2008 Woodie Awards
Freshman Reflects on Changes in First Year
Ethan Moore
Issue date: 4/28/06 Section: Opinion
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In the fall, for the first edition of the Profile, I wrote about my experience writing my first Journeys paper. I reread the article recently when I found it stuffed away in one of my desk drawers. Doing so started me thinking about where I have been since then (having moments like that is one of the perks about being a packrat). Like any other writer, I looked the 500 or so words with a certain amount of criticism and then, I finally understood all the feedback I had received.
Since writing "Surviving the First Night: Freshman recounts the night before her first Journeys paper was due," I have written so many papers and articles I can't even make an estimate as to their number. Also, I have refined my style and redefined the structure of my writing. In this seemingly small way, I have matured. However, like I learned from Dr. Rod Miller, there is so much more than the surface.
"When ideas change, people change; art changes," he told us in our survey class. My writing is my art and it has changed; I have changed. We all have changed, but we Freshers have changed the most.
Change is a sign of growth. Despite our natural aversion to things that are different, it has been my experience that change is in fact not only a good thing, but a wonderful thing. As you change you are not leaving behind the person you were; you are only building upon the former you.
I see this in my writing most tangibly. For example, unlike when I wrote in high school, when the papers "came easily in solitude, with a certain amount of genius that could only befall the ultimate bluffer," I can pretty much write anytime, anywhere with or without interruption or music.
Furthermore Kare Kraus said, "A journalist is stimulated by the deadline; he writes worse when he has time," although I am writing this eight hours before deadline. Also, I no longer have the awful case of "word constipation" that plagued me all year. The writer's block subsided recently, which was a huge relief.
Imagine what you love doing most in the world and now imagine you can't seem to do it with the right amount of gusto despite the copious amounts of caffeine, nicotine, and self-discipline you put into your body. That's what most of this year as been like. Luckily though, I have been able to work past that.
But enough about me, you're wanting to know what this means to you after all and I don't intend to disappoint.
If you are a freshman, don't be afraid of change. If you're an upperclassman or even a member of the faculty or staff, remember what it was to be a freshman. It's tough, all the questions and even worse all the mistakes one has to make to try to answer them. Please, next year when you feel the temptation to be condescending to a fresher or anyone else, think back on your own experience and try to have a little consideration.
Since writing "Surviving the First Night: Freshman recounts the night before her first Journeys paper was due," I have written so many papers and articles I can't even make an estimate as to their number. Also, I have refined my style and redefined the structure of my writing. In this seemingly small way, I have matured. However, like I learned from Dr. Rod Miller, there is so much more than the surface.
"When ideas change, people change; art changes," he told us in our survey class. My writing is my art and it has changed; I have changed. We all have changed, but we Freshers have changed the most.
Change is a sign of growth. Despite our natural aversion to things that are different, it has been my experience that change is in fact not only a good thing, but a wonderful thing. As you change you are not leaving behind the person you were; you are only building upon the former you.
I see this in my writing most tangibly. For example, unlike when I wrote in high school, when the papers "came easily in solitude, with a certain amount of genius that could only befall the ultimate bluffer," I can pretty much write anytime, anywhere with or without interruption or music.
Furthermore Kare Kraus said, "A journalist is stimulated by the deadline; he writes worse when he has time," although I am writing this eight hours before deadline. Also, I no longer have the awful case of "word constipation" that plagued me all year. The writer's block subsided recently, which was a huge relief.
Imagine what you love doing most in the world and now imagine you can't seem to do it with the right amount of gusto despite the copious amounts of caffeine, nicotine, and self-discipline you put into your body. That's what most of this year as been like. Luckily though, I have been able to work past that.
But enough about me, you're wanting to know what this means to you after all and I don't intend to disappoint.
If you are a freshman, don't be afraid of change. If you're an upperclassman or even a member of the faculty or staff, remember what it was to be a freshman. It's tough, all the questions and even worse all the mistakes one has to make to try to answer them. Please, next year when you feel the temptation to be condescending to a fresher or anyone else, think back on your own experience and try to have a little consideration.
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