If you read my previous journals, you may know that I am an Ecuadorian who loves green plantain! In the coast of Ecuador, it is common to eat green plantain dishes. In my family, “Bola de Verde” is the number one. When I was a child, my mom cooked them for dinner. I remember the pleasant aroma of coffee sided with a smooth “bola,” as we use to call it too. Later on, this traditional dish became popular in cafeterias. Then, the familiar tradition to make them at home decayed. I used to eat “bolas” in a nice cafeteria located on the first floor of my office building. When I came to the US, we missed that delicious tradition. That encouraged me to learn to prepare “Bola de Verde.” It is really easy.
In rural areas, green plantains are grilled in coal grills, but it takes too much time. At home, my mom broiled them. When they are cooked but still sweltering, we smash them all with a stone. Then, we add salt, oil, butter and cheese. With our hands, we mix them into a ball. We have to serve them immediately to feel better it soft and tacky taste. Unbelievable, I learned it by phone! One day that I desperately wanted this taste in my mouth, I called the specialist: my mom. She taught me her recipe. I made them great. The fact that I was desperate for a “bola” makes me doubt about how delicious were them. However, now I have mastered my recipe. I also found a supermarket that sells Ecuadorian green plantains, which make them better. When family comes home, I proudly serve Ecuadorian “Bolas de Verde” made in the USA.
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I wrote this entry using the Fast Writes technique. It taught me to focus on a specific topic for 3 minutes. I think I have a nice result:
I have been working in the academia more than ten years, and I dress in wear to work outfits. The colours of my blazers and coats mostly are brown, white or beige. They might match the colour of my pants, skins and shoes. My haircut is easy to comb because I need to be reading or writing any time or preparing the course. That is why I do not use much makeup. I only apply a dermatologic cream, which works as a makeup base and eyeliner. In my day-to-day life, I spend many hours at the University or City Library. I am reading academic books and journal articles, which will underpin my doctoral candidacy. Usually, I work on my laptop, where I keep all my notes in Dropbox, a storage cloud. In doing so, I can work in any place and at any time; even, when I am out of town. At least two times in a year I travel to attend to academic conferences. Regularly I present my research results in the American Anthropologists Association (AAA) Conference and the Latin American Studies Association (LASA). Both meetings gather researchers to discuss special topics of research interest. This year LASA conference will take place in South America. Working in the academia allows me to eat any meals. However, I enjoy eating green plantain cooked in multiple ways. Grilled plantains with cheese are delicious. Grated plantain cooked with fish or “Sango de Pescado” – no translation in English - is a traditional Ecuadorian dish that I cook at home too. However, “Bola de Verde” - cooked plantain mixed with cheese, is the most common dish I eat at home. The fact that I enjoy meals with green plantain show my origins. I was born on the coast of Ecuador, a tropical region which the main crop is green plantain. In the coast, large extensions of land have crops of banana, plantain, and rice. Most of the banana plantation belongs to huge private fruit corporations for exportation. However, in small and rural plantations, plantain and rice is the main crop. Then, in the Ecuadorian coast, people eat plantain and rice for breakfast, lunch or dinner. In the most rural places, they eat plantain in the three meals. Now, that I am living in the US, I cook everyday white rice and eat plantain at least three times per week. Most of the weekends I cook “Bola de Verde.” Some years ago, a Spaniard professor reached our department. Cordially, I invited him to a traditional breakfast, which includes “Bola de Verde.” (translated as “ball of green” or “green ball”). The meal surprised the professor. He imagined a dish with vegetables because he heard “green.” Traditionally in Ecuador, we call the green plantain only "verde" or “green;” while "maduro" or “mature” is a ripe plantain, which is sweet. People generate ideas in a daily basis, responding to any particular community such as family, work, or any other social group. Listing a set of ideas that come up from our mind or making maps are the techniques mostly applied according to the course forum on generating ideas. However, the forum also reveals the importance of collaboration when creating ideas. Brainstorming is one of the most useful techniques to getting new thoughts. The flexibility of this method facilitates its application by oneself or in groups.
In addition, rather than being a random activity, generating ideas responds to a purpose, which narrows down the creating process. The purpose does not detach the inspiration rather the purpose triggers it. However, the writer cannot wait for inspiration to start up new thought. The writer has to struggling to begin this creational journey. According to the forum, reading books, watching films, web research are main resources for generating ideas. Later on, the ideas are written down by taking notes. That is to say, that ideas are translated to symbols. Since I started my career, I have been writing. However, when I began teaching at an Ecuadorian University, I realized the role writing played in my life. Usually, I wrote guidelines and text-notes for my courses. Later, I got involved in research. Consequently, I started to inform Deans, Research Group directors and partners, findings and methods. One of my major accomplishments during research was a manuscript I published in an academic journal. The paper was written in my native language, Spanish, and peer reviewed by foreign Spanish-speakers professors
It is an amazing sensation when a journal publishes your work. However, that experience did not prepare me to write in English. The differences between Spanish and English structures, and between native and non-native language conventions made the journey more convoluted. Then, my experience publishing did not straightly prepare me to this course but my goal to get a doctoral degree motivates me to improve my English writing skills. I have presented research findings in a couple of American conferences. Before the presentation, my professors edited my written work. After those experiences, I deeply reflected about my weakness on writing skills and the cultural crash I had when writing in English as a foreign language. My future in the academia demands me to publish. The well-known phrase among professors: “To Publish or Perish,” encouraged me to dominate the writing process. Thus, I need to practice that process to be a more successful writer, particularly, the rhetorical situation. Through this course, I aim to develop the rhetorical knowledge, critical thinking, conventions and the process of writing per sé. Finally creating the habits of mind such as curiosity, creativity, flexibility and metacognition. I assume other members of the course may have the same goals. Last entry discussed the metacognitive or reflective writing, a habit of mind for successful writing. This self-assessment requires the author to work alone. However, the present journal will focus on the social aspect of writing. It is the main challenge I have about what the writers do. During my two first years in my graduate school, I have spent tons of hours writing social sciences analysis for my professors. However, few of them encourage us to share our work with our partners. I realized how beneficial was to share our writings in one of my recent courses, but, I am so shy to ask for it. I find collaborating on my writing intimidating. While advancing this course, I wonder that I feel unconfident in sharing my writings because I learned English as a foreign language. It is extremely different to learn writing and reading your language, surrounded by a cultural environment. Also, it is hard to break with a writing structure someone has been using for a while, and start building your ideas guided by different rules and styles. Which, by the way, you are not used to. And that is the main reason I am taking the course ENG-101.
In the section about collaborative writing, I reflect about what I gain from working with others when writing. The few opportunities I have had to submit my work for peer review, it has been satisfactory but demanding. It is satisfactory because I learn from others perspective. It is demanding because I had to rethink some posited ideas and re-writing several paragraphs. It happened to me with my first publication in a journal. Although it was written and published in my native language, Spanish, I received two feedbacks from reviewers. After reading their comments I feel frustrated, my work did not deserve that, I said to myself. However, after reflecting on it, I found that my main idea was clearly communicated to my audience while some paragraphs needed to be linked in a better way. Finally, I resubmitted my draft, and it was published! The social aspect of writing processes, definitely are valuable in academic writing. The Council of Writing Program Administration Outcomes values the collaborative social aspects of writing because the feedback helps to develop flexible writing processes. Last entry journal discusses, among other steps, the recursive practice of writing. The discussion of this journal focuses on a successful technique of re-visiting a draft while reflecting on it. Reflective writing facilitates to translate writer’s thoughts to the audience by smoothing the flow of ideas and thoughts. In doing so, the final product will be stronger and more engaging.
The feature of reflective writing is the self-reflective thinking the writer can achieve of his own work, which finally should become a habit. Self-assessment is not usually contemplated in vernacular writing, but it is helpful in professional career. Reflective writing allows the writer to rethink about the writing; its goals, its harmony with the audience, its reasons for including or excluding some ideas, its composition, its structure, and so on. The ENG-101 online course provides a self-assessment for each journal. This novel technique pushes the student to reflect on his/hers own work, practicing metacognitive or reflective writing. Consequently, this practice allows to developing metacognition, one of the eight habits of mind essential for success writing. Finally, reflective writing relates directly to the Writing Process outcome. The writing process is recursive then, revisiting drafts entails to review what it achieved and what not. As a non-native English speaker, I had heard about ‘rhetoric’, but I have never paid attention about what it means. Less I have noticed an opportunity in developing the ability to understand audiences and contexts previous to start writing any text. However, the outcome #1 does not mention how the students will improve their skills to understand “rhetorical situations.”
The Critical Thinking outcomes, surprisingly, are mainly related to my primary interest as a Ph. D. student. Day-to-day, I read a range of academic works looking for patterns, evidence, and elements according to my research interest; however, it is very hard to translate my conclusions to the readers. Something quite interesting from these section outcomes is the use of strategies to compose texts integrating writer’s reflections from diverse sources. I look forward critical thinking process become my great ally. The outcome #3, which focuses on the process of writing, invites to reflect on the idea of writing as a project. Like any other process, the writing process has a starting point, resources, and a final product. However, it calls my attention the collaborative aspect of the writing process, a step mostly forgotten. In my years as graduate student, few professors pushed the students to work with peers to review their papers. But the ones who did that are the best. Indeed, I will reflect on the steps for writing, and I will look for collaborative partners. Outcome #4: Knowledge of Conventions, will allow me to break the cultural problem when writing for an English speaker-audience. It is not easy to apply formal or informal structures according to different situations when you were raised in a non-English speaker country. The jargon differs, and some particular expressions complicate others’ logic understanding. In this outcome, what is not clear for me yet is what genre means for writing texts, and why it is so emphasised in overall course. |
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