Hi, this is the seventh installment of my blog for my English Composition I class. For this assignment, I had to watch three videos and interpret the video-text performances, which I have listed below. I also had to write a rationale that responds to five questions.
My narrative allows me to travel into my brain because I remember thinking, how am I going to get my people, my car, and all my equipment to Memphis. On top of that there was the thought of, can I get the time off from work, and if I can’t what can I do to work around attendance policy at work, can my Girlfriend get the time off, will my parents be willing to go. Is this worth all the work involved to be able to go. Will my car and I be competitive in the race. Looking back on it now, there was courage on my part to want to travel that far away from home and to ask my family to put out a lot of money and time to do this. It wasn’t as hard for me to get the material things there, it was harder getting myself there. My narrative allows me to explore my heart from back then because the scene I composed is from a time when I just started really getting passionate about competing in drag racing, instead of watching. I can remember the anxious moments before I asked my Girlfriend and parents about going to Memphis. The anger that I experienced when I asked the Plant Manager, where I worked, for the time off and the argument that ensued. The excitement of being able to go and see how we stacked up, against racers from across the country. My narrative meets the nerve element by showing the lengths I had to go to, just to get time off from work to go participate in something that was a once in a lifetime event. The argument with the Plant Manager that normally I wouldn’t have had, I would’ve just went silently on to a different way of getting what I needed, but this time was different, and I knew I was going to have to stand up to him and fight a little harder for what I wanted. My narrative enables me to re-examine the power I have in my life’s story because at the time I felt unsure of myself and my ability to do what I had done many times before at a local level with people that I became friends with. To a national level where the world would see what I was capable of, and there were no friends there. I realize now that the technical part (my car) of what I was doing was fine it could compete with the others that were there, my confidence was there I was just unsure. To me what shapes our sense of identity is both, life events and the stories we tell ourselves about life events. You have to have the life events happen to be able to tell ourselves the stories.
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Hi, this is the sixth installment of my blog for my English Composition I class. For this assignment, I had to read, watch and interpret four different texts, which I’ve listed, and have links to below. They are all to help with writing a blog which is counter factual to my last blog, Blog#5, Composing an Emotional Scene with Dialogue and Symbolism. Which I am also using for my Narrative Project.
In blog five I described an event in my life that to me and for me was an emotional time. From the decision to send in the application to be invited Hot Rod Magazines' Pump Gas Drags, to the emotional roller coaster of arguing with the plant manager and the head of H.R. where I used to work for the time off to go to Memphis to participate in the Pump Gas Drags. Arguing with work was the biggest road block I had, all of the other pieces pretty much fell into place. To explore the “what ifs” I would have to start with what if I never saw the advertisement or my friend hadn’t shown me the advertisement for the event. I would not have known the Pump Gas Drags were being held in ’08 so I wouldn’t of have had the thought planted in my head to go, and wouldn't have had a reason to go. If my Girlfriend would have said she didn’t want to go or couldn’t get the time off from her work, then I probably would have gone without her. She has stayed home for other things that I’ve have done with my car. I would have explained that I was going with or without her, she may or may not have been happy about it, but she would have understood that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. If my Parents would have said they couldn’t or didn’t want to go, then I wouldn’t have gone. Mostly because my Mom has been going and supporting me, in everything like this that I've been involved in, from Baseball to Football to Drag Racing. For them (her) not to go would have stopped me from going. Not being able to get the time off from work wouldn’t have stopped me, I definitely would have found a way to go. Even to the extreme of quitting my job to go, which I had thought about. Where I worked there were rules about absenteeism that I could have worked around to get the time off without pay, but it would have taken some work on my part to get it done. To me there are only two possible alternate endings. One would be me going without my Girlfriend, but still going. Two would be not going at all because my Parents couldn’t go or just didn’t want to go. The only one that seams feasible to me is the one where my Girlfriend doesn’t go. My parents at that time were always up for a trip somewhere they hadn’t been before. In hind sight I don’t think quitting my job would have been a good plan. I think the emotions of the moment got to me and influenced my decision-making process. Version 1
Hi, this is the fifth installment of my blog for my English Composition I class. For this assignment, I had to read and annotate seven different articles, which I’ve listed below with the links for each one. Five help with this writing genre and the other two, Hills Like White Elephants (Ernest Hemingway) and My Name is Margaret (Maya Angelou), we had to connect an emotional theme from them to a theme in our narrative scenes. I think my scene connects to Hills Like White Elephants because of the uncertainty and excitement I see in both stories. I’m not one to relive sad times in my life, so writing about those emotions isn’t what this blog is about for me. This is from the Spring of 2008 when I was invited to "Hot Rod Magazine’s “Pump Gas Drags.” This scene takes you through my process of applying for, and being accepted to participate in the Pump Gas Drags.
In early Spring of 2008, I was at work and we were on lunch and a friend of mine handed me the Hot Rod Magazine from January ‘08 and saw the advertisement for the Pump Gas Drags ,and was debating on whether I should send in the paperwork to see if I get invited. Hundreds of people send in their paperwork but only 75 are invited. The other reasons for the hesitation on sending in the paperwork was because this would be the first time we had traveled as far away as Memphis, Tennessee. Up to this time the furthest we had traveled was to Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pennsylvania, mostly we had stayed within Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland. Also, this was during the time when the gas prices were $4 and up for a gallon, and gas would be a definite factor on whether we would go. Before I sent in my application, I would have to talk to my Girlfriend and my parents, (racing is a family thing for me) and see if I could get the time off from work. I was on my way home from work to talk to my Girlfriend and see what she thought about the idea of going to Memphis and racing. When I arrived home she wasn’t home from work yet, so I had time to think of how I was going to pitch the idea of driving almost 1000 miles, dragging my car and all of the equipment we use while racing, plus luggage and food, and coordinate our time off from work. I thought it shouldn’t be that difficult to get her on board with the idea. When she got home, I waited a little while to tell her about my idea. She made dinner and we talked a little about our respective days and when we adjourned to the living room to relax and watch TV, I felt the time was right and explained my idea. I opened with, “What do you think about us going to Memphis for the “Pump Gas Drags?” My girlfriend replied, “Um, sure. That’s a really long trip. How are we going to do this? Trailer the car I guess?” I said,“Yep, how else are we going to get it there, load it on a plane?” She replied with, “Ok smart ass. I guess your parents would go too? I mean I guess they would definitely want to go. How are they going to feel about it?" I replied, “Well, I’ll have to talk to them about it. I don’t think I’ll be chosen by Hot Rod Magazine to go, so it’s probably not going to pan out.” A few days later, I spoke to Mom and Pop about it. They were on board with the idea. My Mom was excited to go, it was somewhere she hadn’t been. My Dad was thinking like me, and said, “You won’t get invited to go, it's just how our luck runs.” I took the leap, and I filled out the application and had my girlfriend email it to Hot Rod along with pictures of my Chevelle. I really didn’t hold out much hope that I’d ever hear back from them, so I just went on with my everyday life at that point. One morning, my girlfriend texted me while I was at work. The text read “call me as soon as you can." I called her and what followed was a huge shock. My girlfriend, in an excited but quiet voice, said, “DUDE, WE’RE GOING TO MEMPHIS!” I wasn’t sure if what I thought I heard was in fact what was said. In my state of shock I asked, “Seriously? No way!” My Girlfriend replied, “I’m dead serious Bill. I’ll read you the email.” As my girlfriend read me the email, I was still in disbelief. She’s reading off deadlines for submitting this and that, and of course there’s a deadline to tell them you accept the invitation. My best friend at work is standing next to me hearing my end of this conversation, and is motioning to me as if to say, “What’s going on?” I hung up with my girlfriend and said to my friend, “I am one of the 75 people out of hundreds who got picked to race in the Pump Gas Drags at Memphis Motor Sports Park.” As the words are coming out of my mouth, I still can’t believe what has just happened. Version 2 |
Bill LewisThis is where I try to make meaning with the assignments for my English Composition class. Archives
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