Author: Keilyn De Los Santos

My experience with dialogue writing actually went pretty smooth. For some reason I thought it would be a lot more complicated than expected but nonetheless it was pretty fun and easy. I also thought I had to be formal with it and keep it PG but after reading my cohorts’ dialogues and the play we read, I felt more comfortable writing it however I wanted to! This assignment was my favorite.

As I mentioned before in the previous journal, I am not fond of poetry whatsoever. I enjoy listening to others recite their poetry and spoken words, however, I cannot bring myself to actually write them. My experience in poetry writing was so-so this semester especially since I didn’t really take my time with it. I was too focused on handing my assignments in on time that I didn’t really get to enjoy and sulk in the moment. Despite how rushed I was, I believe I did a pretty decent job. I hope I get the chance to work on more poetry in the future!

I don’t really remember any poems I have read in the past nor do I really like poetry, although I do want to start to get into it. Maybe with more research on poetry and who are the most highly recommended poets, I will have an interest in poetry! However, like one of my classmates have already mentioned, songs can be forms of poetry as well. My two favorites “poems” are by my favorite artist Jhené Aiko. She has a song called “You Vs. Them” and the first verse will always be golden to me. She says, “It’s the wanting you, never getting you, keeps me wanting you..”. By this opening line, she stating the fact that she can’t have the guy when she wants him is what’s actually keeping her interested because she loves the chase. In W.A.Y.S, its a song I always listen to when I’m not in the greatest of moods. W.A.Y.S stands for “Why Aren’t You Smiling?”. Throughout the song, the artist is basically telling herself to keep going and to not let difficult times weigh you down.

I really liked StaceyAnn Chin’s Poem called “Letter to my Father”. The title alone caught my attention and before I began to read it, I already assumed it would be about her father abandoning her at a young age and never returning to spend time with her. I also thought it would be about her father abusing her while growing up and this was her letter goodbye to him. After reading, I learned that it was about her opening up as a girl who likes girls and how her father doesn’t approve of it so he turned himself away from her. I enjoyed the details she gave and how descriptive she was in her writing.

Short story writing for me was somewhat difficult being that I often get writer’s block. I can have great ideas for stories at the most random moments but whenever it comes down to actually brainstorming and putting things into words, I get stuck. Luckily enough, I was able to come up with some interesting pitches and I felt like the more I wrote, my ideas were flowing a lot faster. Writing and reading these short stories was pretty fun and I enjoyed it!

My current home setting is quiet and calm. At first, it was very hectic for me. Switching from home to home for a period of time made it difficult at some points being that you’re now afraid to even go outside. My sister and I are essential workers and being that she lives alone with my nephew, she has no one to babysit him. On my days off from work, I stayed with him all day. Its hard to focus on your homework when you have a six-year old to keep an eye on. Not only did I have to stay on top of my homework, but I had to make sure he was completing his own assignments while helping him. My sister and I would split the work so that when she would come home from her job, shes able to help him out on his homework as well. Despite the crazy and drastic schedule changes, I was able to manage (Still trying to get the hang of it). Recently, my stepfather was very sick and showing symptoms of COVID-19 so I had to leave my home and stay with my sister for about a week. This was a very tough for me being that I was no longer able to comfortably keep up with school in my own room at my desk. I was also very worried about him since he already has other health issues. Overall, I am fine and my home setting has calmed down. My family and friends are healthy and safe also. I am currently at home and learning new things about myself which makes me happy. I think we all needed this break from life in a way.

An embarrassing moment from my childhood is when I got caught for something that I would always get away with. While growing up, my mom would always send my sister and I to Dominican Republic for the summer to spend with our families. I mainly always stayed with my dads side of the family. I grew up calling my aunt and uncle “Mami” and “Papi” because that’s who I was with most of the time for 3 months out of the year. This side of my family is very poor so in order to support themselves financially, they sold food. Their specialty was a form of pastry called “pastelitos” which can also be known as empanadas. My cousin was in charge of making the dough, in which I would often participate in. Mami would cook the meat that goes inside of it and Papi would assemble the pastelito. My aunt would later fry it and they’re ready to go! One day, while my aunt and uncle were taking a nap, I snuck into the back part of the kitchen where they would assemble the pastelitos and the bowl of shredded chicken was there. (I think I was 6 or 7 years old). They would leave it to cool down and I would always go back to eat random pieces. My uncle woke up from his nap and noticed that the bowl was moved and the chicken was moved around as well. I was very spoiled growing up in that household so I would never get yelled at or in trouble for anything, I was their baby. However, in this moment, I knew things were very serious being that I got reprimanded and disciplined. I felt so embarrassed because I never made him angry before. I’ll never forget this moment in my life!!

1. A 20 year old guy is able to recover from a bad situation that he’s struggled with during his childhood and teenage years. He didn’t let what he went through as a child/teenager affect him as he’s beginning to step into the adulting world. He took these experiences and let it build him up to be a great person, not a product of his environment. His story turns out to be a positive one.

2. A man is on his way home from work and its really late at night, around 2am. His train station is deserted and lonely aside from sharing it from a mysterious looking elderly man. As he boards the train and steps into the doors, the elderly man ends up being a witch. The witch begins to chant random instances that relates to the man’s current life situations and tells him what he should expect in the next upcoming months. The man denies everything and brushes him off, the witch oddly disappears. Eventually, everything that the witch says comes to life.

3. A couple falls in love at a young age. She is 17 and he is 18. 3 years into the relationship, things become too complicated and its hard for the couple to believe that they’re going through these changes. The girl believes that they’re outgrowing each other since they’re both adjusting and beginning to learn how to adult. The boy denies this and believes that they can get through this together despite the bad arguments that have went on between them as of recent. Can their underlying love for one another overpower this phase and save them from this confusion?

4. The world that has once been known as Earth has undergone extreme weather changes, natural disasters, widespread diseases and deterioration of the government as a whole. Luckily, there’s two best friends that were able to survive through all of this and they feel as if they’re the only signs of life on this planet. How will their story end? How will they continue to survive with these lack of resources? Will they find other survivors?

My experience with memoir writing has been very helpful and interesting. Professor Penner makes it very fun with the cool topics shes asks us to write about and we’re able to write freely about anything. Memoir writing helps reflect back on moments on our lives that we haven’t visited in a while. I also enjoy posting and sharing my memories with my peers because it creates a safe environment amongst each other. We get to know about each other in the slightest ways and it makes us more comfortable to speak to one another in class. Learning how to write short memoirs can prepare us to write longer memoir pieces in the future in other English classes. I’m looking forward to sharing cool and fun experiences with my professor and classmates.

Growing up during middle school and high school, there have been long instances where I’ve felt anonymous. My best friend, Ziamara has always been the “popular” girl out of my circle. Being that I’m always with her and we’re practically inseparable, the friends that I have are because I met them through her. Now that I’m older, I am able to realize certain things and understand why I often have trouble with establishing an identity. I often felt anonymous (still do to this day) because I feel like I’ve always lived in her shadow. While I was always independent and made decisions on my own, I still felt like things reverted back to her. Things would always run back to her and I’d end up doing things because she did them. I often felt like I had no say in things and I had a lot of questions about the relationship I have with her. I often ask myself, “How would my life be without her? Would I have all these friends if I had never met her? Do people feel obligated to like me because I’m best friends with the popular girl?”. I am a very insecure female and struggle with self esteem issues. My friends are all beautiful and receive a lot of attention from other attractive females and guys. I’m not an attention seeker nor do I want to be but being that I never received this kind of treatment, it adds on to the feeling of anonymity. I’m used to feeling invisible and I feel the need to distance myself sometimes to avoid that feeling when we all hang out. I never discussed this issue with my best friend because I’m afraid she’ll misinterpret me and mistake this for jealousy and envy. I’m afraid she’ll get angry and defensive instead of being sensitive about it. I hope to eventually build the courage to speak to her about something I’ve learned to master for so long.