During Spring 2025 I took this course as a challenge to myself as well as to explore my writing. I had only acknowledged that I had a decent handle in writing analytical essays but quite childish when it came to writing stories. There was also some fear behind the writing that made me procrastinate a lot from what was daily journaling. 

This course forced me to face this. At each class Professor Ann Voisard guided our thoughts with scenarios & examples of other writers. These not only inspired but also opened windows to new possibilities in writing that was not seen by me before. Some that stood out for me is ‘The Butchering’ & the rich background of watermelons & its connection to black history in America in the piece, ‘Tell Me Why The Watermelons Grow’. 

Being from the Caribbean, a watermelon is just a watermelon for me & if I had to think of any connotations related to it I would think it is juicy, refreshing & basically a happy fruit. It certainly seemed to make people relieved in a way. However, what mattered is how it was used here in that period in history to debase a group of people & left a kind of trauma that transcended through generations was a troubling yet fascinating aspect for me. It made me think of other little things in our own lives that leave marks though it may be simply things for others. It is through such thinking that I was able to discover the many little stories too in my life that are waiting to be told or used as part of a great story. 

Now, the actual writing was not exactly as easy as it sounds of course. For instance, I struggled to write my memoir. The name ‘memoir’ itself was such an overwhelming word as it covers so much that one wants to not uncover about oneself, though curious. And I was very curious but scared. For this piece of writing, I mostly did a lot of thinking than writing. When I did write it was more a vent initially then more thinking. It was not until I had reached the end of the course & had read other writings & written more myself that I felt content with the results of the piece. 

It is not perfect as moving from one memory to the next was somewhat tricky & the dialogue doesn’t seem as natural as I’d want it to be. However, when I compare the before & the after it does seem to sound more mature.  

The food writing piece was more a fun exercise, not as much a challenge. With this piece what I struggled with was describing foods, their textures, tastes & appearances without being too wordy & nonsensical. Professor Voisard had us read how other writers did wrote their pieces & this helped with the direction. The initial result was still immature as the descriptions were poor & the focus as I was still uncertain where I wanted to go with it. I had started off writing about sweets, but I ended up writing about desserts & their relation to how we celebrate mothers in my family.  

I was greatly assisted with the feedback from two of my classmates who shared these sentiments along with the importance of meaning being layered within the sentences to make the reader relate to it. The Bon jovi reference is an example as he is still well-known. Looking back on it there is an opportunity to expand on the comparative nature of the two memories & perhaps detail why they are important memories, especially with the chosen desserts. Then again, there is some deliberateness in wanting to make it simple, with little depth yet meaningful. 

However, this piece does also show my growth as I am more comfortable in writing than I was before. My characters were also growing more distinct. 

It is in the travel writing piece that I saw my descriptions became more polished as I tried to focus on detailing the five senses in the piece in a fun appealing way or whatever tone the piece was intended to be. I particularly was interested in the piece about writing about a scary moment while traveling. I had started that with the train & being alone on the train at night as I always found that peaceful, with the hum of it. Then that was interrupted & the abruptness of that interruption. It was not perfect, but I enjoyed writing it.  

I also enjoyed the piece on summer heat where I made my landlord the typical money grubber landlord in that setting. It was fun & I think the dialogues were more natural as well. The descriptions were okay, but I think I could have done better with it. 

I think I can enjoy travel writing as Professor was right in saying that any little walk has many stories hidden if we observe enough. I find that I feel more comfortable writing about others than myself too. It’s a mystery you are never sure you’re solving because the character is still illusory, even if seen.  

Overall, I have learnt to add personality to my dialogues, build my characters throughout the piece without being intentional about it & also practiced & improved upon describing the scene, feels, touch, smell & sounds. 

Practicing my writing daily sometimes with intention & without adds experience. Reading is also a factor but more focused reading to decipher the styles of the writers, their quirks- like that guy Binyavanga Wainaina. He has certainly made me struggle to create sarcasm in such a manner. Wainaina & the others have also helped me enrich my mental library while exploring their distinctness.