Category: Essay 1–First Draft Outline (Page 1 of 2)

When it comes to my intellectual home, I’d like to think that it consists of people, place and process. This consists of being either in my room or in my living room copying notes from powerpoints into my notebook or reading. Most times, I’ll be on facetime with my best friend while she does her homework. We’ll just listen to music, talk about our homework, and bounce ideas off of eachother. I have a really short attention span so listening to music while I’m doing it is essential. It keeps me focused. Even as I’m making this, I have music playing and I’m still being distracted however, it does help a lot. Out of all of them though, I’d have to say that process and people are most important because they’re the most prominent roots in my development as a person.

Any little distraction strips my focus right from my very hands. I can admit I have the attention span of a squirrel. Which is why my intellectual home consists of a mixture of process and place with no people. The place for my intellectual home is anywhere that has peace and quiet indoors (mainly a library or my room late at night). I get distracted too easily so I cannot have any noise whatsoever. The process is disciplining myself to get assignments done and being determined to succeed in life. Everything that I do is part of a flight of stairs towards my career, and school plays a big part in it. The essay that I can relate to the most is Salvatore Scibona’s essay “Where I learned to read.” I intentionally flunked my second semester of college spring semester of 2021, and did not go to my 3rd semester either. I returned to school in the spring semester of 2022 and had a 3.4 term gpa. My second choice is Bilal Rahmani’s essay “Chronicles of a Once Pessimistic College Freshman” simply because moving forward his adjustment to college is how I plan to prosper during my time here. While I can relate to Scibona’s writing in the past, I can relate to Rahmani’s essay in the present and near future. In order to support this, I will first describe my intellectual home in detail. Second I will explain how both writings relate to me and my intellectual home. Lastly, I will explain how my intellectual home will help me succeed in life. 

Taha Hamdan 

My intellectual home isn’t a specific place since many of the processes that I take should be the version of my own intellectual home. The reason for this is because no matter the setting or the time that I would take in order for me to understand the assignment/ work that I have to complete it , it would not matter since many of my biggest feats in studying were all while I was stressing about how much time it would take me to do . Since I’ve been trying to do some research on myself which is something new that’s what I came to conclude about my own intellectual home . Music helps as well whereas other people with any sound at all cannot concentrate. I use this method only because I cannot have my attention on something for too long or I will forget about it all in general since it is a whole bunch of information that I have more then enough time to do I usually get distracted if I spend more then an hour on many of these topics . English is where I can say for sure my intellectual home is a process since I cannot write a bunch of paragraphs due to the time at hand , whereas when I take only 30 minutes to an hour long study session it does more good to me then when I study for too long since I would still have to go back and take an hour to do the process again . So to conclude my intellectual home is a process rather then a place or setting that I need to complete any task that is given to me wether that be English or any other subject at hand . 

My home is tucked away within every place that I’ve laid my head to rest and felt comfort in. My intellectual homes are processes- they’re the journal entries that I write yearning to be with my family again. They’re the lists that I make to attain all the goals that I’ve set for myself. The intellect of my home relies on the pen and paper, or my fingers mindlessly typing on my notes app about all of my mind’s spilled thoughts. Part of my method is to drown out the noise by planning. Physically, I dream of having a home. While I say that my country Haiti is home, I’ve also lived in Montréal, Florida, different parts of Haiti and New York on and off. I’ve left those places and come back multiple times. Which has made me someone who finds home outside of a physical place because of my exposure to the temporal side of home. When I write, I am in complete assurance that what is written down will get done- so I utilize this method to get the best out of school, personal goals, worries and hopes. I can take writing with me wherever I go. I feel empowered to change a narrative, mark a due date, or again, let my mind be at full capacity for the day by letting it bleed onto my journals in the evenings. 

I will always carry snacks with me, it can be a drink, cookies, chips or a simple stick of gum. Having snacks keeps me focused. It’s been something I picked up on since I was in the 3rd grade, where I barely knew English and every time I had an exam my teacher took her jar of animal cookies out and began to hand them out whenever I had answered one question even if it wasn’t correctly answered. At some point it was no longer about the cookie but knowing that someone was there to pay attention that kept me motivated. Staying focused without knowing what I was reading was difficult but once I began to find similarities between words in English to those in Spanish everything changed. Until this day I make connections to words in Spanish as I read to better understand what I’m studying. No matter where I am I transport myself to a room full of people and feel as if I am reading to a public and helping them all understand what I’m reading or writing. I’ve enjoyed being on stage and that always helped me do my best. Picturing the public and emphasizing what I’m reading or writing repeatedly helps. 

My intellectual home first starts with a silent room with nobody there. For me knowing somebody is in the room with me messes me up as if I can just feel energy. Only my spirit needs to be in the room when im doing work. It may be seen as weird but its me. Sunlight from the actual sun is a must when im working. It gives me this type of nostalgic feeling to me that gets me going and excited to do do something. But I mean the sun does give you energy, so I believe thats whats going on. Also, my cat laying beside me so Ican rub him time to time. But the person that really gets me going is my mom. Shes the mom who always remind you study and do your homework 24/7 if she believes your just playing around. Always on top of it which is kind if forcing me to do my homework. To the best ability as well. Alot of times I would have slacked because of her, and never would of made honor roll in high school because I recieved a 3.5 gpa. One homework slip up thats a 3.4 and I dont make honor for the first time. To be honest roll was my motivation to do good in the first place. I just needed that feeling when names get called up for honor which I know is an amazing feeling to accomplish. I studied almost every night, i just had a mindset of no time wasted. Other people on honor was doing it so i had to do the same as well for me to be an honor student as well

Comfort brings out the best of me and helps me produce my best work. My home is my ideal intellectual home, its where i find the most comfort, peace and pushes my motivation to heights i cant reach elsewhere. My home is my haven its a place where i spend most of my time and i have developed a place in my heart for my home. Similar to Scibona i lacked courage and the will to motivate myself to gain knowledge and pursue a path in school, i chose a path of simplicity where i worked a mediocre job in a place where my heart was not content with. I went from being motivated high school student who wanted to achieve his dreams to losing that pasion in a matter of months. My progression and the long hours i spent at home reconsidering my life made me realize that its never too late to set out and chase your dreams. Growing up in Nyc either makes you or it breaks you but taking the time out of your life to mentally uplift yourself is one of the things that helped me progress. Theres only so much a person can endure but finding that place of comfort will keep you going.

My current intellectual home is my laptop. It wouldn’t necessarily be considered a home or person but instead a method for me. Whenever I have my laptop at my disposal, I’m able to completely breeze through any and all work I am given. I find noise or silence really affect my work ethic to any extent, whether it is extremely loud or quiet neither bother me. I feel as if with my laptop at my hand there are no other distractions really since my laptop has no games downloaded and is purely for getting work done. I have already embedded in my head that if I need to get an assignment done, I should always do it through my laptop. On other devices such as my computer and phone I have so many things that can distract me for example, Netflix Crunchyroll and video games installed in, so I am constantly tempted. Here on my laptop, I don’t have the passwords saved to any of those streaming services nor do I have any video games installed so regardless of if I wanted to, I couldn’t. The only things on my laptop would be my downloaded documents of previous works, syllabus and outlines for lab reports. Another part of my method is not just my laptop but the time of day. Once the sun is down and most people are fast asleep, I feel a dire need to finish my work faster. Not sure what it is about the time of day, but I feel more at peace while it is darker outside. If there is a deadline I have to beat within an hour all the more better as I am motivated to rush even faster to finish the work. However, don’t get it twisted just because I am rushing to finish my work on time, I am still giving out the outmost quality of work, I don’t believe in half-assing any work. (other topic) My laptop has a membrane keyboard which to most people doesn’t feel as good but to me on the other hand I completely enjoy how smooth it feels to type every single letter to my paragraphs.

My home is a rowhouse building so its always quiet around my neighborhood. I stay on the third floor which is even quieter since I’m more up from the street. I live by myself, but I stay with others who are barely home, so I pretty much get the whole house to myself where I’m able to think and be lonely. Most of the time I’m in my room which is good because that should tell you I enjoy my own company. Even myself I’m barely home. My current intellectual home is process because most of the time when I need to study for an exam or write an essay it’s hard for me to find something to focus on because my mind will be over the place. I would do a lot of research which helps sum up the problems and doodling is something that I also do that helps me come up with ideas for a project or essay. I felt the essay “where I learned to read” because when Scibona wanted to be good at reading, he told his prof. he will read anything if wants him to in order to be great. I felt that because I’m someone who always strive to be the best at something when I start doing. What is my ideal intellectual home? I think it would be a person because just imagine someone who is always there for you to keep you focused and motivated, doesn’t complain about it and just do it out their kind heart.

Kevin Pala

My home can be down in sunset, but I would also consider my old man as one of my intellectual home. I would also consider the soccer field as an intellectual home of mine. ‘Where I Learned To Read’ by Salvatore Scibona is about a high school student who would rather go to work for $3.25 then complete his homework, he would intentionally fail school. He would consider himself as a lost cause, until in high school he was given a brochure of a college that completely flipped his. whole view on school. ‘Superman and Me’ by Shermaine Alexie is about an Indian boy who lived in a reservation and actually taught himself how to read because he would see how his father would really enjoy reading. My intellectual home is to similar to Scibona’s in the sense that we chose work over school. But in my case I have just finished my first year of college in Ohio, and I got put on to this pool construction job and I was bringing in a decent amount money. After a while of working their I completely forgot about school. All I had in mind was going to sleep at 9:00pm and waking up at 5:20am to leave to work. I missed the date to register for my next semester and I didn’t stress it, I thought since I have this job why do I need to go to school. I also relate to Alexie’s intellectual home because at a young age my old man would take me to his games and he would be playing 2-3 games Saturday and Sunday, and I would be their little by little falling for the game. When I was old enough to actually be able to play I joined a team and kept branching out to different teams and playing at different places.