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Researched Meditation

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Your assignment: write a 1,000-1,500 word meditative essay on a topic of your choice. Basically, introduce something of personal significance, then explore, more generally, its meaning & significance beyond just you. Broaden your perspective by including, at some point, research on the topic.

All writing, whether personal or scholarly, has the unmistakable 'fingerprints' of its author's personality. Knowing more about your style and voice will improve your writing craft. This personal essay allows you to write about a subject you're already an expert on: you. Rather than send you off with a lame prompt like "Write about an event in your life that seemed bad but turned out to be good" or "Write about your most embarrassing moment," I'm leaving it up to you.

Tips

  • You will be sharing this essay with me and with classmates, so choose something you are comfortable making public.
  • Avoid moments with obvious significance--wedding, prom, graduation, bar mitzvah, or the death of a loved one.
  • Consider how much of the essay will describe you and how much will discuss universal themes. An essay on your hobby of midnight golfing can describe what midnight golfing means to you and also what having a hobby means for everyone. You should do some of both, and talking about one will illuminate the other.
  • Remember, show, don’t tell. Don’t write, "I was shy" or "I was scared." Instead, show that shyness or fear through describing actions and reactions.
  • Can you make up details if you don't remember them? Well, You can't make up events that didn't happen. But there is such thing as poetic license. If you want to recreate a conversation for your personal narrative and remember the gist of what was said, it's okay to compose dialogue that is not word-for-word, but true to the meaning.
  • Use details to establish characters, atmosphere, feeling, suspense, environment, and background. Select relevant details - ones that do more than just provide description, that reveal larger issues in the essay. A brief mention of that empty nail-polish bottle lying sideways on your bedroom floor suggests so much about your life & personality.