E N G L I S H
This semester in Pilot has covered a large variety of English subjects. I would break it down into three main categories; slavery and African American History, fiction writing exploration, and finding work for the Chronicle. The one I stressed the most would be my African American History studies. I did a lot of research. Looking back, I think I did too much in comparison to a final project that shows the product of my learning, basically I didn’t stress quality over quantity when I should’ve. I did a couple of smaller research projects in an attempt to narrow down my studies. I focused on the power of language and ability to read and also classism in the time of slavery. English was a balancing act because I had too much going on and not nearly as much time as I needed to be successful to the extent that I wished to be at. However, I did do a lot of writing that I’m proud of and I am impressed with myself that I was able to overcome writer's block at multiple points in this time. The standards I focused on meeting include; {reading, expository writing, expressive writing, expository research writing, and language.} I think that from this study I was able to learn more about time management and I can move forward with this knowledge to be more productive and get more done.
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NOTES DOCUMENTATION:
BIG QUESTION: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE ENSLAVED?
“Mental Slavery is far more sinister than physical slavery because the chains are invisible and are transmitted across generations. If African slavery was only physical, African people would have within one generation been able to skip the plethora of social-economic issues which plague African people globally the second the chains came off.” -Alik Shahadah
For much of my life African American slavery is a piece of history that sits in the back of my mind, foggy and untouched. It is a point in our history that I don’t want to imagine, in fear of what I might uncover. Great pain. I feel a heavy guilt for living in a place that once caused so many injustices. We’ve all heard of slavery in the 17th and 18th centuries. For many people, there is a one story that comes to mind when we hear the word slave. An African American man or woman, perhaps busy working in a cotton field, barefoot and tired. That was the image that always came to mind for me. This past quarter I’ve been researching this period of time and seeing how I can expand this narrow image and idea of what it meant to be a slave, or another individual during the 17th and 18th centuries. The obvious answer is that it’s not clear cut. Every person who lived through this time period was only human, experiencing the world through different lenses and perspectives. There is no one picture of a slave that can represent the millions of African Americans that were enslaved during this time. Although many of their stories have been lost, each one of these people lived through it and had their own unique experience.
THIS SEMESTER, I'VE ALSO EXPLORED A LITTLE BIT OF CREATIVE WRITING
Creative writing is always something that I've been really interested in, it felt like the Pilot would be the perfect place to experiment with this style of writing and get feedback from my content advisor.