Reflective Introduction Intermediate Writing

English 2010
Fall Semester
Trevor Smith

Overview:
There are five separate writings in my midterm. The first is the commentary.I
chose the news article about the Presidents decision to change the name of Mount
McKinley to Denali. The second writing assignment was a memoir that included food.I
wrote about my familys annual Christmas banquet.Thirdly I wrote about a profile of a
notable person famous for their speaking, and I picked George Carlin, a well known
comedian. Our next assignment was an advertisement critique. I was excited to explore
the 1984 Super Bowl ad by Apple Computer. Finally we were assigned a rebuttal and I
looked at the topic of fracking and the issues surrounding the process.
The writing assignment about Mckinley versus Denali was for me a subject I felt,
as a subject,very timely. In previous years,prior,to living here in Utah I was in New
Mexico. In New Mexico I was deeply involved with the Native American culture on a
daily basis. On several occasions I was invited to ceremonies at different culture events.
I also had gone to the largest Pow Wow in North America. So through my actions
I adopted an appreciation of the cultures and the stories. So all of this coupled with the
Presidents decision was for me a perfect subject at this time.

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Writing about my family and most notably my daughters baking ability was a
delightful experience. I chose this because as a family we started right after Halloween
looking forward to the whole experience. It would seem Thanksgiving was just a prelude
or a warm up exercise to this amazing feast and year end get together. I was able to go
back in my mind and capture as much of a day as I thought was possible. Having Sean
in the story, prior to his passing,made it even more memorable.
The following write was about a famous person who was known for their ability to
use the spoken word or language in a manner to be successful. I thought about this for
sometime. Originally I thought of using Mark Twain since he was so well known for his
use of language and his ability to tell stories of America. After thinking about that and
along that line I came up with George Carlin. But I was not ready for all of the impact
that he had on modern culture in his life. Actually he fit the project perfectly. He was
contemporary and he was relevant in these times of modern history. His life was
complex and that led me to understand him more and his way of voicing his creative
idealism.
After writing about George Carlin I was assigned the writing task of an ad
critique. I though long and hard on this subject knowing full well that the ad community
is vast. So immediately I looked for genres of advertising,or more specifically a product.
And right away I thought of electronics and that led to computers and communication .
As a result of that process I remembered an ad during a Super Bowl that floored
me. So I quickly found the ad about Apple Computers and 1984. I watched it over and

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over again and again, remembering my first time I saw it and how I was impressed. I
then did some research and learned more. I felt it filled the context of the assignment
perfectly. It was a great advertising piece and was a good statement and had content
and was worthy of all of the awards .
The final piece was about fracking and it was to be a rebuttal piece. Recently I
had been following the outcries of people all over the country concerning their water. It
had stuck in my mind and then this topic came up and I was very willing to jump into the
whole matter. After the research I was convinced that I could follow through and find a
good rebuttal to the subject.
My rational is mostly about my interests and I feel that I want to attract a reader
who sees things with an open mind, first of all. After that I want my reader to be
sympathetic to my ideas. So I chose ideas and issues I thought might be provocative
and had merit and also fun and maybe a bit different. Beyond that I wanted to feel free
to do as I pleased.
This semester has taught me more about writing that I could have ever imagined.
I have an excellent instructor and I have gone from a rookie writer to having work I have
felt like sharing openly. The whole process has been enlightening for me and I feel I am
more comfortable in my abilities as a writer.