mid year reflection

 

On the very first day of school, Mrs. Feldkamp introduced 12 AP as an English class different from all the other English classes we have taken -- it welcomes complexity rather than enforcing debate on the correctness of one viewpoint. The thought of not picking a side, especially when writing essays, was daunting at first, and I felt skeptical that this approach in reading literature would connect to my understanding of it. 

However, that was not the case -- I found myself enjoying reading/writing more and resonating with the acceptance of duality, because it resembles the real world, where not all questions need to (or can) be fully answered. Forcing an answer, whether that is in the real world or in literature, is unnatural; after all, what is the point of reading an entire 200-page book if its message can be summed up by a simple "[blank] is good" or "[blank] is bad"?

On top of that, I think that the blog posts enabled me to grow as a writer -- there's something about writing in first-person and in an informal setting that helps bring out writer's voice to its full potential. Although the only difference in my writing are a few "we"'s and "I"'s here and there, I definitely feel like I am able to express my thoughts more freely, without my creativity being hindered by the unconscious thought that I should use an "academic tone" for school essays.