ERH 304 (Creative Works)
What is Plumbing Good For?
This Essay for Language and Style was focused specifically on expressing all of the rhetorical abilities we had learned throughout the year, with our goal being to craft a speech-like paper meant to convey a highly personal experience. While I usually avoid these types of essays if possible, I was genuinely surprised about how much my own rhetorical abilities began to come out since it was built around something I was extremely passionate about. The knowledge gathered from this essay fits into the overall context of being an English major because it was a class that demanded an extensive application of all the methodologies and theories we have learned; while simultaneously encouraging us to tether these lessons with private experiences that would originally not warrant any association with being an English major. The assignment was extremely meaningful to me because it revealed the fact that I link much of my success as an English major with the experiences I have had working as a plumber alongside my dad. I never realized until writing the essay how much I relied on plumbing to form that core foundation that encouraged me to keep pushing forward regardless of how much I said I was giving up. The new knowledge gained from this class has opened up a whole new perspective on how my own personal experiences are heavily reflected in my work as an English major far more than I realized. It has encouraged me to look deeply into the minor aspects of my life back home in order to find those minor events that actually formed the key elements of my abilities as a student at a time when it is extremely difficult to find motivation to keep moving forward.