Table of Contents

Table of Contents Reflection Letter Critical Thinking Choice Body Art Revision Choice Revised Version:Who Needs to Feel Special? Voice Choice Who Am I? Writer’s Choice Tater Salad

Reflection Letter

I am a factual thinker and writer. I do not like to write about warm and fuzzy things such as identity. I do not like to analyze fictional characters in movies or discuss my writing with others so what did I have to learn in English 101D? A lot! I am going back to school after being out for over ten years. I am a professional dancer, the ballet kind, and a dance teacher. I decided it was a good time to go back to school to pursue my second career which will hopefully be as a lawyer. My ultimate goal is to become a judge. I love politics and reading law books. You see there is no room for fiction here. I have always enjoyed reading biographies about people who are successful in the world of politics. I watch TV shows like Law and Order or even Judge Judy but you would not catch me watching something like Sex and the City or Survivor.

My goal is to put criminals away behind bars where they can not harm the innocent especially children. I used to finding academics easy and I have come to the realization that pregnancy kills brain cells. I have three children and with every one I had I could feel my brain cells being sucked out of my head. So this class was harder for me than I thought it was going to be. If I could have been given an assignment to research and write a paper on anything political or law based this class would have been a breeze for me.

The group discussions were a challenge for me in this class because I do not feel like I have the right to tell anyone else how to write or what they are doing wrong. But I learned a lot from the thinking process and this I assume is the reason that we are assigned to these types of tasks, not to tell each other what to do with our writing but to engage in a way of thinking that expands our minds and if I am lucky restores brain cells. The timed writes were my least favorite as I did not feel like I even came close to my best work. I think that they were a good challenge though and it is something we need to get used to, pressure that is. My favorite challenges were the paper assignments. I felt like I improved in my skills which is exciting and I am proud but humble at the same time of these essays that I am including in my portfolio.

To my amazement I actually learned a lot from the topics of identity, community, and tradition. Before this class these topics were more abstract than real and tangible to me. I have always looked at identity for myself to mean who I am and where I came from as far as my parents and grandparents go. Reading the essays in this chapter and especially the essay by Lucy Grealy titled Masks really struck me hard. It made me think about those who are having their identity shaped by external factors and the contributions that we all make to each others identity. I am not a crier but this particular essay really touched me and I felt it change me while I was reading it. When Lucy was talking in her essay about how people should stop wanting what everyone else has got and realize how lucky they are it really hit home to me. I took it personally when Lucy said “I wanted them to stop, to see how much they had already, how they had their health and their strength”. I got more out of this essay than just completing an English assignment I actually got a life lesson in appreciating what I do have. That is huge!

The community unit was the most motivating topic in this course for me because I felt like it had the biggest impact on my perception of what community is. My group’s discussion of the movie “Off the Map” was one of the pieces that challenged my thoughts on community. The characters in this movie were very different from mainstream Americans and while analyzing the characters in the discussion I was amazed at the difference in opinion on matters in the movie that I thought would be public opinion. As an example in the movie one of the characters walks around the house nude in front of his daughter who is old enough to be embarrassed about it. I thought that my group would agree that this was the character stepping over the boundaries of public decency but they did not. There were comments like “I am a mother, and nudity does only have to do with one person's comfort level. We need to teach our children to be proud of their bodies, not ashamed” and “All that means is that they are comfortable with themselves and their surroundings. Realizing how different we all view things made me think more deeply about community and what that word means to me. In reality communities are all around us in practically everything we do. We are made up of little groups that make up our family, our neighborhood, our city, our state, our country, and ultimately our whole world. All these communities are created because of our need to feel like we belong and are important in the lives of others. I was amazed to find out that people dealing with anorexia have a community where they support each other in their disease and not necessarily in a way to get help to get away from the disorder but to give advice on how to do it right. This essay by Mim Udovitch titled “A Secret Society of the Starving” opened my eyes to what people think of as communities. This community even had its own set of commandments called the Thin Commandments where one of them said “Thou shall not eat without feeling guilty”. This information is out there on the World Wide Web where any young girl could come across it and find that there is a community that understands and accepts her and enables her, in effect, to kill herself. This is frightening as a mother!

Tradition was an easier subject for me to relate to as my family has many traditions; my favorite tradition is making my family French toast, bacon, eggs, and hash browns every Sunday. My kids love to help me and are experts at cracking eggs without getting the shell in the mixture. The bonding that we feel when we engage in traditions is priceless. We are creatures of habit and I have always believed that traditions do promote unity and that’s why we hold on to them. I feel like I understood from the poem by Rosario Morales and her daughter Aurora Levins Morales that where we come from matters but it matters just as much that we find our own way and not let ourselves be held down by the same traditions. When I think of the impact that tradition can have my hope is that my children and grandchildren and so on will remember some of our family traditions but I hope that they will also do what makes them complete, like it says at the end of the Morales’s poem “And we are whole.” That is what I want for my family is the rare feeling of being whole.

All of the assignments in this class were a challenge for me and I found myself actually feeling my brain work out. It even hurt at times to think because it has been so long since I have had to use it an academic manner but I do feel a sense of accomplishment as we near the end of the class. The pieces that I have chosen to display in my portfolio are, in my opinion, my best work. I think that even my revision piece was good it just needed some reconstructive surgery to give it a face lift and make it look appealing. I enjoyed getting feedback from my class mates and also from the instructors. I appreciate the “can do” attitude that radiated from the instructors postings and the encouragement was very helpful for me to stay motivated. I hope that you enjoy reading my portfolio as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Critical Thinking Choice

This piece of writing titled Body Art happens to be my favorite piece but it is also my strongest piece as far as demonstrating critical thinking skills. I had a hard time picking a topic for my pop culture essay to analyze the challenge that new traditions have on old ones. I started thinking about reality TV shows and the change that they have brought to television viewing. This did not last long because as I said in my Reflection letter I do not watch reality shows at all even though I realize the huge impact that have had. Then I went to the topic of really skinny models and I think my group was thinking “come on and stick with one already”, they seemed to sense my non committal to the topic. So I was searching for a topic and I was talking to my husband about it and telling him what a struggle I was having and he said that’s easy write about tattoos! Duh! My husband and I had just gotten matching tattoos (not the one pictured) for our ten year anniversary and so this was a topic that I actually had life experience to contribute to my paper.

I feel that I did a good job analyzing how people with tattoos are being accepted by employers if they have one or two tattoos but that there is an exception to this acceptance when the person is covered in tattoos. I pointed out how “Conventionally having a tattoo could have resulted in limiting a tattooed persons employment options because of the stereotype that was attached to them but society’s new acceptance has opened the door for these people to not be judged on their tattoos alone. The exception to this new acceptance is if a person has multiple tattoos and especially if they are on the face. This appears to have the traditional effect of these people being judged on the stereotype rather than their individual qualities”.

I believe that I also managed to demonstrate synthesis by bringing together the tradition of tattoos and the tradition of commemorating a loved ones death. A current trend in the pop culture of body art is to tattoo the portrait of a loved one who has passed away on to the body as a way to create a permanent memorial. I also synthesized this idea by incorporating the essay by Jenn Shreve titled “A Fitting Memorial: The Commemorative T-shirt” which is about the new trend of putting a picture of the deceased on a t-shirt to wear at the memorial instead of the traditional attire. To demonstrate this idea to the reader I wrote in my essay “Now tattooists can tattoo an actual life like portrait, of the person being honored, with great detail. There is a similar artistic expression that is described in the essay by Jenn Shreve who talks about the new trend of wearing a commemorative t-shirt to a funeral instead of the traditional suit. Jenn relays the significance of the t-shirt to her audience by saying “Obviously a memorial t-shirt isn’t meant to replace the stone monument on a plot of green grass, the engraved urn, or scenic bench. It simply adds a new dimension to the traditional memorial”. (Shreve) This same principle applies to tattooing as it is the current trend to tattoo the face of a loved one that has passed away onto the body as a way to commemorate the death”.


The process of writing an analytical paper was daunting in the beginning but by the end I felt strongly that I had managed to fulfill the assignment. These two examples above of analysis and synthesis are part of the reason that my paper appears to be credible. My personal experience that I describe in the essay seems to have added a depth and authenticity to its content. I enjoyed writing this paper and I hope you enjoy reading it. Lucky for you I think reading it will be a lot less painful than actually getting one, a tattoo that is!

Body Art

One Friday, while watching our sons practice football, a group of middle class Peewee moms sat together engaged in a conversation when an unexpected topic came up: tattoos. It came to light that quite a few of the moms had tattoos. There was a variety of art but most of the tattoos were either a flower or heart of some kind. The surprising realization came to me that tattoos are no longer only for the traditional stereotype but there is a new trend that is changing the way people with tattoos are viewed in our society. Tattoos have been traditionally looked upon as a sign of rebellion and nonconformity. This tradition of tattoos is being challenged by the new trend of fashionable body art.

Mainstream America has conventionally looked upon people with tattoos in a derogatory manner but this new trend of body art is giving a new face to the tattoo image and stereotype. In the past a person with tattoos was judged based on the stereotype. This stereotype consisted of the assumption of an alternative lifestyle, and someone who does not follow the invisible rules that govern our society. These people have been thought to be part of the criminal element or at the very least shady in character, and they have typically been bikers, inmates or sailors. The new trend of body art has pushed the old tattoo stereotype aside and now includes soccer moms and high powered business men and women. The list is endless of the type of person that might have a tattoo on their body as evidence of this new trend; the list includes teachers, lawyers, doctors, bankers and so on. Teenagers are participating in this trend of body art and are even getting permission from their parents.

Tattoos have always been a form of self expression but the ideas that are now expressed have changed and have evolved from the traditional skull and bones to the current trend of a portrait of a loved one. I think that this change is a result of Americans wanting to pay tribute to those they respect and love in a public and permanent way. After 9/11 there were many people who got tattoos of the twin towers with the firefighters representing those who died trying to save others. In the past a person could get the name of a person tattooed on their body as a symbol of honoring their life or death. With the change that body art has brought, along with new technology, the tattoo artist can do more than just the name. Now tattooists can tattoo an actual life like portrait, of the person being honored, with great detail. There is a similar artistic expression that is described in the essay by Jenn Shreve who talks about the new trend of wearing a commemorative t-shirt to a funeral instead of the traditional suit. Jenn relays the significance of the t-shirt to her audience by saying “Obviously a memorial t-shirt isn’t meant to replace the stone monument on a plot of green grass, the engraved urn, or scenic bench. It simply adds a new dimension to the traditional memorial”. (Shreve) This same principle applies to tattooing as it is the current trend to tattoo the face of a loved one that has passed away onto the body as a way to commemorate the death.

This change in artistic expression has opened up the doors to include those who typically would not have gotten the traditionally themed tattoo but would get one that is modern in theme. I am one of those people who would not typically be expected to have a tattoo. I grew up middle class in a strong religious family, I am married with three kids and after ten years of marriage my husband and I decided instead of giving each other an anniversary gift we would get matching tattoos. We got them on our shoulder blades where they are discreet and only a handful of people know that we have them. While we were sitting in the waiting area I was watching the type of people who walked through the door and there were mostly people who would not typically be expected to have a tattoo. Two women walked in, who looked like they were probably professionals in the work place, and wanted tattoos on their feet. One got a flower the other got a humming bird but both were more of a modern design.

The people creating tattoos were traditionally looked at as creating graffiti type writings or pictures instead of being given credit for making actual pieces of art. A cultural assumption that tattoo artists are not really artistically talented is being challenged and a change that has come with the evolution of body art is the general acknowledgement that these people are artists in their own right. One aspect that appears to have remained the same is the physical appearance of tattoo artists. Typically tattoo artists are tattooed from head to toe and live the life style of late nights and late mornings. While my husband and I were getting our tattoos the tattooist was telling us all about the crazy lifestyles that they have. He joked that they were like vampires by staying up at night and hiding during the day.

A conservative stereotype would not traditionally have a tattoo but with the change of image with the new trend of body art there are main stream conservatives who are going to a place where they would never have gone before, a tattoo parlor. They are getting a tattoo that they would never before have gotten and society is not looking down on them as they once would have. Conventionally having a tattoo could have resulted in limiting a tattooed persons employment options because of the stereotype that was attached to them but society’s new acceptance has opened the door for these people to not be judged on their tattoos alone. The exception to this new acceptance is if a person has multiple tattoos and especially if they are on the face. This appears to have the traditional effect of these people being judged on the stereotype rather than their individual qualities.

There is an acceptance of people with tattoos more today than there was fifty years ago. The tradition of the stereotypical tattooed person is being challenged by the diversity of the type of people now getting body art. At one time it was obvious who might have had a tattoo but not anymore. So before offering up an opinion in public of whether tattoos are right or wrong make sure it is known who is and who is not part of this new age trend of body art.

Revision Choice

For this assignment we were tasked to write a two to three page essay using readings from our text book Remix and to synthesize ideas that either challenge or validate one the assumptions about communities. I wrote my essay on how people want to feel special and they will search for the community that fulfills that desire even if it is oppressive or destructive. While writing my paper I had relatively easy time writing about the topic and synthesizing the writings by Mim Udovitch on her essay “A Secret Society of the Starving”. I feel that this example is the strength of my paper. Then I got really stuck because there were not anymore readings from our text book that I felt could flow together. I tried to force an example from the essay by John M. Hostetler titled “The Amish Charter” but it weakened my paper instead of reinforcing my thesis.

At the beginning and all through my paper I had asked questions as an attempt to make the reader think but looking back it is irritating and would probably turn the reader off of my paper. I took these questions out and rewrote the paragraphs in a way to keep the idea but to make it clear and easy to read. To show you what I mean here is an example of the original “Why do they pick a certain group? Why are they attracted in the first place to a particular group of peers?” and then I revised it too say “There is a reason that we pick a certain group to spend our time with. There is a reason that we are all attracted to a different type of community”. By revising this paper I realized that I just had too many useless words, I needed to get rid of a lot of my paper. I cut out the reference to Hostetlers essay and then rewrote my personal experience to make it actually relate to my thesis. I also rewrote my ending so that it wasn’t repetitive and weak and I think that I made it stronger.

Original (with cut outs due to length):

Who needs to feel Special?

All over the world people can be found getting together in groups to share their lives with each other. Why do they pick a certain group? Why are they attracted in the first place to a particular group of peers? It is because there is some aspect of that group that makes them feel accepted, understood, and most of all special. In all cultures people gravitate towards the communities that will satisfy an inner desire to have this need, of being special, fulfilled even if that community is oppressive or even destructive.

Look through the phone book; there are support groups, community groups and church organizations that are listed in huge numbers. Look on the internet and there are web sites in unimaginable number to which a person can join and become a member. This is evidence of the vast numbers of people in the world who are actively searching for something, a need that needs to be filled. People are going to search and search until they come to a place where they feel that they have found a safe sanctuary where the big bad world cannot inflict its universal pain on them. A sanctuary that makes them feel special.

Does this mean that these groups can supply a perfect environment that is positive and protected? No; there are dangers that are imbedded in these societies even though they might provide emotionally what is desired. They can foster a negative and destructive force that can be responsible for oppression or even destruction of those who seek it.

Mim Udovitch describes in her essay, “A Secret Society of the Starving” a world where girls and women seek out membership and friendship on the internet with others who are living with eating disorders. The general attitude is that these sites exist to help heal these girls who are potentially dying. The reality is the exact opposite where the sites offer advice on how to make their disease easier to manage. Udovitch explains this reality as, “A kind of a perverse support group, a place where a group for the most part very unhappy and in some part very angry girls and women come together to support each other in sickness rather than in health”(Udovitch).

So what attracts these girls and women to this site if it does not heal them of their sickness? It is the need of feeling special, a feeling of superiority over everyone else in the world so that they do not feel so bad about these inner demons that they are consumed with. Udovitch uses the example of this with a quote from one of the websites that announces to the world that proactive anorexia is something to not only be proud of, but it is something that everyone can do because it takes a special inner power to be successful at it. This quote from one of the sites shows how it would be fulfilling an inner need for these girls and women to belong to this group. It says, “Contrary to popular misconception, anorexics possess the most iron-cored, indomitable wills of all. Our way is not that of the weak…If we ever completely tapped that potential in our midst…we could change the world. Completely. Maybe we could even rule it” (Udovitch). Who would not feel special to belong to a group that professes to posses these marvelous qualities?

(Here I have taken out one page where in the original it talks about The Amish Charter essay by John M. Hostetler.)

Marriage is a perfect example, on a more intimate level, of a person’s desire to feel special. I have been married for ten years and one of the main reasons, apart from love, is that my husband makes me feel special. We can boast to each other about our successes and we are present for the big things as well as the little things that help us to fulfill each others inner desire to feel special. I believe that this inner desire to feel special is one of the main reasons why infidelity breaks up marriages. That is because the spouse who was cheated on does not feel special anymore while the spouse who did the cheating usually does it to feel special.

The universal theme of needing to feel special is not anything new but it is nonetheless very relevant today to people all over the world. These groups, communities, and organizations do fulfill the needs of people to feel special. People are going to search out and find a way to fulfill this need to feel special, like the girls with an eating disorder, or the Amish people, even if it leads down a destructive or oppressive path. There are ways to fulfill this desire in a way that is not harmful as I have found in my marriage and am lucky enough to be able to fulfill this need and to feel special every day of my life. People are innately motivated to pursue this inner need to feel special and whether we do it the right way or the wrong way is all up to us.

Revised Version: Who Needs to Feel Special?

All over the world people can be found getting together in groups to share their lives with each other. There is a reason that we pick a certain group to spend our time with. There is a reason that we are all attracted to a different type of community. It is because there is some aspect of that group that makes us feel accepted, understood, and most of all special. In all cultures people gravitate towards the communities that will satisfy their inner desire to have this need of feeling special fulfilled even if that community is oppressive or even destructive.

In the phone book there are support groups, community groups and church organizations that are listed covering a wide scale of diversity from Alcoholics Anonymous to the Boy Scouts. On the internet there are web sites in unimaginable numbers to which a person can join and become a member and interact by blogging. This is confirmation of the vast numbers of people in the world who are actively searching for something, a need that needs to be filled. People are going to search and search until they come to a place where they feel that they have found a safe sanctuary where the big bad world cannot inflict its universal pain on them.

In a perfect world this would mean that these groups can provide a safe environment that is positive and protective of its members but in reality it does not. There are dangers that are imbedded in these societies even though they might provide emotionally what is desired. They can foster a negative and destructive force that can be responsible for oppression or even destruction of those who seek it.

Mim Udovitch describes in her essay, “A Secret Society of the Starving” a world where girls and women seek out membership and friendship on the internet with others who are living with eating disorders. The general attitude is that these sites exist to help heal these girls who are potentially dying. The reality is the exact opposite where the sites offer advice on how to make their disease easier to manage. Udovitch explains this reality as “A kind of a perverse support group, a place where a group for the most part very unhappy and in some part very angry girls and women come together to support each other in sickness rather than in health”(Udovitch).
There is a reason that these impressionable girls and even experienced women are attracted to this site. It is their need of feeling unique, a feeling of superiority over everyone else in the world so that they do not feel so bad about any inner demons that they are consumed with. Udovitch uses the example of this with a quote “Contrary to popular misconception, anorexics possess the most iron-cored, indomitable wills of all. Our way is not that of the weak…If we ever completely tapped that potential in our midst…we could change the world. Completely. Maybe we could even rule it” (Udovitch).

Marriage is a perfect example, on a more intimate level, of a person’s desire to feel special. I have been married for ten years and one of the main reasons, apart from love, is that my husband makes me feel special. We can boast to each other about our successes and we are present for the big things as well as the little things that help us to fulfill each others inner desire to feel special. From watching other married couples I realize that there can also be an oppressive or even destructive side to marriage and that is evident in the divorce rate in this country. I believe that this inner desire to feel special is one of the main reasons why married people commit adultery. Adultery can be very oppressive and destructive to both members of this community but in many cases they stay together probably in part because they want to feel that they are special again.

The universal theme of needing to feel special is not anything new but it is nonetheless very relevant today to people all over the world. These groups, communities, and organizations do fulfill the needs of people to feel special. People are going to search out and find a way to fulfill this need even if it leads down a destructive or oppressive path. There are ways to fulfill this desire in a way that is not harmful as I have found in my marriage. We are innately motivated to pursue this inner need to feel unique and whether we do it the right way or the wrong way is all up to us.

Voice Choice

I have chosen a blog posting for this part of my portfolio. I chose this piece because it is the one that has an awareness of an audience. I knew that my classmates would be reading it so it was directed for their eyes and ears and anyone else who happened to log onto my blog spot. This was a fun assignment after the technical challenges and I tried to make the fun, light nature of my writing in this piece come across to the audience. The assignment asked us to describe what is in our purse or wallet and what assumptions would be made about those items if they were not explained. To get the audience involved I posed questions to get them thinking on one track and then I changed the direction with my explanation of why those certain items were in my purse. I was uneasy to post my writing on the internet for the world to see but after posting I was actually proud of my writing and also that I had actually completed something technical. I also enjoyed “getting to know” some of my class mates by reading the contents of their wallets and purses.