WP4: The Impact of Writing
Before even starting this course, I came in with a pretty pessimistic idea of what this course would be like, tons and tons of writing, lots of “proper” writing, and perhaps a professor who grades students for not writing “correctly.” All of this, however, was incorrect. Writing 150 was the best class I took this semester, but it was also the one that I took the most away from, leading me to grow intellectually and learn more about who I am as a writer and person.
Professor Dissinger’s class has been one that has indeed been eye-opening and very inspiring. I will never forget when I had no idea how to write my first writing project, a project whose prompt was very broad, something in which you could almost possibly write about anything. I now have understood that the purpose of this writing project was to choose a topic that has, for the most part, something to do with ourselves, whether that is something personal or of something of our interest. Diving deeper and carrying that same project throughout this semester has been a learning experience like no other. Although it was pretty tricky initially, it’s an exercise that helps you develop your writing skills immensely. As students, we are typically used to writing in structured formats; however, in this class, it was more about getting to spread our word to our audience in an unstructured form of our desire, allowing us to dive into our chosen topic immensely and leaving space to share our emotions in ways I had never done before.
I’ve always been a person who is not very open about my emotions or thoughts; that’s why, when we were first introduced to the idea of sharing our writing exercises on Medium, a digital source that would be accessible to everyone in the course; I was beyond nervous. Every time I’ve had to share a writing piece, it would only be with the professor, leaving all the emotions and messages I had to share within my essay left to the forgotten, being of no use to inspire others, nor make a change at all, it was simply all just for the grades. However, when writing for a Medium post, I was, in the beginning, a bit cautious of what I had to share, constantly feeling the urge to reflect on what I had to share because I didn’t want my peers to think of me in a certain way, unsure of what I mean by this but like I didn’t want them to think of me solely for what I had to share. As time evolved, however, I got more comfortable with sharing my stories, being myself more in these writing pieces, and sharing sides of me I had never shared so publicly. Seeing others sharing stories about themselves, really motivated to let it all out with really no restrictions or holdbacks because at the end of the day, we were all doing the same thing, and it was a way in which we would know each other better based on the stories we had to share to the public, knowing each other in ways we probably would have never had if it weren’t for these writing assignments because honestly, these assignments are some that genuinely say a lot of who were are as not only writers but people.
Regarding Medium, this has allowed me to learn about how special it is to look at others’ writing; well, it says a lot about who they are and their identity. It made an impact learning about other students who I never even spoke to through their writing. Everyone is so different, coming from different backgrounds and having different stories, so it’s incredible to experience and something that I hope will remain part of your future course curriculum.
This class has contributed immensely to understanding my writing skills and my abilities as an individual to reflect on myself and others. During my second writing project, interviewing my peers gave me the ability to capture the stories of every individual indeed. Each person has their own stories, experiences, and identities that play crucial roles in expressing themselves. I had the opportunity to stop and think about how I would respectfully interview my peers and create a safe space for them to feel comfortable about opening up. An important aspect to also note is how I learned to assure that I was not exploiting the experiences of others for the sake of my writing, depicting it to be the most similar as possible to avoid twisting a personal story that a peer trusted in sharing with me solely for the sake of my project. Before taking this class, I may have unknowingly exaggerated or excluded specific details when writing about other individuals. For these reasons, this class has allowed me to grow in this area. Working with peers has also taught me to remain open to different perspectives. Growing up in Chicago and moving to southern California has allowed me to connect with new communities. I have met people from all over the world who have their own identities and cultures that differ from mine. This writing class implemented a lot of interactive activities, including peer review. When working with others with these different backgrounds, their different perspectives introduced new insights that I had not discovered before.
My entire perspective of writing has changed after taking this class; not only have I realized that writing is not too bad after all, but there’s just so much that you can do with writing. Writing does not always have to be about being formal and eloquent. Still, it can be used in so many different ways, some of which we did throughout the semester, and I had never done before. Still, I was genuinely eye-opening and captivating and some of which I will be trying to be doing more of, such as non-structured writing.
Overall, writing has taken a significant role in teaching me about my inner author, who I am as an author, and what I’m capable of achieving. Through my writing, I’m able to voice my opinions and make an impact on whoever my audience is. I’ve also found writing to be an outlet for my most profound emotions, ideas, and everyday life. This course has enhanced my ability to write papers and connect to these papers in impactful ways and of relevance.
