Reflection - English 102

Reflection 

Solomon P. Ortiz, a former United States Representative, once stated “Education is the key to success in life, and teachers make a lasting impact in the lives of their students.” I cannot even begin to express the amount of respect and appreciation I had for both the English 102 class and for Professor Mignano-Brady. This was the first time in my educational life where I was not penalized for thinking outside of the box. Throughout my middle and high school experience, English teachers despised me for interpreting works of literature that differed from the textual interpretation. Thankfully, in English 102, I was set free from these boundaries. It truly made me comfortable and enthusiastic in expressing my soulful beliefs, and for that I thank you professor. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once stated: “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”

This class has taught me that I am more than what I think I am. The way I felt with every positive comment, smile, or statement by Professor Mignano-Brady made me feel like I was on the top of the world. This feeling has shown me that I should strive to help others feel the same way with extreme levels of positivity and enthusiasm. I also learned to be proud of the work I create. I should always put my best foot forward and give everything 110 percent.

My favorite part of the class was the fishbowls! I loved how we all worked as a team to think outside the box and encrypt major works of literature through each person's eyes. I also loved the presentations and PowerPoints by the shear simplicity of truthful insights of the world. Both of these made me appreciate both the class and the professor even more.

In five years, I imagine writing my own short story, where it follows a post-apocalyptic world due to a pill that creates immortality. It will be about a boy who finds one of the pills and is being chased down by the mob and gangsters of the world, for the pill. Ultimately, the boy realizes the pill will only cause harm and there is no point to live forever in a world with such hate and immorality. The boy throws the pill in the ocean and keeps walking in the water until he drowns. I want that to symbolize the sacrifice the boy makes and the idea of purity in the darkest times by the action of baptism through the use of the ocean. This class gave me the energy to want to write this book and for that I thank you Professor Mignano-Brady.