This section, The American Way, showcases examples of our analysis of American culture and society and how it can be applied to our everyday lives. This course really showed me different facets of American culture and prompted discussion I do not think I would have had about these smaller concepts around. Whether it was around was skills or cliques we value in American society (jocks vs. nerds), or how immigrants integrate into society through linguistical assimilation, this course prompted me to understand a lot of nuance about American cultures, and how the American mindset came to be, whether through these texts or through discussions in my smart-group. Most importantly, I think these conversations prompted deeper personal thinking about cultural differences (I constantly kept comparing parallels and differences in my head with my upbringing in a different country), and how different experiences foster different mindsets and experiences about the world we live in.

This section, The Impact of Language, showcases lines where I felt that the author communicated in a way that was stylistically beautiful, or thematically jarring, creating a large impact with diction and syntax, in a sense, making me say 'wow' in my head. Throughout the course, I was reading a lot of text that was outside my hub of comics and 20th-century social commentary novels, I was reading text about how people interact with nature on a divine level, how a woman was not defined by her disability but by her preservation, or a didactic parish-able story about the "unsexy" realities of day-to-day adult life. At certain lines, whether it was the humorous language of one absorbing their surroundings or a woman proclaiming her worth, at times I was in awe in the impact of these lines on me, an impact that made the lines remembered for hours after the initial read. The idea of realization, perception, and moving-on/perseverance that can be inferred from almost all the text we have read throughout the year, made me realize that one does not fancy words to make their purpose shine, the clear idea on what they are trying to say.

I think that throughout the class, one aspect of my work that was really out of my comfort zone was getting personal and intimate in my writing. Personal connections thematically were something that became more and more incorporated in my work and was an area I think improved the most throughout the year. Getting personal in my writing was something I was never really comfortable with, unconsciously, my writing has always been more analytical and objective to such as extent that I would avoid as much bias suggestive language as possible. But throughout the year, I think it became more clear to me that getting personal with my writing not only made my writing more emotionally appealing but made it more impactful through sharing personal experiences. From the first assignment of the creative 1 - pager about education to the college personal essay about coming to terms with perception and perspective in the political sphere,  getting more personally involved with my writing taught me to be a better writer, and communicate my thoughts and emotions in a way that was informative but relatable.