Author: Derek Correa

Unit 1 Reflection

Some things that I felt like I have learned was the ability to gain the audiences attention a lot better by using different forms of Rhetorical devices that I never fully understood before. Being able to learn how to grab the readers attention using different techniques and skills was something that I really enjoyed learning how to do.

One thing that I already knew was metaphor. But the more I read about how metaphors can be used to make your language sound more nice, I am now able to have a better idea of what message I can send by using something else.

I would like to learn a little bit more about Anti-thesis. I don’t really have questions about it but I do think that understanding anti-thesis is where I am stuck at.

A strength that I would say I had during this unit was being able to jot everything I had in my mind down on paper before beginning revision. I would always stress about how a first draft needed to be perfect. This unit, I was able to find a better plan of action in order to reduce that stress and I was able to accept that a first draft doesn’t need to need to be perfect. It’s always important to be able to write your ideas down on paper first before anything.

Something that I would like to do differently is to add some dialogue do give a little bit of an in-depth experience for the reader to make them feel like they are actually in my shoes.

I think that my participation was fairly decent and I always had something to respond to and share my ideas on.

Something that helped me be successful this unit was being able to use prior knowledge in my english classes as well as using my present knowledge to have an understanding of what exactly I wanted to write for my essay.

I would like to try and get a head start instead of waiting until the last minute to complete an assignment because I feel like I could have had more ideas if I simply just started a little bit early.

I do not wish that I had any additional information for this unit. All of the information that I learned and had was more than enough.

Every piece of information that was presented this unit didn’t give me any problems whatsoever. My favorite activities would have to be either bandwagon or fear appeal.

I would like to discuss a little bit more about propaganda and in depth on the positives and negatives of it.

my addiction

Before I sat down at my computer typing out my essay for what I don’t believe in, I had no idea what I was going to write about. To be very honest, I wasn’t even thinking about this essay a whole lot. I figured that whatever I decided to talk about, it’s going to be easy. So maybe I don’t need to worry about it. I could just lay down, maybe eat some food, watch some CoryxKenshin, and sure enough I’ll get everything down. Days went by, not a single thought rushed through my head about the essay. That was until right now in this moment as I’m sitting here in the darkness of my room, just typing away. I figured I could talk about my perspective on relationships but I wasn’t sure that was something I wanted to go into depth about. After that thought just passed by me, *BAM*. Something clicked to me almost instantly. “I know what I could talk about !” I said to myself. “I’m going to talk about my belief system on drugs!” I hesitated for a bit because of everything I have been through involving that type of stuff. But I thought what’s the harm in doing it ? It’ll make do for a good essay.

High school, a point in everyone’s life where they feel as if they have to do something they don’t feel like doing to try and feel accepted into some sort of clique or some type of friend group. A point in people’s lives where they feel as if they need some type of escape from all of the drama and bullshit that they encounter on an everyday basis. But of course, when I mean “people” I talk about myself. I used to be that type of person where I wanted to fit in so bad just to have people in my proximity. The only reason why this is how I was is because I didn’t have a lot of friends back middle school. But anyways, I had a couple of friends in the beginning of high school that we’re with me till the very end. But along with those friends, there was only one friend group that had really changed everything for me. The more I hung out with this new friend group of mine, the more I started to not be myself anymore. I started to do things that I never would’ve done in my life such as cut class, be late to class, not turn in assignments, etc. But the one thing that I know I would have never done was drugs. At the time, I never knew that three of the people from my friend group has had experience with smoking and taking edibles. But since I was now apart of this little group of mine, they made me think about what it would be like to do those things too. At the time, I was also going through a couple of things that I felt like weed could be the comfort that I so desperately desired. Just anything that could take my mind off of things. I also felt like maybe if I do it just once, they would think that I was apart of them.

One day, I finally got the opportunity to feel like I really do belong in this group once and for all. One of my friends ended up giving me an edible that was wrapped in a black plastic bag. I ended up saving it for when I got home, grabbed my skateboard and rode around my block. I pulled it out of my pocket and I said to myself “Well, here goes nothing” and took multiple bites. “Hm, I don’t really feel anything” I whispered to myself as the cold breeze hit against my skin. A couple of minutes went by and I was absolutely out of it. I remember looking at the sky for ten minutes straight absolutely dumb-founded and the stupidest look on my face. After a couple of more minutes looking at the sky I decided to walk back home and go to bed because I did not feel well at all. After that experience, I never had another experience with an edible ever.

A couple of months after that, I haven’t had any experiences with drugs until the ending of my sophomore year and beginning of my junior year when I was introduced to vaping because I thought the feeling was actually pretty nice and I didn’t really see no real harm. I used to vape every day and I would often start my day off by vaping. But I stopped quickly because my parents ended up finding out and we had a long talk about it. I felt so ashamed of myself and I was so upset that it never occurred to me what smoking was actually doing to my mental health along with my physical health. Now because of my vaping experiences, I sometimes have difficulty walking up the stairs without being out of breath and I can’t really run as fast as how I used to.

Now that I am a first year college student, I am proud to say that I no longer believe that any type of drug can provide an escape route from reality or comfort, but instead can damage one’s brain, physical and mental health. Once you start, it will be hard to stop. Whenever I found myself stressed, going through a hard time or may even be sad at times, I resorted to more healthier ways to cope with things such as listening to music, yoga, sports, drawing, and sometimes journalism. Sure you may feel like being high can “take the pain away” like people say. It’s only a matter of hours before you snap back into reality and realize that whatever the problem was that you tried to escape from will still be there waiting right in front of you. So I share this message to whoever may read this. If you ever feel like drugs can save you, make you feel like it’s your only resort to happiness or even if you feel like it’ll make you be “cool”, just know that there are most definitely healthier ways to cope.