Blog #18 - Comments about Essay #4

Thanks to everyone that provided comments/feedback concerning my ideas for essay #4. As of right now, I think I'm going to go with food. I love food and it's what brings us all together. Just like what was mentioned in class, it's the one thing that everyone has in common - the love of food.

I don't know how I'm going to organize my essay just yet but I like the idea of making references to a menu (appetizers, main course, dessert, drinks, etc.) I can write about an appetizer and a moment when I met with old friends wherein we ate that particular appetizer (ex: calamari when meeting with Chicago friends in Chinatown).

If that idea doesn't work, I can also talk about food but in the sense of relating it to my family and how it's the one time of day where we all gather together and talk about our day.

Another idea about food that I can write about is some of my favorite Filipino foods and events wherein these foods were eaten during gatherings with family or friends.

I noticed that no one commented on my idea of writing about my journal! I think that would also be a good idea to write about because it's like an external image of who I am. In my journal, I keep quotes that are important to me, that have given me inspiration over time. I don't know...just a thought.

My heart's still not set on any one topic for essay #4. I still need to think this through a little more.

Ideas for Essay #4

Here's a list of various ideas I could work with for essay #4.

- My 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Wagner-Hall. She is the teacher that inspired me to become a teacher myself. I can write about what she did to influence my decision to pursue teaching as a career; key moment that impacted me

- Food and how it always brings people together for various occasions or just because; can talk about various moments when I met with friends again and eating out
* meeting Chicago friends at a restaurant in Chinatown
* meeting with Houston friends and eating at Bubba Gump in Times Square
* meeting new California friends and eating at Grimaldi's in Brooklyn
= desserts; courses in a meal; main courses; appetizers; breads; meats; different parts of relationships
= food is the one thing that everyone has in common
= food gives you a certain high (Jenny)
= you are what you eat (Meagan)
= whether or not you shared the food
= sit down restaurant with old friends or fast food with the "usual" people in life

- Journal filled with quotes --> pick out some of my favorite quotes; why did I put it in there? what is its importance?

Blog #15 - Important Places

As I have mentioned in class a few times, I've moved a total of 12 times during my 22 years here on earth. My dad is a minister for our Church and he is sent to various parts of the world to administer brethren there and disseminate the gospel of our faith. We've lived in various islands in Hawaii when I was younger. We then moved to the "mainland" and resided in California, Texas, Illinois, New Jersey, and now New York. This assignment is nearly impossible for me to complete at the moment because of school...unless someone wants to donate to the Camille Fund so that I can take a vacation to any one of these place! Just kidding...

Anyways, I guess one place that is of utmost importance to me is church/chapel. Since my life pretty much revolves around my religion, the one place that has consistantly been a key setting is the chapel. I find peace whenever I go in there knowing that I can lay all my cares on God, praying that He'll help me out with whatever problems that come along the way. I can't really describe what it looks like because they're all different, but regardless of that, the chapel is my sanctuary.

Blog #14 - Preparing for Essay #3

I have a lot of ideas of what I want to write about for Essay #3. Here are some of them. Let me know what you think.

1) After watching history being made last night, I have this overwhelming feeling of patriotism inside of me. I woke up this morning and this idea popped inside my head! I kind of want to write about something that deals with the USA. I'm leaning more towards the significance of colors, in particular the colors of red, white, and blue. Just like "Laundry" wherein the author wrote about her personal experiences, then jumping to how it has evolved over history and how people have used it, I want to do research on how the colors got associated with the two major parties in the US (democrat & republican) and I guess how those colors relate to my life (red -- blood and how I don't like blood, blue -- cold, being frozen, whatever!) I just think it would be cool doing research and actually finding out what these colors mean and why they are so significant, especially now.

2) Keys! Keys are important because they open locked doors, or can be a symbol for the future --> keys to success, whatever. Keys are significant to all of us because without it, we can't open doors and enter a new world.

3) Boxes! I've moved around a total of 12 times during my life. I've always been surrounded by boxes because my life pretty much goes into a box every 2-3 years. I don't know what to write about here, but I have an idea...can't really put it all down right now since you're all waiting to read this, so post any comments, please!! It'll surely help me move along.

Thanks everyone!!

-------------------------------------

I appreciate everyone's comments and I think I'm going to write about boxes. I'll save the other two ideas for essay #4. After living in our current house for more than 2 years, we actually still have a whole room dedicated to unopened boxes. My parents know that we don't need these things anymore, yet we still haven't discarded any of them. Here's what' I'm planning on including in my essay. It's a really MESSY list but I hope by getting it all down, it'll help me along the way.

- My parents coming to America when I was a year old and my sister only 3 months old. They brought with them x amount of boxes from the Philippines when we moved to Hawaii. They always tell us stories of how hard it was lugging around boxes from here to there with two kids attached at the hip. I guess I'll start with these few boxes...what's inside and it's importance. Do my parents still have any of these things that they first brought with them to America? Hmm...I guess we'll see.

- I can write about the move from Hawaii to California...the first move to the "mainland". I was 7 years old and that was the first time I realized that I was going to start a new life, leaving my old friend and everything that I grew up knowing behind. The only things that were of importance to me at that age were my stuffed animals. Where are they now?? I guess we'll see.

- Living in Houston and waiting to move to Canada. We didn't move to Canada but we were supposed to. We put everything in boxes and it stayed there for a good 4 months. Why? I don't know.

- I can also talk about getting used to moving and how my family became expert "packers".

- Labeling boxes (clothes, shoes, school files, etc.) What is it's significance? Which one do I open up first?

- Moving from Detroit to Elizabeth, NJ. Being so eager to unpack everything because our house was big.

- Move from NJ to LIC, NY = from a big house to a "tiny" one. Why do we still have so many boxes? Why haven't we opened them yet?

** possible focus: (thanks Lauren) my relationship to boxes; fear of unpacking boxes in fear that I might move again; starting over, etc.

Blog #13 - Describe Someone You Know

For Blog 13: describe the character of someone you know in terms of clothing. Write into the details. Only describe what you can see and use your description to tell as much as you can about who this person is. We will read these descriptions in class and see how much your description lets us know about vocation, age, gender, interests, and so on.
-----------

Here's blog #2 that I would like to skip. Sorry! I'm trying to catch up with my other classes, trying to finishing other assignments, so...there's no entry.