Picked Adjective: compassionate 

Specific Story Choice: One of my coworkers, who I did not know very well at the time, was waiting for the bus. There was a high chance of rain, and the next bus did not arrive for another hour. Instead of rushing home, I offered to drive them. They thanked me, saying that was a true act of compassion. 

Verbs from Story: waiting, arrive, rushing, drive 

Story without picked adjective: It was getting late. As I waited to leave work, my impatience increased with each passing minute. Once the cash in the register was accounted for, and my timeslip signed, I hurriedly left the premise. I wanted to get away before anyone asked me for more help. As I left the parking lot, I saw a familiar face waiting for the bus to arrive. I rolled down the window, hoping to make a quick quip their way before the light turned and I departed for home. Their eyes immediately lit up when they saw me: “Nick! Appo made me work past my shift time, and I missed the bus. The next one isn't for another hour; is there any chance you could drive me to White Plains?” Despite an overwhelming desire to rush home, my heart hurt knowing there was a chance they would be stuck in the rain during a commute that is painful on a sunny day. Sometimes, after someone acts in bad faith, the only remedy is to act especially well. 

1) Finding adjectives was difficult for me because I have difficulties putting labels on myself. I either feel they are too bold of a claim or fail to capture what I envision. 

2) This exercise made me reflect on how often I use the ongoing present when I recount a story. For example, I almost always opt for “I was thinking” instead of “I thought” when writing. Doing an activity that asks for examination of verb uses made me consider this. 

3) Peers tend to pick attributes of themselves that show their character in a positive way. I certainly did, and it makes sense for this to be people’s inclination; it’s unlikely anyone wants to share a story of themselves being rude or aggressive. 

 Picked adjective: Creative

Story: I secretly love to get lost in my imagination and forget about all my responsibilities; my loved ones included. I could never disconnect from my dog though; I guess only when she needs her alone time too. I become restless when I cannot complete a project, painting, or other form of art. The freedom of ignoring my phone is intoxicating. There is still a part of me that remembers what life was like without that thing glued to my side. Disclosure: I wrote the story without verbs first.

 
Story without adjectives or "creative": I could spend days in the comfort of my imagination and forget to speak to another human; I could never forego a conversation with my dog though. Messages go unanswered, emails ignored and it’s as if a luminary linguaphile is my secretary, pure freedom. The people I love understand I rather stay in my imagination, and know I become livewire if I leave a project, painting, drawing, or sculpture- unfinished and untouched for too long. Disclosure: This kind of goes along with the other descriptors.

Verbs from story: leave, understand, ignored, forego, forget

 

1)     It was definitely harder to only use verbs, I found myself double checking words like: forego, imagination, and unfinished. However, it forced me to get a little creative and use “luminary linguaphile” lol. I had to look that up too.

2)     I think I had more fun avoiding adjectives; although it took a tiny bit longer. When I first started academic writing, my English professor would write words like “stop” and “not here” whenever I used too much metaphorical language. I like to believe I toned it down a bit since then. 

Picked Adjective: Helpful

Specific Story Choice: 

I try to be as helpful as I can be, especially while traveling. The first time I ever traveled abroad was during undergrad to China and Kazakhstan. One oppressively hot day, we were in Xi’An visiting about 10 different families in their cave homes where they served us snacks and chatted with us. Prior to this trip, I had been an extremely picky eater. Traveling taught me that politeness was important because my actions represented all Americans. In the first cave home our host served us all hard-boiled eggs. Not my first choice for a hot day but we were guests not only in their home but in their country. At the second cave home our hosts brought out a large platter of hard-boiled eggs. What a weird coincidence! Then our hosts at the third house so graciously brought out yet another platter of hard-boiled eggs… And so on. By the third house my classmates were beginning to look a bit flushed, especially since most of their stomachs hadn’t acclimated to the Chinese cuisine yet. For the next seven houses I stealthily ate egg after egg after egg to help out my classmate’s weak stomachs and in order to save face in front of our hosts. My stomach of steal is very helpful in hard (boiled) situations.  

Verbs from Story: Traveling, visited, served, chatted, actions, represented, brought, beginning, flushed, acclimated, ate, help, save.

Story Without Adjective “Helpful”: The first time I ever traveled abroad was during undergrad to China and Kazakhstan. One oppressively hot day, we were in Xi’An visiting about 10 different families in their cave homes where they served us snacks and chatted with us about their way of life. Prior to this trip, I had been an extremely picky eater. Traveling changed me and taught me that I am a guest in the country and should act accordingly. In the first cave home our host served us all hard-boiled eggs. Not my first choice for a hot day but we were guests not only in their home but in their country. At the second cave home our hosts brought out a large platter of hard-boiled eggs. What a weird coincidence! Then our hosts at the third house so graciously brought out yet another platter of hard-boiled eggs… And so on. By the third house my classmates were beginning to look a bit flushed, especially since most of their stomachs hadn’t acclimated to the Chinese cuisine yet. For the next seven houses I stealthily ate egg after egg after egg to conceal my classmate’s weak stomachs. My stomach of steal saved the day. 

Chosen Adjective: friendly 

Story: I made a random friend at the park 

Verbs: Talk,ask, decide, walk, apologize

Story without chosen adjective: 

This past weekend, my friend and I decided to have a picnic. While at the picnic, a lady walking her dog passed our blanket. The dog walked toward us and laid on our blanket. The owner apologized, but we started petting the dog. I began talking to the owner and  asking her questions about her dog and also about her day in general. 

Reflection:  I did not find it difficult  finding adjectives to describe myself. However, I did have to think as to what story exemplified those adjetives.I think this exercise helped me realize that sometimes I need to "stretch" my writing. Sometimes I lack description. 

Adjective: Creative

Growing up my sisters and I made over a thousand home movies. We made plays, movies, music videos and sketches. We made the entire Nutcracker ballet twice playing every role. We had to cut the tape every time we changed to a different character. It took us all day, but we loved it. About 3/4 of the way through my youngest sister was over it and did all she could to crash into us for Waltz of the Flowers. We still laugh at it today. We were exhausted when we finished filming. But we decided to do it again the next year anyway. 

Verbs: made, play, cut, crash, laugh 

Story without Adjective: I didn’t use my adjective to begin with, but here goes another retelling. 

My sisters and I were prolific filmmakers, dancers, music video enthusiasts and playwrights. We made over a thousand home movies by the time I graduated high school. We created visual art inspired by my Dad’s jazz records wearing trash bags, a magnified light, a fan and our dog dressed up as a motorcyclist. We also wrote many plays and had all the neighborhood kids over to play all the parts. I think wrote my first play at age 4; it was all scribbles, but the neighborhood kids played along. My parents gave us this refrigerator box that was our most prized possession. We opened it up, painted a starry scene and turned it into the backdrop of all of our plays. Our most ambitious production was the Nutcracker ballet. 

My sisters and I (there were 3 of us, sorry I didn’t say before) set out to play every single role in the Nutcracker ballet. For the Marzipan dance we made the youngest wear a onesie and we colored her face red with magic marker so that she would look like a lamb. I don’t know any red sheep, but we only had a red onesie so we went with it. My other sister was the Nutcracker. In order to make her a boy she stuffed her shirt with a pillow; I don’t know, somehow in our minds that made her look more like a boy. We even attempted an illusion of this crazy lift; the SugarPlum fairy (me) would jump and land on the shoulders of the Nutcracker (my sister). In order to pull off this illusion we placed a sheet behind us hanging in front of an open doorway. Then we put a ladder behind the sheet. We recorded me jumping up to the Nutcracker, then cut the tape, then started recording again when I was sitting on the highest rung of the ladder, my sister posing with her arms underneath my legs. For all being under 10 I think we were pretty resourceful. 

1. I think it was harder to use adjectives to describe myself. Once you give yourself a label then there is pressure to live up to it. 2. I have always liked telling stories. I think showing a person you are creative is a lot easier than just using the word creative. When you tell a story with a specific example it’s showing the person in detail how creative you are. Plus its more memorable.