The Library

Today was much easier because I wasn't quite so edgy. I got a lot more quality writing done, being less distracted with anxiety or pressure. I was very happy with what I produced today. I didn't allow myself to feel overwhelmed because I just kept working.

I wrote about the library, basically speaking about how I used language to orient and express myself. I give detailed directions to the library in my essay, which represents how the library showed me where and who I was. I talk about my progression toward maturity, paralleling it with my experiences at three libraries. I put in a lot of vivid descriptions of these libraries, especially of the Franklin Library.

Here's an excerpt of that description which demonstrates my use of detail and my directions:

"Every Wednesday afternoon of my fifth grade year, Mom, Tucker, and I would enter the car, one of us holding Mom’s filled and consequently heavy green-trimmed L.L. Bean bag. Mom would turn on the car, shift it into gear, and back out of the dirt parking lot onto the dirt road. She’d drive down the road to the highway that crossed it. She’d stop, look both ways, and then turn left onto Route 11, which we would follow through East Andover, past Highland lake, past Webster lake, through the Franklin suburbs until we arrived at a junction, at which point we’d turn left onto Main Street. I’d watch the array of passing green trees thicken as we left Andover, then thin as we reached East Andover, then thicken as we left it, then thin as we entered Franklin, a process of waxing and waning that accompanied the dynamic momentum of the drive. As we got into the most urban section of Main Street, which was past the Unitarian church and the gas station and just over the reservoir, Mom would pull the car next to the sidewalk to our right and stop it. We’d get out of the car and stand on the sidewalk. There we’d be on one side of the road, while the library stood on the other, and it always seemed that there was so little distance between us but that I could not cross the road and reach it."

I liked the style that I achieved with this essay. With my first essay, I felt conflicted and lost when it came to voice. I can't wait to re-approach that essay with my newly earned confidence.

I am meeting with Mrs. Lemeris tomorrow so that she can check in and give me suggestions on what I have written so far.