Cover Letter

Annie Dillard has a unique way of writing. She includes a vast amount of detail about the characters and the Settings. She makes sure that every scene is set up and paints a clear image of the surrounding environment in the reader’s head. Her piece “An American Childhood” focuses on several stories that happen throughout the narrator’s life in which she learns a lesson. I decided to imitate her style, including extreme detail of the characters and the event that took place. The most important aspect to me however was the lesson learned through the events that were talked about. In Dillard’s personal narrative the narrator boasts about her mother’s intelligence and powerful personality. Through many small stories the reader is able to grasp the idea that the narrator’s mother was an inspiration. Although not as many small incidents were included in my own personal narrative, a rather large and a few small events are told that have taught me a lesson. I attempted to include as much detail as possible to give the reader a clear picture of the event. Above all else however, a life lesson was learned bringing the small stories together, making one large one.

Immitation

Emmett was a typical high school boy. He liked girls, constantly ate, dreamed of sports, and obsessed over the Chicago cubs. He grew up in a family of four with a mom, dad, and sister. All had hair the color of espresso beans and eyes the color of almonds. He was like all typical high school boys until one day when his life was changed instantly. It was an overcastted, cold, and windy day. Once again Emmett was late for school and was running around the house gathering his stuff in a fluster. After throwing everything into his backpack, he tossed in his IPOD headphones and ran out of the house, straight down the empty street to school. The lyrics of his favorite song “The Scientist” by Coldplay rang in his ears clearing out all feelings of anxiety. I always told him a song could not take you to another state of mind, but he assured me differently. He told me music was his escape and could cure any negative emotion that he felt. As he approached the usual stop sign to cross the street his right headphone fell out of his ear. Emmett began crossing the two way street, placing the earpiece back into his ear. Before he could slow down or speed up, a white Acura TSX zipped down the street towards him, disobeying the stop sign, directly hitting him and sending him flying over the hood of the car. The car sped off in a hurry leaving Emmett sprawled out unconscious on the cement. Within minutes a neighbor walking their golden retriever came across Emmett and immediately called the ambulance. 

Growing up Emmett was always an active boy. He loved playing baseball and football even if it was just a pick up game on a Saturday. He had a competitive side to him making every game intense as possible. He was always the leader on the team encouraging everyone to play with the passion that he always felt. Upon entering high school he focused more on baseball for the reason that he was not a big and muscular guy and his genes did not appear that way either. Every night he practiced his batting stance and pitched into the net in his back yard. From the eye of a coach he was everything a team could ask for: a leader, talented, and most importantly, a dedicated.
Little did he know that one-day would change him for the rest of his life. As he was rushed through the emergency room doors strapped to a stretcher, doctors shout out tests that needed to be completed and nurses placed catheters and tubes into his body. I was called down to the office at school and told about Emmett’s accident. I called my mom hysterical and demanded she rushed me to see him. As I entered the room the doctor did as well, holding all the test results. He told us that Emmett would wake up, but he would wake up with no feeling from his waste down. Due to the speed and placement of the vehicle that the vehicle hit his spine, he would never walk again and be forced to live the rest of his life in a chair. All I could think about was Emmett’s reaction. His passion and drive for baseball had increased over the summer with dreams of playing in college.
It felt as if a lifetime had passed but Emmett finally woke up the next morning. I had fallen asleep in the chair and awoke to Emmett tapping his hands to a John Mayer song. I did not know how to react in fear of upsetting Emmett so I just looked at him. He caught a glance of my eyes and two tears dripped down his face. “I’m paralyzed aren’t I?” he asked me. I just shook my head answering yes. Surprisingly enough, this did not ruin Emmett’s life the way I thought it would. After two months of recovery and adjusting to his new life, Emmett joined a wheel chair basketball team. I decided to attend his first game to show my support for him. To my surprise the same leadership characteristics and passion to win was seen in him when he was on the court. Emmett was still the same guy, still motivating everyone to play his or her hearts out.
Every once in a while he throws a baseball around with his friends just as they did before the accident. He remains friends with everyone he was friends with before the accident but he has developed a new group of friends from his wheelchair team. One driver changed Emmett’s life, but instead of letting it get the best of him, he accepted it and continued to live his life. He had the opportunity to quit and become an entirely new person. But instead, he took this as another game. He took it as a challenge and decided that he would not let the opponent win. He is more than just a friend to me; he is an inspiration. He has shown me that when life seems to come to an end, one has no choice but to prevail.

Word Count: 1,058

Emmett was a typical high school boy. He liked girls, constantly ate, dreamed of sports, and obsessed over the Chicago cubs. He grew up in a family of four, a mom, dad, sister, and himself. All had hair the color of espresso beans and eyes the color of almonds. He was like all typical high school boys except for one thing. He lived his life in a wheel chair, paralyzed from the waist down. It was an overcastted, cold, and windy day. Once again he was late for school and was running around the house gathering his stuff in a fluster. After throwing everything into his backpack, he tossed in his IPOD headphones and ran out of the house, straight down the empty street to school. The lyrics of his favorite song “The Scientist” by Coldplay rang in his ears clearing out all feelings of anxiety. I always told him a song could not take you to another state of mind, but he assured me differently. He told me music was his escape and could cure any negative emotion that he felt. As he approached the usual stop sign to cross the street his right headphone fell out of his ear. Emmett began crossing, placing the earpiece back into his ear. Before he could slow down or speed up, a car appeared out of nowhere, disobeyed the stop sign, and directly hit him. The car sped off in a hurry leaving Emmett sprawled out unconscious on the cement. Within minutes a neighbor walking their dog came across Emmett and immediately called the ambulance.
Growing up Emmett was always an active boy. He loved playing baseball and football even if it was just a pick up game on a Saturday. Little did I know that the test results would change him forever. He was paralyzed from the waste down because of the angle that the car hit his spine. He would never walk again and would be forced to live the rest of his life in a chair. Surprisingly enough, this did not ruin Emmett’s life the way I thought it would. Emmett joined a wheel chair basketball team and every once in a while threw a baseball around with his friends. A drastic change took over Emmett’s life, but instead of letting it get the best of him, he took it as it was and continued to live on. He has become more than just a friend to me, but a motivation. He has shown me that when life seems to come to an end, one must prevail.

To be completely honest, I have no idea how I would create irony let alone irony that would not be predicted and catch the attention of people. I think that it is necessary that irony added to stories draws the readers/viewers attention. By doing this I believe that it must be commical and caught completely off gaurd. In Borat, the irony is what makes the viewers laugh and want to keep watching. Borat's way of thinking is completely genius for the reason that you would not expect a person to be so completely clueless on some of the things he asks or trys to learn about. Therefor, I guess I would try and write irony with a comical sense as well. Similiar to Ginger Snaps, tthe fact that the girls are SOOO goth in the perfect world of suburbia, makes their actions appear funny. I however am not a very creative person, so I believe that the whole irony thing might be a little difficult for me. To create something that no one has actually found ironic before and brought to society's attention would be hard.

Borat is by far one of the funniest movies I have seen. I don't know if its due to the irony, but the irony in it seems to make everyone laugh. It is ironic that he makes out with his sister, who is the best prostitute in the town and has a prize to show for it. Not only that but the fact that he complains about his wife who complains that she eats grass and sleeps in a barn is pretty funny. Irony is placed into a movie or story to grab and maintain the attention of its viewers. Irony adds a twist into movies making people want to see them . if everything was expected, what would be the point of watching the movie or reading the story? There would be no point. It is hard to see irony in Borat for the reason that it is Ironic how clueless he is. He does not know what a joke is and when it is finally explained to him, it takes another 20 minutes for him to actually understand the concept of a "not" joke. Irony also could be used to teach a lesson or spread a message. The fact that something is ironic forces the viewer or reader to remember that situation, in turn learning a lesson. I realize this blog is extremely spaced out, its late and i remembered I had to do this. Borat. Great movie.

This paper. I have no idea where to start. I feel that by watching the movie Ginger Snaps that it is stereotyping the Goth subculture, however it is leaving how a huge portion of it. In some of the research that i have been completing it states that the whole culture began because of music in the 80's. The producer got the black hair, black clothing appearance down for the most part, however I dont' think that every goth is obsessed with death and depressed and anti social. The goth culture is used as a way to express ones self. However, there is a few sources of mine that suggested that people in the gothic culture are suicidal and more likely to cause self harm. This puts me in a very weird position. Because The book where a guy did an experiment and became a goth, said that these people did it to express themselves and indeed were not depressed. This could just be how they are in Britain. Here in the U.S, gothic teens usually tend to hate "trendies" (as in britain) and are not very social. Therefor I think I will write my paper on the fact that the representation of the gothic culture is mostly right, however the aspect of music is a big idea that was left out?

Ah, this research paper. It is going along okay I suppose. I have not given it too much thought to be completely honest though. I went to the library and checked out 5 books last week that were related to "Gothic culture". To my surprise after going through these sources, I realized that half of them are going to be NO HELP to my paper. I have one strong book that is directly about goths in Britan. The rest range from gothic literature, gothic archetecture, and a gothic attitude? The more I looked through the one on gothic literature I realized that people may be confused as to who a person that is gothic actually is. In the one book in which a man researched the gothic subculture in Britan, the gothics said that they were not depressed, and loved to go out and socialize. the stereotype in america and one in which is portrated in Ginger snaps shows just the opposite. The girls do fit the physical features of a goth such as the dark clothing, long, dark hair, and thick black eyeliner. However, they are not social and are constantly talking about suicide. The British goths see their life style as a way of expressing themselves. They have began to add colors into their outfits and enjoy music to the fullest. Ginger snaps shows the girls interested in death and death only. If they were really gothic, they might have a strong interest in music as those in Britan do. I want to take my paper in the direction that Ginger Snaps wrongly portrays the gothic subculture. As for my sources right now, i am not sure that I am going to be able to do this. The books on gothic literature stated that it was real dark, and scary which I think people might be taking that as the definintion of a gothic person. The interviewed Goths from Britain were anti "trendies" but they were social. The entire culture focuses on the music and outfits basically. Ginger snaps shows the outfits, but not the music aspect of it. The word "goth" in general is dark and dreary but I think it is mis interpreted in Ginger Snaps.

I did not write the last journal because I was not able to see the movie untill yesterday. Scary would not be a word that I would use to describe the movie because it was more disturbing than anything else. I am the kind of person that fears being trapped and having no where to go. The fact that there was no monsters or villans in this movie to scare me and that the problem was hillbillies (something seen in society everyday) is realistic and disturbing. It is hard not to have the image of the hillbillies next time I see a hick around Tucson. The fact that there was absolutely no authority around is disturbing as well. The man was there defenseless, and no one was within miles to help him. When an incident like this happens, it is easy to say what you would do if you were in that situation, but while you are actually in it, you are panicing and you usually go with your first instinct. To answer other questions posted, I would have done what I could to fight the hillbillies and going to the authorities would have been the last thing on my mind. I am the kind of person to go down with a fight so I would make sure that the men would not have me easily. If i was able to escape, the first place I would head would be for civilization and to get anyone's help, even if they were not an authority.

On my first trip to the library, I came across several books that were placed under the subject of "gothic subculture". There were two distinct ideas of the word "gothic" being talked about in these books though. There was a focus on gothic literature, also involving the "gothic period" and "gothic architecture" and then there were many books that focused on the gothic subculture. I chose to direct my research on the gothic subculture for the reason that it is what is seen in the movie "Ginger Snaps". "Goth Identity, Style, And subculture" written by Paul Hodkinson is one of the books i choose to look at. It states that "music and its performers were most directly responsible for the emergence of the stylistic characteristics of goth"(35). They believe that David Bowie and Joy Division started this trend around the 1980s. As time traveled on more and more of these bands started to reveal themselves. By the 1990's, the goth style had suprisingly disapeared. Hodkinson states that the "emphasis on the colour black, whether in terms of clothing, hair, lipstick, household decration or even pet cats" (42) is what defines a "goth". It is common for them to wear "white foundation on their faces, extended black eyeliner, cheekbone accentuating blusher and dark lipstick"(42) either. This source will help greatly with my paper because it is full of information and goes into great detail on what exactly a goth is.

On my first trip to the library, I came across several books that were placed under the subject of "gothic subculture". There were two distinct ideas of the word "gothic" being talked about in these books though. There was a focus on gothic literature, also involving the "gothic period" and "gothic architecture" and then there were many books that focused on the gothic subculture. I chose to direct my research on the gothic subculture for the reason that it is what is seen in the movie "Ginger Snaps". "Goth Identity, Style, And subculture" written by Paul Hodkinson is one of the books i choose to look at. It states that "music and its performers were most directly responsible for the emergence of the stylistic characteristics of goth"(35). They believe that David Bowie and Joy Division started this trend around the 1980s. As time traveled on more and more of these bands started to reveal themselves. By the 1990's, the goth style had suprisingly disapeared. Hodkinson states that the "emphasis on the colour black, whether in terms of clothing, hair, lipstick, household decration or even pet cats" (42) is what defines a "goth". It is common for them to wear "white foundation on their faces, extended black eyeliner, cheekbone accentuating blusher and dark lipstick"(42) either. This source will help greatly with my paper because it is full of information and goes into great detail on what exactly a goth is.

I came across a very interesting magazine article when searching for a source involving my topic, Gothic subcultures. The basic idea of the entire piece written by Rebecca Jenkins is that those "who consider themselves part of the Goth subculture are more likely to attempt suicide or self-harm compared with other teenagers". This information was proven by a study that involved 1258 19-year olds who had been in this study since the age of 11. The study focused on self harm and suicide based on the subculture which they were involved in. Results showed that 53% of the Goth culture was involved in self harm and that 47% of them had prevalence of attempted suicide. The other groups tested included punk and mosher as well which showed about 24.5% prevelence of suicide. This would explain the focus of sucide amongst the sisters in "Ginger Snaps". The girls are constantly talking about how they want to kill themselves and Ginger gets involved in drugs which is often another component of being involved in the Goth culture as well. Although the researchers cannot directly relate suicide and self harm to the Goth subculture, their studies are leading them in the direction to believe that they are related.


"gothic culture clue to increased self-harm risk". Australian Doctor 00.00 (April 28, 2006): 13. InfoTrac OneFile. Thomas Gale. University of Arizona Library. 25 Feb. 2007.