Dear Reader

My name is Heidi Underwood and I began my college debut in 1999. I am a mother, full-time employee and student, wife to a loving husband who grew up in foster homes. I am a person who has experienced multiple American Cultures but never adopted one to be my own. I have traveled a long road with many road blocks and U-turns to get me to where I am today. Here I stand to finish what I once started, but this time I know what I am here to achieve. I will be a Registered Nurse at the end of the road I am traveling with Everett Community College.

I enjoy school but have always struggled with English classes. With English and Writing a person must first have interest and basic knowledge of the subject he or she is writing about. Being that I have belonged to many families, but always as an outsider, it has been extremely difficult to write about the required subjects of culture, community and tradition. Secondly, a person must be able to communicate openly with other classmates. This is also a task for me as I generally choose to keep to myself. One benefit I had was being able to be masked by the computer because this was an on-line class. I feel that I could open up more with an on-line class; where as I would probable keep quiet in a face to face class.

English 101 D has helped me grow in the ability to read, write and analysis what culture, communities and traditions are and how they develop and change. English 101 D has allowed me the opportunity to interact with other classmates and understand different types of cultures, communities and traditions across the world. This class has also inspired me to create my own community with other classmates for study groups and set my own family traditions. Using the group sessions we were able to open each other’s eyes using our own perception on the require topics. All in all this was an eye opening learning experience for me and my classmates were, in a way, my teacher’s.

To show my growth and achievement I have included some of my writing assignments. My Critical thinking analytically writing piece would be Intermission One Movie Talk, “Akeelah and the Bee“. I was able to determine how an insider and outsider's view can change depending on the situation. An assignment I am determined to show I can improve would be DB3 “The Museum of Me”. This was a midway assignment and looking back on the task I feel I now have a better understand of the expectation. My Community Blog Assignment “Study Buddies” shows my ability to use direction in capturing my audience. For Writer’s choice I felt my samples would not be complete without my Identity blog “Pieces of Me”. Overall these writing pieces represent my achievement of understanding culture, community and tradition.