This set of essays explores the theme of " Turning to Face the Stranger". I think the purpose of these sets of essays is to foster a sense of empathy within the reader. Empathy is not innate, it is acquired and nurtured. Through this set of essays I attempted to foster the sense of empathy of my readers.
The first essay explores what is behind the mask that we are hiding behind. In this essay I took two photos, a selfie and a self-portrait, and tried to explain the purpose behind each one, and how I felt like each one represented me.
The second essay explores who is our hero/ villain. In this essay I interviewed someone that I know, through the way I talk about him and direct quotes from him, the reader has to infer whether he is my hero or villain. This essay used visual as well as aural media to help the reader sort of make this inference about the character. When I was writing this essay I learned of the importance of quoting the person I was interviewing. The instructor informed us of the importance of allowing the character to sort of tell us his story in his own words. The quotes from the aural media mixed with the written essay allowed the reader to judge the character that I was profiling.
In the third essay we had to revisit certain places from our daily lives and look at them from a new angle. In this essay I revisited certain places that mean a lot to me. I took a photo of these places and explained their significance to me.
In the fourth essay we had to explore the concept of "Approaching the Other". I explored America’s lowest socioeconomic classes and how they live. I also wrote a short story that takes place in the shoes of someone who belongs to these socioeconomic classes. I then had to reflect on my work and evaluate my effort to try to experience a day in the life of someone that belongs to the disadvantaged group that I researched. This part of the essay was challenging since I had to overcome my bias and evaluate myself fairly. I also faced another challenge of recognizing my bias. I had to constantly revise what I just wrote and try my best to avoid being insensitive or lean into stereotypes. The purpose of this assignment was to make the reader empathize with the disadvantaged group that I wrote about.
In the fifth and final essay, a couple of my peers and I had to come up with a project that made us explore the concept of empathy. We chose to write a short story about the life of a person that immigrated from Gaza to the US. Our character’s family is still stuck in Gaza with the constant bombardment pounding the tiny strip. This essay pushed my peers and I to create a story that can foster empathy within the reader.
I feel like I did well when it comes to describing. I think I was proficient in the second essay when it came to describing the situation my character was in. I also think I excelled when it comes to clarity. I was able to deliver my points without much difficulty. Finally, I think I did well when it came to grammar. I revised my essays for grammatical errors and made sure to minimize them.