Play Make Write Think

Author: Anusha

Player Narrative Reflection

Student Posts

In my player narrative, I sought to explain how games served as a starting point for my creative aspirations. There is a nod to how I believe games allowed me to forge my own sources of engagement with other people, and how that focus helped me become self-reliant.

I think I had the same results in terms of the success of the free-writing exercise, but I do think the activity itself was easier to complete because I had more concrete memories of playing games. I think the structure of my player narrative was entirely different from my literacy narrative. Instead of feeling a wariness and back & forth about my identity like I did when I wrote my literacy narrative, I felt motivated by my previous experiences with games. Each paragraph tried to build off this increased sense of creativity and fulfillment.

I learned it was alright to delete writing that draws away from the point of the essay. There was a paragraph, that I felt was really well written, about my limited but favorite experiences playing games with my family. Ultimately, it didn’t add anything to my thesis and created more confusion in my essay. Deleting the section was a difficult decision, but once I did, I felt that my essay flowed much more effectively.

What Would Have Been…

Student Posts

Pictured here:

bookbag: the Isabella is so old, you can not find this style in stores anymore; was rescued from an old closet when my Herschel broken down in the middle of senior year

iPad: the lightest 5-subject notebook I’ve ever owned

laptop: functioning was better pre-quarantine when it did not need to be charged every other hour; likely weighs 100 pounds since I nearly break my back carrying it

pencil case: contains 2 pens & correction tape for the mistakes that are too tragic to look at

calculator: stoichiometry

wallet: carries embarrassing ID pictures & expired metro cards that I will one day exchange

planner: my pride & joy; withstands my tears and aggressive cross outs; understands my limits

vaseline: a necessity when it gets lower than 65 F; must constantly be replenishing itself because it never runs out

airpods: great for traveling, bad for Zoom

earphones: great for Zoom, bad for traveling

I have been studying at home for months, so I tried to show that things that would have been in my bag. It was interesting to see how many of my “materials” have become tech, because a few years ago I would only carry a pair of Apple earphones to school. Overall, though, my picture certainly feels a bit odd: a mix of study-influencer with my airpods, laptop case, and planner cover, but also a bit of whatever she could find and need–which I think is representative of who I am. I try to fit an aesthetic, but I mostly just care about functionality. I would say the part I enjoyed most was the cataloging portion because I did not feel restricted by traditional grammar rules and went free form in my descriptions. I definitely do consider it writing because I was able to describe my items in a more comical way that revealed my sarcastic personality (speaks to the autobiographical nature of this assignment).

“Live” From Home

Student Posts

9:45: I’m not sure if the wind is coming from my surroundings or because my computer is overheating. Nevertheless, this front porch is penetrating darkness. The shadow illuminated by the windows could be from a tree, but all that seems to come to mind is the picture of BFG depicted on character books. I’m not sure if my character is coming home of if they rushed home because Sam is in danger, but maybe if I can come inside I’ll know. Just typing this out makes me feel nervous; I’m suddenly hypersensitive to the doors outside the apartment opening and closing as if something is going to happen to me when I go inside the door.

10:30: I’ve been walking aimlessly. It took me too long to find the key. I am filled with anxiety; there is something startling about walking in a large house alone. Not to mention, Sam’s journal referred to herself as the “psycho house girl”. What is wrong with this house?! The weather alert especially made me uneasy. I feel brought back to 2012 during Hurricane Sandy when my family lost power for two weeks. We since moved out of the house, but walking in the darkness with an aimless goal forever remains ingrained, and this game reignited that memory. Darkness is so central to this game that even walking into the light makes me wary.

Where Are The Wipes?

Student Posts
Sources:
All About Avocados. Image. https://avocadosfrommexico.com/avocados/.
Mills, Kendall. Wet Wipes. Photograph. https://healthybaby.com/products/wipes-wet.

When I first saw this quest, I thought it would be interesting if I made a picture related to the pandemic. The thought of using a disinfectant wipe came when I was at the store the other day and saw the cleaning wipes section completely “wiped” out. I’m not sure how it is in other areas, but in NY, you would be hard pressed to buy a box of Lysol (or any off-brand) wipes. I think it is really interesting how even though we have been in this pandemic for months, it is still difficult to find such a basic cleaning item. I wanted to convey the idea that wipes are found scarcely and thought it would be funny if I put one in an avocado “pit”. 

In general, I have never been good at editing pictures and have always deferred the responsibility to my friends, so this was definitely a challenge. I had trouble with the layering of the images, but I eventually realized that each one had to be cropped independently. After some time, I started playing around with the cutout brush and the retouch feature (for blending purposes) which I think, made the images look better together. 

Badge

Student Posts

I created this avatar when I first got my phone. It’s meant for sending emoticons using one’s own face (as opposed to yellow faces), although it’s probably not as popular as Apple would have liked. I chose to use this avatar because I was able to play around with the faces. I also added a blue beanie, because if this was an in-person class, I would have been wearing a beanie most days. The criteria said to choose an avatar that speaks to this class, so I chose one with a thinking face (“Play Make Write THINK”). I also found it fitting that the avatar be thinking given that it shows up when I comment on a discussion post (“here is what I am thinking”).

Some difficulties I had while creating the badge were adjusting the photo size and adding my name on, but when I used Pixlr, those problems were quickly resolved. 

Literacy Narrative Reflection

Student Posts

I was initially worried about writing my first essay in months, in addition to it being my first college essay. Though, upon writing this narrative, I was able to reflect on my past experiences in a more culminating way then I was able to experience on my last Zoom day of high school. 

Since the English class I took during my second semester was not as writing focused, especially given that it moved to a pass/fail course, I consider the last time I seriously focused on my writing to be my Asian American Literature class. I loved the class material so much that I never realized how much my writing grew. I learned for example, to incorporate humor into my writing, to embrace gender and race differences in my analyses, and to play around with essay structures. Thinking about this class helped me reflect on how much my writing has changed throughout the years. 

In terms of the writing process, I was hesitant about the freewriting exercises. In my previous English classes, I have tried activities similar to the twenty questions where I wrote about the time and setting. I found that the pre-writing activity I used for this essay was much more effective because I had already laid and expanded a bit on instances that I could draw on for this essay. I particularly liked the listing out ten experiences, because I was able to connect two moments, one from when I was younger and one from when I was older that illustrated how my opinion on reading changed. While I decided not to write about those specific moments, I tried to weave the theme of reading changing from a distraction to an experience throughout the essay. 

Once I had completed the pre-writing, I used everything I had noted down to continuously write for two hours. When I finished, I was over the word limit, but it was easier to whittle down and organize what I had already written instead of pre-deciding what I wanted in each paragraph and then writing it all down.

I feel that these techniques simplified my writing process and I will definitely try to incorporate them the next time I write about myself, in whatever form that can take (job application, summer internship, another literacy narrative).

css.php