Portfolio Process Letter
Ravyn Granholm
WR121
Portfolio Process Letter
Dear Jess:
It was about six months after the death of my stepmother Jan that my dad decided to travel to Maui with his stepdaughter Cheri and her husband Brian. Maui was a very powerful place for my parents. They would meditate on the ocean and magical things always seemed to happen to them.
Dad had jumped into a bright blue pool of water and was reminiscing under a waterfall. He was crying. The sting of grief was still all too real.
Suddenly, he heard a voice, “Hey you under the waterfall!”
Dad opened his eyes and saw an old Hawaiian man sitting on a rock with a fishing pole. Dad and Jan had long ago decided that Hawaiians were wise beyond almost anybody else. At one point, Jan had had a conversation with an old Hawaiian woman about shape shifting. The woman had said that in her youth she had the power to shape shift, but she had lost it with age.
Maybe this wise old man was a shape shifter! Maybe he would give dad the spiritual advice he needed to cleanse his grief-stricken soul.
Dad swam over to the man. “My fishing line is caught on a rock. Would you mind getting it for me?”
Dad quickly retrieved the line and brought it to the fisherman. Another thing to note is that the water was so clear that Dad could see the bottom. There didn’t appear to be any fish anywhere. This man must’ve been some wizened shaman, specifically here to impart his ancient knowledge.
“Where do you come from?” the man asked.
“What do you mean?” Dad replied.
“What part of the world do you live in?”
“Oh,” Dad said, “Washington.”
“D.C.?” the man asked.
“No, Washington state.”
Then the man threw Dad completely off guard “Does the sun ever shine there?”
He must’ve seen through Dad into his soul! He was able to see the grief he was going through and was about to tell him something mystical and amazing.
“Actually the weather is quite beautiful where I live. Why do you ask?”
Dad was ready to receive his spiritual message. He was ready for his pain to stop.
“That’s interesting,” the old man said. “I asked you over here to free my line and to tell you that you are possibly the whitest human being I have ever seen. Don’t you ever spend time in the sun?”
Message received. You can’t force spiritual awareness. It’s a natural occurrence. It will come when you’re ready.
This story reminds me of my journey in your writing class. I came in attempting to force an awakening. I wanted to impress myself. I wanted the old man to give me all the answers.
However, the awakening was a process, and I believe that it has happened, or is happening. I had to stop specifically searching for it, and it found me.
The pieces that I chose for my portfolio don’t all specifically fit 100 percent into one of the five categories that were given. I think that’s okay though.
My I-Search paper is in there. I have a love/hate relationship with it. I know that it is important, but I also know that I want to take a major break from it for a while.
I labeled my writing with the styles that I think they best represent. I considered my Interview writing with Raissa to be Experimental, as I don’t think it is written as a stereotypical interview and I definitely experimented with style.
I think that each of my pieces have an aspect of reflection. I have found that reflection is one of the most important aspects of writing. When I reflect, I think I am able to give the reader a chance to relate. “This is how such and such made me feel. That makes me think this…” If the reader does not relate, then at least they can perhaps see why I think the things I do.
I revised the in-class writing of what matters most. I had a really fun time revising it. I had a chance to expand and explore. I probably could’ve made the darn thing 5 pages long if I wanted to!
I chose the interview with my mom as my reflective piece. This writing probably was the most emotionally stirring for me, and really made me think a lot even when I wasn’t directly working on it.
My narrative piece is the Karaoke Culture paper. I like this one. I think it captures my complete nerdiness, shyness, and love for sarcasm.
For my analytic piece I chose the David Sedaris essay R/R. “Me Talk Pretty One Day” was probably my favorite essay (along with the Dawkins writing) and I had a wonderful time thinking about words and foreign language and the English language.
I don’t think I would do anything differently if I had to do one thing over for this class. Mistakes are a major part of learning, and let’s just say that I learned a lot!
I know that I will take many things with me from this class. Among them, the ability to truly listen, the strength to be heard. I now know I have the capacity and courage to write about anything (even Thoreau!).
I am truly thankful that I was able to have you as a teacher. I appreciate every inked comment on all of my writings. The support I have had from you and the rest of the wonderful students in your class has been overwhelmingly positive.
I will definitely continue to write and now I will make an effort to get my writing “out into the world where it belongs”.
Sincerely,
Ravyn
WR121
Portfolio Process Letter
Dear Jess:
It was about six months after the death of my stepmother Jan that my dad decided to travel to Maui with his stepdaughter Cheri and her husband Brian. Maui was a very powerful place for my parents. They would meditate on the ocean and magical things always seemed to happen to them.
Dad had jumped into a bright blue pool of water and was reminiscing under a waterfall. He was crying. The sting of grief was still all too real.
Suddenly, he heard a voice, “Hey you under the waterfall!”
Dad opened his eyes and saw an old Hawaiian man sitting on a rock with a fishing pole. Dad and Jan had long ago decided that Hawaiians were wise beyond almost anybody else. At one point, Jan had had a conversation with an old Hawaiian woman about shape shifting. The woman had said that in her youth she had the power to shape shift, but she had lost it with age.
Maybe this wise old man was a shape shifter! Maybe he would give dad the spiritual advice he needed to cleanse his grief-stricken soul.
Dad swam over to the man. “My fishing line is caught on a rock. Would you mind getting it for me?”
Dad quickly retrieved the line and brought it to the fisherman. Another thing to note is that the water was so clear that Dad could see the bottom. There didn’t appear to be any fish anywhere. This man must’ve been some wizened shaman, specifically here to impart his ancient knowledge.
“Where do you come from?” the man asked.
“What do you mean?” Dad replied.
“What part of the world do you live in?”
“Oh,” Dad said, “Washington.”
“D.C.?” the man asked.
“No, Washington state.”
Then the man threw Dad completely off guard “Does the sun ever shine there?”
He must’ve seen through Dad into his soul! He was able to see the grief he was going through and was about to tell him something mystical and amazing.
“Actually the weather is quite beautiful where I live. Why do you ask?”
Dad was ready to receive his spiritual message. He was ready for his pain to stop.
“That’s interesting,” the old man said. “I asked you over here to free my line and to tell you that you are possibly the whitest human being I have ever seen. Don’t you ever spend time in the sun?”
Message received. You can’t force spiritual awareness. It’s a natural occurrence. It will come when you’re ready.
This story reminds me of my journey in your writing class. I came in attempting to force an awakening. I wanted to impress myself. I wanted the old man to give me all the answers.
However, the awakening was a process, and I believe that it has happened, or is happening. I had to stop specifically searching for it, and it found me.
The pieces that I chose for my portfolio don’t all specifically fit 100 percent into one of the five categories that were given. I think that’s okay though.
My I-Search paper is in there. I have a love/hate relationship with it. I know that it is important, but I also know that I want to take a major break from it for a while.
I labeled my writing with the styles that I think they best represent. I considered my Interview writing with Raissa to be Experimental, as I don’t think it is written as a stereotypical interview and I definitely experimented with style.
I think that each of my pieces have an aspect of reflection. I have found that reflection is one of the most important aspects of writing. When I reflect, I think I am able to give the reader a chance to relate. “This is how such and such made me feel. That makes me think this…” If the reader does not relate, then at least they can perhaps see why I think the things I do.
I revised the in-class writing of what matters most. I had a really fun time revising it. I had a chance to expand and explore. I probably could’ve made the darn thing 5 pages long if I wanted to!
I chose the interview with my mom as my reflective piece. This writing probably was the most emotionally stirring for me, and really made me think a lot even when I wasn’t directly working on it.
My narrative piece is the Karaoke Culture paper. I like this one. I think it captures my complete nerdiness, shyness, and love for sarcasm.
For my analytic piece I chose the David Sedaris essay R/R. “Me Talk Pretty One Day” was probably my favorite essay (along with the Dawkins writing) and I had a wonderful time thinking about words and foreign language and the English language.
I don’t think I would do anything differently if I had to do one thing over for this class. Mistakes are a major part of learning, and let’s just say that I learned a lot!
I know that I will take many things with me from this class. Among them, the ability to truly listen, the strength to be heard. I now know I have the capacity and courage to write about anything (even Thoreau!).
I am truly thankful that I was able to have you as a teacher. I appreciate every inked comment on all of my writings. The support I have had from you and the rest of the wonderful students in your class has been overwhelmingly positive.
I will definitely continue to write and now I will make an effort to get my writing “out into the world where it belongs”.
Sincerely,
Ravyn