Writing a Personal Narrative on the Meaning(s) of Gender(s) and Culture(s)

Purpose

What is meaningful to you about your growing up in terms of these themes.? 

Personal Narrative The Meaning(s) of Gender(s) and Culture(s)

The purpose of this paper is to write about and explore the meaning(s) of gender and/or culture in your own life experience growing up. The essay will be written in personal narrative form and be based upon your own experience, observations, and analysis. The actual assignment is to write about the meaning of your gender identity or your cultural background or a combination of both. Many of you many identify across more than one culture and/or as gender fluid or non-binary or trans, so please keep in mind that you can think of this essay in terms of plural identity and of intersectional identity.  This paper is for you.

We are not peer reviewing this first essay, so that you can have the freedom to explore these themes more fully, as I will be the only reader. (We will be doing peer revision for the next two essays.) You may focus on culture only, gender only, or a combination of the two. Format: You should organize your information into a narrative where you tell your story.

As a suggestion, you may want to organize the essay from growing up to the present in terms of how the essay moves in time. But you do not have to. The structure does not necessarily have to be linear, but it should have a clear thesis and be in essay form. (We will review essay structure and organization in class.) Information and Analysis: Make sure to combine basic information, telling the reader about your gender identity and expression and/or cultural identity, along with your own reflection about how these are meaningful to you. This is where you will be including clear observations and analysis of your experience. Be present in your narrative. One of the beauties of personal narrative writing, for the reader, is learning about the writer. In other words, you can use “I” because this is about you. Content: As per usual, in our class, you have the freedom to create your own content within this assignment. The tone of the essay may be serious, or funny, or combinations of emotion, analysis, and reflection. Choose your focus, and then see where your exploration takes you.

This assignment is worth 20% of your overall grade. It will be graded for the clarity of the writing as well as the nature of the content. Length: 2-3 pages, which is 500-750 words. You can always write more than that, but you do need to write to the minimum. Format: We will go over the format in class, but it will be basic MLA format.

In order to prepare for this assignment, we will be doing pre-writing as well as reading models from writers who are also exploring these themes. If you have questions about the assignment, we can go over those together at any stage of the process. We will also be reviewing some mechanics of punctuation and grammar as well.

Note: This first assignment is also a chance for us to work together for the first time on a formal essay for EWRT 1A.