Emma Sacco

Mrs. Thomas
UWRT-1104-024
22 September 2016
Reflection #1
I was surprised at how much content came to me when I first started writing. I really enjoyed
this assignment because it allowed me to write without feeling restricted. I think the structure
and layout of my essay needs to be reconsidered but I am very satisfied with this essays purpose.
However, I am not sure if I have enough detail in particular sentences, or if I have too much in
others.
Reflection #2
I struggled to revise this paper properly. Maybe it was the distraction of Hillary Clinton and
Donald Trump going back and forth during Presidential Debate on the TV in front of me. Maybe
I just wasnt feeling inspired. But I struggled to focus on this papers structure and the details
within. However, I do like where I was going at the end with my new closing paragraph.
That Which is Life is Writing
Writing. Noun. Simply defined as, the activity or skill of marking coherent words on
paper and composing text. However the process is much more complex than the initial
definition. According to Jonathan Wai, writing is being curious. According to Henry Doss,
writing is taking risks. Henry Doss states that writing is educating. Francine Prose explains that
writing is a persuasion of our own idea of the truth. Stephen King emphasizes the importance of
being sloppy. Writing is organized chaos...and so is life. We all have our own definition of

writing, just like we all have our own definition of living. Whether or not the writing is good,
will be determined by the reader and his or her own life experiences.
Everybody is different. Therefore we all have our own unique story to tell. The way in
which we incorporate ourselves, our stories, and personal opinions is entirely up to us. Writing is
a form of art. The writer is the artist, the paper is their canvas, and life is their portfolio. We can
usually gain a general understanding about a person through their unique and specific
language. Language. Noun. Defined as the method of human communication, either spoken
or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way. But then what is
conventional to me may not be conventional to another. Again, this is entirely based on
experience.
Who am I? I am an 18 year-old, blue-eyed wanderer from North Carolina who has
experienced love, pain, happiness, sadness, confidence, fear, strength, weakness, certainty, and
uncertainty. I am still finding myself as I grow older and wiser with every day that comes and
goes.
Waves crashing, the faded laughter of friends and family, the smell of fresh seafood
caught from the nearby ocean, and miles of beach right before my eyes as I play with my cousins
on our familys getaway in Montauk, New York. My mom yells for me to come in for dinner, I
run inside and instantly feel the sand crumbling and squishing between my toes. My grandpa is
making shrimp. I dont like seafood, but I force myself to try it and just a few minutes later find
my hand reaching for another piece. I hear my loud Italian family speaking over one another as I
slip outside without anyone noticing. I open the sliding door onto the back deck and instantly
taste the salty air on my tongue. I feel the forceful beach breeze that I craved all year. Just 10
years-old and I had not a care in the world. Slowly the noise from inside has faded and I have

turned my attention to the aggressive waves that gave me peace of mind. Although time has
quickly pushed forward and nothing is the same, Montauk, New York forever holds a special
place in my heart.
Flash forward almost 8 years later, I sit in this stuffy dorm room, stressed, and can hear
Sinatras Fly Me to the Moon playing ever so faintly in the background. I am older, arguably
wiser, and changed. I stare out the window, at the wall, the ceiling, my laptop, a Kurt Cobain
poster, looking for some sort of inspiration for the next sentence. I struggle to determine which
direction to turn to next. I guess that worked. I am a freshman in college, completely clueless as
to what I want to major in and what the future holds for me. At this point in my life I am
overwhelmed with choices. Choices that will determine where I am going and who I will
become. As a writer, I often get overwhelmed by choices. Choices including the many topics,
opinions, and directions I can lead into. But this is yet another aspect of both life and writing: not
knowing. There are endless roads to go down in life. It is important to remember where you
come from, what your values are, and your vast experiences, and to then make a choice. Just as
in life, we must choose the next sentence or path to take based on our own story.
Writing involves taking risks. I often find myself gambling my use of words, ideas for
paragraphs, and use of description. I believe that it is important to step out of your comfort zone.
Without taking risks, society would not be where it is today. If people were afraid of failure,
there would be no such thing as success. We would all be losers. There would be no goal-setting.
The human race would not only lack personality, but purpose. I am constantly trying to find my
purpose in life. I find that my purpose changes everyday. My purpose used to be dance. Then I
lost interest. I wasnt excited to go to class anymore. I didnt feel motivated or accomplished. I
found myself immersed in the sport of swimming. At first I was a terrible swimmer. I put

everything I had into the sport and became very good. For a while, my world revolved around
swimming. Come Junior year of high school, I developed a shoulder injury. My rotator cuff was
torn and the doctors said I had multidirectional instability, basically meaning I was too flexible.
They told me to rest and I didnt listen, making things worse and eventually leading up to my
exit from swimming. I was lost again. Swimming was all I had known for seven years. So I had
to then find a NEW purpose. I took up cross country just to stay active and keep myself
organized. But I wound up loving it. I recognized how much I enjoyed the team aspect,
something I value to this very day. I found myself completely immersed in running. I loved the
exhilarating feeling of the wind wisping through my hair and past my ears. The feeling that I was
unstoppable. That life couldnt keep up with me. This feeling now transfers through other aspects
of my life. It allows me to push myself to be the very best version of myself and not worry about
the little things.
In order to take more risks we must all be aware. We must be open to to new ideas,
questions, or possible answers in this world. In Jonathan Wais Seven Ways to Be More Curious,
he wrote, Be willing to ask dumb questions. I have asked my fair share of dumb questions.
Growing up, my teachers always said that there was no such thing as a dumb question. Although
I believe there are plenty of dumb questions, I also believe that it is important to ask them when
necessary in order to gain a greater understanding of this world. Wai later went on and said: The
only person or thing that can make you stupid, or incurious, is you. Every person is always in
complete control of how much you can learn and attempt to understand. We will never live to our
fullest potential if we dont educate ourselves, which leads me to Henry Dosss piece on
Innovation: Five Keys to Educating the Next Generation of Leaders. Doss introduces the idea
of successful failure. He describes it as critical to developing leaders and something educators

to teach at every possible point in the course of a students education. I attended Cardinal
Gibbons High School, a Catholic college-prep school. Our mission statement included the key
ideas of forming students into men and women of FAITH, SERVICE, and LEADERSHIP. I
believe I will carry this mission statement throughout my life. My faith, experiences of service,
and sense of leadership will carry into all aspects in my life and more specifically, my writing.
My faith allows me to formulate opinions. I understand what I stand for and what I disagree
with. This doesnt necessarily mean I agree with every opinion the Catholic Church has
presented me. However it has allowed me to become educated in the opinions on important
world matters. My experiences through service and giving back helped me gain awareness and
understanding of the world around me. I am not naive and I recognize that in order to make a
difference, I have to put in the work. My leadership allows me to be bold and not hold back. It
allows me to be more understanding of others. It allows me to not be selfish and recognize the
needs of others. It allows me to take risks that I otherwise wouldnt. This carries out throughout
my life and my writing.
We must ask dumb questions. We must take risks. We must try. We must fail. We need
need to go down the paths that we cant see the end of. We must be fearless. If we dont, we will
miss opportunities towards success. This translates to both life and writing, and I apply this
towards every second of every day.