Composition II

Through this course, you’ve been focusing on action, on writing and research, and on critical reflection of the way you engage in the world around you through acts of service and activism. This essay is not much different, but perhaps a bit more direct and personal. It is an opportunity to assert your voice, your belief, and your personal vision of the life you continue to live and how that life will make the world better for others. This is the subject of this final essay. For this project, we will use a model of essay demonstrated in the “This I Believe” national media project, but your focus should be on answering the question of how your actions—your life—will make the world better for others. The instructions, from the show’s producers for writing a personal essay for this project are reproduced below.

This I Believe Essay—Instructions from the program’s producers

We invite you to contribute to this project by writing and submitting your own statement of personal belief. We understand how challenging this is—it requires such intimacy that no one else can do it for you. To guide you through this process, we offer these suggestions:

• Tell a story: Be specific. Take your belief out of the ether and ground it in the events of your life. Consider moments when belief was formed or tested or changed. Think of your own experience, work, and family, and tell of the things you know that no one else does. Your story need not be heart-warming or gut-wrenching—it can even be funny—but it should be real. Make sure your story ties to the essence of your daily life philosophy and the shaping of your beliefs.
• Be brief: Your statement should be between 350 and 500 words. That’s about three minutes when read aloud at your natural pace.
• Name your belief: If you can’t name it in a sentence or two, your essay might not be about belief. Also, rather than writing a list, consider focusing on one core belief, because three minutes is a very short time.
• Be positive: Please avoid preaching or editorializing. Tell us what you do believe, not what you don’t believe. Avoid speaking in the editorial “we.” Make your essay about you; speak in the first person.
• Be personal: Write in words and phrases that are comfortable for you to speak. We recommend you read your essay aloud to yourself several times, and each time edit it and simplify it until you find the words, tone, and story that truly echo your belief and the way you speak.

In introducing the original series, host Edward R. Murrow said, “Never has the need for personal philosophies of this kind been so urgent.” We would argue that the need is as great now as it was 50 years ago. We are eager for your contribution.

Some Examples

Before you write your essay, it might help to read and/or listen to a few–just to get the hang of how one can use the guidelines above to write a powerful piece. (Of course, let your beliefs be your own, and just use the examples as an opportunity to see how others have approached this task.) I’ve selected a couple that I think are interesting and relevant, but feel free to look at as many as you would like from thisibelieve.org and npr.org/thisibelieve.

The first one I want to you to take a look at is by Matt Harding. Have you heard of Matt? A few years back, Matt quit his job as a video game programmer and decided to do a bit of traveling. He made a video of his travels, posted it to his website, and before long over seven million people viewed the video. He got kind of famous there for a while–with his funny viral video of his dancing in exotic places all over the world. At some point, he was invited to write an essay for “This I Believe.” While Matt’s essay is specifically about service or activism, it is about connecting to other human beings, and to me, this seems very much related to what we’ve been trying to do all semester long. Let’s start there. First with that video of his. Give it a look.

Matt Harding Dancing

Interesting, huh? Now listen to Matt’s essay, and a couple others that I find relevant.

• “Connecting to a Global Tribe” by Matt Harding
• “An Ideal of Service to Our Fellow Man” by Albert Einstein
• “When Ordinary People Achieve Extraordinary Things” by Jody Williams

Again, feel free to look around and other essays on This I Believe website. Notice the structure of the essays, how they make use of the stated guidelines, and what makes them particularly effective. Then write your own.

How will this essay be evaluated?

This final exam is a major course “activity” and must, therefore, be completed to meet the terms of the course grading contract. Beyond that, I really want to hear what you have to say, and I hope you want to share it.

Submitting Your Essay to the “This I Believe” National Media Project

I am strongly encouraging you to submit your final essay to the actual “This I Believe” project. It will then be included in the searchable database of all submitted essays at thisibelieve.org. To submit your essay to the project and to hear/read many examples of “This I Believe” essays go to npr.org/thisibelieve or thisibelieve.org. Whether or not you submit your essay to the “This I Believe” project, you are required to post your essay to your course blog as part of this course. I do hope you consider sharing it with a broader audience though. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

Due Date

You must post this final essay to your course blog before 8am on May 15. At this time, you are invited to read and comment on other people’s essays in the class if you would like (it’s not required), and others will read your essay. They will remain online through this site until May 22. Thanks.