January 22nd

          Reading the introduction of Writing Down the Bones I was reminded of myself. I enjoy writing very much but I’ve never been creative with it. Better yet I’ve never been given the chance to be creative with it. There has always been a rubric telling me exactly what the teacher was looking for, so I’s give the teachers exactly what they were looking for. I’ve received a good grade for every paper I’ve ever written just by following the rubrics because I knew exactly how to please my teachers.      Goldberg also spoke about how well she was at memorizing things. For example typing Hopkins poems multiple times until she memorized them. It reminded me of myself a lot, how I’d make study guides in high school and type them over and over until I had all the information memorized. As a kid spelling bees were a breeze I’d write the words 4 or 5 times and have them memorized. I used the same technique for high school spelling tests. Goldberg brings me back to the point of me taking this class, to become my own writer with her story about going to the bookstore. Where she found a poetry book that spoke about fruits and vegetables. She realized she was no longer in high school where she had to write what the teachers wanted to hear. She decided she wanted to write about her family because she knew best about them, or she could write about her life or personal thoughts. The past semester I took English 121 where I tried to write my papers assuming what the teachers would want to hear. I was really hard and I ended up receiving average grades on my papers because they were considered dull.