Jason Maselli                                                                                                                 9/12/19

I won’t lie I usually write things like this at the last minute which is what I’m currently doing and almost each time theres just a period of blankness on what to write. Usually there is a set topic to write now there is for this one too but its different since it has to do with personal experience. During this period of blankness I remember all the other times this occurred and thought to myself this would be a good thing to write about. This happens all the time before I begin writing something. I just sit there and stare at the blank page and do something else its essentially just a period of confusion because I’m constantly asking myself what should I write  followed by regret of why I didn’t do this earlier. With every minute that passes by I continue to think to myself I could be doing something else right now which only furthers the what should I write anxiety because I want to write something that will make it quicker to finish so I can do something else. In some even more honesty I spend more time in blank periods then I do on actually writing something because I want a good grade and usually last last minute work isn’t the best of quality so I try to write something that doesn’t look like I wrote it last minute or at least will get me a passing grade. Just making the blank period even worse until after about two hours of nothing I decide to write whatever comes to my mind and just hope it all works out.

If I were asked to write about my experiences with writing and reading like I am being asked to right now, I would literally scream because none of these experiences were even in the slightness of good. It all started in 2nd grade, with my teacher Ms.Hinds. I should’ve guess should would be a pain from her name. Basically, from the very beginning she would always call me out in front of the class just to tell me I’ve spelled several easy words wrong, ” Colour is spelled C-O-L-O-R not C-O-L-O-U-R”. Everyone would laugh and I was so embarrassed, I don’t like when the attention is on me. I feel awkward. There would also be instances where she would just pick on me to read knowing that I stutter a lot more than anyone. I felt different from everyone else and it seemed as if she was calling out my insecurities one by one in front of the world. I’m not sure if its just this experience but English never seemed to sit well with me. If we could talk in numbers I would do that in a heartbeat.

Jevon Williams.

ENG 1101

Throughout my early education, my literacy classes always had inspired me. Learning to read was easy for me because of the quality of teaching I had over me as well as a lot of help from home with my parents and younger sibling. I believe reading is one of the most important aspects of education. Reading and writing are related in many ways. And, though teachers can take advantage of these relationships in ways that can improve achievement, doing that would be very difficult and inefficient when taught separately It is the foundation for all other knowledge to be absorbed. To me, the first step to a successful education and life is learning to read. After that goal is accomplished, finding a way to really enjoy reading is another important factor in education.

The first time I realized how interesting writing was in the 4th grade. My teacher, every marking period, would make us choose a book to read from the class’s reading book shelf. At the end of the marking period, we would have to write about it and a creative story to go along with it. To me, this wasn’t your everyday school activity. It was a time to be completely creative and find a voice within the classroom. Finally, I was able to stand out on my own ideas amongst the other monotone lessons. Writing isn’t like other subjects. Research shows that reading and writing are closely aligned. That is, reading and writing depend upon many of the same skills, strategies, and knowledge — though those are deployed in different ways in reading and writing. In fact, about 70% of the variation in reading and writing abilities are shared.

I live in New York City, and in the city when you don’t have a car, the subway system is your best friend. I also love being on my phone and just browse or play games. However, whenever I am on the train I can’t use my phone to the extent I want it to because I don’t get signal inside the train. So I can’t play most of my fun games, browse social media, or watch videos to pass the time. I just have the ability to listen to music. I use the train a lot and for long periods of time most times so I always have nothing to do. That was until I downloaded an app called Webtoons. 

I was able to download and read manga from this app on the train which helped me pass time and emerge myself into different and crazy worlds. I told myself I will only use this app when I am on the train to pass time because I never really liked reading and to me it felt uncool and a waste of time. That was until I started reading this manga series Magician. This 400 chapter long story blew me off my seat and I found myself not only reading it on the crowded train while washing away all the unnecessary sounds and distractions and making an hour train ride feel like ten minutes, but also at home eating dinner or when I am about to go to sleep. I felt a whole new connection and feelings toward this series.

I personal experience that affected me is the challenge of starting a new school especially when I came from a different country. For me it was like I was an alien arriving on a new planet. Continue reading “My Personal Experience”

One of the vivid moments I can recall with reading/writing  was when I was reading issue 133 of Ultimate Spider-Man, which funnily enough was a wordless issue. Spider-man (Peter Parker) has always been a personal favorite hero of mine, all variations of him as well, from the edge-lord Kaine to one of the latest iterations in Miles. Issue 133 was part of a larger Ultimate Marvel Crossover event called Ultimatum, in which many, many big name characters died. I remember the issue spread out between me and cousin on his bed, backs against a wall, and slowly flipping the pages of the issue. Normally I read the pages much faster than my cousin, which usually lead me to impatiently bounce my leg or drum my fingers on the edge of the page. He always read each word slowly and took in the entirety of each panel whilst i just wanted to immediately see what happened. The wordless issue helped that as there were no words to read, and to understand what was going on you had to see what the characters were doing, rather than just glossing over in between text bubbles like I frequently did and still do. From witnessing Hulk chase Jessica Drew around, to Drew saving a bunch of people needing help from the flooding occurring across Manhattan, to coming across Kitty Pryde (an X-man with the ability to phase through any object) and searching for Peter. I still remember the mini-gasp and the simultaneous ‘ooh shit’ from both of us when we saw the last panel and saw the tattered remains of Peter’s mask. This was pretty devastating to me at the time, I thought it was the end of Spider-Man forever. Previous characters who died in the series never came back and I believed it would hold true for him as well.  At the time I wasn’t yet aware of how comic books periodically kill and revive characters every couple of years, nor the fact that the the Ultimate Universe was more of a spin-off universe and not the ‘Main’ Universe in which most of the Marvel books take place in. Also he didn’t even die, I just got Bamboozled and he turns up alive 2 issues later.

One personal experience that i had with reading or writing was when i read the book “A child called it”. Before i continue with anything, this book was about a boy that would get very mistreated by his own mother and it was actually very devastating to read. I read this book about a summer ago mainly because i had nothing else to do. I remember one of my friends telling me that this book was amazing to read so i decided to give it a try. I remember that i had started reading the book off my phone at midnight and the first couple of chapters weren’t so bad but as i went on i was reading about how his mother would make him starve and wouldn’t give him any food. But then it got way worse to the point where she would torture her son leaving him mentally traumatized and physically hurt. The reason i bring this personal reading experience to attention is because while i was reading this book i just imagined myself in this little boys shoes and just think about all the harsh things he had to deal with all alone made my heart ache. He had other siblings but he was the only one being tortured because his mother hated him for no apparent reason. It made me very emotional and i cried more than three times. And then to find out that this story was based on a true story and was actually written by the little boy that was being tortured. I was in complete shock that a boy that came from such a harsh back round made it big in life and became an author. This was a powerful message to all the readers especially me. I think this reading was really a message to tell us that no matter what happens there is always a bright side.

DUE Sept 12: Please post your personal anecdote/experience essays here! Be sure to consult the Unit 1 Assignment sheet (I passed this out in class and I also sent it as an attachment via email) for specifics about the prompt.

For help on writing a post: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/blog/help/writing-a-post/