Category Archives: ERH 101-1

This first essay is a creative writing piece detailing a particular experience I’ve had with writing; more specifically, my response to the letters I had received during hell week and how each one varied wildly in its details, description of events and overall tone. The easiest part by far was picking the topic, this experience popped into my mind as soon as the project was assigned. However, I sat for a long while debating what the main point of this paper was going to be. In fact, I only completed the last three paragraphs the morning of the first draft’s due date and included an entire extra paragraph that was cut out completely. I also struggled a lot with overfilling my sentences, some of which upon rereading I still notice, where I go on with comma after comma describing something. Which brings me to my biggest issue in editing. After having my paper reviewed it was suggested and I agreed to have four separate paragraphs for each of the letters in place of the two I had originally. This created an extremely daunting task of changing, copy and pasting, adding and rewording sentences all over the paper. This created what I felt was a lack of cohesion in the paper. All in all, I’m happy with the outcome of the paper, but need to manage my time better in order to allow better editing.

As the most physically, mentally and emotional semester of my life comes to a close, it is important to look back at what I did in this class, just as it was important to look ahead at what my goals were in the beginning of the semester. In my ERH 101 class, it was assigned for us to keep and maintain an online blog where we would post all of our papers and reflective essays. Among which was a ‘writer’s development plan’ in which we outlined what we wanted all of which we wanted to improve upon as writers, where I listed some of the things I sought to improve on as a writer. The largest items on my list of improvements were grammar and my ability to efficiently find a method to answer a prompt and in correcting these issues I found others with my writing process that also need to be worked out in later semesters.

Beginning with grammar, I felt like I really have not improved much; however, that was not one of the main goals of the class and was something easily corrected after having a draft reviewed. In fact I think it was even a good thing, in high school grammar seemed like the end all be all of many essays and was often a major component of my grade for an assignment, I was essentially conditioned to believe it was THAT important of a thing that I had to make special note of it. Coming out of my semester, I realize now that grammar is really just a part of cleaning up a draft and be constantly changing as you write. While it is good to know it is something that can be solved by taking your paper to be checked and not be beaten into you class after class. Regardless, grammar is still something I hope to continue to improve on and not rely so much on others to assist me with.

The other primary issue I wrote about, being able to quickly and efficiently make my point, answer a prompt and finish a draft on the other hand is actually an extremely important skill to have, especially as a rat at VMI. In this regard I feel I have improved drastically since high school. This change can be seen from my reflective essays, I never stated that picking my topic was challenging or that actually sitting down and writing out the prompt was the most challenging part of any essay. Part of this is due to the nature of the ratline of course, never before have I been so pressed for time that I had to get words on paper in a matter of less than an hour and move on to the next assignment, as well as not having the luxury of thinking about essay prompts in my head throughout the day. What really got me out of the rut however was drafting, I used to view drafts as simple busy work and I would often not do them, opting instead to dive right into an essay with everything thought out (often the night before) and be fine. With drafting however, I have a means by which I can hustle my ideas done, add things later, get it looked at and be overall happier with what I hand in because I know it isn’t just the first thing to come to mind; every line has been worked on, thought out and rethought out. Drafting is by far the most major positive change in my writing style and I will no doubt continue it through my cadetship.

As an overall writer I feel I improved, though not exceptionally, but I am happy with how my writing as progressed and adapted under these extreme circumstances. As said above, drafting is my biggest take away from this semester, however I have also started using many prewriting techniques like free writing or making paragraph points for more research orientated essays. I still have much to improve on and there are things I wished I was better at, primarily sourcing. Being at VMI where keeping proper sourcing is crucial, being able to readily find and use quotes and information from outside sources is something I need to master. This can be seen in both the essays where outside sources had to be used (the genre discussion essay and the discourse community essay). I also struggled heavily with time management and had to finish those last few edits a little too close to the time the assignment was due; however, this is primarily due to the ratline and will hopefully not continue as my cadetship goes on. Finally I need to learn how to change my tone when writing. When I reread my assignments I found that I often wrote in my own voice and never actually changed from essay to essay, even from works like the initial more creative piece portrait of a writer to the analytical discourse community essay. I also find it when rereading my research papers from my other classes as well. Being able to change up my writing style and still making it sound natural is a skill I will have to improve upon especially in other classes and write more essays with more varying standards.

All in all I feel I benefitted from ERH 101, I feel that more time could have been spent teaching more research orientated topics, as many of us in the class are humanities students and as such will be writing essays of that type far more then creative pieces or self evaluations. Also all the essays were around a thousand words and did not vary much in terms of overall form and style. I feel I would have benefitted a lot from different styles and lengths of essays even if it meant having two or three more thrown in with the larger ones. On the other hand, the temporally escape of just being able to write during the various stresses of the ratline was a godsend early on. I did not however plan to become a perfect writer this semester, only to improve, so in that regard I am content with how my writing has progressed.

For this assignment, we were instructed to write to an audience unfamiliar with whatever topic we were writing about. This put tremendous pressure on picking a genre that I was well versed in so I decided on some sort of music given my interest and familiarity with the genres and decided on doing blues rock as it presented a music type I was both familiar with and consistent enough to allow me to explain it concisely; this combination was very much opposed to my original plan to write about indie rock, my personal favorite genre, but is all over the place style and form wise. The writing skills felt fairly basic, simply connecting my points with the overarching theme, being the genre conventions of blues rock, and then connecting the points together. It was however a challenging thinking exercise. As said above, I picked a topic I was very familiar with which in the end hurt me because I needed to work in citations after the fact, causing very heavy revisions later. An important note I made for future research projects was to get my sources BEFORE writing and build my paper around them, not the sources around my paper. I relied too heavily on my own knowledge and ended up hurting the quality of my writing. This can be seen throughout my writing, mainly around the in-text citations, where I felt they seemed choppy and almost off-putting. Limited time was also a heavy influence on this paper and was definitely a lesson in proper time management.

Overview

To begin, I have been a distance runner for the last 6 years of my life, running competitively in Cross Country, track, winter track and for enjoyment in practices and various races year round. I credit running with instilling in me the mental drive, motivation, determination and positive attitude that have proven vital in helping me get through the ratline. However, people often look at distance running in a very negative light, ranging from simply looking down on runners as athletes to not even including it as a sport. Having ran competitively and for enjoyment for much of my life I find it appalling that many people see running as simply ‘exercise’ or a waste of time and not the vibrant and massive community, highly competitive sport and encompassing culture it really is. Collected through personal experience and online sources, I hope to change at least a few minds regarding how people view distance running and the discourse group around it.

Training

One thing that many people do not understand or often do not realize about distance running is the massive level of training that goes into it on a professional and amateur level. Speaking as an amateur, I can say with 100% confidence that the Cross Country team worked the hardest and longest out of every other sport, with each individual on the team putting up at least a thousand miles total per season. Our workouts are carefully planned three to four months in advance by our coach and as such, were just about never cancelled due to weather, even if they were, we would meet up on our own and run together anyways. Through blizzard and a hurricane, hail and humidity, we ran all but six weeks out of the year and showed a level of commitment unmatched by the other teams.

On a professional level, running is all-encompassing. Every meal must be taken into account, every hour of sleep and relaxation accounted for and made the most of and 2 to 3 heavy running sessions a day. Mo Farrah, an Olympian Distance Runner, for example runs a 135 mile week with not one of those miles taking longer than 6 minutes. Mo also has an intensive gym workout along with those the crazy miles and paces. Running at a professional level is just as intense if not more so then playing for a professional football or baseball team.

More important than this training is becoming part of the culture. Long distance running instills a special attitude in an individual; a determination, positive outlook  it takes a special thought process to be in the mindset to say “Wow I really want to run 10 miles just because.” This mindset was drilled into me personally by my coach, who was famous for never cancelling a practice; by the time of my class’s graduation, we would often opt specifically to run in the worst conditions, having unofficial practices (in short shorts) through blizzards, long ran through Hurricane Sandy and essentially prided ourselves in loving to go through the worst of it. This esprit de corps and embrace the suck attitude we found carried over to the other teams we raced and I have not encountered again until matriculating VMI.

History

No other sport on the planet has a history as old and fabled as that of distance runners; reaching back far into ancient times to the first human tribes in Africa, where early man would ‘endurance hunt’ animals by literally running them to death, to Classical Greece where running was a paramount event in the Olympic games and continues to be to this day. Because of this long history, there are many major historical runners for any given event that you’ll find the majority of serious runners know; for me and my team (as a primarily 5k-orientated team), practically idolized Steve Prefontaine, often being quizzed on his quotes and watch movies about him during team hangouts. The sprinters during track season had similar rituals with men like Ussain Bolt and Tyson Gay. There is a level of connection with the past and the greats of today in running that really is not present in other sports due to the best times are often years, if not decades old, making running a constant struggle with the past itself.

Characteristics of a Discourse Community

Distance running, with all of its clear traditions, training and other unifying factors, is clearly a discourse community. We have a broad set of agreed goals, to get faster, run farther, partake in more runs and get over injuries faster. Running blogs and magazines are very popular and all over the internet, providing a clear source of detailed communication, feedback and information between members of the discourse community. The lexis of runners is also very specific and just about unrecognizable from an outside prospective. Many of the stranger words are based around training, these include things like fartlek, Vo2 max, an individual’s ‘threshold’, running a ‘pick up’, runner’s economy, a split, to ‘bonk’ or hit the wall, to get a runner’s high, taking taper and tempo pace. Runners also get very specific when describing feet and shoes, using various medical terms they average person wouldn’t know, like medial, cushioning, outsole, insole, and others.

Runners also have a system of novices and masters of varying experience levels, novice runners can join through various means, talking to runners, joining a cross team or club in school or a gym, through friends or through the internet. Runner experience is gained through years of competitive running and a runner over 40 is often referred to as a ‘master’ in the US. This ranking system is unique among sports and further separates running from the others and further connecting running with its roots much more than any other sports.

Multiple Literacies

Long distance running is not the only type of running, the generally agreed upon division of running is by how far an event is. This makes for three distinct running literacies, long, mid and short distance running.

Short distance running, more commonly called sprints, involves the 100, 200 and 400 meter dashes and relays. They require explosiveness, much more muscle strength (sprinters tend to be much more physically defined) and begin their events from ‘blocks’ at the starting line. Sprint training often involves much less continuous running and more repetitions with a long break period in between. All of these make for a much different experience.

Mid Distance running involves all events between 800 and 3200 meters runs and as such, has the most mixed training regimen. Mid distance running requires the speed of a sprinter but the endurance of a long distance runner. During track, I personally ran the 800 and 1600 meter run and I would happily admit that both of those events are much harder than the 5000 meter during Cross Country season. These events require a horrible mix of speed and the ability to not only hold that speed, but increase it as the race goes on. As said above, these events combine long and short distance training and often involve a mix of both types of runners.

Long distance running is anything above 3200 meters and can also involve timed races, meaning an individual runs as far as they can in a certain amount of time, for example, my coach took part in a 12 hour race and ran ~60 miles,  while others may have done more, less or around the same. This type of running is mostly endurance training with long sprints and high repetition short sprint based training. This type of training often contrasts the muscular build of a sprinter of mid distance runners and makes a very lean fit individual. Running these races is similar to mid distance running, requiring the maintaining of speed over incredible distance, making long distance running much more mentally taxing then the other types of running.

Each of these different running types almost qualify for different sports with the huge amount of difference between them. This is something no other sports can really say about people on the same team, an offensive lineman can be moved to the other side of the ball in football no problem, everyone on the baseball team can hit a ball, but to go from a sprinter to a distance runner would take easily at least a year of pretty intense training to get an athletes body in condition to handle a change like that.

Conclusion

Running is without question its own discourse group, given its long standing traditions and history, its hierarchal structure of experience and ability, means of communication between its members be it blogs, websites, magazines or word of mouth and its multiple literacies involving different types of training, events and people. Runners have their own lexis and can communicate for long periods of times about things the general public would not understand. More importantly as noted above, the devotion one must have to their given distance and overall friendly, motivated personalities of the majority of runners is one thing that sets runners apart from other sports. Running at all levels is one of the hardest, physically exerting activities one can take partake in and most assuredly should be treated with equal respect as throwing a ball.

Bibliography

Eck, Beth Moxey. “Glossary of Running Terms.” Runner’s World. Runner’s World, 21 Sept. 2001. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

Murray, Robb. “Mo Farah’s Typical Weekly Training Schedule.” Training a Runner RSS. Training a Runner, 09 Oct. 2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

For this assignment, we were instructed to write to an audience unfamiliar with whatever topic we were writing about. This put tremendous pressure on picking a genre that I was well versed in so I decided on some sort of music given my interest and familiarity with the genres and decided on doing blues rock as it presented a music type I was both familiar with and consistent enough to allow me to explain it concisely; this combination was very much opposed to my original plan to write about indie rock, my personal favorite genre, but is all over the place style and form wise. The writing skills felt fairly basic, simply connecting my points with the overarching theme, being the genre conventions of blues rock, and then connecting the points together. It was however a challenging thinking exercise. As said above, I picked a topic I was very familiar with which in the end hurt me because I needed to work in citations after the fact, causing very heavy revisions later. An important note I made for future research projects was to get my sources BEFORE writing and build my paper around them, not the sources around my paper. I relied too heavily on my own knowledge and ended up hurting the quality of my writing. This can be seen throughout my writing, mainly around the in-text citations, where I felt they seemed choppy and almost off-putting. Limited time was also a heavy influence on this paper and was definitely a lesson in proper time management.

One of the longest lasting, most impactful and boasting the widest scope of all music genres has been the blues. Originally hailing from small, southern African American communities in the late 19^th century, the blues has since spread to all corners of the world and has become one of the best examples of American culture being exported across the globe (Bloomingdale School of Music). The blues was created from the bonds of slavery, mixing spirituals, field songs, shouts and personal stories to create the classic narrative style, beat driven and rhythmic form known today (Bloomingdale School of Music). But how did 19^th century folk survive and continue to thrive 150 years later? It did so by transforming itself for the modern age by combining with the styles of rock and roll thus creating blues rock (Bloomingdale School of Music). Exploding in popularity in the 1950’s and 60’s, the music movement was spearheaded in England and made popular by the likes of Jimmie Hendrix and The Rolling Stones. Today, blues rock has evolved and continues to thrive in the form of dozens of high profile musicians and bands as well as thousands of local groups across the country.

Blues rock is made of a fairly simple structure; it can even be completed by just one man maintaining a steady beat or by a few inspiring music enthusiasts in a garage, which many advocate is a major draw to its popularity. The blues consists of, for the most part, of a narrative style vocal part, often focus on a depressing event, misfortune or a broken heart. The guitar is crucial and extremely important; it is steady, strong, rhythmic and can be played either acoustically or electronically. Electric bass and drums, while not required, often share these traits. Instruments of all types can be played in the background or even as the center piece, such as the harmonica, various string instruments and piano (Little Bill and the Blue Notes). Recently, blues rock has seen the integration of computer synth into its music (Auerbach).

These traits and even the most traditional style and elements of blues can still be seen today in the work of the contemporary artist Gary Clark Jr.; most notable in his song “When My Train Pulls In”. It’s an original piece, but would not in the slightest sound out of place in blues rock’s heyday. From its long guitar solos, distortion and narrative, the song could easily be a cover of Jimmie Hendrix. Listening to the lyrics: “Everyday nothing seems to change. Everywhere I go I keep seeing the same old thing and I can’t take it no more.” (Clarke). Shows that same emotional styles that connects it to the legends of the past is still popular and can be replicated today. Gary Clark Jr. has several songs in the same throwback style and has experienced great acclaim for it, proving the genre’s longevity and appeal across time.

Blues rock however does not always need to conform to the old style. As said above, blues rock has been rapidly experimented with in the past few years and has achieved great success with the album Turn Blue by The Black Keys released just last year (Fricke). In this album The Black Keys, an already extremely acclaimed blues/garage rock band, experimented with mixing psychedelic beats, hip hop elements and The Black Keys signature blues sound (Fricke) to create an extremely unique set of music still grounded in its genre. The song “Weight of Love” I feel really excels at keeping the classic bluesy guitar riffs and emotional vocals while mixing with a psychedelic flow in the background creating something truly unique. “Weight of Love” and the rest of the Turn Blue album really shows how adaptable the blues can be pressing forward into the modern era and that the genre has a secure future.

However the real popularity of the blues is that it can be created by anyone; remember, that the genre only even came about because of slavery, created by people who had literally nothing but a story and the rhythm to tell it with. This is still true today, thousands of people in ‘garage rock’ bands write, play, cover and perform the blues all across the country, using the same style and instruments as the legends of the genre and famous contemporary artists above. One such example is the small garage band “The Dead Tapes” recently experienced massive fame over the internet, achieving nearly half a million views on their homemade video “Where Did She Go”, a feat many contracted bands cannot boast. The band consists of two friends, a guitar, a drum set, a megaphone, a metal rod and some duct tape in their backyard, it doesn’t get much bluesier then that (Leon). Their performance even attracted the attention of professional music critics, hailing their work as “genuine in a way that attracted me along with 467,843 other viewers” (Leon). While obviously taking influence from the famous guitarist Jack White, their spin on the style has not only led to online fame but to an actual record deal (Leon). Once again showing the longevity and popularity of the genre.

As one can easily see, the blues, despite being around for over a century, is not going away anytime soon thanks to its continued and prominent role in American and world culture. The classics of the genre remain incredibly popular across the world, contemporary artists regularly replicate this style and continue to change its form through their own individual styles and ideas and the younger generation obviously has interest in it and continues to produce their own homegrown blues across the country.

Works Cited

Auerbach, Dan. Turn Blue. The Black Keys. The Black Keys, 2013-2014. MP3.

Bloomingdale School of Music. “INSTRUMENTS IN DEPTH.” Instruments in Depth. Bloomingdale School of Music, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.

Clark, Gary, Jr. When My Train Pulls In. Gary Clarke Jr. Gary Clark Jr., 2011-2012. MP3.

Fricke, David. “The Black Keys Turn Blue Album Review.” Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone, 5 May 2014. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.

Leon, Matthew. “Look at This.” Artist Profile: The Dead Tapes. The Scene, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.

“Little Bill and the Blue Notes.” Little Bill and the Blue Notes. Little Bill and the Blue Notes, 17 Sept. 2013. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.

Very few people in the world can say they have undergone a trial similar to hell week at the Virginia Military Institute. Having spent a full week waking up with a red-faced corporal, living bathroom break to bathroom break and standing in the sweltering southern sun for hours on end I could probably write a novel filled with every little punishment, every little victory, every insult and every time I wanted to roll over and scream “I AM DONE”; but that’s not what this essay is about. In fact, this essay is about the after effects of that nightmarish 168 hours, when I finally could rip open the letters I had received from home and write back to all of them just like I promised when I had a full head of hair and chuckled at the concept of straining. So there I sat, about 15 minutes into my life as an ‘independent’ rat. I was still covered head to boot in grime, dirt and soaked thoroughly in sweat and the murky off-green water of the Maury River. I propped my boots up on my desk and opened my drawer revealing various scraps of crumpled papers. Resting gently on top were four pristine envelopes all marked beautifully ‘Pennsylvania’ in the corner. They each had been sitting there for several days now, I never had the time to pull them open and the thought of finally being able to do so was one of my main drives to get through the week. Now I finally could.

Around me my roommates roamed around the room, other rats popped in and out all smiling ear to ear, laughing at the things that had driven us near tears only hours before. But rather then joining them, I sat scrolling through the thick envelops with an eagerness no one could imagine. I started opening them, careful not to smudge the writing with the sweat and muck on my hands and smiled through brown, dirt-stained teeth as I paged through them.

The four letters were for the most part, written how I expected them. The first one I read was from a girl, well, the girl to put better. She wrote in a long drawn out cursive on a thick cardboard card. Although the shortest, it took the longest for me to read. She started with a joke, told me what she was up too and how much she missed me and sealed it with her name and smudged up lipstick. The next was from my parents, which was essentially all inspiration, kind words and lots of signatures. The third, from my best friend since diapers who had gone off to Penn State Main Campus, he wrote everything he was doing, all the parties, the classes, he told me stories of all sorts of things that had happened and wished me the best.

The final letter was one I did not expect, it was from another close friend, but not one I would expect to go out of his way to send me a letter. He also went to Penn State, but started his letter with “However you’re feeling, I hope it’s better than how I do.” I immediately felt shock and even a little selfish anger; after all, I had just passed the most grueling week of any college student in the country and he’s complaining about Penn State? But I kept going, and went on to learn he has been suffering some fairly severe depressive episodes after getting to college, he had been attending counselling and even opened up about having suicidal thoughts. Essentially, not at all what I was expecting to get here; especially after reading the other letter from Penn State.

He became my top priority, I was obviously very deeply concerned and wanted to help, so I pulled some paper out and began scribbling away while my roommates continued reminiscing back and forth. I wrote everything I could that I thought would help him chin up and get through this, every little detail I had picked up since for the vast majority of hell week I had been feeling the same way he described; scared, alone, helpless, tired and as if the whole world was against me. I wrote about all the incredible things we did despite it all, the motivational stories and speeches we had heard and a few of the funny ones to lighten the mood. I finally sat back, satisfied that I had done my best for him and moved on to the next hopefully easier to write letter to my best friend.

This letter did not take much time at all. In it I described all the crap of hell week, the stuff I could go on for days for; all of the yelling, how deep down I kind of wished I had gone to a regular school and how missed all the guys. I wrote less and less to respond to him and more about getting all of the repressed anger and exhaustion out of my head. The letter turned from a chat with my oldest friend to a therapeutic punching bag in about 3 paragraphs. It was certainly less motivating then the one I had just written; filled with how I was climbing mountains and pulling through all these absolutely absurd events. I quickly filled up a few pages giving the impression I was living life in some sort of hilarious, hellish nightmare.

My parents on the other hand, received a version much like my other friend. I told them how much I loved my company, roommates and even cadre at times (something my best friend would be very surprised to hear after reading the letter to him). I wrote about how my older brother was helping me, how I wasn’t even thinking about going to another college, how motivated I was to push through and study all the time. Essentially, the antithesis to what I had just finished writing maybe 15 minutes before.

Finishing that I reread my girlfriend’s, which killed my mood faster than any cadre’s insults could. When I started writing to her, my hell week turned miserable, lonely, homesick and give off the impression I would make a break for a bus station at the first opportunity I could. No mention of all the motivation I had five minutes prior, nor the funny stories or absurd ramblings of cadre from 20 minutes and especially no uplifting words of wisdom from whenever I finished the first letter. To her, I just wanted to be home and keep doing all the things we usually do. I finished it wishing I hadn’t saved it for last.

I sealed all four of them up and then looked at the letters, realizing as I put them down that these may as well be describing completely different experiences in each one. In some, I had just passed through a mere challenge, helped along the way by the support of my brother rats, finding inspiration in the little things and putting forth all possible effort to become a better person despite the nightmare around me. In the others, it seemed like I would be ready to bolt off post and into a W&L house at the first possible second. Were these really describing the same thing?

Never before have I noticed how different one can write when put under different contexts. Within maybe an hour, I had created four incredibly different versions of hell week in order to appeal to four very different audiences. It’s similar to how people have different personalities or mannerisms in different surroundings, what is the real you? It makes one wonder if there really is an ‘actual’ series of events that transpired or if the details of an event depend on the context one is retelling them in

I would have to agree with the latter. My experience writing my letters home only cemented that view. Retelling exactly how an event transpired is only possible if one can make a pinpoint list of everything that occurred as it happened, and who honestly writes like that? Writing requires one knowing their audience and changing their story to fit that context; my friend suffering depression obviously got a different story then my parents received. Which retelling is more real than the other? Neither, they’re both true, both contained actual events, they’re simply tailored to fit different contexts.

Ever since I first began actual writing classes in 6^th grade, up until high school graduation, I’ve always considered and have been considered by my teachers to be a good writer. I began writing with a ‘writer’s notebook’, a series of creative writing assignments that had to be completed and handed in. Young me loved it and I continue writing creatively in my free time, be it short stories, spit-balling ideas or keeping a journal, inspired simply by thoughts that popped into my head and expanding on them. My true writing inspiration comes from writing about topics that interest me most, namely history and current events. I love to research events and being able to get my thoughts on an issue, person or event is truly inspiring as it really helps me realize what my core beliefs are when interpreting the past or how the past continues to shape the present. However I still struggle with parts of the writing process, namely getting to the idea, the form and how to get my ideas down on paper in the best possible way. In high school, when I would get a paper assigned I often would spend the rest of the day (or week) going through all sorts of plans and ideas and wait for the perfect outline to land in my head. I often make the mistake of picking multiple ideas, expanding on them and then struggle picking the best one. This issue has often been handled primarily by simply talking to another person and have them gauge which idea is the most sound, however I would really like to be able to efficiently choose how I handle writing to a prompt on my own. Grammar is also a big problem spot of mine, mainly because I often write how I imagine myself saying something, not focusing on sounding elegant or ‘correct’. Coming to VMI, I am confident in my writing abilities and am looking forward to improving my writing process, efficiency and discovering new methods to make my writing faster and overall stronger.