A reflexivity statement is a piece of writing that explains who you are as a person, including your family and your beliefs. It allows the reader to connect or relate to your statement.

I chose the city of Buckeye, Arizona, because that is where I made all of my memories and learned to grow. Without this place, my reflexivity statement would be different.

Coming up with the reflexivity statement, I thought about the most important things that make up my life. For example, the connections I have with my family and friends, my education, and being involved in my community. I started with the beginning of where I grew up and stopped writing when I explained where I wanted to end up and the goals, I had in my life to be successful. 

After finishing my first draft of the reflexivity statement, I had a few errors because it can be difficult to write about yourself and your connections. After fixing those, I felt as if I didn’t have much to fix because I wrote from the heart, so everything I wrote, I meant. 

This assignment helped me feel more connected to my writing. It made me realize that writing about personal things that you wouldn’t normally share feels good to just get out, even if it’s on a computer screen. I don’t really know when I would write something like this again, but I know when the time comes, I’ll be prepared. 

The purpose of this letter is to seek guidance, ask questions about their work, represent their story, and find a mentor.

I chose Chicago as the point because Sandra Cisneros' story, The House on Mango Street, is based on a true story in a working-class Hispanic neighborhood in Chicago

In this letter, I analyzed The House on Mango Street by focusing on themes, characters, and language. I chose this text because it had such a unique story of identity, culture, and growing up as a young Latina girl. While reading, I thought about how Esperanza’s experiences reflected larger social issues, like gender roles and poverty. I collected my notes by highlighting key passages, jotting down thoughts in a journal, and discussing ideas during class, which helped me better understand the deeper meanings in the text.

Writing a letter to Sandra Cisneros taught me that rhetorical analysis is about understanding a writer’s choices. Studying the purpose, context, audience, and genre helped me see how Cisneros uses her voice to represent her community and how her background shapes her writing. It showed me that writing is always influenced by who it's for and why it's written.

During my research project, I had to find out about Sandra's history, like where she is from and her writing process

I wasn't able to connect with too much with The House on Mango Street, but the one thing I was able to connect with was when I was young, I grew up in a family that didn't have a lot of money. Luckily, in my situation, my dad didn't give up and worked hard to start his own business and give us a better life.

While writing this letter, I struggled because I've never written a letter to a scholar, but it also helped improve my writing in a way. It helps me connect on a personal level with another writer. I can see myself writing this type of letter for a job or to a mentor seeking guidance.