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Help Fast Please!

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by Thandrami, Sep 3, 2012.

  1. Thandrami

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    I have an english paper for my class due on wednesday and I have to write 2 pages (double spaced) on the topic "Each of us can tell of an experience that has been unusually significant. Think about your past, identify one experience that has been especially important for you, and write an essay about it."

    I can't for the life of me think of anything to write. I COULD write about my coming out but I honestly don't feel like that is my teachers business and I don't want him to know. I tried writing about my first job but I couldn't get more than a few sentences out about it.

    Can anyone help me think of something just start throwing out ideas please I really need to get it done. Hopefully tonight!
     
  2. julia

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    I think your teacher may respect you if you wrote about your coming out, teachers usually really appreciate personal writings. Only if you're comfortable with writing it, that is. I'm not sure what else you could write about since everyone's life is incredibly different from another's, though. Good luck!
     
  3. andersonh09

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    What about starting high school, or college (I don't know how old you are) or even elementary school, or a younger sibling (if you have any) being born. Is there a particular age at which something special happened? Hope I was at least of some help. Maybe something will spark a new idea. Good Luck.
     
  4. Thandrami

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    You are right he could respect me for it but I just don't feel comfortable writing about it. My thing is its not really something he needs to know. And my life has been plain even my dad couldn't think of anything significant that has happened in my life. :/
     
  5. rg93

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    You live in LA, your life can't be plain! :grin: Come on, maybe somthing from when you were very young?
     
  6. Pret Allez

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    Well, I would just think to yourself, "do I feel safe coming out to my teacher?" If the answer is no, find something else to write about. It might be hard, but at least you stay in a safe place. Another alternative is to write the paper you want to write and a safe backup, ask the teacher for confidence (this is important to me, and I need you not to tell anyone, etc). If you feel safe then, turn in the paper you wanted to write all along.
     
  7. Mango

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    Write about your sport, your hobby, or some activity in which you enjoy participating.

    I like bicycling. I would start with my first bicycle and some memorable event that took place with regards to that bike. I'd then discuss my next bike, or my cycling experiences while in grade school. I'd be sure to mention any bicycle mishaps, like when I fell of my bike in front of a bus.

    Next, I would discuss my current feelings about bikes in general and the changes that they've made since years long passed. I'd tell about some of my most recent experiences on my bike and how it keeps me in shape, along with kayaking.

    I'd end on the kayaking note and how that caps my physical workout regimen at the end of the summer.

    I'd make certain that I mention how the bicycle helps to develop my leg and thigh muscles (my lower body). I'd state how kayaking works on developing my arm, shoulder, and back muscles (my upper body). Finally, I'd mention how both activities are excellent cardio activities.

    So what's your activity to write about?
     
  8. NicoleV96

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    I don't know if the teacher would think of this as a smart ass answer, but, why don't you just say being born? Then you could say how you being on Earth has shown you what you're capable of and what you have already done in the past. Something like that. I mean, it's a very general description, but you could make it more personal, maybe?
     
  9. Ianthe

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    What do you mean it's not your teacher's business? We don't come out to people because it's their business, we come out for other reasons.

    You think you should write about your coming out, but you are experiencing shame. You will have difficulty writing on any other topic, because unconsciously, this it the topic you think you should write about--that's why you can't get past your first couple of sentences on the piece about your first job.

    I bet when you first got the assignment, coming out was the first thing that popped into your head. And that is such a powerful story in your life that none of your other ideas can even come close to competing with it.

    Write the piece about your coming out. You aren't going to be able to write a different thing until you get the "coming out" story out of you. It will just keep blocking things up, and you won't be able to sustain interest in other topics.

    If you keep trying to write about your first job or whatever without writing this coming out thing first, you are going to keep having problems and it's going to be very frustrating.

    It's not that nothing significant has happened in your life. It's that your mind instantly produced the most significant thing, and everything else seems insignificant in comparison.

    You brought up your coming out because that is what you really think you should write about. Nothing else is going to seem right to you.

    So the question is, why do you have this internal conflict, where you don't want to write about the one thing you really want to write about? I mean, okay, it's not intrinsically any of your teacher's business. But it's not really anyone's business. Neither is your first job or anything else, really, either.

    Really, the problem is that you aren't comfortable--it has nothing to do with whether it's your teacher's business. The uncomfortable feeling is shame, and the way to deal with shame is to talk about it. Or in this case, write about it.

    Writing about your coming out experience will make you feel vulnerable. But it will also result in the best personal essay--precisely because it makes you feel vulnerable. When it comes to personal essays, if it doesn't make you a little uncomfortable, and vulnerable, then it's not the right topic, or else you're doing it wrong. That feeling of vulnerability is an indication that you are sharing something genuinely meaningful. If you write about a topic that doesn't make you feel a little vulnerable, it will be superficial--and since you have a topic that is meaningful to you, it will also be forced.

    Finally, I know it isn't what you want to hear, but in my experience (as a writing tutor), when a student comes to me with an assignment to write a personal essay, and they say, "well I could write about [X topic], but I'm not really comfortable with that," they are not usually successful in their efforts to write on other topics. It's not unusual for this to result in incomplete assignments.

    On a positive note, when they do dive in and write about the topic that makes them feel vulnerable, they usually end up with excellent essays.
     
  10. sanguine

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    Im probably really late on a response, but what about going with idea of the road not taken?

    pretty much the concept behind it is based of the poem where the guy talks about what it would have been like to go the other route instead of the normal one, and maybe you can revolve the paper around that, the concept that every day you make unusual decisions which in turn is significant in shaping who you are, questioning if it were the right road to take, and if you would have been happier or not making such decisions, if anything that can be an indirect way talk talking about your coming out story etc.