Retrospectives Essay -- Autobiographies Education Essays

Retrospectives I selected three autobiographical pieces and one analytical for the portfolio. The order is: "Multi-Threaded ThingTM," an autobiographical paper which took inspiration from the form of Susan Griffin's "Our Secrets," and represented my life by pseudocode written in different computer programming languages; "Autobiographical Comparison," which was a partially successful attempt to compare and contrast my beliefs with those of James Baldwin; "Virginia Woolf: Assertive or Introspective," an analytical assessment of Virginia Woolf's motives while writing her memoir A Sketch of the Past; and "The ideal Life," an autobiographical response to the fantasy life portrayed in Maxine Hong Kingston's "White Tigers." I chose this layout because it sorts the papers by an increasing amount of time spent on each paper, which coincides with an increasing order of my satisfaction with it, as well as for some other reasons. The first paper consists of alternating sections of computer code describing the period of the last four years of my life. It was an interesting experiment to write a paper in this structure. It was at once both easier and more difficult to write than a standard prose structure. I found it easier because I am used to and more comfortable writing with computer code. The structure of code is stricter than that of English in that fewer constructions can be used. I found it more difficult because I did not have a set vision of the content of the paper in mind, but rather only one of its form. I actually accomplished matching the form to my vision, something that is never done when the vision is of the content, but had no coherent picture of the piece while writing. It was an interesting experiment to expre... ...or get it down on paper I stop and try to search for a better verb to use. Since this is the way I think ("this is"), I continue to start with these sentences and verbs, but then try to revise it immediately and bring the creative process to a halt while trying to think of better verbs), I believe that it has helped me to develop my writing. It has reacquainted me with the whole process of writing, and while it's not any easier to produce the papers, at least I have the experience of producing, and the knowledge that I can probably do it again if forced. "In conclusion, I would like to thank you, gentle reader. What's that you say? Me thank you? No, it's not a misprint, for you see I have enjoyed writing this paper as much as you have enjoyed reading it." — Charles Montgomery Bums ("Bart's Blood" - Simpsons) Courtesy of an Anonymous Student. Used with permission.