Going through my old writings saved in Google Docs, I feel a great sense of accomplishment. It seems that, in such little time, I have been able to write far more eloquently, comprehensively, and coherently, not relying on big words that I don’t know the meaning of. In this feeling, there is also a sense of longing, remembering the topics I wrote about and feeling how far I had come from even the last thing I had written at the time. For instance, back in my Freshman year with Mr. Jones, I wrote about a man that I had, and still have, a lot of respect for: Bob Ross. In the essay, I wrote about how charitable and selfless he was during his lifetime and this is the conclusion I wrote for it:

“In conclusion, Bob had become an icon among the generation before us, and he donated his time and products to show people around the world, ‘The Joy of Painting.’ 

He grew up in a peaceful environment and learned to love and respect every single thing around him. After perfecting his painting technique, he hosted his show in order to teach people to love animals, the wildlife, and themselves. He donated his paintings in order to help and inspire others to do what they love. Bob Ross’ life is shrouded in beauty and everything from his paintings to his personality are impeccably wholesome and loving, for he truly is the pinnacle of altruistic ness and benevolence.”

You can clearly see that, in the last line of the essay, a lot of big words were used to describe the legend himself, and while all of the words are used within proper context, it is simply too much to digest. Using a thesaurus doesn’t quite cut it and I’ve learned that the hard way, especially through my journey in News/Journalism. The idea behind the course, that you can write about any subject you want within reason, really piqued my interest and, from the get-go, I started writing about subjects that I am interested in and passionate about. With the help from Mr. Grostefon’s critiques and a few years of quality english tutoring, I managed to develop my writing style into something truly unique. Taken from an article of mine posted here on the Courier, here is an analysis of a single shot from the movie 28 Days Later:

“Now, I know I keep saying, ‘in one of the (insert certain good attribute about a scene or shot here) of all time,’ but this specific shot that flashes on screen in a choppy and tense moment where Selena is attempting to revive Jim after being shot in the chest by Major Henry West moments before their final escape from the mansion (forgot to mention that, whoopsie) really is the single best shot in any movie I’ve ever seen. This specific shot is the whole reason I decided to write this article in the first place. It is gorgeous, following the rule of thirds in photography by having the piercing white letters of ‘HELL’ in the top left corner. In my opinion, it perfectly fits in the wedge between a dream and reality, visually confusing as the landscape is upside down while the text is right-side up. It doesn’t make sense and that’s the whole point, as it makes the audience, or at least me, pause and reflect on its perplexity.”

As you can see, there is a clear disparity between the two selected portions of my own writing. The main one that I can identify is sophistication in writing. The total usage, bending, and shaping of the english language to form my argument as descriptively and cleverly as possible shines through in the second portion of writing and is almost entirely lacking in the first. Even my use of parentheses illustrates a personal sense of character and communication with the reader directly. Over time, I feel as if I have grown to be comfortable with my writing, confident in my writing, and proud of my writing, knowing that I could and can write about anything I so please, and that element of creative freedom incentivised me to put more time and effort into my writing throughout this course.

For this creative freedom, I have Mr. Grostefon to thank. I have him to thank not only for allowing me to write about whatever I so please, but also for encouraging me to express myself through my writing, by showing interest in my selected subjects and even sharing with me some writing that has left an impact on himself, wondering what my analysis and thoughts on it would be. Early this year, he gave me The Road by Cormac McCarthy to read and it was written in a style I had never seen before. With little punctuation and emphasis on syntax spacing, The Road was an incredibly unique reading experience that showed me that Mr. Grostefon genuinely cared about my development in literature, holding out a metaphorical helping hand and opening me up to new techniques that could be utilized within writing.

Needless to say, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time on this website and plan on, through my Senior year, continuing to help with the production of the King’s Cast. I can never thank Mr. Grostefon enough for taking this course into his own hands and providing me with such a free environment to express myself creatively in. A big thank you as well to all of the people who have read my articles here and who regularly checked in to read them, I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. If you did enjoy my work, maybe consider joining News/Journalism with Mr. Grostefon, maybe you could develop a style of writing that is as unique as yourself.