Final Reflection

In the first project of the semester, my personal narrative, the main ideas of a meaningful text within a community was first introduced and applied. This text was supposed to be important to our personal lives and connects us to a community where we feel personally accepted. I decided to focus my project around music, as it has played such an influential role in my life as well as driven my personality. Over this past summer, I had an amazing opportunity to travel across Europe where I attended a huge music festival in Belgium. Florence + The Machine headlined, a band that has influenced much of my love for music. In my paper I analyzed the ways Florence and her band have made their name, as well as the inspiration that they have brought to me inside and outside of the festival. I made a connection between Florence and my love for music, as a small alternative band that I loved at the festival performed brought butterflies to my stomach, I later discovered that Florence +. The Machine made a cover of my favorite song. I used this connection to use a realistic example of how music influences my life. My main challenge faced while composing my personal narrative paper was understanding how to write from a “personal narrative point of view”. I had difficulty understanding how to describe events as they were happening but also in a way that the audience would feel they were experiencing the events as I was. Mat helped me to better understand what it means to right from this point of view. Also, during the revision process, Mat and I discussed ways in which we could juice up the paper, such as bringing it out of chronological order. Mat explained the goal was to arrange events in an order that almost make the paper not make sense initially but will eventually bring all of the events together. I thoroughly enjoyed this project, as it allowed me to reflect and recreate one of my favorite memories I have ever experienced, as well as appreciating my love for music. 

For the inquiry project, choosing a community in which to analyze was my first obstacle. I think I had trouble fully understanding what type of community I should analyze. I initially wanted to focus on childhood studies, specifically developmental analysis in children. I soon came to realize this topic was not going to work out, as there is not a specific community that would act as a source to this research. When we did the peeling the onion activity as a class, I got feedback from Mat and my peers on which route I should take. The idea of the Best Buddies community was initiated, because although it wasn’t specifically child developmental studies, I was still able to analyze people learn, respond, and react.  When I decided this would be a good route to take, I immediately used my FSU resources to get more information on the club, and I was able to attend the next general body meeting of the month. I got to see a bit of what FSU Best Buddies is like, as well as meet some of the people who serve on the executive board. I was welcomed by Haley Brockway at the meeting, the club’s president. I was then able to reach out to Haley and conduct an interview where I learned more about who she is and about how FSU Best Buddies stands within the community. This interview was a highly important aspect of my research project, as it was the most crucial way for me to gain more information about the club here at FSU. Within my research, I was able to significantly analyze the message that Best Buddies stands for and how the FSU Best Buddies program is working to advocate that message. This was an important project for me as it allowed me to continue my experience with the Best Buddies organization for the sixth year now, and I am grateful for any experience that Best Buddies brings me. 

For the final project of the semester, the campaign project, I knew what genre I wanted to analyze within the Best Buddies community. In 60 different cities across the country, the organization puts on an annual Friendship Walk which advocates for and raises money for the Best Buddies organization. This is knowingly the most important and influential event that Best Buddies creates a huge hype for, as the walk stands for everything that Best Buddies advocates. For the project, I created an Instagram dedicated specifically for Best Buddies in the Tallahassee community, where I uploaded lots of information regarding the Friendship Walk and other events going on in Tallahassee. I also composed a flyer specifically for the Tallahassee Friendship Walk coming in March 2020, including all information regarding the who, what, when, where, and why of the march. Lastly, I composed a podcast uploaded to my Soundcloud explaining what the march is and why it is such an important aspect of the Best Buddies community, encouraging all to get involved at a city near them.