Multi genre Reflection

  

     During this semester, we used our class journals for three different activities: journal entries, the life compasses, and as a new addition, a multi genre section. In this section, we had to write about what the professor was giving us in class but in creative and diverse ways. These included letters, essays, short stories, autobiographies, timelines, inner monologues, ads, invitations to events, and many more.

     The first time I began writing in this section was in the classroom. The professor read an article about a woman who went on a long walk in a place where she felt at peace. First, we had to listen to the article and write what came into our minds. Then we had to draw a place that made us feel at peace and then associate it with the article. I draw a beach because it was the first place that came to mind and because, whenever I go, I tend to relax so much that I could fall asleep to sound of waves, people talking, and the rays of sunlight on my skin.

      The next entries in the multi genre section were a list of books I wanted, an invitation to some activity, and  an inner monologue. These two didn't have anything to do with the class but I felt that I had to write them down. But to follow instructions, I wrote a ghost story based on the novel The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, a poem based on the novel and the injustices that were lived then and the present, an autobiography (because I liked the idea of expressing how one saw the world and would put it in ink to share with others) and a short story. I wrote The Girl and the Orange Blossom because I love short stories and I wanted to write it in a way that both the main character and the slave became friends (or acquaintances).

  
  I really enjoyed writing this multi genre section since I often write anything worth making a story. Yet, I had difficulty in choosing which writing genres I would use because I had many ideas and I could only write ten entries. Another thing I found difficult in this exercise was the theme of my entries because they had to be related to the material discussed in class and I often thought about writing from unrelated material (ideas that came into my mind).

     While writing, I did feel like I understood literature better. It was kind of like a game in which I would cross off the genres that I wanted and I would create characters based on the voices I envisioned while brainstorming. I found it amazing how my mind settles on a genre and lets my thoughts shape what I want to say. Sometimes it seemed overwhelming thinking about what to write about and how but it was a really good experience for sure.

Journals (not mine but someday mine will be like those)