Q4 PORTFOLIO Honors Literary Magazine | Page 20

Reflection

At the beginning of the year, I was brainwashed. I had been brainwashed by all of my English classes without even knowing it. They had taught me how to write, what to write about and what to not write. I was a mindless little clone, typing away what I knew others wanted to read. That's why when I began this class I was completely thrown off. We weren't given topics to write about, we weren't given a format, we were just told to write. It was hard at first, I didn't have confidence in my pieces or skills, they were terrible, and I was afraid people would judge me for what I chose to write about. But they didn't.

This class completely changed my perspective on writing, not only has it taught me valuable skills but it has also given me the freedom and confidence to write about what I want to write about, not what the school system thinks is appropriate or what others want to read. It has let me go completely ballistic and write about drugs, suicide, depression, murder, necrophilia and let us not forget suicidal dolphins. I have learned that by writing down the silly thought and random words that pop into my mind I can write down a beautiful story, born purely of my imagination. I have learned about and villanelle's as well many other types of poems and writing styles. I've learned to share my stories and ideas with my classmates in order to better them and to know when a piece is worth the effort. I've learned so many things and yet I still feel as though I do not know enough. I can only hope that my teacher next year is as wonderful as Mr. Chase and this class have been.

At the start of the year, I was expecting this to be like every other class I had had for the last 10 years, If that's not the funniest joke of all, then I don't know what is.

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