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This semester I had to face the challenges of being a 19-year-old student enrolled in University whilst beginning to live a life of my own. For me, this means that these are my first few years living without parents or grown adults that are able to look after me and take care of me when I am hungry, sick, or tired. This is the first time in my life that I have had to juggle so many things at once. A main priority for me has been to do well in school, focus on my studies, and get good grades. With all the freedom and time in the world this would seem to be an easy thing to accomplish, directing all of my attention to this main goal, but unfortunately, myself and many others like me do not have it that easy.

This stage of life comes with so many new beginnings and new things that we must learn to adapt to. Our brains are still developing into their final forms and are having to take on all these new challenges such as thinking about life and ideas in a different, deeper way than before. We are becoming aware of more things, about what it means to be an adult in America. We must worry about not only our lives, but now we are seeing the world around us and we must start to think of our effect on the world as a whole. These types of things can affect our changing minds so we must also find time throughout the day to do things that keep our mental states healthy.

Adapting new practices such as eating healthy, working out our bodies, finding the time to step outside, read, and getting the proper amount of sleep into our lives just to be able to do the rest of the things we have to do can be tough. It is hard to catch a break with heavy loads of classwork and due dates. On top of taking time to actually learn and process the things we are studying to make sure we are ready for the futures ahead, we must also worry about our society's leading factor of life, money. I, as well as many other students, have to have some type of job in order to maintain our lifestyles, eat food, stay in school, and pay the bills. A lot of us have some sort of part-time job that cannot provide nearly enough money alone to allow us to live in America. So not only do we have to worry about the money we are making now, but we must also worry about how we will provide for ourselves in the future. For a lot of us, the main reason we are putting ourselves through school is in the hopes of one day having a good enough job that will allow us to survive in this world.

Through all of this, we must also try to enjoy our young adult years. We want to experience all the best things the world has to offer. To spend time with the people we love and meet all sorts of people. We have this dream of seeing and experiencing the world while we are still young (Papelito 02/21/23). We must try to live in the now even though so much we are doing is preparing us for life ahead. We want so many things for our lives but unfortunately cannot do it all.

My work done in this class has been okay, I will always wish that I could do more, and be better, but with all the things I have had to adjust to this semester, I would say my work is a reflection of that (Papelito 02/09/23). I have learned new tools that will make my writing better, more engaging, more professional, and also personal. At the beginning of the semester, I hated peer reviews (Papelito 02/09/23), but after doing them in this class I have grown to love and appreciate what they can provide. Overall, this class has definitely made me a better writer and I have noticed this already. With all the other things I, and I am sure others in this class, have had to worry about on top of the class I think there has been a positive output.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Tucson Museum Of Art, North Main Avenue, Tucson, AZ

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Understanding our cultural contexts as writers at the University of Arizona 

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Understanding our cultural contexts as writers at the University of Arizona 

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This artifact on the cultural texts as writers through the University of Arizona that I chose was a reflection of the field trip I took to the Tucson museum of art. The museum showcased art that related to the places within the Borderlands of the US and Mexico and brought in cultural pieces relating two these communities throughout history. It allowed me to see the art created throughout these lands and the feelings it brought to the artists in which motivated them to create such moving pieces. This assignment helped me understand the idea of the Borderlands talked about throughout class, "Seeing these stories directly gave me a different perspective on the things like the Borderlands and different cultures throughout the US and Arizona overall. The way identity and culture plays such a big role in so many people's lives is so inspiring and makes me appreciate my own so much more." Examining all aspects of writing such as the purpose and culture of the author will help me better to create meaning throughout my own writing.

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For the reflection artifact I chose to do unit one assignment four which was a revision/reflection of the Borderland synthesis essay. I had a peer look over my essay and give me feedback that I then used to make changes to my essay. This helped me to think back on my essay and analyze each detail to make it acceptable for my peers to read. I like when people read over my essays because it makes me want to work harder to make sure everything is of good quality. Because of this process I noticed more about my writing, "I have discovered that my essays tend to have a strong start and then towards the end they lose focus. Oftentimes I write my essays in one sitting which could be the cause of this. I also wait until the last minute to finish adding another element of rush." Revising my work will make my writing much easier in the future because it pushes me to be better and do better.

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Copy of U1A4_ Workshop and Revision Form 

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For this artifact I chose to do unit 2 assignment 4 which was the peer review assignment for the storymaps created in class. For this assignment I peer reviewed two of my classmates storymap assignments. I gave my peers feedback on their projects and pointed out my favorite parts as well as some I thought needed more work. For this assignment I was also able to have my work peer reviewed as well where I got helpful tips back on my fotonovela. One of the storymaps I looked at to review was a fotonovela about the white sands in New Mexico where I said, "I really liked your digital story and the way you designed your fotonovela. I could tell you put a lot of work and detail into your project and thought it turned out very nice. I noticed how you said your fotonovela is intended for parents and children and I think that your fotonovela really aims to do
that. The formatting was easy to follow and I was able to stay focused/connected to your story the whole time. I think at the end you could add some resources or facts on what to do if someone where to get lost or talk more about how dangerous that is being lost since you said your purpose of the story was to inform people of those dangers. I liked
how we as the audience experienced the story from your point of view and by reading your thoughts, it made it feel like we are there with you going through this experience. Overall I think your fotonovela looks really great, I would just keep reiterating the purpose throughout your story!" I like doing peer reviews and will always try to have another pair of eyes look over my writing in the future as other people often catch the things I miss.

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Emily Fass - U2A4_ Workshop and Revision Form  (1)

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The conventions artifact I chose was the story maps assignment where I created a fotonovela of the neighborhood Barrio Viejo located in Tucson with the topic of gentrification as my subject. Throughout this project I used the conventions of structure, design, and style by adding elements of my own creativity. I did this by adding photos, I used editing tools to make my photos bring deeper feeling to the audience. These conventions will help me in the future to make the things I write about have elements of me incorporated into them.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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U.S. Customs and Border Protection - Brownsville & Matamoros Port of Entry, Mexico Boulevard, Brownsville, TX

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The artifact I chose for the critical thinking and composing post was unit one assignment three, the Borderland synthesis essay which was assigned with the purpose of using three sources to create a perspective on the Borderlands. For this I had to research different types of sources whether they were primary or secondary, and put the analyzed information into an essay. Critical thinking was the major purpose of this assignment and I was able to practice this by reading and analyzing these sources in depth. An example of this is at the end of the essay when I talked about the purpose of the texts, "They each bring out the effects a wall can have on society. They show how life, the environment, and lifestyles along the wall can be changed. Each text telling a different story in another way creates a different story and effect on the reader, whether it focuses on the reader's emotions, provides facts, or offers insight into the culture." The work done for this assignment will help me use critical thinking towards my advantage when drafting an essay.

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I chose to do the rhetorical analysis artifact on discussion 8 because the purpose of the assignment was to do a rhetorical analysis of an informative webpage about creating a storymap. I practiced analyzing the rhetorical situation of the text by looking at the context of the writing, the background of the author (where I found out was from New York) and by analyzing what the purpose was that let me better understand the writing. An example of this is when I write about the different rhetorical situations found in the webpage,"This webpage was written for people looking to create a successful story. It goes through all the steps as well as outlines key points. The genre of the webpage is an instructional nonfiction article with the purpose of teaching people how to create a digital story. It does this with the use of logos connecting to the audience’s reason by using real information to inform." This use of searching for rhetorical analysis in writing will help me in the future to better understand the things that I am reading and analyzing.