Dear Visitor,

 

       Thank you for visiting my University Writing 1102 portfolio.  This website contains the majority of my work from my writing class at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  The main focus for this class was how "identity" is viewed and the way that it affects us personally, nationally, and as a global society.  The first quarter of this semester was spent reviewing various pieces of literature involving several views on identity.  As the semester progressed, we used these works to generate our own thoughts and feelings on the subject in question and eventually wrote our own points of view stemming from these topics.  This portfolio contains most of these points of view for your entertainment and educational enjoyment.

       I started out viewing the concept of the website portfolio as tedious and unexciting.  As the semester went on, however, this view began to transition to where I found some entertainment in piecing it all together.  Looking at it now, I’m proud of the amount of work put into this portfolio, and I’m excited to share it with others.

       All of the assignments considered for placement on the website certainly challenged my skills as a writer.  Most of the time, my writing consists of non-educational snippets that I place here and there on Facebook, various forums, or whatever else, so taking an educational approach is way out of the norm at this point in my life.  It had been more than seven years since my last graded writing assignment.  Subsequently, the various genres presented to me in the class were definitely a great refresher and confidence booster as I continue forward with the rest of my degree plan.

       As for my best (or maybe just my favorite) piece, I would have to say it is the final draft for my genre piece.  In it, I discussed how fans identify with NFL teams and while I relate most to this topic, this wasn’t the reason I chose it.  The main reason for this decision was the magnitude of the work that went into it.  Starting with developing an idea, then moving to research, then the annotated bibliography, and finally the finished product, it was surprising and satisfying to see myself accomplish such a well-developed result.  Ironically, even though I put a great deal of effort into the research for this assignment, I still don’t see myself as a researcher or even an academic writer.  I suppose it is because I still find the topic interesting and exciting which are two qualities most wouldn’t attribute to educational pieces or research.

       Feel free to browse around and comment where you can.  I hope you enjoy viewing everything as much as I enjoyed creating it.

 

Sincerely,

 

Garrett Walker