Kendra Pierce

Side Writing Assignment Reflection 

     For the most part I feel like the “side writing” or notebook entries have been very helpful.  They have been a great tool to explore new ways of writing as well as a great way to gather and use more effective information. It felt like for each entry there was quite a bit of work that had to be put in with everything from gathering background on an author to creating a presentation on PowerPoint. Because the work was so diverse it made a great resource for exploring new ideas and new media to get my message across with out actually laying it out in clear writing. I really enjoyed the photo and media type entries because I feel like pictures say a thousand words. So the media spoke in ways that my writing never could. I think that a lot of the writing techniques I learned through these notebook assignments can be used in any time of future writing I did, because I have a better understanding on how to connect to the reader. Every reader is different and I think it is important to have material that can relate to everyone in different ways. I don’t think that there were any strategies that were less useful then another. I think they all served a purpose and it is important to see and apply all of the variety that was suggested.

Kendra Pierce

September 1, 2013

Draft Flash Memoir

English 2010-F13

Flash Memoir Draft 1

As I was thinking about what subject to write about I found myself lost in my own thoughts. I had veered off my thinking path and began doing nothing but watching people. It is fascinating to me to watch people move along with their everyday lives. I look at how the carry themselves, how they are dressed, how they style their hair, how they speak and anything else I can figure out about them from their outward appearance. I do not judge them I simply watch them.  I yearn to know who they are, what background they come from, what their dreams or goals are and what makes them happy.  This applies to people of all walks of life, but I have a particular interest in the poor.  My mind races with questions about their past, present and future. Unfortunately, I have seen firsthand that in our world today money and time equal power. People need power to change. So are individuals who are not as fortunate as others willing to do what it takes to make that change? Or has society and the government enabled them to want nothing more for their past, present and future?

                I hold a particular interest in this because I have experienced what it feels like to be poor. I became a single mother at a very young age. I was not old enough to get a decent paying job, nor did I have the education to. I was doing what I could to make ends meet but it was not coming together for me. I worked two full jobs while my son was practically being raised in a day care center. I was barely able to pay my rent, day care costs, and transportation costs to get to and from work.  I was able to buy small amounts of food at a time but not nearly enough to provide nutritious meals. I was stuck…..there was nothing more I could do. Every day was a new struggle, I felt as if things would never change. I would lie in bed at night and wonder how people lived with this feeling every day? Am I wrong for having my child gone for so many hours a day? How could I make more money? Every question you could imagine would race through my thoughts. When I would wake up in the morning I would have no new answers. Something has to change, but how?

                My situation has dramatically improved since then but I am left with a wondering sense of why people choose to live the way they do. Do we as humans get comfortable in what we are doing and put change, passions, and dreams aside to live for the moment. Or are we doing our best and falling deeper and deeper into a hole we can’t find the exit to. Money is power, so how do we go on without it.