Everything began two months and half ago. I was sitting in front of my laptop, scared and not confident at all. The only idea that came to my mind was “Am I going to be able to do this? Was it a good decision to take this class?” This is my first journalism class in English. I know I’m a good writer in Spanish, but I didn’t know if it was going to be the same in another language. Finally, I decided to take the risk. During this moment, I remembered what my journalism teachers told me once “if you don’t know how to start, brainstorm”. Going back to Tata’s kitchen helped me to get relax and take this assignment as something fun and new. While I was eating a big box of cinnamon cereals, I wrote down all the ideas that came to my mind. I just wanted to transmit all my good child memories with the same feeling as I remember them. Then in the first workshop my classmates talked about my piece with the same enthusiasm as I wrote it; definitely this was my principle motivation for the rest of the quarter.
While weeks passed, I realized that the fear and stress were gone. The panic was replaced with the excitement of how I’m going to begin my next pieces. I was thinking on this all the time; while I was taking a shower, teaching my Spanish Labs, watching a movie, chatting with my friends. Topics, words and phrases came, went, return and left my mind. Yes, my ideas appeared from my daily and everyday’s life. The initiative of my perfect meal came into rise from a conversation with my friend Hanna when were describing Ecuadorian food in the first floor of the library.
Back home, I always write about politics and more intellectual subjects. I haven’t had the opportunity to experiment a more creative writing style. This helped to develop other skills like describing situation and places, balancing my pieces with action and informative facts, and using humor in a way that doesn’t sound artificial. I’m sure I wouldn’t learn all these things without writing about myself and my personal experiences. A more intimate way of writing gave me the chance of trying out different techniques. This surprised me. After reading all my pieces again, I found a Maria’s style. It is a just a combination of a simple language, but with some small details that sometimes become really important elements in the story. Several evocative descriptions come into view, as well. I discovered my own style.
After ten weeks of continuously writing and reading about food, I realized how my culture and my background are reflected in my work. Without even expecting anything like this, I ended writing about Ecuador and his culture. It was an automatic action. The fact is that sometimes I feel so different from the rest, that I just want to remember myself where I come from and show my readers (my teacher and my classmates) how I identify myself. This is the perfect space; I mean my blog, where I can express myself. Each of my pieces had several details about my culture.
Something that helped to improve my writing style was critics. At first I was horrified with the idea that people sat in a circle will judge me, especially if you are an international student and you would probably have thousands of errors. Now, I really appreciate it. Writing can become a very personal activity, that sometimes you lose the notion of reality. When it comes to an end, you don’t know if your piece is a ball of garbage or if it is a masterpiece. That’s why suggestions and observations are always useful. I must say, that I learned more from others people errors than mine. Listening critics and comparing my work with other was a great exercise.
I can end this class telling you and me that I feel proud of myself. I didn’t only overcome all my language/cultural/writing obstacles; I enjoyed this class as well. The initial suffer was worth of it. I demonstrate myself that with practice and dedication I can also be a journalist, but in an English version. I feel that my mind has been expanded and that journalism can’t be limited to politics. There’s a lot more to explore. This world has other fascinating things like food!
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