John Wayne

To Didion, John Wayne was the perfect example of the iconic man in american history. She described him like there was no other, explaining how he was a man that went by his own rules and did whatever he wanted to do. Whether it be vigilante work, or telling a woman to come along with him on adventure deep into the unconquered west, John Wayne was a man of adventure and excitement that Didion loved.

Yesterday, I watched a documentary on Kyle Clash, the puppetteer for Elmo on the Sesame Street. Kyle Clash grew up in a lower class neighborhood where the town circulated on high school football games, and late night outdoor movies. Mr. Clash was different, ever since he was a kid he had always had a passion and love for puppeteers and the shows that they put on. This love inspired him to become one as well, even though everyone else in his life had always followed the crowd around them instead of following their own dreams and aspirations. By the age of 17, Kyle found himself working for Jim Henson the creator of Seasame street, adn his career sky rocketed form there. The rest is history. He inspires me to follow my dreams for whatever I find to love, even if it is not the regular path that everyone may seem to be the right one. I am not sure what I want to be but after watching Kyle's documentary I know that once I find my passion I will pursue it, and become as successful as I can be in my specific talent.

Shitty First Drafts

After reading Anne Lamott's "Shitty First Drafts" I have a new outlook on the process of writing an essay. Ms. Lamott advises that when first writing an essay, the first draft should be written with a care-free and no rules type of writing style. Even if the first draft's writing is poorly written, and in some cases not understandable, Ms. Lamott believes that as long as something is written down it is acceptable.During the four years og high school I would be assigned various amounts of essays that would have to be written in class, and graded on the same day. With Ms. Lamotts viewpoint that it is almost impossible to write a perfect essay on the first draft, I strongly disagree with the writing methods that were taught to me in high school.

When writing an essay, I usually start by brainstorming ideas,themes, and the main ideas of what I am writing about. In a way, I follow Ms. Lamott's strategy by writing down whatever comes to mind on my brainstorm page. From there, I go through my list of ideas and pick and choose what ideas come together and make sense to form an essay. Once I have the essential topics that I will involve in my essay, I organize them in a sequential order in the form of which I will write. After I have all of these planning techniques set in stone, I begin to write my essay following the guidelines of the outline that I wrote. Once I am done with the essay, I read through it, check for grammatical and structural mistakes in my essay and rewrite it so that it flows, and makes logical sense. From, here I make sure to get a few peer editors to look over my essay, to see if they have any input to better my essay. Once this process is finished my paper is ready to be handed in. 

My writing is a flock of birds who start scattered on a big oak tree, but then fly up and  try to maintain a perfect v shape formation for their entire flying period. It starts out with ideas and thoughts all over the place in no particular order, but then as the steps of my writing follow, the essay becomes more organized and well thought out.