Reflections

One could not gain enough insight on my life, my background, my goals, by just glancing at me. They would need to do a little intensive research of their own to find out who I truly am and what my aspirations are. Here are a few interesting contents about my past, present, and future.

From an early age, many events have impacted my life and how I was raised. My mother was attending Everett Community College during her early 20’s and met my father, who was in the Navy working as an aircraft mechanic. So, both my parents have had some college degree to influence me enough to want to further my own education. Later, my parents found out they were expecting…Twins. Unfortunately, my twin brother, David, passed away at an early age, leaving me to grow up to be an only child. With all of the pressures of life being too much to handle, my parents divorced. Now, I was an only child being raised by a single mother. Yes, I grew up to be a “momma’s boy”.

Growing up, I struggled in school. Since, my mom had to quit school and work two jobs to support the both of us, there was hardly time to see me. My grandparents (as mentioned in a few of my writings in English 101) took care of me while my mom worked. Living with my Japanese grandmother, I picked up a lot of the language, but at the young age, I was still learning to speak English, so I ended up mixing one another and getting the vowels and consonants switched around. Having to take speech classes until 5th grade and always being placed into remedial English, took a huge toll on my self-esteem. I didn’t let that stop me from achieving my goals though. I graduated high school with honors and set out to further my education in hopes to eventually obtain a human services degree from Western Washington University.

It wasn’t until I attended college that I was diagnosed with a learning disorder. Dyslexia was a huge battle for me, and I was shocked that I had not discovered the problem earlier. Ultimately, I learned to cope with it and continue my trek throughout college.

Before taking English 101, I had a few ideas of what was going to take place. I figured that taking it online, it was going to be a piece of cake. Oh, was I wrong. There were many hurdles that I had to jump over to get to where I am now. I thought that I knew how to write at least a decent paper, but it was the academic part of writing that I was having problems with. With Outsiders, Outcast and Outlaws being the subject on hand, I had no idea that Identity, Community and Tradition were the topics that were in store for me. It threw me off balance for a little bit, but I bounced back into it as fast as I had left it in the first place.

Partaking in this class really opened my eyes and my perspective on how communities can help define who someone is as a person, to help define their individuality, and overall, how the three subjects tie together with undeniable unison. Communities have multiple functions in a person or a group of people. They can make one feel a part of something, being an “insider”, by sharing the traditions and taking part in the cultural activities brought on by the individuals who make up the community. But communities aren't just around for giving. A person must give back to the community to see results. If someone is not involved they get results they may or may not want. For most, the outcome is becoming an “outsider” or and “outcast”. Taking away from this class, I have also learning that having traditions can have a lasting impact on an individual and their community, for without traditions, communities have no backbone on which to run by. There are no guidelines or paths to follow, but by making your own, which in some cases is not always a bad idea.

Thank you for taking the time to read my reflection letter and viewing the contents of my e-portfolio. Hopefully, you can gain a little insight on what kind of person I am, and be able to understand my thoughts and choices of writings, and take from my writings, ideas to help you understand more about your own identity, community and traditions that make up who you are as an individual.