Length? About 300 words, but do go on longer if you have something to say!
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A place for Writing 12 students to read each other's writing, to critique, to suggest, to improve.
About Me
- Brad
- Former adult teacher who loves island beaches. Happy homebody and family man; once devoted dog owner, now without Tashi, my Tibetan Terrier. I prefer the absurdity of the imagination to the absurdity of imagining nothing.
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Why I write
When I look back at my past, I suddenly find, writing has played a very interesting role in my life. It threaded my life moments, which echoed in my head and brought me laugh and tears. Writing was so simple but so inevitable that I couldn’t get rid of it no matter I like it or hate it, but I have to say, the motive of my writing has changed along with my years of growing-up.
I think I was seven when I started to think about “writing”. It was that time my mom giving me a Chinese writing brush to practice the art of fine handwriting. Actually, it wasn’t really a “writing”, but it gave me the first sight of writing something beautifully. Then my thought developed with my grade. My teacher gave the students an assignment of writing, titled as “the exemplar of my life”. I remembered I got 95 out of 100 for this piece, and my writing was read out loud in front of my classmates by my teacher. I suddenly realized that my writing could make me proud and famous among my classmates. Then why not write more?
My pleasure of writing didn’t last long enough because a radical education reform came around. During 1970s in China, students were mobilized to challenge teacher’s authority. We were asked to write Big-character posters—the handwritten, wall-mounted posters using large-sized Chinese characters, used as a means of protest or debate. The content must include the condemnation to teachers’ authority such as how bad your teachers punished you for doing too much homework, or how evil they poisoned your mind by teaching you counterrevolutionary knowledge (such as traditional literature and west literature). As a teenager girl I had no idea of what was revolutionary or what was not. But if I didn’t write that poster, I would soon be the one to be condemned. At that time, writing became ugly to me. I hated writing. I even wished that I hadn’t learn how to write, then I didn’t have to write something like that.
By the time the political pandemic moving over, the education system was back on track again. Ironically, I found I couldn’t write properly. I was once writing in a creative way but soon turned over to a radical way. My logic of writing was at sixes and sevens. The problem was I was so much in need of writing. When I first time received a love note, I didn’t even know how to reply. It must be in note, I supposed, but how? In my mind, I blamed my teachers, how could they not teach me such an important lesson! I eagerly read Chinese ancient poems and some western poems just hope in case one day I could write something beautifully to impress the one I loved.
Now I have grown up. For me, everything about my writing was understandable. I have no shame of the good or bad words I have written. They are the prove of my life. Today if you ask me, why I write? I will tell you like this: I write because I can write, I write because I want to write, I write because I am able to write, honestly, truly and freely. So I write.
---550 words
Why I Write?
Writing, for me, is an excellent form of self-expression. I write for a lot of reasons but the top three would have to be: for improvement in my communications, preserving family history, and knowing my life and myself better.
First of all, writing challenges my grasp of the English language. Consciously improving my grammar and vocabulary allows me to communicate more clearly and get my point across to others, not only on paper, but verbally too. I have very noticeable improvements in clarity of speech when I consistently practice reading and writing.
Writing also allows me to record important family memoirs so that future generations will be able to know about their ancestral roots. My family is severely lacking in historical memoirs. I am afraid, if I don’t commit some to paper, they may be lost forever. I have inherited many old pictures from deceased family that are unexplainable and I wished I would have known the stories behind them. A book of written memoirs would be a great addition for our family legacy.
Finally, the transfer of thoughts and ideas from my head on to a piece of paper helps me know myself better and; therefore, where I want to focus my energy. The nature of the human condition and the structured society that we live in can sometimes have ill effects on our psyche and spirit. I can get off track with where I am going in life and writing centers me again. I write about what is authentic and real in my day to day life. My values and priorities become apparent. When I write I discover what is important for me. This makes me happy.
Writing gives me pleasure on many levels and if afforded the time I would write a lot more than I would normally. The gifts of writing are immense and I could not imagine a world without this form of expression. -320 words
Why I Write
Writing is naturally a part of my life whatever I need to write or I want to write. Although I would prefer to write in Traditional Chinese, I feel more confident even when I use English. It, then, becomes one of my characteristics. If I don't write, I would likely be invisible in the crowd because I'm too quiet or shy to speak public; as well, a tendency towards irrationally verbal battle might annoy me. Writing is the essential way of my expression.
The trait of introversion has been revealed since my early childhood. I could sit for a long time and focus on writing assignments--words, journals, and essays, especially from my teenage years. An excellent mark might encourage me while I simply like to do it. I remember, in grade 10, we played a game called "Angel and Master" which was learning to care about people. Each one would be someone's angel, and also another's master. We checked our mailboxes on the back wall of the classroom everyday to see what we would get from our angels. Nobody got out the relationships until the end of the term. At that time, one of the most popular collections was bookmarker. I often wrote a line or a poem on it for my master. Maybe I didn't know what it might affect me then, however, I started to write something not for academic purpose.
Writing letters was the one I did most in my 20's. When my best friend moved to Uruguay, I sent long letters regularly to her. We talked every thing and almost no secret from each other. After launching my career, I knew my boyfriend (he was my colleague's friend and now is my husband) per mail. Before the first date, we communicated in writings for six months. As we met, I was definitely excited but wasn't nervous. The feeling was like old friends. Even we got a few quarrels afterward, I'd rather close my mouth to avoid bursting bad words, which like a sharp knife might deeply pierce into the heart and hurt the feelings of each other. Explaining by writing could keep the mind clear and calm to reduce the harm in mind.
Perhaps I like to share my words--thinking, feeling, and experience which I would like to tell in writing rather than in speech. Nowadays the Internet offers a space for people who want to show themselves. Some people might worry about the privacy and reluctant to use it, yet that doesn't really bother me: for instance, when I ask or answer a question about travelling on the Localyte, the help just likes the roles of the "Angel and Master". I think it's also an approach in conversation with people in the world that widens my eyes and strengthens my belief. I didn't consider being a professional author in spite of the fact that I need to write for work sometimes. It's a pleasure to write on my blog and just to be myself.
Once a friend of mine asked me, "Why you write if you can talk? Speaking is faster and easier." Probably my personality drives my to write. In addition, I found the advantage of writing; I found the way to show who I am. Although I do writing slowly in English and make many mistakes, I could not live without it because I'm now in English environment. It doesn't matter if I'm a good writer or not. I just do so, and that's me.
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