Three Lessons We Should Learn From Children (Composition Blog) - Vy

By Vy

Vy's son, who always thinks he's a T-Rex

 We often think that children, whose souls and personalities are still incomplete, need to receive guidance from adults to grow up in the best direction. However, sometimes it is adults, who seem to have a lot of life skills, that need to learn from the simple thinking and innocent souls of children. Here are the three simplest and closest things that kids can teach us about life.

The first thing we can learn from children is carefree self-expression in a very natural and

comfortable way. Children are not afraid to be judged when they always ask thousands of

questions about everything in the world and say what they think in public. Therefore, children

can learn very quickly because they are always ready to absorb new things.

The importance of daring to dream and have big ideas without hesitation or fear is another great thing that kids can show us. When being asked what they want to be when they grow up,

children will give many answers like "a doctor who can cure all diseases," "an astronaut in

space," "a president of the whole universe," or “a Tyrannosaurus Rex!” Those big and somewhat "surreal" dreams of them best reflect their interests and personalities.

We also can learn the value of generosity and tolerance from the unconditional love and

forgiveness of innocent children. Children don't think too much, don't struggle with their self-esteem, don't scold, don't dig up old stories, and don't accuse each other. Children often quarrel, but when they have said all their frustrations, everything for them seems to have never happened.

French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote in his book, Le Petit Prince, that, "All grown-ups were once children… but only a few of them remember it." Adults, instead of chasing after busy and anxious lives, should relearn how to live like the children they used to be. Living with a child's perspective and soul will bring happiness to every single day.

Gaming (Composition Blog) - Brayan

by Brayan

An assortment of Game consoles and systems

Video games are forms of entertainment that are played and enjoyed by millions of people worldwide. These games come in numerous varieties of genres for many different platforms such as consoles, PC’s, and even on mobile devices. Whether playing single or multiplayer, or competitively or casually, gamers around the world like myself, grew up with them and enjoy them daily.

I got into video games at a young age thanks to my parents and their old SNES console. Sadly,

that SNES is now super old, outdated, and it doesn’t work anymore, but I will never forget the

memories, and fun times it gave me growing up. Ever since my parents showed me that game

console my love for video games grew with me and soon I would find another console to have

fun on.

My next console after that SNES was an Xbox 360, which was a major step up in terms of

technology and fun. During my time in school, my friends either had a PS3 or an Xbox 360, and it just so happened that more of them had an Xbox 360, so I joined them, and it was definitely worth it. I also have lots of memories with my old Xbox 360 and the times I had fun with my school friends there, but as time went on those consoles got old as well and soon new ones arrived.

When I entered middle school, I remember the release of newer consoles and the main two, were the PS4 and the Xbox One and the hype for them was crazy. I know I had an Xbox before but this time I wanted to try out the new PS4 with my friends, and it was the best decision I’ve made. Even today, my friends and I still have our PS4 consoles and play often, it feels like it was only yesterday when I got mine.

Now with the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S being the newest generation of consoles, my PS4 would be considered outdated, and it makes me sad that I would have to replace my best and most fun console for the newest gen one. During the launch of the newest generation consoles in 2020, I tried going for the PS5, but I never made it because the hype surrounding them was so massive, I always got a "sold out" message. One day I’ll upgrade to a PS5 and put my dusty PS4 to rest, but to be here, even playing games, it was thanks to all the games and consoles before this, and to my parents for introducing me to the game in the first place. 

Composition Multimedia Project - Zaida

 by Zaida

In my project I plan to address Amy S. Choi's article "What Americans Can Learn From Other Food Cultures". I chose Choi's article because I felt like I connected more with her article than the TED Talks we watched. In Choi's article, she describes that food has various meanings related to community, humanity, and more. She mentions cultural identity and how our comfort food is culturally meaningful, and I couldn’t agree more.  To connect with Choi's ideas, I made a PowerPoint showing the process of making my comfort food, which are pupusas. In the PowerPoint, I included pictures of the ingredients and steps to show the whole process of making this food, which is reflection of me and my culture. 

Composition Multimedia Project - Anllí

 by Anllí

I wanted to create something meaningful to me, something I could relate to. I believe that expressive art is the best kind of art to make. I also wanted to produce a painting with a deeper meaning than anything I had created before. This was when I deiced to use my inspiration from Ron Finley's TED talk, "A Guerrilla Gardener in South Central LA," to use in a painting. My painting is of a mother and daughter eating dinner that is entirely unhealthy for them. Eating predominantly fast food and foods high in sugars and cholesterol can lead to diseases Finley mentions in his TED talk. Many low-income people are practically eating poison which is why i want to emphasize this in a painting. Oil paint is naturally very glossy and beautiful. Using this medium can help me tell the story I would like to tell in an eerie, elegant way. Using powerpoint can also make it easier to show my steps and efforts. 

Mexican American Lit Multimedia Project - Sofi

 by Sofi

For my Multimedia Project, I decided to analyze Julia, the main character in I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter. This has become one of my favorite books, and I just kept getting more surprised as I read the book. I also think that there are many ways to describe Julia because she was such a stubborn yet sensitive teenager.  I find Julia to be a very interesting character. Another reason why I decided to do the project about Julia was that Julia reminds me of my sister. Julia is a young girl who stands up for her beliefs and is determined to reach her goals no matter what others think. 

I chose to analyze Julia because of how similar she is to my sister. “Her hair is just as bad as the dress— tight, crunchy curls that remind me of a rich lady’s poodle” (Sanchez 1). This quote shows the crazy, random things Julia would think about and speak her mind about. I also chose this quote to demonstrate how passionate Julia was. “‘I’ve wanted to be a famous writer. I want to be so successful that people stop me on the street…(Sanchez 2). Even though Amá didn’t agree with Julia, Julia was passionate about being independent. Julia states, “‘I want to be a writer. I want to be independent” (Sanchez 216). Julia’s parents never understood why she wanted to leave Chicago so badly to become a writer. Ama and Apá were convinced Julia would be great living in Chicago. “‘Yes, but I want to go to the one in New York. It’s what I’ve wanted for a long time’” (Sanchez 320).

Composition Multimedia Project - Anita

 by Anita

For my Multimedia Project, I decided to try something new and do a drawing. I decided to draw a girl who represents me and to showcase her puzzle pieces. I wanted to get my friends involved, so I had each of them tell me one thing that they thought represented me and my story and used that information to fill in the puzzle pieces. My inspiration came from Chimamanda Adichie’s TedTalk, “The Danger of a Single Story.” For the drawing, I used colored pencils so that I could make changes if I needed to. I made a few aesthetic changes as I continued because it represented the uncertainty and change that I dealt with throughout the project. I did not want to use paint as I believed that would be more permanent and would hinder the ability to make any changes. I wanted to show an underlying connection that even we can change because our stories and experiences are always molding us.

I created a PowerPoint to easily display the progress of my drawing as each person filled in one of the puzzles. All the experiences we’ve had and all the cards that we’ve been dealt throughout our lives are what make us whole. As Adichie mentions, “When we realize that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise” (18:15). Each story plays a part; therefore, a single story is dangerous because it hinders us from seeing the bigger picture. Metaphorically, this is supposed to represent how complex every individual is and that every puzzle piece is a part of their story.

The critical connection between my project and the course reading is the metaphorical connection that we are adaptable and complex. As people, we can’t be put into a "one-size fits all" and that can be said for our writing styles. There are many things that Lunsford says to include in our writing that connect to what Adichie mentions about the dangers of a single story. For example, when considering a story, we must consider its complexity and that it has multiple faces. Lunsford says, "Be open & flexible. Look at all sides of an issue. Consider fairly ideas that at first seem strange, foreign, or incorrect" (36). This ties into Adichie being judged without others getting to know her many stories and backgrounds. By remembering that we all have puzzle pieces, we can do our best to remember that there are more stories to a person than can be seen on the surface. In academics, this relates to remembering that their stance is just as important as ours, even if we don't agree with it because everyone and every issue has a level of complexity.

Lunsford also mentions the use of our own style. We are who we are, and our writing varies from person to person. She says, "style is all about making appropriate choices, choices that inevitably depend on your topic and all the elements of your rhetorical situation, especially your stance, your purpose, your genre, and your audience" (680). All of these are the puzzle pieces to always consider and never leave out when writing academically. Metaphorically, this relates to my project because it shows that everyone has puzzle pieces that add to the whole story; singularly, each part is important to include, just as each of these is important to consider in our academics.

Composition Multimedia Project - Juliet

 by Juliet

The theme of my project is the importance of taking notice of false information that spreads on social media, and how being ignorant of the things we hear without solid proof and inferring them in real life is harmful to society. In Damon Brown's TEDTalk, he states, “So how do you get the truth, or something close?” (Brown 00:01:47). People want to be seen as reliable and efficient with all they say or do. I made a short story about a child who’s struggling with the rumors of covid that she found online. This little girl who now believes that the pandemic isn’t real tries to prove it to her parents, so she can finally get out of the house. She does it by showing them what she found on the internet, only to later have her parents explain why it’s false. I will also make a PowerPoint to prove that I did put time and energy into this project by showing in the slides my thinking process of how I made the story.

The connection I made from Andrea Lunsford's chapter in Everyone's an Author, and Brown's TED Talk towards my project is to not believe everything you read on social media. Social media is a source where many speculate and brainstorm their theories of what might happen. Everyone on the internet is a “professional” and some people don’t know how crucial it is to make sure their information is accurate. “One of the best ways is to get the original news unfiltered by middlemen” said Brown (00:01:50). Although, many speculate that everything on the internet is true, especially if it looks accurate enough. “Of course, whenever you use online sources like these, it’s crucial to read defensively--checking out the information you find to be trustworthy” (Lunsford 487). Both the chapter and video inspired my project because I fell victim to this several times. One of the incidents that I remember happening to me was when I was researching on whether to get my pets spayed and neutered. I searched if it was the right thing to do and based on what I found, I decided not to. Fast forward to a couple of years later, there was a problem that happened to one of my pets and I had taken them to the vet. I explained to the veterinarian why I didn’t get them operated on sooner because of what I found out online. The doctor explains to me that everything I just said wasn’t true, and that it was the complete opposite. When I read Lunsford’s chapter 21 and watched Brown’s video on how to appropriately research data; I tried it again. Using what I learned, I found everything that the veterinarian had informed me on my last visit.