Final Exam Assignment--read below carefully! Due Thursday, Dec.12th

Freshman Composition I: “Travel and Culture

Final Exam Assignment (Short Paper #3): Where Are You From?

In Haile’s essay, “We Go It Alone,” she’s confronted by another hiker who tells her, very matter-of-factly, that “blacks don’t hike.” In other words, when he looks at her he knows where she’s from and who she is—not who she says she is. Often in society, the reality of who we are clashes with how we’re perceived by society, and sometimes, we play along so as not to make waves. Yet our true self can’t be packaged into a stereotype or emblazoned on a t-shirt. To know us, you have to travel in our footsteps, inhabit our thoughts, and forget everything you think you know about where we’re from-from.

So for your final short paper (your final exam), I want you to write about the person who are that no one can see. If someone met you for the first time, what would they never see or guess about you? Why doesn’t this show? Do you try to hide it? Or is it just impossible to show in any visible way? This could be an identity, a hobby, a dream, an aspiration, a career choice, a hobby, or even a person you no longer are (for example, people would never guess I used to have very long hair). Write about why this hidden self is (or was) important to you, and why you think it’s not written on your skin or visible on your clothing. Can people truly understand you without knowing about this? Do you ever try to tell them—or do you fear it will just be lost in translation?

REQUIREMENTS

·        As long as you want it to be, but be descriptive: make connections

·        Don’t make it sound like an assignment; don’t start “my response to this assignment is…” Tell a story, write an essay.

·        You don’t have to quote from the essay or Wild, but you certainly can if you feel it will help your conversation

·        Due Thursday, December 12^th by 5pm