Personal Narrative: My Experience As A Writer

Myself as a Writer
Gatphan Atassi
2nd Period AP Lang It is no surprise to anyone who has known me since my years as a "wee-little" first grader that language is my "Achilles Heel." The inner confusion in an up-and-coming student's head when introduced to two languages since birth is quite a mess. Having to live in a world half dominated by the colloquial English language that is spoken everyday while the other half is controlled by the strict rules of Arabic drives me insane at times. Lately science has shown that students, like me, who have been exposed to two or more languages within the first four years of life tend to remain in a "confused" state of limbo while trying to perfect the basic mechanics of each language. In many cases,
After being left with the cliff hanger of "show, not tell," I was left to wander the wastelands of the high school scavenging whatever grades I could on writing assignments. This went rather well, especially sophomore year. During tenth grade, I realized a small niche I had: mythological epic poetry. After finding a flyer for a local mythology based poem contest, I decided to enter for the fun of it. I, by some miracle of bountiful luck and remnant skills from the "hard teacher," managed to create a 108 line [somewhat] epic poem about two Roman Legionary brothers forced to fight to a bloody and brutal death on the battlefield for their "benefactors." It was then, while engaged in the full spirit of the writing process and Roman fervor that the gold embroidered statement "show, not tell" became clear in its meaning. To show, give the full image with vivid details to describe each red flare on a cheek, the river of blood flowing down a gore-splattered sword, and the deep stare of determination etched in a legionary's eyes. Few will care about a determined Roman soldier holding a bloody sword. On the other hand, towering arenas packed to the brim with excited Roman citizens cared about the doomed Carthaginian prisoner of war whose tan, muscular arm was ripped from its socket in a bloody struggle by a starved African male lion with an infamous roar that shook Rome daily. This made sense. I had, unfortunately,
Writing has come more naturally over the past two years than ever before which, in turn, has opened my mind to the detailed realities of life. There always exsist methods to describe an image or situation in a fully detailed and magnificent way. Connotations have become a far more useful tool than previous teachers ever hinted at. Good will never equal magnificent. Bad will never be on par with atrocious. Clever is not as sinister as sly. A job is not necessarily a career. This aspect of writing and language has now cleared up to help me truly display the facts, opinions, and emotions that I needed to convey. The "wee-little" first grader who could barely express an interest in the vicious dinosaur, Tyrannosaurus Rex, now writes page after page on James Madison's role in creating the Constitution and a whole research paper on why US arts programs should be funded with tax payer