According to the dictionary, to write is to compose (a text or work) for written or printed reproduction or publication; put into literary

form and set down in writing. But that seems impersonal to me. I would define writing as an expression of oneself on paper in a way that allows the author to communicate with the reader. In this semesters class, we also looked at different ways to present a piece of writing, not only in books, but online, in archives, and graphic novels. I dont believe that everything we saw was writing. For instance, a Wikipedia article is not a piece of writing, but rather a statement of perceived fact. There is no expression involved, just a collection and presentation of data. I also dont believe a graphic novel is a piece of writing in the same way that a movie is not a piece of writing. The creator doesnt just express through words, but through images as well. In fact, the images are central to the medium: the tone of the picture, the look on each characters face, and so on. Because this is so important in graphic novels, it makes the writing somewhat less significant. For me, writing is a lot more about expression than presenting an argument. Most of my writing experience is with poetry or (to be more modern) pouring out my sorrows and frustrations onto anonymous internet forums. Also, as an actor, I always have been and always will be a storyteller. So even when it is supposed to be a direct formal assertion of an argument, I want to tell it as a story, in a way that will make it engrossing and engaging. My goal as the writer is for my writings to draw people in, entertain and engage them, and then leave them with an important message and feeling, like any good play or poem. For example, at the start of the semester we wrote rants for class, and mine was about the stupidity of high school hierarchies:

In my opinion, the formation of cliques and the illusion of High School popularity are used for the sole purpose of consoling the winners. To be blunt, we live in a world dominated by money, not physical strength or how much liquor you snuck in that one time at your cousins wedding and ending up hurling on your aunt (whoh, dude, no way!) Cliques are one of the only opportunities for some of these people to really feel like the winners. Unless of course you can actually make being an asshole work, then you can be on reality TV and be important and famous forever.

I present the argument, but I add stories and express my aggression through biting sarcasm. Even though Ive made a point, I have still added myself to the story. But even when Im being serious and presenting a formal argument in class, my writing style also comes in handy because I well understand ethos and pathos. However, I struggle with logos, the logic behind my arguments, and that definitely runs me into trouble. For example, in my writing process, before actually doing any of the writing, I like to consider and brainstorm important points for my argument first. But with our third project, I was unable to develop a strong argument or logic supporting my point, and so my project suffered greatly. I found that I was repeating myself and rambling. I am writing to you all because I have heard that you will be deliberating soon whether to ban the use of Heart of Darkness in your high school classrooms. I am writing to you all to implore you not to do this I wrote I am writing to you all twice. My inability to find strength in my argument meant that I lacked the confidence to speak with authority and so, rather than my regular smooth narrative, I found myself poorly splicing my thoughts together, hoping they would somehow fit. But one of the interesting things that this class helped me realize is, because writing is an expression, sometimes the authors feelings and ideas arent always popular. For example, an author who thinks its important to talk about drug abuse and eating disorders in teens may write something that is not approved of by a lot of people. And, like any important idea, people give it power. When enough people disapprove of a book, it becomes banned as we saw in this

semesters class. In the book that I read, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, his use of the one word nigger may make a lot of people today upset or uncomfortable. I wrote about that in my essay: In the time that we live in now, racism is taken much more seriously. To simply write the word nigger in this essay was uncomfortable because of current racial sensitivities (I would have rather written the n-word). In my junior year of high school, I attended a poetry festival where the keynote speaker was the poet Billy Collins. In his speech, he said to the crowd that there was no such thing as originality. Instead, we seek to copy people and the things we admire about them and from that create our own style. And reading has that effect on writing. By reading, we engage ourselves in someone elses story, not only to get lost in it and many other good reasons, but also to find the things about it that we like, maybe for use in stories of our own. And so, because of everything we have read and seen this semester, I have experiences and material that I can use in any future writing I do. This class has been unlike any class Ive taken before. Rather than have our focus be solely on the reading material, it has also been about ways in which that material was introduced and discussed. And Ive definitely never had so much power to make decisions in class. I really believe these things have made my experience better, and have helped me as a writer going into the future.