Reflective Essay

This is the second semester that I have taken Professor Hammett for English Comp.  I had previously taken my college English about 20 years ago when I first graduated high school and attended college, but I was informed that since it had been longer than 5 years that I’ve been out of school, I had to redo them.  It wasn’t such a bummer; I still had fun and relearned some things that I had forgotten, or in some cases, had to relearn things that had completely changed.  I had always thought that I was a pretty decent writer and have gotten some great advice from writing tutors and even Professor Hammett herself.  I find that I more thoroughly enjoy writing about fiction and conspiracy theories, rather than social epidemics. 

            I won’t lie, I was kind of bummed when I first learned that I would have to take English Comp 1 and 2 over again.  I was ready to continue with my career choice classes and thought that this would set me back, but it didn’t.  I also found that since the rise of cell phones and AI, that sentence structure has changed since I first learned it.  My biggest problem was with punctuation placement and citations.  I would have commas where periods were needed, and vice versa.  As to my writing, I am more than confident that I can be a good writer.  As much was confirmed when getting feedback from Professor Hammett or the writing tutors available online, I only had to keep working on punctuation issues and citations.

            I did enjoy the writing we did in Comp 1, more than in Comp 2.  I seemed to struggle more with research on social topics that we as humans deem to be an epidemic.  The seriousness of issues like suicide and rape and mental illness can hit more home to some people than things like aliens or bigfoot.  Those topics are real, raw, and vulnerable.  And, in this day and age when we are preoccupied with everyday things, sometimes the fantasy of something that we don’t know is true or not, is more enjoyable to research.