MY NARRATIVE PROCESS WAS NEVER GLAMOROUS
When Mr. Philips assigned the research essay my initial thought was "oh dang." It seemed like a lot to prepare for and I struggled to find a topic. I almost felt ignorant unable to think of current international news not involving the United States. Whatever topic I choose I felt it would feel like a choir for me. I assumed I would inevitably procrastinate typing the essay and end up rushing it on the last day. Mr. Philips gave the advice to pick a news story that may interest me. I again struggled to find any current news that interested me. I mingled around stories related to the Rio de Janerio Olympics but it was too old, I couldn't think of another topic question surrounding Brexit that was not already taken. I ended up looking at BBC international news page for an entire day until I read about the immigration crisis in Australia. I settled my topic to argue why it was Australia's government fault for the crisis because several news stories centered around detainee victims criticizing them. How I got my topic question wasn't some glamorous or personal story, but who said it needed to be. As I dug deeper into the story it became less of an assignment and more of an obsessive study. I was fascinated by the complications of the story, how there were different moving parts that resulted in the Detainee Crisis. I intensively took most of my time researching and typing my essay. Instead of eating with friends during lunch I spent it typing my essay. I even managed to finish way before the deadline, but that didn't change my obsession working on it. I'd tweak sentences structures, rearrange paragraphs to make the essay naturally flow, had several peer revisions from students not even taking AP English. I started feeling almost angry by the events of the Detainee Crisis, the way human being were being disregarded as less than, how they were deprived of necessities to living. I began reading the refugees accounts of the crisis and the horrible experiences they endured. It made me feel sick to my stomach that they felt living in an abandoned camp was safer because the other option meant living in an environment where residents discriminated in such dangerous degrees. So I might not have some personal back story or deep connections to the research, but I started out with dismissive prejudgments about the project and ended up being moved by the new story and I actually wanted to have quality work, not just be completed work.
Header borrowed from "Independent Catholic News"
https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/33760
https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/33760