Native American Authors

Native American ancestors once told oral stories for younger generations to reflect upon. Now, Native American authors are doing the same, only now, are recording these stories for future generations. These authors have taken on a great responsibility by trying to preserve not only the stories but the culture as well. Instead of requiring parents to pass on stories that their loved ones passed to them, Beverly Hungry Wolf, Princess Red-Wing (also known as Mary Congdon), N. Scott Momaday, Alootook Ipellie, Ada E. Deer and so many others are recording these stories so they will forever be part of today’s Native American youth. From subjects of how bear lost his tail to why hummingbird beats his wings so fast, these stories are lessons learned by others and then taught to younger children so they will learn not to be as vain and as gullible as bear or as much in a hurry as hummingbird. Native American authors are ensuring the survival of their culture by recording the lessons learned. Through books we have found a way to combine the "white man’s” education and the teachings of our elders.

Metacognitive Essay

I once heard that to write well I had to write what I know. I know this: I enjoy writing. This joy I have learned from others and I have taught myself all that I know. My strengths in writing included voice, opinion and ideals. However, like all things, there is always room for improvement. Looking back on my writing I see that I could improve on my spelling, sentence fluency and the enthusiasm of my work. To improve I will need to set and see through these stages.

I believe that my strengths are my ideals, opinion and voice. These strengths have originated from my own beliefs and experiences through out my short existence. I came to these conclusions as a child observing the world through innocent eyes and they have stayed with my through out the years. Although they have developed from their own innocence just as I have, there will always be the simplicity of times gone by. This is unconsciously applied to my writing. Because of the unconsciousness involved in my writing, it receives my utmost involvement, however unwittingly. My strengths are seen in my writing.

To know your strengths, you must also know your weaknesses. I would say that my weaknesses lay in my spelling, transitions, sentence fluency and the enthusiasm. To be truthful, anyone can write if they put their mind to it. However, it takes a person who knows both sides of their writing to be a writer. I have said that my once innocent beliefs and experiences is my strength but it is also my weakness. When these strengths are shown they cause my transitions to become choppy, sentence fluency turns into pieces and spelling becomes crappy. Ironic that my so-called strengths contributes to my weaknesses.

To improve upon these weaknesses I must simply apply myself. One way would be to have others read my work. They would then remark upon it and I would change as I see fit. Another way would be to personally revise the work I do. Instead of leaving imperfection as it is, I would merely have to work on the writing over long periods of time. However I would say that the best way to improve my writing would be to write more. After a time of nothing but writing and reading, my work will gradually become better. The process will be long and arduous but the rewards at the end will accommodate the effort.

A Native American Literature teacher once told me that it is better to write a lot about a little then to write a little about a lot. I found that she is correct. I have written about many things over the times. All things written by me have had the same strengths; voice, ideals, opinions, and the same weaknesses; spelling, sentence fluency and transitions. I was repeatedly asked what I could do to change and each time I answer the same; revisions and writing more. Reflecting on this, I see the possibility that I do not want to change. That my imperfections are my own and I rival in them. It would seem that I have the nature that is in all humans. The nature in which these errors make me what I am. I believe that is something to embrace, not change.

New Beginning

There have been many sayings about how to write the perfect paper. I have heard a lot of them. Through it all, I see that it is all about the joy of writing. If you louse that, then writing becomes a chore, not an enjoyment. One of the benefits of writing is that there is always ways of improving. Before, I spoke of what part of writing I was good at, what I need work on and my plans to do better. Now, I look to a new beginning. A new path of how I write. I have had improvements. My arguments now have direction and structure, I can put myself in another role and I rediscovered the joy in writing. There has been progress that I still need to work on. Such as my spelling, transitions and the life in my writing. My future plans include writing more, better ideals and planning. Although I have developed my writing, I still have a long way to go before I can truly be pleased with it.

I have been rewarded for my efforts since my last writing report. I have made my arguments cleaner, getting rid of excess material that only weighed down the purpose. I am especially pleased at how I transitioned from my poor Rock’n’Roll argument to my Soda argument. In the Rock’n’Roll argument, even I could not tell what I was saying after rereading it. There was too much of my own voice that I drowned out what was actually being defended. In the Soda argument I spoke clearly and rationally. All I said was what was need Instead of going off and yelling what I believed, I just let the arguments I made to speak for them. I have also learned to have an out of mind experience while pretending to be someone else. In the R.A.F.T.s that were assigned, I learned to be professional in the principal memo about school mascots. Before I was including my own personal beliefs. We were then assigned to write a letter about a character in the book Laughing Boy. Here I felt little restraint in adding my own ideals because of the limited information on the character at the time. I also feel that my enthusiasm in my work has lifted. I believe this is shown in the difference of my first argumentative paragraph, The Writing Process, and another argument, the death penalty in New Mexico. I though that my views were more exuberant in the death penalty, despite the seriousness of the subject. I felt that I could ‘get into’ the subject. It would seem that topic is more important then I had first thought. The benefits will be great in the long run in developing my writing. This has given me a chance to extend my knowledge and skills.

Before, I my weaknesses used to handicap me. Now, through practice and patience I have made progress. Ever since my English teacher gave me a paper with lists of transitions, I have been able to extend my vocabulary in that area. I felt that I did a passable job on my transitions when I wrote the death penalty. I think that is why I got a good grade on the paragraph. It was a vast improvement form my midterm essay on the character Slim Girl from the book Laughing Boy. Another area were progress has been seen by me is my spelling in my short essay Strength in Comfort. There were still a few errors that also included grammatical errors but compared to my memo R.A.F.T. on the mascot change they were an improvement, however slight. Previously, I had said that the life, or enthusiasm, in my writing improved but I still think that there could be even more progress. I felt that my Othello essay was far more lively then my midterm essay. I really felt that that essay was not my best and since then I have tried all that I can to make sure not to repeat history and type an essay like that again. Progress has been painfully slow for me. However, through this experience I have also learned to be patient with myself and with my work. As with all progress, I still have a way to go before I feel that I can comfortably say that I have over come myself inflicted bonds. Only then can I really be free to call myself a writer.

I am not completely without guidance. I have future plans. Well, a rough ideal of where I want my writing to go. I personally feel that I need more ideals. I need fresh ideals and a new insight on topics. I know I could have done better on my third essay of the Gates application, leadership. Before then I thought that I only had trouble beginning an essay but with that essay I had trouble getting my thoughts and feelings onto paper. The experience was new and surprisingly frustrating. So now, I will try to broaden my adventures and look more intuitively at situations. I also hope to be able to write in a verity. From essays to letters in a professional, aloof manner, I want to be able to move from one type of writing to another without losing even a hint of my writing capabilities when I’m at my personal best. I don’t think that it will be an easy transfer from my present ease of writing short, one to two page essays to college essays of over five pages. I think that if I try writing a five-page essay now, I will have less difficulty latter on. Just the thought of writing so much with the fault of procrastination on my side gives me a strange sense of foreboding. Hopefully it will be a concern I will be able to laugh at when I come to that point. I also think that a plan before I write will help. Procrastination is a fault that I cannot seem to over come. I know that if I could only plan ahead of time, then I will be able to bring my writing to a new level. If I could also go back to the work I did in the past and evolve that into a piece of art then I would not need to start from scratch every time I get a writing assignment. For whatever strange reason I cannot bring myself to change my past works. With further though as to why, I might be able to figure out a way to improve works of the past. These new goals just might become my next achievements or at the very least, my progress of the future.

A new beginning. That is how I see my writing going for now. Although I will always have what I learned, for now it will be new experiences. Now my writing will become a young adult, just like I must. Achievements in my arguments, viewpoint and enthusiasm just might be short lived. The progress I’m making in my transitions, spelling and the life of my writing just might take the achievements of today; just like the future replacing the past. Then one day my future plans of fresher ideals, foolproof planning and writing verities will over come my progress now. Wither this is as good as I’m going to get at writing or if the future has bigger and better plans for me, I will continue to write just for the sheer pleasure.

Eaten Alive

There is no doubt that external conflicts are bad. However, there is a conflict that is worse: internal conflicts. I say this because with external conflicts, there may be away for a group to solve the issue. Where as internal conflicts, one has to find a way to resolve the conflict alone. William Shakespeare shows this in the play “Othello”. Where two characters from the play; the protagonist Othello and the antagonist Iago, fight internal battles as well as external battles.

Othello is a black man. He is general of an army and husband to Desdemona, a white woman. They both claim to love each other and show this love by eloping. The newlyweds seemed to have a perfect marriage but then Iago schemes against them. Iago wastes no time in putting a nagging doubt in Othello’s mind about Desdemona’s faithfulness. When Othello demands a motive, Iago says that Desdemona thought Othello amusing for a time but now she wants a man of her skin color. Naturally, Othello cannot help but believe this. He is the only black man for miles surrounded by people of a lighter skin tone. Iago played off of Othello’s self-consciousness. So now Othello begins to consider Iago’s statement. He goes as far as demanding proof. I believe that it was Iago’s comment on Othello’s skin color that pushed Othello into demanding evidence against Desdemona. So really, the comment about his color set the rest of the actions in motion. Othello’s internal conflict about his wife and his skin color difference is well hidden. Even in present day some frown upon interracial marriages. Nevertheless, Othello’s internal conflict is part of the downfall of his material bliss.

Iago is an insecure man. His confidence is only skin deep. When Cassio is promoted to lieutenant, Iago sets a plot against him. It is not only business rivalry tat sets him off but his belief that Othello had slept with his wife, Emilia. The rising action is where things get interesting. Iago finds a way to get back at Othello by making him believe that Desdemona is unfaithful with Cassio. Iago finds that if Cassio and Othello are removed from the picture, then he will become general. Now, to some, this sounds like a pretty good plot: like killing two birds with one stone. However, why kill two birds when one will due? Iago becomes greedy and greedy people are insecure. Iago then starts to worry. There are too many variable in his plan: Emilio and Roderigo, his accomplice. He takes care of one, Roderigo, but forgets Emilia. She becomes his down fall when she reviles the plot her husband had set in motion and is killed for it by Iago himself. As I mentioned earlier, Iago makes variations to his original plan because of his greed. If he were a secure man, he would not have to change anything. Taking his time would have paid off in the long run. Taking one man at a time, Cassio then Othello. His internal conflict was his insecurity, so common.

In the end both men do not fight their internal battles first and they both pay dearly for it. If they knew themselves well, the plot could have been for gone or even executed to the fullest destruction. However, slowly starting out small and growing under neglect, both men’s internal battle eats them alive.