1. blog link: https://writing523.poetry.blog/

2. Which of your pieces was the most challenging to write? Give three reasons and explain. 
I believe the most challenging piece to write is the ACT essay. The ACT prompt was one I was not familiar with at all and had a writing structure that I did not like . Furthermore, I did not know much about artificial intelligence and its role in society, which made it even more of a struggle for me to put content on my paper. Last but not least, the pressure that the time limit put on me caused me to panic and caused me to force ideas into the essay.

3. Which of your pieces was the most enjoyable to write? Give three reasons and explain. 

The piece that I enjoyed writing the most would probably be the descriptive writing. First off, the writing prompt for this assignment did not have much restrictions, so I could do whatever I wanted in terms of essay structure and what not. Second off, it gave me the opportunity to write about a very special and exciting moment in my life, which made it easy for me to write. The descriptive essay also challenged me to try new sentence structures and to broaden my vocabulary. While some of it wasn’t successful, I had much fun try it.

4. What are your strengths and weaknesses as a writer? Explain. 

As a writer I think I come up with great, original idea, but because of my limited vocabulary and sentence structures, my story ends up being bland. For example, I had an idea of a full circle conclusion in the SAT practice essay, but because of poor wording choice, no one was able to notice it and even became a bit confused from my attempt.

5. What have you done to develop your strengths and minimize your weaknesses as a writer? How successful do you feel you have been? Explain. 

To develop my strengths, I spent time in the beginning of each writing assignment to make a list of ideas. I think this really helped me develop better ideas as I can keep a record of them and potentially use different elements of different ideas and combine it. To minimize my weakness, I tried to research new words and new sentence structures to implement. This wasn’t very effective, as it forced me to use techniques that I wasn’t comfortable with. Instead, to improve my vocabulary limit, I should just read more books.

6. What kind of future career or field of study are you considering? What kinds of writing might be important in career/field of study?

I am considering to do something related to art in the future, so maybe an artist, architect, product designer? For this field of study, I may need to know to write a report, so that I can document my thought process. If I ever become an artist, I need to have an artist’s statement.

7. What advice would you offer the College Writing teachers as they plan this unit for next year?

While the other creative writing pieces were fun and interesting to write, I could’ve used more practice on the standardised test essays. We only spent one or two weeks on the SAT and I didn’t feel like I learned a lot from the SAT assignment. Another suggestion I would have is to have quick writes more consistently. We had a quick write for almost every class in the beginning of the year, but as quarter 2 arrived, we rarely had to chance to do so.

These days, many of our goods and services we use are being supplied by robots rather than actual humans. Whereas we used to see humans cashiers, we are now greeted by a machine in the cashier more often than not. Humans have made a great amount of progress with the help of machines, but what do we lose as more of our lives get replaced by them? Given the accelerating variety and prevalence of intelligent machine, it is worth examining the meaning of them in our lives.

As we allow more machines to replace us and our jobs, there are certain aspects of humanity that we lose.  However, it would be quite absurd to say that our daily encounter do not require us to have basic courtesy, respect, and tolerance for other people. While we may have slightly fewer encounters with humans than before, we are still surrounded by humans.  We may not be greeted by a warm smile as we enter a grocery store, but there are certainly many settings where we get to interact with other human beings, like in school or in your home.

As machines develop, their task becomesbecomes more and more complex. I believe that machines should be able to help us do things efficiently, but we must also take in mind of the possible jobs they replace before employing them. If the development of automated machines is least to say fast, and if we allow ourselves to be carried away, it could cause many people to become unemployed and dissatisfied.

Intelligent machines have pushed human’s boundaries of what we could do. I totally agree with this perspective, that if we allow machines and humans to grow and improve together, we can certainly head towards new, unimaginable possibilities. For example, humans used to use farm animals and their own hard work to take care of the fields. At that time, there was not much room for developing technology, since most human beings needed to devote their time to produce food. However, as our agricultural technology develops, less and less people had to farm and more and more were able to explore newer fields of science and philosophy.

The speed of which intelligent machines develop may be frightening, which it undoubtedly is, as long as we improve hand in hand, we can allow them to improve ourselves.

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“Searching for Bobby fischer” is a Movie filmed in 1993, about Josh, a chess prodigy’s struggle in finding his meaning of playing chess. Throughout the movie, parents and other authorities figure in his life influenced him to think of chess in different perspective, some views it as a recreational game, while some views it as an art: something to take seriously. A clear theme was presented in this film: The struggle for parents to apply pressure on their child to ensure the quality of their future or to give the child freedom and a happy childhood.

The theme of Parental pressure was something also present in many disney movies, like classic fdsf sleeping beauty. In the film, after Princess Aurora was cursed by maleficent, the King sent her to live with three fairies in the woods. Princess Aurora was restricted to the woods and couldn’t explore the town. The King did that out of love, to protect her from maleficent, but because of this, Aurora’s only made friends were forest critters and three winged elderlies. While Josh’s restrictions weren’t as extreme, he had to spend a lot of time taking lessons and studying chess; he also had to avoid going to washington square to ensure that his chess skills stays on par. 

Unlike Josh in the movie, I see myself in a completely opposite situation. When I was young, my parents did not give me any pressure at all in my extracurriculars; the only lesson I had outside of school was taekwondo classes every saturday. I spent most of my free time playing lego and being unproductive. In “Searching for Bobby Fischer”, however the opposite scenario was presented. Josh found himself a talent in chess, and his parents forced him to improve his skills, in which he was able to win a national competition in the end. Looking back, I kind of hope my parents would give me pressure to really master a skill, so that I can learn discipline at an early age and be more hardworking.

While I have never experienced it first hand, I know many people that were pressured by their parents to work and develop their talents and in doing so, didn’t have much time to play. When I was a child I had a close friend called Marcus, he was very talented in the piano, and I admired him dearly for that. However, Marcus would often skip school or play dates because he had to attend a competition or take piano lessons.

Back then, I didn’t understand why his parents would do such a thing to him, but seeing his fluency and skill in the piano now lets me understand that it may have been all worth it.

In conclusion, Searching for bobby fischer was able to portray the parents applying pressure to their children to ensure a brighter future impressively. The pros and cons of this parenting style was also emphasised in this film. 

“Me, my, and mine.” I am sure we say and hear these words practically everyday. These are words that we often take for granted and are underappreciated. The sense of individualism may seem like something no one can ever take away, but that was not the case for Equality 7-2521. Equality 7-2521 was a street sweeper in a society with complete collectivism, which means that this community views itself as one entity. In Anthem, our main character will face many challenges and learn what it means to be yourself.

The protagonist starts off as a curious person, but not daring enough to defy the government and  act on the curiosity. The main struggle of Equality 7-2521 is to choose for himself or to obey what the government’s desires.  As the story goes on, he learns more about himself and also about the flawed society he lives in.

The story’s theme is essentially what would happen if we all lost our own identity. As the story progresses, the protagonist explores the flawed aspects of extreme collectivism: job distribution, love, and the lack of freedom. One technique cleverly used by the author was replacing all the pronouns which conveys self with pronouns that conveys a collective. For example, instead of saying: “ But I feel no burden upon my spirit and no fear in my heart.”the author would say: “But We feel no burden upon our spirit and no fear in our hearts.” It was confusing in the beginning, but it certainly enhanced the flow of the story.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a short  yet fulfilling story. The reading difficulty isn’t challenging; the vocabulary is no more than middle school level. Despite this, I think older readers will still find the book interesting as it beautifully presents a unique concept beautifully. This is a perfect book to read if you don’t know what to do in a short holiday and want to get the most out of it.

Link of Draft

I pulled with all that I had on the sail, submerged in the dense ocean. My hands held firmly to the rope, my feet gripped the board, and my sail slowly rose from the waters. The beast of the wind it was minutes ago was no more. its tremendous power turned to a mere tickle to my sail. After several attempts of sailing back to shore, my effort was useless as my board only got pushed back by the waves.

The sun’s light filled my vision with a blinding white, sending wave upon wave of heat into my face as I laid flat on my windsurf board.  The waves danced around my board, swaying back and forth, humming in a calming tone. I reached my hand up high: no wind. None at all. 

I told myself the only way I will be able to get back to shore would be by paddling. I dipped my hand into the soothing water.  My hands pushed back the waters in rapid successions, and the salt water stung my eyes. As I paddled relentlessly, the shore continued to shrink from my sights. Soon enough, I was almost a mile away from shore. A numbing pain gradually grew in my flimsy arms and slowly coursed through my whole body. I decided to give up.

From a distance, I spotted my classmates, all scattered across the vast ocean, all hopeless to return to shore. One was trying to paddle back as I did, and the rest of them gazed into the horizon. Right past them, a group of sailboats slowly glided through the gentle breeze like a flock of birds. The boats were all white in color, the surface of it reflecting a glaring light back at my face. Trotting right behind them were a group of experienced windsurfers, holding on to every small gust of wind with their colossus six meter sails. I looked even further, Our coach, Mr. Lee, was in his powerboat attending to his other student, William, who was stuck on the other side of the harbor. The boat then took a sharp turn towards my direction, heading towards me. I rejoiced in bliss, seeing my gallant knight coming to my rescue.

I stepped onto the side of the boat, seated myself on the back and tied our surfboard to it. I looked up at my coach, and he welcomed me with a warm smile. He turned the gear on the boat, and it began to gallop through the vast plains of ocean. 

Longing to return to shore after being stranded for so long, Andy started singing “country road, take me home” and I followed along. The coach saw us in so…  I looked back, there were a few fish leaping out glee, joining us in celebration. Then came another one, and another one, and another one… The surfboards became flooded with fish, all flopping energetically to the triumphant tune of the song. Seeing all the fun we had, the coach joined in with his deep rich voice as we finally got back to shore. 

Link of Draft

Hi. My name is Tony. Today I will be talking about finding motivation, not giving up and my journey in cross country.

So, when I first joined cross country, I had the expectation that it would be a relaxing experience. I would be giggling with my friends while enjoying the beautiful view of the cheng mun river.

However, that was not the case. Every second of practice was hell. imagine the four stages of cancer compressed into 30 minutes, because that was how I felt, and it didn’t feel good.

Besides my terrible mindset, another thing I struggled with is that I always gave up halfway. Of the couple of races I joined that year, I ran about only half the time and walked the other half

On top of that, I was also absent very often. In that season, I only went to about 3 practices total.

As you can see, this is an accurate representation of my progress in cross country. I had an OK endurance in the beginning of the season, but because I skipped practice and didn’t give effort, it quickly went down hill

This is a picture of me in the finals. As you can see I was gleaming with confidence and even posed with an epic dab because I somehow expected myself to get top ten.

To my surprise, I got about 10th … to last place. I was completely devastated for a whole week and was quite disappointed in myself

then came 10th grade. I told myself that it would be a fresh start. This time, I would work hard every practice and be more humble

This was me in my first meet. As you can see I was mange to almost catch up to cyrus, but the stitch got to me and I really wanted to give up.

However, I saw cyrus in front of me and that kept me to push just a little harder, as I really wanted to beat him for once. At the end I was able to beat him.

Finally it was the final championship, I was quite nervous as I put a lot of time and effort this season and didn’t want it to be put to waste

I was doing quite well in the race. You can see me hear just running past some other runners.

However, my confidence slowly dwindled when I passed the halfway mark, A devilish man appeared in my mind and told me that all my practice did nothing and that I should just give up.

Then suddenly, a radiating beam of light shot at me and a voice from the heavens told me to not give up.

… Ok, that didn’t really happen, but while I was praying to God, he reminded me that the finish line is closer than I think, and that I’ve made much progress this season.

At the end, I was able to finish the race with a time and ranking I was proud of.

There were three lessons that I learned from my time in cross country. The first lesson was that I should set realistic goals so that I won’t be too devastated when I fail.

The second lesson I learnt was if you find something hard or difficult to overcome, I should set smaller goals, to give myself a sense of progress and motivate me.

THe last lesson I learned was that God can really give me strength. He may not give me biceps like these. But if you ask for God’s strength with genuinity, he will certainly give it to you.

My first experience of windsurfing was in a summer camp when I was eleven. That day, I waited patiently to get on the board, as each person took turns to try out windsurfing. I got up on the board, barely able to stay standing as the waves tossed the board up and down. For the next fifteen minutes I was on the board, it was a constant battle to not yanked into the ocean. When I came home that night, I told myself I would never go windsurfing again.

Nevertheless, my mother signed me up to a windsurfing class next summer with my friends. The class took place in a reservoir, so the wind was calm and there were no waves. Towards the end of the short windsurfing course, I was able to develop some control over my windsurf board and started to enjoy this sport. From then on, I occasionally take windsurfing lessons with my friends when there were school holidays. After every class, my coach gives me critique and tips on how to improve on certain techniques and I would focus on them the next class.

In my time on the surfboard, I made many great memories. A year ago, me and some of my classmates and I could not get back to shore and waited for the coach to rescue us on his power boat. We got on the power boat and tied our surfboard to it. Longing to return to shore after being stranded in the ocean for so long, we started singing “country road, take me home”; the coach also sang along with us. Moments later, schools of fish started to jump out of the wake of the boat, as if they were celebrating our salvation with us.

I have windsurfed for years now, and I have definitely improved a lot. I have learned a variety of techniques and to go upwind and downwind with ease. Just this summer, I was able to do a maneuver called “fair drive” comfortably, which seemed impossible when I first saw it. Windsurfing has also taught me to be humble and to work hard. Everytime I indulge in my pride and let my guard down, the ocean brings along a strong gust of wind and sends me straight into the freezing water, reminding me that I still have a lot to improve on. Despite still being not very good at windsurfing, it has become a sport that I have come to love.

Link of Draft

Nowadays, more and more people are coming out of poverty in drastic numbers, yet many people of this world have been misinformed and believe the opposite. In this essay, Nicholas Kristof builds an argument to persuade his audience that globally, we are winning the war on extreme poverty. He employs rhetorical techniques like statistics, appeals to humor, personal anecdotes and more. 

The author starts the argument by claiming what many Americans have come to believe: billions of people have been suffering from war, famine and poverty, and it is just getting worse. He then uses America’s reputation as the home to various beliefs to employ a clever joke “Fortunately, the one point Americans agree on is dead wrong.” Seeing this, the audience would relate better with Kristof and at the same time be relieved. The author then employs some hard evidence from historians and cites reputable organizations (United Nations) to clear any disbelief and doubts from the readers.

Nicholas Kristof continues his argument by effectively citing reputable organizations and utilizing metaphors. The author, yet again, cites the all-reliable United Nation, which aims to eradicate poverty by 2030, which has been backed up by other experts. This statement gives a clear image to the audience of how much poverty has improved. The author then uses a metaphor, comparing poverty and illiteracy to illness, allowing the readers to relate the dramatic improvement in medicine with the fight against poverty. 

Kristof wraps up his argument by showing practical examples, disputing possible counter-arguments and using powerful diction. In the fourth to last paragraph, He shows some examples of humanitarian aid, like providing Vitamin A capsules and surgeries for poor people. Doing so, the reader understands how poverty is being fought. He also acknowledges a common claim that if parents are assured that their kids will survive, they will choose to have more. He then shows some statistics “Indian women now… , Mexican women just 2.2.”, proving that the situation is quite the opposite. At last, NicholasKristoff reminds the reader to take “a nanosecond of silence to acknowledge the great gains in human well being in the history of our species”, causing the reader to feel a sense of hope and take pride in the progress humankind has made.

There are many people who have been misled into believing in a world where more and more people will be plagued with poverty. With Nicholas Kristof’s stylistic tone and evocative diction, he ensures that his audiences (even the Americans) will live in hope of a world without poverty.

Link of Draft