Samantha Magpusao
8th Grade Retreat One of the nights we were walking towards the auditorium. We were all really tired from our day on the ropes course. We looked like a herd of zombies. The auditorium was filled with all the teachers from school, and all my peers and friends. The energy in the room was different that night. It was a vibe of all seriousness. Mr Harms, got our attention and started to speak. “We wanna ask that we take these next couple of minutes seriously,” he said. It didn't really take much to get us quite. We sat there listening as the teachers talked about our journey, and all the accomplishments we've tackled in the past 3 years, and how next year we will be in high school. I’ve heard this all before about high school, grades, college, the future. I would hear the words they were saying but I didn't really listen. Kind of like when you read a book, you read the words but don't follow the story. One teacher said, “Don't think about this ending, but about a new journey starting.” Another teacher said, “high school is where everything counts, your grades and who you are as a student.” I sat there hearing the words but staring at a wall. I found myself thinking back to my 5th grade self. I thought about when I first moved to high tech and all the experiences, life lessons, friends, and teachers that got me to the point where I am today. I thought about the friends I've lost and the friends I've gained. I thought about the struggles and challenges, all the moments that led up to now. It amazed me how much i've grown as a student and as person, and how much I still need to learn. Thinking of all the little moments that led to the moment now. Watching Nico, Jonah, and Marcus playing basketball, the night hike activity, watching the stars, the feeling of my heart beating standing at the edge of a ramp. All these thoughts were jumbled in my mind. I suddenly realized how real everything was. Looking around at how this would be our last moments together as 8th graders and thinking of high school and college, It scared me. I've heard about “high school” this and that, but I never really took the time to really think about it. Will it be the best or worst 4 years? A tear came down my face thinking about all this because it was all so overwhelming. I guess it was a tear of joy, of sadness, and fear. Joy that we could finally start a new journey. Sadness of this one ending. Fear of the future. |
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Project Reflection
For the project, Resonance of Remembrance, I wrote a memoir about the class of 2019. My peers and friends I've known for 5 years. The purpose of the my memoir was to honor them because without them I wouldn't be who I am, knowing that we only have 3 years left with each other. Throughout this project we learned various different writing strategies such as using a story arc to organize your story and showing not telling to make the reader feel in the moment.
In the book The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. The chapter "Rainy River" on page 37 he had a clear story arc. With an exposition where he introduced his setting, rising action where he was introducing conflict and building the tension. The climax, when the conflict is happening, falling action, and resolution which is the ending of everything. He wrote " I'm a coward. I went to war." This was his ending, the downfall of what happened and how things turned out after the climax and falling action.
I used this strategy throughout my whole memoir. At first my memoir was really short but, after applying the story arc strategy to my own it has expanded and has helped organized and helped flow my memoir nicely.
Another strategy that helped me write my memoir was to show not tell where I would make the reader feel in the moment rather than telling what I felt. Tim O'Brien used this strategy when he talked about his friend Curt Lennon's last moment before he died. He was very descriptive in his writing giving a feel of what he saw, of what he felt, and of what he heard. " He took a peculiar half step moving from shade into bright sunlight"
I used this strategy when I wrote about what I saw and heard at 8th grade retreat. The scenery, what I heard and felt. I wrote " As we drove up the hill we saw wooden cabins and crunchy trees. Everybody's face was pressed up against the window" By showing not telling I was able too give the readers perspective from my point of view as if they were in the moment with me.
the most effective sound I used when creating our mixtape and to enhance the stories we told was my tone of voice. When recording my whole memoir I took long dramatic pauses, and the tone of my voice gave a powerful effect on it. In my opinion, this sound enhanced this part of my memoir because the words I felt wasn't enough to describe what I felt at retreat so the way I read the words, and the way I said the words expressed what I felt.
By listening to others memoirs and writing my own, I realized that life is something that has so many surprises and different things to offer. Hearing how death impacted so many peoples life, how many near death situations has happened, and how many deaths they didn't see coming opened my eyes. Reading of other peoples memoir is important because it gives you perspective on life and can change the way you see things.
In the book The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. The chapter "Rainy River" on page 37 he had a clear story arc. With an exposition where he introduced his setting, rising action where he was introducing conflict and building the tension. The climax, when the conflict is happening, falling action, and resolution which is the ending of everything. He wrote " I'm a coward. I went to war." This was his ending, the downfall of what happened and how things turned out after the climax and falling action.
I used this strategy throughout my whole memoir. At first my memoir was really short but, after applying the story arc strategy to my own it has expanded and has helped organized and helped flow my memoir nicely.
Another strategy that helped me write my memoir was to show not tell where I would make the reader feel in the moment rather than telling what I felt. Tim O'Brien used this strategy when he talked about his friend Curt Lennon's last moment before he died. He was very descriptive in his writing giving a feel of what he saw, of what he felt, and of what he heard. " He took a peculiar half step moving from shade into bright sunlight"
I used this strategy when I wrote about what I saw and heard at 8th grade retreat. The scenery, what I heard and felt. I wrote " As we drove up the hill we saw wooden cabins and crunchy trees. Everybody's face was pressed up against the window" By showing not telling I was able too give the readers perspective from my point of view as if they were in the moment with me.
the most effective sound I used when creating our mixtape and to enhance the stories we told was my tone of voice. When recording my whole memoir I took long dramatic pauses, and the tone of my voice gave a powerful effect on it. In my opinion, this sound enhanced this part of my memoir because the words I felt wasn't enough to describe what I felt at retreat so the way I read the words, and the way I said the words expressed what I felt.
By listening to others memoirs and writing my own, I realized that life is something that has so many surprises and different things to offer. Hearing how death impacted so many peoples life, how many near death situations has happened, and how many deaths they didn't see coming opened my eyes. Reading of other peoples memoir is important because it gives you perspective on life and can change the way you see things.