English:

From the articles, essays, and videos we have so far discussed, please choose one with which you will engage in order to write your own Personal/Creative Nonfiction essay. Your version will reflect a theme that appears in the essay you have chosen. For example, perhaps you choose to engage with Joan Didion's essay "On Self Respect" by writing your own examination of that concept. You might engage with "Once More to the Lake" to describe a place that represents a distinct intersection of past and present. Or, perhaps you write a piece that examines body image in your experience and in popular media, in other words, a piece that parallels Roxane Gay's essay "My Body Is Wildly Undisciplined..."

While these guidelines are somewhat loose, please do your best to freewrite, brainstorm, and prepare your writing so that the essay presents thematically focused and specific writing. While creative essays can be fun, it may also be difficult to focus.

If appropriate, reference the essay that you have chosen to engage.

It is required that you conduct research around your theme, and reference at least three outside sources cited in MLA format.

Here is a list of the selections we have studied:

"Mother Tongue"
"Once More to the Lake"
"On Self Respect" "Now We Are Five"
"My Body Is Wildly Undisciplined And I Deny Myself Nearly Everything I Desire"
"Barbara Ehrenreich: How Positive Thinking Undermines America"
"Shake the Dust"