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A reflexivity statement is a written reflection that states who you are, where you come from, and what values you believe in as it serves as an identity statement. It allows the reader to gain a better understanding about the author’s background. The place that I chose to pin is London in the United Kingdom as that is the location where my reflexivity statement started, as well as the location of not only where I am from, but where my values also come from. I created the reflexivity statement by making sure to include information about my background and a big change in my life that had led to new experiences which had an effect on how I started to view the world. I wanted to share my background, as well as mentioning where my identity and values come from. My reflexivity statement went through many stages of development and changes as I made sure to include information that reflected my values that came from how a big experience, such as moving across the world, had shaped me to become who I am today. I enjoyed writing this statement as it allowed me to reflect on how I have changed over the years, and the influential things that have had an effect on my identity. I think that I will write something similar to this again if I am ever asked to write a biography or short story about myself which would be formatted similarly to this statement.

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A Borderlands Synthesis Essay comprises the reflexivity statement, while also including different sources and texts such as films like Border South, that all share aspects of the Borderlands. The Synthesis Essay also dives into the rhetorical choices and strategies that the authors from each text made and used, while also analyzing their purpose, their audience, and other context about the author. I chose to pin this artifact in Los Angeles as it is the location of where I immigrated to America, where it made me reflect on how I didn’t face any of the issues or struggles that migrants such as the ones featured in the film, Border South, had to go through in order to travel to the United States. I also highlighted in my essay that my experience of immigrating to Los Angeles had changed my perspective of how I view the world, as well as the connection and sense of belonging I have built with the United States. The texts I selected for this Synthesis Essay consisted of films and texts that called attention to the struggles of immigrating to America as a migrant looking to see the opportunities that the United States has. Each of the selected texts share a common theme of the idea that America is the “land of opportunity”, and each text describes a struggle towards developing a sense of identity and connection with the United States. Finding the purpose, more about the context/author, audience, and genre of each text required background research, as well as analyzing each text in a deeper lens to fully understand the importance of each part. I learned to read more between the lines and try to infer what the author’s purpose is behind each text, while also learning more about how to analyze a film, and what specific details to look out for. I enjoyed writing this assignment as it allowed me to be creative with finding texts to analyze, as well as finding ways to connect them to my own personal identity and sense of belonging that I experienced when coming to the United States for the first time, much like the migrants mentioned in the essay. I believe that I will write something like this again when I am writing a research paper, and it requires me to analyze more about the author’s purpose and context.

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My third artifact is the Research and Planning assignment which is designed to help conduct further research that can be included in the digital story, while also using this assignment to start mapping out and planning the digital story. After conducting secondary research, it allowed me to understand more of the genre conventions and start planning out my fotonovela. I chose to pin this artifact in Times Square, New York as it is the location in my fotonovela, and the place for where I conducted my research by walking around the area and analyzing what was surrounding me. I conducted secondary research for this assignment by finding an article that highlighted the popularity of Times Square, while also sharing the hectic and chaoticness of the area, all of which I experienced while conducting my own research while in Times Square. After walking around the area of Times Square, it made me more curious about the popularity and high functionality of the city. I used this assignment to help with my analysis of an author’s writing, while I also started to understand more about the genre conventions that an author used such as the structuring of the article or the overall theme of the article. The conventions that I wrote about are the popularity of Times Square, while also highlighting the chaoticness within the city. I believe that this assignment was very beneficial for me to help me with planning out my fotonovela, while also conducting secondary research that helped me get a better background and a different perspective about the location I chose.

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The Fieldwork Journal served as a way to conduct research and data about a certain environment, culture, people, or location. This assignment;s purpose is to help with conducting primary research from observations from my selected location as well as interviewing someone who had a relation to that certain place. I chose to pin this artifact in New York City as that is the place that I conducted my research for, by observing the environment within New York City as well as interviewing one of my close friends who attends University in the city. After gaining more research about this area from a primary source such as an interview with my friend, and walking around the city and observing the dynamics and infrastructure of the area. The Borderlands is described as the “geographical, cultural, and psychological spaces with multiethnic history, land, and identities”. This activity helped me understand more about the borderlands, especially as I was walking around the city of New York, as it gave me a better perspective on how diverse and multiethnic New York City is. While walking around the city, I began to notice that while everyone around me represented different cultures or backgrounds, the city itself still feels like a community. This activity strengthened my engagement with Borderlands genres and experiences as I was able to get a first hand understanding of the complexities that make up the Borderlands, and I started to notice each of the different cultural aspects. This activity influenced my sense of identity and sense of belonging as I began to understand the different cultures that are in the United States, and how everyone has a sense of purpose and identity, just like I have developed here in America.