Mark Muzzini 8/27/09
Letter of Introduction English 100
My name is Mark Muzzini, and I am your ordinary college freshman, just moved away from home and living on my own for the first time in my young life. I am hoping that the college experience is going to open a lot of doors for me and allow me to become a better student, as well as a better writer. When I applied at Humboldt I decided not to declare my major, although all along I knew I wanted to be a writer. I’m definitely not one of those kids that dreams of being a writer since the day they were born, but ever since I joined my band Inane Attraction, I have been writing songs and developing as a writer in that way. When I began to write songs my vocabulary expanded immensely and my confidence shot through the roof as far as writing goes. I began to test into tougher English classes and by senior year I was in the highest English class I could take. Since applying I have declared as journalism major and am very satisfied with my choice, for now that is. I’ve never been one to follow plans for my life, everything just happens and I believe it happens for a reason.
As a student in high school It would be fair to say that I was some what of a rebel, not caring what writing style I was assigned, but always doing the work on time. I developed a free form writing style that is all my own that I have relied on all throughout high school. Breaking away from styles that I am comfortable with and learning to write in different genres and for a broader audience is definitely something I need to work on as a more mature college student. Another minor flaw I have as a student is the small section of English that is reading. Whenever I read a book I am always disappointed with the way that the writer may have decided to tell the story that he did, or display the facts in such a peculiar manor. I end up drifting off thinking about how I may have written that passage and how much better I would be able to understand it had I written it. Then of coarse by the time I refocus my attention to the jumbled words on the page I am done with the chapter and realize the only thing I remember is the title of the chapter.
Mark, you wrote: "I end up drifting off thinking about how I may have written that passage and how much better I would be able to understand it had I written it."
ReplyDeleteA writer like you can get so much out of a class like this, especially since you are already engaged in the activity of meta-reading-- reading while thinking about how reading would be easier/more interesting if the writing had done things differently.
But as a songwriter, you know of course that writing is much more than "displaying facts." Songs evoke responses in the audience, emotional responses or identification responses. That's what persuasive writing is about -- getting your audience to engage with your ideas somehow, to respect your ideas, agree with them, or even to act on them.