This I Believe Peer Review Reflection

1      The feedback from the peer review allowed me to add more detail into my essay and created more things for me to talk about.  Because of the feedback, I added more memories of me and my mother from when I was young. It was one of the questions my peer reader asked. Having someone else read my writing makes me a little nervous, but I really grow in terms of how I write and how much detail I add from when people peer review. In addition, having another set of eyes help me create more of an image for other people.  It surprised me that my peer reader and I were going through similar situations in our essays and that she and I could relate to each other.After the peer response I knew exactly what I was going to write, and I did not even think about it until it was mentioned by my peer reader. I think that is a great aspect about peer reading.  

     

I Speak American

I have lived in New Jersey my entire life so when I moved to Charlotte for college, everyone who I came into contact with noticed my accent. I never thought I had an accent, and I didn't realize exactly how much I did until I came here. I definitely did not say 'y'all', but it has grown on me and I will catch myself using it randomly. My most complicated word was 'water' and I pronounced it 'wauder', the way most people in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area pronounce it. Both of my parents are from North Jersey around New York and they're pronunciation of water sounds like 'watah'. Because I was raised in both North and South Jersey, I have different parts of different accents. I actually took me a couple of months to learn how to say 'water' without my accent. My parents have strong Jersey accents and I love to point that out to them when we talk on the phone. My accent has gotten better, but my friends still make fun of me for the way I say 'chawclate', 'cawfee', and 'tawk'.

Reading Without Reservations by Alice Steinbach

For my memoir, I chose Without Reservations by Alice Steinbach. On the cover, it explains that is "The Travels of an Independent Women," and it is that and so much more. Steinbach explains that she always was an independent women, however, she often lived and defined herself by what other people wanted or expected of her. She finally decides to travel the world in hopes of finding out who she really is, a time in her life that she called, "The Year of Living Dangerously." She decides to travel to Paris, Oxford, and Milan for a year and finds something different in each country. I chose this book because I have always wanted to travel and it looked very interesting. I can relate to Steinbach because I often try to please other people, yet I am independent at the same time; I wanted to read about how she dealt with those two qualities and if she made peace with herself. I can't exactly relate to the author's story because I have not yet traveled the world, but hopefully one day I can.