WP4: Writing is free
As I read the publicized stories included in Writing Project 4, I found that most students wrote down the sorts of content as follows: “I don’t like writing, but this course encourages me the motivation to write.” It is an excellent template to imitate, and things can be effortless and relaxed when you follow such a process in WP4. Taking shortcuts is undoubtedly a perfect way to approach a writing project that requires a lot of thought, but that’s where the difficulty lies in reflection. By the time I finished the end of the first paragraph, I realized that what was going on in someone else’s article and what I thought in my mind were completely different things. So, I skillfully opened Chatgpt, wanting it to help me finish the paragraph, but when I copied the outline into its chat box, Chatgpt’s reply surprised me; it said: “As an AI, I can help you finish your assignment, it’s still valuable to develop your own skills and knowledge through self-learning.”
The paragraph above sounds ridiculous, but I did it, and I’m sure many students have similar experiences when faced with writing assignments. I write about this seemingly dishonorable experience to better analyze the growth and understanding brought by my writing journey this semester.
Even though I majored in mathematics, you might be surprised to learn that I prefer writing to working with numbers. After receiving a friendly “reminder” from Chatgpt, I understood that the assumed concepts in the template didn’t match my own feelings, as I mentioned before. I have always had a fondness for writing and have enjoyed it since childhood. In fact, I’ve made it a practice to record my life’s experiences in a journal. Writing is a wonderful medium for expressing my deepest feelings and thoughts, for I have a restless and creative mind. Writing creatively allows me to explore my thoughts and emotions and is a great way to express myself.
As I get older, I find writing more challenging for me. The limitations imposed by the limited titles, content, and format required for tests and assignments can be suffocating. I don’t like to be tied down by these rigid requirements, which often have little to do with the thoughts and ideas I’m trying to express. As a result, my creativity and enthusiasm for writing have waned, and I have developed a dislike for the process. I found that these limitations made it difficult for me to express myself fully and left me feeling depressed and uninspired. What I longed for was the freedom to explore my ideas and express them in an authentic way but writing to me at that time was totally a different thing. Therefore, I began to finish my writing homework carelessly and lost my love for writing completely, just as described in the first paragraph.
Before embarking on my writing journey this semester, I was filled with dread at the prospect of taking Writing 150. I feared that it would be a stressful and rigid writing course, with a constant cycle of submitting assignments, receiving feedback, and making endless revisions to meet the professor’s expectations. However, after completing the course, I can sum up my experience in one word: freedom.
In this course, everyone was treated equally and given the space to express their own unique opinions. Both professors and students respected each other’s viewpoints and engaged in lively discussions that challenged our perspectives. I recall a particularly impactful moment when a classmate suggested that we abandon assigned seating and sit wherever we felt most comfortable. This small gesture left a lasting impression on me, as it exemplified the course’s theme of valuing identity and diversity.
What I appreciated most about Daniel’s course was that it didn’t impose strict rules or rigid requirements on my writing. Instead, I felt free to express my thoughts and ideas without fear of judgment or limitation. This was a liberating experience for me, as I had become accustomed to writing as merely another assignment to be completed. This course does not treat writing as an assignment but as a medium for self-expression, and just as music soothes the soul, so can writing. It has taught me to be more vulnerable and open about my thoughts, feelings, and life experiences, and the act of writing itself was therapeutic, helping me to process and release some of the unspeakable pain I had been carrying within me.
Throughout the course, I challenged myself to confront and express my innermost thoughts and experiences through my writing. In WP1, I took a bold step and opened about my inner pain, expressing it through my writing. WP2 pushed me to reflect on my personal experiences in relation to games, and I wrote about these experiences as a list. In WP3, I delved deeper into the study of social contradictions and explored the impact of games on social events and human emotions.
With each project, I made a conscious effort to break out of my comfort zone and tackle topics that I had previously been too afraid or unsure to write about. This allowed me to express my thoughts with newfound courage and honesty. As the projects progressed, I continuously dug deeper into my thoughts and ideas to give myself a better understanding of identity and diversity.
This writing journey has been a transformational experience for me. The freedom and openness that writing requires rekindled my passion for writing and creative thinking. Through this course, I learned to appreciate and respect each person’s unique point of view and way of thinking. This experience has also freed me from dependence on outside resources and allowed me to express my thoughts and ideas with confidence. As an emotionally sensitive person, this course taught me how to face and express my inner feelings and experiences, made me stronger, and gave me newfound courage.
I appreciate everybody I met in this course and everything I learned during this journey. I am so glad to have such valuable experiences to remember and write them down. I look forward to continuing to explore my creativity and express myself through writing in the future.
