English 210

English 210: Honors 9/11: Loss & Redemption

I took English 210 with Dr. Lund during my spring semester in 2019. This class was one that pushed me out of my comfort zone every day and allowed me to become more confident in myself.

On the first day of class, Dr. Lund handed everyone an index card and told us to write our last and first name large on the front of the card. We then watched the “Ok: Surgeon” AT&T commercial and Dr. Lund asked us to tell him something learned about the commercial. He pulled out the index cards and I was the first one to be called. I was not sure what he meant by something learned, so I answered that the commercial used humor because I did not know what else to say as I was put on the spot. He then continued to call on everyone in the class and asked the same question until someone asked him what he meant by something learned. This happened every day whether it be for a commercial, one of the books we were reading in class, a series on Netflix, or a movie trailer. Every class period we analyzed some material and connected that to 9/11 and the subjects of loss and redemption, as well as the other materials we have looked at in the class. Dr. Lund always just called on someone in the class so you were always put on the spot and he makes sure that everyone is called on an equal amount of times. As a quiet person who is not likely to regularly raise her hand to answer questions, I was forced to participate in the class. Being called on multiple times in one class helped me to be more comfortable and by the end of the class I was more willing to volunteer to answer a question or present my ideas.

I also learned how to be more confident in my answers whether I knew what I was talking about or not. Most of the answers that were given on the first day of class were phrased as a question or were preceded by I think or I guess. Dr. Lund did not allow us to say these when answering questions because we needed to be more confident or assertive. He told us that even if we did not know the answer or were not sure if what we were saying was correct, we had to say anything or tell him something else about the material as if we know what we are talking about. He wanted us to be comfortable and confident in our answers, as well as ourselves, and had us practice this from the first day of class. Prior to this class, I would always give answers that sounded like I was unsure if I was correct or follow my answer but “I don’t know” because I did not want to be wrong. After this class, I have become more confident and comfortable to give an answer even if I do not know if that answer is correct.

In every English class I have been in before, we would read one book or look at one material at a time and then move on to the next one. I have never read more than one book at a time because I just assumed I would not be able to keep the different materials straight. However, in English 210, we would look at at least four different materials every class. We were reading three books and watching episodes from various shows all at the same time. For each class period we would either read a chapter or section out of two books or read from one and watch an episode of one of the shows. In class, we would talk about these materials, as well as a commercial or video in class. During discussions, we mainly focused on the readings for that day, but would also connect these to previous readings. Dr. Lund said that it was good to study all of these materials at once and never completely finish one before starting the next because in life you may not finish one thing before moving onto the next. By only reading certain sections of a book and reading many at one time, we were able to predict what would happen in the future and were better able to form connections between the materials as they were all always fresh in our minds. While I was scared I was not going to do well in the course because of this, it helped me be able to balance many things at once and pay close attention to all of these materials.

For our major project, which is attached below, we could chose any media but had to answer the question of how the events on September 11, 2001 affected our lives, as that was the main focus of our English 210 class. Because I was only one on 9/11, I have never really thought of how the events on that day have affected my life today and have not been able to see any changes. I have grown up in a post-9/11 world so everything that has changed just seems normal to me. The only thing that came to mind about how my life has been affected by 9/11 was that my dad had to deploy to Afghanistan twice. Because of this, I decided to write a personal narrative and focus on how my life has been affected by growing up in a military family in the post-9/11 world. Before settling on an idea, I talked to my parents because I was at a loss for ideas. From a short conversation, I discovered that before 9/11, there was not as much security on the post. Specifically, anyone could drive on or off post without being stopped at the gate to have their ID card checked. This was something that I have grown up with and just assumed was a practice that has happened forever, so I was shocked to find that living on post was completely different before 9/11. After this conversation, my paper still dealt with how my life had been altered by living in a military family, but focused on a few topics, especially on how the security measures around me changed immediately after the events on 9/11. I enjoyed this project because it made me think about something that I never had before. I was able to ask my parents questions and hear stories that I never had before to learn about how our lives changed almost immediately following 9/11, as well as in the years to follow.