Stanley Desir                                                                           05/11/2019

     ENG 1121                                                                                Artist Statement

 

                                      ARTIST STATEMENT

   It just felt like yesterday I entered Dr. Hall’s English class. I had just transferred from Western Connecticut State University. I was nervous because everyone was new and the vibe of the class was just off. I was sitting between Hand and Leenesh and I wanted to engage in conversations with anyone because I’m very social, but I was nervous. It’s hard to get a black kid talking now a days and I felt that was my weakness. Growing up in NYC we were always taught to just close your mouth and mind your business. This class helped me express myself and be free. I felt Dr. Hall helped break the nervousness in the class just as she did in my writing. Over the course of the semester I really felt that she helped brought me out my shell. In our first blog post about gillyard’s essay I was really annoyed because I really did not want to write at all. I was always keeping thoughts to myself in my writing and she did a lot of assignments where I can express myself and be me. “Finding Stanley” is basically what I would describe it as. A lot of people are afraid to express themselves including myself. I felt with me it all started with education essay. We had to describe ourselves living in New York City and dealing with the education system and how it affected us. I talked a lot about myself on that paper with my family, friends, trust and the hardships of living in a tough neighborhood. Going through all those things I still managed to excel in school.

 

             Before I entered the class I really thought we were going to write pages and chapter summaries. But, Dr. Hall’s assignments were pretty simple, straight forward and provided a lot of content then you would think so. I think i’ve been able to write longer pieces than I ever could because once you’re presented with an idea/topic you just feel everything and just type away.  In the past, writing more than 2 pages was considered a lot for me. I’ve noticed ever since the class began most of the assignments were 2 pages or more. I kind of felt like it was kind of difficult to write a lot because reading and writing is not my cup of tea. Throughout t the semester I have noticed I sort of have been improving on explaining myself and expressing how I feel about certain topics. My strengths now is seeing a topic and just attacking it with my own experiences. I don’t take everything personal but whenever Dr. Hall gave us an assignment, I would always put my headphones in and just write my thoughts away. A relax mind helped me did good on those essays. I felt that relaxed and peaceful aura came from Dr. Hall. She’s very persistent with us and believes we could do anything we want as long as we put our mind to it.  The one essay which I really found myself was the Pop Culture essay. My favorite quote I used was “The stress comes in every direction on a daily basis. The impact of walking down the street in your own neighborhood can be a traumatic experience in itself. You don’t know who to trust. You would love to trust your brother who shares the same melanin as you, but he’s bound by that same fear that has you tip toeing on eggshells just to walk to work or school.” I felt what I said was like dope. I stopped typing after I wrote that and was like “wow I really came far as a writer”. That essay was my favorite peace because I was explaining my favorite rapper’s personal life while incorporating my own life in the essay. It’s truly one of the best pieces I’ve ever written. Thank You Dr. Hall for making this semester a great one. Best of luck in the future.