Writing has rarely intimidated me. But MP2? MP2 intimidated me, and that was a good thing! Fun fact: last year in Classics 435, I did an elaborate digital painting to opt out of writing an 8-10 page paper (there’s a different type of focus that I can fall into more easily when painting) because I had never written that long of a paper before, so naturally I put it off! Then MP2 came along and I realized that it was time to expand my comfort zone.

Taking this class helped me realize how much I had let my writing stagnate and how complacent I had grown. The standards that other teachers and professors held for writing assignments in all my classes prior to this were low enough that I rarely stopped and read my own work with a critical (well, more critical than usual—I come from a long line of anxious perfectionists) eye. It was not habitual for me. And I never re-read to see how efficient my writing was—I used to glance over to make sure it “sounded good." There is some overlap between those two, but both are equally critical, depending on audience. I particularly focused on language efficiency in MP1, so instead of having a huge over-the-word-limit sprawl of text (like my SA2), my MP1 did its job without excessive length. Then MP2 came along and I found myself asking "Why don't I research and write about interesting things more often? This is so cool." Plus, Google Scholar and UW library content is no longer nearly as daunting as I once found it to be. Last week I was curious about the brain's relationship to creating visual art and went straight to Google Scholar. 

It isn't only the skills from this class that I am going to apply to my writing in the future. Yes, I will be mindful of my audience, make sure I organize my writing, and remember that a shitty first draft is better than no first draft at all. I will eventually write the greatest, ethos-drenched cover letters, and my future essays will be sharp and efficient. But I will also write with a little more mindfulness and confidence.

Thanks for everything, Denise! Really. I had a tough quarter because of my other classes, but if I had to make it easier, I wouldn't exchange yours for a different one. I wish I had gone to office hours more often. 

- Laura