding an audience, and genre that it clicked in my head I had been lacking the tools to effectively navigate the writing landscape. ENC 1101 has a bulleted list of course outcomes and all of them have been impactful to me as a writer. The one I feel is most valuable however, is the one regarding the ability for a student to identify personal areas of growth in writing, thinking, and learning. How can we get better if we lack any self-awareness? If we don’t understand why we make the choices we do when writing? If we don’t understand why something works or doesn’t work?

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My Unit 1 project tasked me with writing an exploratory text about a question I had about writing. Our first big assignment was to submit a first draft of our paper. I had believed my first draft to be good, that it hit exactly what was being asked of me and that all I’d have to do for my final submission was make a few minor revisions. Oh, was I wrong. While what I submitted wasn’t necessarily bad, it lacked clarity and focus and without realizing it, I had been taking a stance on the question I had about writing when the goal of the project was to be exploratory without taking an argumentative or persuasive position. In return for my submission, I received a word documented filled with incredibly helpful notes outlining what I did right and, more importantly, what I could work on. I took that feedback and the lessons we had been going over in class and revised my work accordingly. I used the feedback I was given to guide me in reconstructing parts of my paper so that I can be clearer with my writing and ensured that I elaborated on why the question I was asking was important to me. I felt I had grown as a writer at the end of Unit 1. Like I had the capacity for improvement and that I could see this world of writing with greater clarity now that I knew what the landscape looked like.

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The idea of understanding your audience and genre played a huge role when I was working on my Othello project for another class. I was tasked with designing my own adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello and creating a set design for a specific scene of the play. I ended up picking the final scene of the play, Act V Scene ii. This scene was the culmination of Iago’s treachery and manipulation and the solidification of the tragedy of Othello and Desdemona’s life. I very purposefully added elements to my set design that would be appropriate for the genre and medium I was working with since this would theoretically be a scene acted out by real people on a stage with an audience. To give some brief context, this adaptation of Othello takes place in the late 1950’s and Othello and Desdemona are both famous Hollywood stars. Desdemona and Othello’s death occur in Desdemona’s dressing room. An example of an element I created was a portrait of a smiling Othello that stands above the couch where Desdemona is suffocated. This portrait looms over her after her tragic end and it serves as a way to capture the irony of her death. A death at the hand of a man she so dearly loved. We discussed the idea of genre and context much during the course of ENC 1101 and I used what was taught to help me craft this project. I asked myself, does this make sense given what my medium is? Will the audience understand this? As an adaptation, does this stay true to the source material or deviate to much from it? My understanding of the writing process and in turn, my creative process all benefitted immensely from what I had been taught in this course.

 

Now my anesthesia work journal is an artifact that I will always hold dear and close to my heart. It comes from a period of time where I felt I experienced exponential growth as a person. A period of time where I discovered a spark, a light guiding me to where I want to travel, what I want to become. When I was still enlisted, I was tasked with supporting operations at a Naval hospital in Beaufort, SC. There I was able to work my way into being a part of the anesthesia care team and I worked alongside multiple CRNA’s and anesthesiologists. They all helped shape my love for medicine and my love for the field of anesthesia. Every day I carried with me a black journal that I would jot notes down on. Anything I was taught, any questions that I might have had, any mistakes I might have made that day, I would write them down. I would sketch what I needed to, write out what I needed to, and I would read it all as I needed to. I feel this journal truly captures my spirit for learning. I have an eagerness to constantly build and improve upon what I already do know. In a way, this journal is an early reflection of the kind of student I would come to be, and how serious I would take the lessons I have come to learn here in this ENC 1101 course. 

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One of the most challenging aspects of this course for me was coming up with my four claims about writing. The first claim I made was quite fitting as I had experienced a lot of challenges writing all of my claim. But it makes sense. When things get hard, you keep pushing through and so my first claim was about how you need to keep writing. I tied my second claim to what I explored in my Unit 1 project. I felt it was fitting as I had first explored how much skill plays a role in ones writing and then I made a claim based of what I discovered through that writing. And funny enough, my third claim tied the process through which I came up with my second claim quite well. Through writing we can discover ourselves. So, through my writing of my Unit 1 paper, I discovered a belief I held about writing. My fourth claim touched on the benefits of writing as it can be healing. I personally have used writing in my past to express feelings and thoughts I had I felt I needed to sort through and so my third claim also ties into how my fourth claim works.   

 

I am working towards becoming a medical doctor one day and I know that what I have learned about writing and the writing process is going to become invaluable to me as I progress through the rest of my undergraduate education. I cannot think of a single class that I have to take, now or in the future, that will not require me to write at some point. At this present moment I have been able to apply the concepts of rhetorical choices, of genre, of audience, of context in writing, and effective strategies for writing. This will not change; I will be able to continue doing so as I progress in my education and even outside of school in my everyday life. It truly is fair to say that everyone is a writer, and that is how I see myself now.