Please post your description piece here. If I did not ask you to revise, you can post it now. If I said you should make some edits, please do so before posting the piece here.
At first glance it is obvious; I am an African American teenager. I have skin that has a soft brown pigment. But there is more to the way I look then just skin color. Let’s start with my face. I have an oval shaped head, except the top of it is large (my forehead) and the bottom short and stubby (my chin). My eyebrows have a natural curved shape to them and are pretty subtle with a good amount of hair to make their shape noticeable. My eyes are almond shaped with the right one larger than the left, and a beauty mark on my left eye lid. When looking at my face from my forehead down to my eyes it can be seen that I do not have a nose bridge. So my nose sits right above my lips, wide and fat. Starting from corners to the right and left of my nose I have what I like to call “smile lines” that trail down to my lips. My lips aren’t large, but aren’t small either. My bottom lips is larger than my top, and my top lip is darker than my bottom. But that’s just my head. My body I feel has always been the same shape; I have just shredded off baby fat and developed my maturing qualities. I have somewhat of a curvy well shaped figure, and a bit of height to go along with it. My hair, I feel is what makes up the majority of my looks. It is long and flows over my shoulders. It has different shades my brown which can shine in different lightings. It fits in with my way I look because it is unique, and unfamiliar to lots of people. Some people define me by my hair, others by my hair, but I define myself as a whole: Aliya Clunie.
Alexander Herlihy_How Others Portray_Myself_Draft #2 I have many physical features on my body that distinguish me from other people. There are different ways others and I see myself. When I look into a mirror, I see a kind, benign, calm erudite student. All of these tributes are seen through many of my physical characteristics. The most obvious one are from my head and face. My almond-shaped eyes and thick uni-brow gives a sense of a high level of knowledge. These also show that I am calm but serious. My dark South American skin color gives a sense that that I am experienced in the real world and self-reliant. My casual clothes portray a leaned-back relaxed individual, which is not excessive on neatness. When I see my height, I perceive myself as a respectful young adult who is also active in sports. My thinness also shows that I am a responsible individual who stays healthy. My mustache and beard both give a sense of maturity and a level of seriousness. When others look at my features, they portray me differently. When others look at my uni-brow and almond shaped eyes, they see a serious, stoic, young man that is rarely jubilant. When I wear my glasses, the people’s impressions on me as simple-minded change to being knowledgeable. My casual serious facial expressions also portray me the same way. When they see my thin but tall structure, they see me as calm and gentle. My fair-hair gives the impression that I am a reasonably responsible person. The informal postures, the stretching of my legs and arms shows others that I am relaxed or uncaring. People portray me, by my dark skin color and mustache, as tough, saucy and not docile. The two different portrayals of me show that my appearances cannot be seen in one way. This is because I a distinguishing characteristics that are ambiguous. The perceptions were leaning more negatively than the views from myself. This shows the immediate assumptions of my characteristics as unpleasant. Because the two perceptions are different they conflict with one another. So when individuals interact with me, they see more new positive perceptions of me, different from their original negative views of me. Their opinions on me change drastically, from saucy to jovial. My characteristics are hidden from the public and it takes interactions to uncover these characteristics.
What people see when they look at me is actually a question I have in mind more often than someone may think. I usually just like to know what people think about me. When someone sees me they probably instantly notice that I’m white, tall and skinny with longish dark brown hair and blue gray eyes. I have a very slender build with hardly any fat on me. I have some facial hair developing and it is obvious I am still going through puberty. I often have more of a monotone voice and I am usually not the most animated person. These are the basic features I have that stand out the most. I think, like we talked about in class, some people may focus on the features and it causes them to not see everything that is there. I often see people think I skateboard or am in a band, and they draw these conclusions because they see the length of my hair and the way I dress. I often wear skinny jeans or hoodies. Various components will cause people to jump to conclusions. A feature I think girls will more commonly notice about me is that I have blue eyes. It is interesting to see how gender affects perspective when an individual looks at someone.
What I see when I look at myself is I think a bit harder question to answer although I am not really sure why. I guess I do not pay as much attention to my own physical features. When I look in the mirror it is often brief and I am not really focusing on looking at myself. I guess I also see a tall skinny white male. There is so much more to me though then just my physical features. It is hard to accurately assess myself just based on my physical features. When thinking about what I see, often times I exaggerate some of my features I kind of wish I had. I may see myself as being stronger as I actually am where as someone else won’t. In general it is interesting to step back and look at all of the different perspectives various people have on you. Or even the different perspectives you have on yourself.
I loved the way you made your essay on topic but yet entertaining to read. You describe yourself enough for people to really get an image to what you really look like and on how they really view you as. Your humor makes this describtion even more detailed.
As being Sucorah Berry I am very tall 5’9 to be exact. 143 pounds is what I weight which is not over or under weight in comparison to my height. My hair is very short and dark brown. The color of my eyes are dark brown and they aren’t too far apart. I have a very slender body shape. The only facial hair I have is my eyebrows, a very thin and nearly invisible mustache that you can barely tell is even there and eyelashes. My skin complexion is light skinned but looks like a tanish color because I have gotten a tan from my vacation down south. I don’t have any bumps or pimples on my face but they do come once in awhile and a few at a time. My nose is medium sized with a bump on it and my lips are not too big. I don’t have any piercings on my body is my ears. My smile is very different from everyone else. I don’t wear any glasses because I have good eyesight. The way I see myself may be very different from the way others see me but view of myself has similarities with the way others view me since they are all looking the same thing. Nobody really notices the 5 feet 9 inches instead they just say that i'm very tall and thinks I am 6 feet. Other see me as a skinny girl that may be underweight when in actuality I am healthy for my size. I don’t think people really pay attention to the little details on my face. Few people notice that I have good eyesight. I think a lot of people notice my smile and even though its different they don’t judge because thats the way they have always been and it fits me. I feel like most people don’t even notice the fact that I got a tan but when its gone in the winter is when they become aware of it of how light my original complexion was. I don’t think a lot of people are aware that I have my ears pierced because I barely wear earrings. I think a lot of people notice that my nose is medium sized but does not notice the bump in on my nose. I am tall and slender with short dark brown hair. I am light skinned with very little facial hair but many people do not see me that way.
On Education When I first read the poem On Education by Elizabeth Bentley, I was certain she was referring to children/students in her poem. I now believe this poem is not just about students throughout their academic life, but ideas throughout our academic life. These ideas can be anything we want them to be, including students. But these ideas can also be about people in general. The poem starts off by saying that “When infant Reason first exerts her sway / And new-formed thoughts their earliest charms display;” In the poem Reason is a living thing, or an entity that must be recognized. “Teach them each serious, each important truth;” This line reveals that Reason must be taught truth, but these truths are very vague. Mostly because the time period in which the poem was written is in the 18TH century, and even now, which means that these truths may be about not what reason wants it to be, but what we wish it to be. Many educated people at the time did not want others to question their ideas because they thought their ideas were the only absolute truth to be heard of. And this reigns true even today. For example, many people before the Enlightenment era never knew that there could be a better government than the monarchy in France. “The richest harvest shall repay your toil.” This final line relates to the first two because it means the ideas (Reason) with the greatest success among others will reap rewards for its creator. From the birth of an idea, to the nurturing of its ways, and finally to the success gained from its popularity. This poem reveals half the meaning of humanity. The other half being to divide and conquer. When I first saw this poem I immediately thought it was about students and children as a whole. To me, I have always related education to children or young adults before they are sent off into the world to work their lives away at a desk, teaching others, or possibly doing something brilliant to save the world. Many of the key words I noticed were important were “youth” and “truth”. So I mainly thought that the beginning of the poem was about teaching our youth (our children) the truths and lessons they need to know. “Destroy each vice that might its growth molest; Point out betimes the course they should pursue;” These lines to me mean that during this truth teaching that the teachers must rid the children of bad behavior and ideas. That they point out the right path for them to take. But to me there is a deeper meaning to this path choosing. That while the teachers may be choosing better paths for the children, these paths are not what the children want and they do not resemble their interests or intellectual compatibility. It’s common for teachers to continue this process, with little or no regard to the interests of the students. But I now know that this is not the only way to interpret the passage. Three points of imagery in the poem include the repetition of folly/follies, the use of the pronoun “their”, and finally the most important image is Reason capitalized in the first line. The pronoun “their” is used often to describe the subject. I feel the most important detail is the stress on Reason as a living person. From the stressing of the word Reason, I can tell it’s not just children we are referring to, but ideas and thoughts. I found the use of follies to be the least important because the word does not enhance or change the true meaning of the poem.
In those rare occasions of deep self-reflection, I look at myself and feel proud because compared to many kids who are the same age as I am, I feel pretty accomplished. When I look at myself, examining the clothes I wear, I believe that how I present myself with my posture and the clothes I wear often vary and display different things. Many times I can carry myself very lazily or nonchalant really, just roaming without a care in the world. At other times when I analyze myself physically I see that I can be very conscious about what I’m wearing and how I look, because I was raised to always present myself well, have a good posture and a firm handshake. I find it very interesting how I am able to notice these two very opposite traits from simply my physical features. Most of the time when other people look at me, it is usually hard for them to determine my ethnicity, me being both Puerto Rican and Filipino, but for the most part people will guess that I have Filipino in me. When my friends examine me, I have been told to carry a lot of energy which is opposite from my noticing of being nonchalant. From this information I drew the conclusion that most of the time I am an unstoppable ball of energy with my friends usually when we are outside. However, when I am alone in the street or just gallivanting with a few pals I can be very laid back even with family. The weather takes its toll on how I present myself throughout the day, like gloomy weather making me lazy, but then again who isn’t lazy on a rainy day? Lastly, when my family analyzes me on the outside they will usually say how tall I am, and how big I am, or handsome. So when family looks at me they primarily focus on the change in physical features and say how much I look like my mother or father. This may be due to that connection that family has and the constant reminiscence of when someone was younger which makes them focus on all the growth in someone.
twas cool how you took into account both how you observe yourself and how others see you. You grappled interestingly with the "contradictions" you've noticed in peoples' perceptions of you.
I sprout a mane of hair as thick as a chunky skein of yarn; too thick to even braid properly. Uncontrollable as it is, I no longer try subduing it and, instead, stuff it into a lump atop my head. My eyes are blue, but on rainy days, only the grey aspects of blue appear. Other days, they are like little laser beams of azure. Like my brother, I have my mother’s Irish nose. When we three stand in profile, we appear identical. People say my face has not changed since I was ten. Adults say I’ll thank my “un-ageable” visage when I’m older. For now, I curse its childlike properties.
In middle school, they used to call me “the hulk” on swim team because of my broad shoulders. Swimming daily developed my muscular upper body. It made me strong and fast, but remarkably unpopular amongst those devilishly handsome 8th grade boys whom I could outrace. Since I’ve stopped swimming, those bulky arms and shoulders have been in remission, and my body, from afar, less resembles an upside-down triangle. My elbows, sharp as skewers, often bruise (usually unintentionally, of course) those in close proximity to me. And much to the dismay of my piano teacher, my hands are as tiny as can be. As I can barely reach an octave, Rachmaninoff has been the death of me lately. My fingers are neither thin nor dainty as I would like. I used to think I would never be wed because a ring would not fit my hand. But after years of therapy, I’ve moved past that emotional hurdle.
My frail, skinny ankles, a doctor told me, would make running difficult. Each one has been twisted and strained countless times. They give me far less trouble now. Maybe I just run less. There is a light brown diamond-shaped freckle on my right ankle, which is how I learned to tell left from right long ago. At 11, my feet were gargantuan – already a woman’s size eight. They’ve not grown since, and now appear pleasantly proportional. These appendages are festooned with multi-shaped scars and calluses, mostly due to my dislike of shoes and other footwear. And my soles are hard from hours logged in the dance studio.
When ever I look into the mirror I see a small, sixteen year old kid who was born and raised in Brooklyn. I see dark circles under my eyes, evidence of how I spend nights tossing and turning in bed unable to clear my mind and relax. I also see faint wrinkles on the sides of my eyes, as well as parentheses around my mouth that form as a result of smiling a lot. If I turn my head I can see the scar I’ve had in the back of my head since I was about eight or nine years old. The scar is a reminder of my childhood days in which I would run around carelessly without worrying much for the consequences of falling or hurting myself. When I look down at my hands I see marks that have also been left from way back when I was just learning to write (when I accidentally punctured my palm with a sharpened pencil) or even when I was a toddler (a slightly crooked thumb nail from the time it was taken off after being crushed in the chains of a bicycle).
Although whatever I say may not be exactly what others see; others have told me that I always seem serious, stern, poker-faced, or unconcerned. My former writing teacher would describe as someone who is nonchalant. I think this is mostly due to the fact that whenever I am in a more serious environment, like school, I tend to not show any expression at all and always be straight to the point. I think the parentheses around my mouth also remind people of those around the mouths of older adults. Another contributing factor to why people think I’m always serious is the clothing I wear; almost all of my clothing is dark or a neutral color, nothing to make someone think I’m an exciting or joyous person. Although whenever I am in an environment that does not require me to be serious I am more relaxed and joke around more, perhaps maybe even showing more expression on my face. Usually I’ll have my earphones on which might make people think I don’t want to interact much with people, even though that is not the message I am trying to give.
Daniel, I like how you connected some of your features to personal memories that you have about yourself. It is also interesting that you approached the task giving the view of what other people generally see but how you really are. Just by a description, you seem like two different people to those who know you personally and those who do not.
Students Will Describe How They Look When I see myself sometimes I forget ‘this is how I look.’ Not that I am not pleased with how I look, or care how others interpret my appearance but that my face does not match who I feel. You walk around in a world where some higher power has issued a cruel rule where you cannot ever truly see yourself, so you learn to feel. How I “look” is not how I feel. I put “look” in quotation marks because even mirrors will never give you your true image- reflections are not reliable. But in these reflections, that I rely on to give me an idea of how I look to others, I do not see the eccentric personality I possess. I do not see Georgie Exinord, but I feel her. It’s as if someone assigned me into this body and I have yet to come into terms that this is how I look. To those that really know me, for my overbearing impulsive demeanor, they see this assignment as a match made in heaven. To them everything about me me fits to my appearance. And to those that just know of me, I definitely don’t think they wonder about my personality to appearance match up, but rather my character traits. I think to them I am funny, quiet, smart, creative, garrulous and hard-working. However, it depends on which character of me they have seen. Being a drama major, you are taught to have many characters and with so many, you forget which character certain people have seen. There’s Reclusive Georgie, ‘Ghetto’ Georgie, Diva Georgie and so many more plus my favorite, Georgie. With Georgie, this character I am still figuring out as I go on through the trials of life. She is an enigma for now, and because of that label, I honestly do not know how I see myself. Yes, I am contradicting myself considering what I aforementioned, but that is justification enough as to why I cannot really describe myself. So in many ways, this reflection makes sense, and yet it doesn’t. Well, that’s the beauty of human.
DeJanique Grant Freshman Composition October 6th 2012 How I Look Smooth mocha skin complexion, dark-brown eyes with long dark-brown hair and sometimes short; to compliment her oval shaped face. Her thin eyebrows and lips make a balance with her long pointy nose. She is 5’10 which is beyond normal height for a female. That explains her long legs and slightly outsized feet. Her facial expressions can be rude or pleasant depending on her mood but when she opens her mouth you see a great big smile and dimples that will light up a room. She appears to be fairly confident and her posture is incredibly sophisticated and proper. Her hands are smooth with very short nails, most of the time they are not painted just natural. Her thighs are not too thin and not too thick. A body not made of much muscle so if you hit her calf it will surely jiggle freely. The way I view myself is not the way every person I come across will view me. Some people who do not know me tell me I look antisocial, that’s if they caught me at a moment where I wanted to be to myself. Some may call me conceited if they caught me taking a picture of myself or brushing my hair. Another person may call me successful if they see me at Capital One completing transactions at 17 years old. Depending on what I am doing and where I am will effect what people look at me and see. Outside I usually get questions of if I model or play basketball that is something I can understand because of my height. There will be different opinions on how I look, and those opinions will vary. The way I look will not really change and I am fine with that because I am DeJanique Shonnette Grant.
A mirror can tell us a whole story about our reflection, it is the only resource we have in order to see ourselves and be able to interpret how we look. The quotidian routine for me in the morning is to look at myself before I leave the house because I don’t want to look atrocious. Taking a last a glimpse, I see a short girl who can pass as a ten year old, capable of blending in with the elementary kids. I also notice that I have big eyes that are well alert, and small feet that fit into most child size shoes. My hands are small compared to others but it can fit into little crevices that others’ hands can’t reach, if I ever drop something there. I’m skinny, like a tooth pick that can be easily pushed. Whenever I smile I see a nose getting wider and bigger as well as glasses that makes me look like a nerd. I have long hair that could be manipulated into a myriad of different hairstyles every day, if only I wasn't lazy to do it. My legs and arms are slender, but strong enough to hit, and my small lips makes me feel that whenever I try to smile, they don’t show themselves. I have a pallid, skin so whenever I blush everyone can obviously see a red tomato on each cheek. My peers and friends make their judgments on my physical features. Some say I’m cute because I’m small, but others think I should grow more. There are people that like my hair because it’s long and soft. Some people notice that I’m skinny and ask if I eat, or wonder why I don’t gain weight. The big nose I mentioned to some people looks small, and many covet my small feet – a sign of my femininity, and because they look pretty on sandals. Most people believe that I can pass out to be a white person if I dyed my hair blonde because of my light skin color, but I can’t agree. They also see that I look better without my glasses. The interpretations that others form about you can sometime contradict what you think of yourself. At the end of the day, our appearance makes each of us unique, and reveals an individual aesthetic beauty that should be embraced.
My skin is a shade of brown found in between the light and dark brown color pencils in a Crayola pack. My hands are wide and the indented lines on my left and right palms are not identical. My fingers are long and both of my middle fingers are crooked. The skin under my forearms is several shades lighter than the rest. The vanes that trail from my wrist to the middle of my forearm are barley noticeable. My feet are long and narrow, and my toes are lengthy enough to be fingers on hands a bit smaller than my own. I am tall for a girl my age and I have been told I look older than I am. My face is round and my ears are small. I have four ear piercings in total: the standard 14 gauge on each of my earlobes, and two on my cartilage at the top of my left ear. My hairline runs straight across my forehead until it reaches the middle of my eyebrows. It arches slightly before continuing around my head. My hair is a very dark brown, almost black. Its length surpasses my collarbones. My eyes are also brown and my eyelashes are long and curved. The space between my eyebrows and eyes is a bit too small to suit the proportions of my face. Due to this, without an intended expression my face may make me appear to be bored. I have high cheekbones and my nose does not have an arch. It is relatively flat up until the slope reaches my nostrils. There is a subtle dent in between the halves of my upper lip. My lips are dark pink and my mouth is neither small nor big. Its corners line up with the middle of eyes the way they are meant to. My teeth are fairly white and I have a slight overbite. There is not enough room in my mouth for all of my teeth. As a result, my bottom front teeth overlap a bit. My chin is the sharpest part of my face but my jawline is not very defined.
Anastasia, You do a very good job sticking strictly to just description. There's no stories or straying details and the attention to detail is great! You even paid attention to the smallest details such as veins and your hairline.
Many people call me tall but I do not think I am. I am 5 feet 6 inches tall but I always feel short. I may be taller than a lot of people in my family but I always feel so little. I am not a very confident person so it may have something to do with that. I have long curly dark brown hair that people always mistake for being black but in the sunlight is brown and has a reddish tint. I have light tan skin but I think I have a pale face. This is usually how people can tell that I am hispanic but I always get confused as Indian because of the birth mark on my fore head. I have dark brown eyes that look reddish brown in the sun light. A lot of my friends and family members tell me I look tired all the time because I have dark circles under my eyes, I try to get rid of them by getting a lot of sleep but they never go away. I have small lips and a dimple on my left cheek that people can only see when I smile. I think that I look serious most of the time because I squint a lot and people may mistake it for a serious or focused look. I had a friend once tell me that she thought I was going to be mean when she first saw me. I have a small face overall and I think I have a small head. My ears are average sized, they do not stick out very much and I have detached ear lobes. I think that I am average weight, around 120 pounds, for my height yet people always say that I am too skinny. I have really small nails, bony fingers and really big palms. I notice that when I am walking down the street I usually have my head down and my hands in my pockets or my arms crossed. If I saw myself walking down the street I think I would look sad or in deep thought. I tend to space out a lot and people always snap me out of it saying that I looked scared because my eyes were wide. I think that I look like an average teenage girl but I know that everybody is different. My mom says I look a lot like my dad and I can see it sometimes but he says I look like his great grandma when she was my age but I do not see it. My natural appearance is not the most important thing to me but sometimes I feel that how I look on the outside does not match how I am on the inside.
When people first look at me they have often confused me with being of either Asian or Indian decent. Once they hear my high pitched voice with a slight accent, is when they realize i am Hispanic. I have long silky but yet thick dark colored hair that sits on my oval shaped head. My forehead is wide but lays flat on my face, on them are long natural but weirdly arched eyebrows.They curve roundly above my chinky dark brown eyes, that many say looks of intimidation . My nose is long and pointy and tend to turn red for absolutely no reason , people compare me to a puffs plus cartoon. Along with this red nose my pail, oily brown skin makes me look sick all the time but gets terribly and easily burnt in the smallest amount of sunlight. My small curvy lips brings out my favorite features when smiling, you can easily notice my high fat cheek bones which makes my face look even rounder, my eyes suddenly disappears and my chin extends longer than ever. My body stands at a medium height and has always been thick, making me look older than what I am. Compared to my wide matured body, my feet are still small fitting in the same shoes going back to the sixth grade. My physical features gives people a much different view of me. Most say my face expressions look mean and comment on how i look like those girls who feels the world revolves only around them. But that prove the saying " you cant judge a book by its cover". My eyes are far from mean but flied with sensitivity and just a bubbly person who by coincidence is very hard to approach. From the head down to my feet you see a strongly built young female who cant just be judged by her looks but by her inner beauty.
I like the way you described your physical appearance very detailed. The fine detail helps me actually get a picture of how you looked. I also like the way you detailed your inner appearance.
When I look at myself I see a brown skinned, chubby cheeked girl. That has curly hair with squinty eyes. I see pain in my eyes hidden by a smile. Flashy clothes that hides my insecurities. Even when I wear contacts, I hide my eyes with glasses because I think my eyes are too small. I know I look sweet but at times I have a not so sweet side. I’m tall, usually taller than all my friends. I enjoy getting my hair and nails done. I think I have a huge nose, but my friends don’t think so. I like piercings and tattoos, because I think they’re creative and help people express their selves. I’m very talkative. I love to laugh and have fun.
When people look at me, they see a brown skinned chubby cheeked girl. She has curly hair with squinty eyes, kind of almond shaped. She always smiling she must be happy. Her outfits are unique, she’s probably into fashion. Her glasses collection is cool, she seems to always have a new pair. She’s so sweet everyone loves her. She’s tall. She’s a girly girl she cares about her appearance. She has a normal size nose. She must be into rock and things of the sort because she has a lip ring. She also has three piercings on each ear. She talks a lot. She’s always laughing. She has a nice smile. When she smiles her cheeks lifts up so much her eyes seem to close. She seems like a fun outgoing individual.
At first glance it is obvious; I am an African American teenager. I have skin that has a soft brown pigment. But there is more to the way I look then just skin color.
ReplyDeleteLet’s start with my face. I have an oval shaped head, except the top of it is large (my forehead) and the bottom short and stubby (my chin). My eyebrows have a natural curved shape to them and are pretty subtle with a good amount of hair to make their shape noticeable. My eyes are almond shaped with the right one larger than the left, and a beauty mark on my left eye lid. When looking at my face from my forehead down to my eyes it can be seen that I do not have a nose bridge. So my nose sits right above my lips, wide and fat. Starting from corners to the right and left of my nose I have what I like to call “smile lines” that trail down to my lips. My lips aren’t large, but aren’t small either. My bottom lips is larger than my top, and my top lip is darker than my bottom. But that’s just my head.
My body I feel has always been the same shape; I have just shredded off baby fat and developed my maturing qualities. I have somewhat of a curvy well shaped figure, and a bit of height to go along with it.
My hair, I feel is what makes up the majority of my looks. It is long and flows over my shoulders. It has different shades my brown which can shine in different lightings. It fits in with my way I look because it is unique, and unfamiliar to lots of people. Some people define me by my hair, others by my hair, but I define myself as a whole: Aliya Clunie.
Alexander Herlihy_How Others Portray_Myself_Draft #2
ReplyDeleteI have many physical features on my body that distinguish me from other people. There are different ways others and I see myself. When I look into a mirror, I see a kind, benign, calm erudite student. All of these tributes are seen through many of my physical characteristics. The most obvious one are from my head and face. My almond-shaped eyes and thick uni-brow gives a sense of a high level of knowledge. These also show that I am calm but serious. My dark South American skin color gives a sense that that I am experienced in the real world and self-reliant. My casual clothes portray a leaned-back relaxed individual, which is not excessive on neatness. When I see my height, I perceive myself as a respectful young adult who is also active in sports. My thinness also shows that I am a responsible individual who stays healthy. My mustache and beard both give a sense of maturity and a level of seriousness.
When others look at my features, they portray me differently. When others look at my uni-brow and almond shaped eyes, they see a serious, stoic, young man that is rarely jubilant. When I wear my glasses, the people’s impressions on me as simple-minded change to being knowledgeable. My casual serious facial expressions also portray me the same way. When they see my thin but tall structure, they see me as calm and gentle. My fair-hair gives the impression that I am a reasonably responsible person. The informal postures, the stretching of my legs and arms shows others that I am relaxed or uncaring. People portray me, by my dark skin color and mustache, as tough, saucy and not docile.
The two different portrayals of me show that my appearances cannot be seen in one way. This is because I a distinguishing characteristics that are ambiguous. The perceptions were leaning more negatively than the views from myself. This shows the immediate assumptions of my characteristics as unpleasant. Because the two perceptions are different they conflict with one another. So when individuals interact with me, they see more new positive perceptions of me, different from their original negative views of me. Their opinions on me change drastically, from saucy to jovial. My characteristics are hidden from the public and it takes interactions to uncover these characteristics.
I liked how you took the assignment and made it stand out from everyone else.
DeleteWhat people see when they look at me is actually a question I have in mind more often than someone may think. I usually just like to know what people think about me. When someone sees me they probably instantly notice that I’m white, tall and skinny with longish dark brown hair and blue gray eyes. I have a very slender build with hardly any fat on me. I have some facial hair developing and it is obvious I am still going through puberty. I often have more of a monotone voice and I am usually not the most animated person. These are the basic features I have that stand out the most. I think, like we talked about in class, some people may focus on the features and it causes them to not see everything that is there. I often see people think I skateboard or am in a band, and they draw these conclusions because they see the length of my hair and the way I dress. I often wear skinny jeans or hoodies. Various components will cause people to jump to conclusions. A feature I think girls will more commonly notice about me is that I have blue eyes. It is interesting to see how gender affects perspective when an individual looks at someone.
ReplyDeleteWhat I see when I look at myself is I think a bit harder question to answer although I am not really sure why. I guess I do not pay as much attention to my own physical features. When I look in the mirror it is often brief and I am not really focusing on looking at myself. I guess I also see a tall skinny white male. There is so much more to me though then just my physical features. It is hard to accurately assess myself just based on my physical features. When thinking about what I see, often times I exaggerate some of my features I kind of wish I had. I may see myself as being stronger as I actually am where as someone else won’t. In general it is interesting to step back and look at all of the different perspectives various people have on you. Or even the different perspectives you have on yourself.
I like how you approached the task and kept me interested the whole time.
DeleteI loved the way you made your essay on topic but yet entertaining to read. You describe yourself enough for people to really get an image to what you really look like and on how they really view you as. Your humor makes this describtion even more detailed.
DeleteAs being Sucorah Berry I am very tall 5’9 to be exact. 143 pounds is what I weight which is not over or under weight in comparison to my height. My hair is very short and dark brown. The color of my eyes are dark brown and they aren’t too far apart. I have a very slender body shape. The only facial hair I have is my eyebrows, a very thin and nearly invisible mustache that you can barely tell is even there and eyelashes. My skin complexion is light skinned but looks like a tanish color because I have gotten a tan from my vacation down south. I don’t have any bumps or pimples on my face but they do come once in awhile and a few at a time. My nose is medium sized with a bump on it and my lips are not too big. I don’t have any piercings on my body is my ears. My smile is very different from everyone else. I don’t wear any glasses because I have good eyesight.
ReplyDeleteThe way I see myself may be very different from the way others see me but view of myself has similarities with the way others view me since they are all looking the same thing. Nobody really notices the 5 feet 9 inches instead they just say that i'm very tall and thinks I am 6 feet. Other see me as a skinny girl that may be underweight when in actuality I am healthy for my size. I don’t think people really pay attention to the little details on my face. Few people notice that I have good eyesight. I think a lot of people notice my smile and even though its different they don’t judge because thats the way they have always been and it fits me. I feel like most people don’t even notice the fact that I got a tan but when its gone in the winter is when they become aware of it of how light my original complexion was. I don’t think a lot of people are aware that I have my ears pierced because I barely wear earrings. I think a lot of people notice that my nose is medium sized but does not notice the bump in on my nose. I am tall and slender with short dark brown hair. I am light skinned with very little facial hair but many people do not see me that way.
I like how you describe every feature of yourself
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ReplyDeleteOn Education
When I first read the poem On Education by Elizabeth Bentley, I was certain she was referring to children/students in her poem. I now believe this poem is not just about students throughout their academic life, but ideas throughout our academic life. These ideas can be anything we want them to be, including students. But these ideas can also be about people in general. The poem starts off by saying that “When infant Reason first exerts her sway / And new-formed thoughts their earliest charms display;” In the poem Reason is a living thing, or an entity that must be recognized. “Teach them each serious, each important truth;” This line reveals that Reason must be taught truth, but these truths are very vague. Mostly because the time period in which the poem was written is in the 18TH century, and even now, which means that these truths may be about not what reason wants it to be, but what we wish it to be. Many educated people at the time did not want others to question their ideas because they thought their ideas were the only absolute truth to be heard of. And this reigns true even today. For example, many people before the Enlightenment era never knew that there could be a better government than the monarchy in France. “The richest harvest shall repay your toil.” This final line relates to the first two because it means the ideas (Reason) with the greatest success among others will reap rewards for its creator. From the birth of an idea, to the nurturing of its ways, and finally to the success gained from its popularity. This poem reveals half the meaning of humanity. The other half being to divide and conquer.
When I first saw this poem I immediately thought it was about students and children as a whole. To me, I have always related education to children or young adults before they are sent off into the world to work their lives away at a desk, teaching others, or possibly doing something brilliant to save the world. Many of the key words I noticed were important were “youth” and “truth”. So I mainly thought that the beginning of the poem was about teaching our youth (our children) the truths and lessons they need to know. “Destroy each vice that might its growth molest; Point out betimes the course they should pursue;” These lines to me mean that during this truth teaching that the teachers must rid the children of bad behavior and ideas. That they point out the right path for them to take. But to me there is a deeper meaning to this path choosing. That while the teachers may be choosing better paths for the children, these paths are not what the children want and they do not resemble their interests or intellectual compatibility. It’s common for teachers to continue this process, with little or no regard to the interests of the students. But I now know that this is not the only way to interpret the passage.
Three points of imagery in the poem include the repetition of folly/follies, the use of the pronoun “their”, and finally the most important image is Reason capitalized in the first line. The pronoun “their” is used often to describe the subject. I feel the most important detail is the stress on Reason as a living person. From the stressing of the word Reason, I can tell it’s not just children we are referring to, but ideas and thoughts. I found the use of follies to be the least important because the word does not enhance or change the true meaning of the poem.
In those rare occasions of deep self-reflection, I look at myself and feel proud because compared to many kids who are the same age as I am, I feel pretty accomplished. When I look at myself, examining the clothes I wear, I believe that how I present myself with my posture and the clothes I wear often vary and display different things. Many times I can carry myself very lazily or nonchalant really, just roaming without a care in the world. At other times when I analyze myself physically I see that I can be very conscious about what I’m wearing and how I look, because I was raised to always present myself well, have a good posture and a firm handshake. I find it very interesting how I am able to notice these two very opposite traits from simply my physical features. Most of the time when other people look at me, it is usually hard for them to determine my ethnicity, me being both Puerto Rican and Filipino, but for the most part people will guess that I have Filipino in me. When my friends examine me, I have been told to carry a lot of energy which is opposite from my noticing of being nonchalant. From this information I drew the conclusion that most of the time I am an unstoppable ball of energy with my friends usually when we are outside. However, when I am alone in the street or just gallivanting with a few pals I can be very laid back even with family. The weather takes its toll on how I present myself throughout the day, like gloomy weather making me lazy, but then again who isn’t lazy on a rainy day? Lastly, when my family analyzes me on the outside they will usually say how tall I am, and how big I am, or handsome. So when family looks at me they primarily focus on the change in physical features and say how much I look like my mother or father. This may be due to that connection that family has and the constant reminiscence of when someone was younger which makes them focus on all the growth in someone.
ReplyDeletetwas cool how you took into account both how you observe yourself and how others see you. You grappled interestingly with the "contradictions" you've noticed in peoples' perceptions of you.
DeleteI sprout a mane of hair as thick as a chunky skein of yarn; too thick to even braid properly. Uncontrollable as it is, I no longer try subduing it and, instead, stuff it into a lump atop my head. My eyes are blue, but on rainy days, only the grey aspects of blue appear. Other days, they are like little laser beams of azure. Like my brother, I have my mother’s Irish nose. When we three stand in profile, we appear identical. People say my face has not changed since I was ten. Adults say I’ll thank my “un-ageable” visage when I’m older. For now, I curse its childlike properties.
ReplyDeleteIn middle school, they used to call me “the hulk” on swim team because of my broad shoulders. Swimming daily developed my muscular upper body. It made me strong and fast, but remarkably unpopular amongst those devilishly handsome 8th grade boys whom I could outrace. Since I’ve stopped swimming, those bulky arms and shoulders have been in remission, and my body, from afar, less resembles an upside-down triangle. My elbows, sharp as skewers, often bruise (usually unintentionally, of course) those in close proximity to me. And much to the dismay of my piano teacher, my hands are as tiny as can be. As I can barely reach an octave, Rachmaninoff has been the death of me lately. My fingers are neither thin nor dainty as I would like. I used to think I would never be wed because a ring would not fit my hand. But after years of therapy, I’ve moved past that emotional hurdle.
My frail, skinny ankles, a doctor told me, would make running difficult. Each one has been twisted and strained countless times. They give me far less trouble now. Maybe I just run less. There is a light brown diamond-shaped freckle on my right ankle, which is how I learned to tell left from right long ago. At 11, my feet were gargantuan – already a woman’s size eight. They’ve not grown since, and now appear pleasantly proportional. These appendages are festooned with multi-shaped scars and calluses, mostly due to my dislike of shoes and other footwear. And my soles are hard from hours logged in the dance studio.
When ever I look into the mirror I see a small, sixteen year old kid who was born and raised in Brooklyn. I see dark circles under my eyes, evidence of how I spend nights tossing and turning in bed unable to clear my mind and relax. I also see faint wrinkles on the sides of my eyes, as well as parentheses around my mouth that form as a result of smiling a lot. If I turn my head I can see the scar I’ve had in the back of my head since I was about eight or nine years old. The scar is a reminder of my childhood days in which I would run around carelessly without worrying much for the consequences of falling or hurting myself. When I look down at my hands I see marks that have also been left from way back when I was just learning to write (when I accidentally punctured my palm with a sharpened pencil) or even when I was a toddler (a slightly crooked thumb nail from the time it was taken off after being crushed in the chains of a bicycle).
ReplyDeleteAlthough whatever I say may not be exactly what others see; others have told me that I always seem serious, stern, poker-faced, or unconcerned. My former writing teacher would describe as someone who is nonchalant. I think this is mostly due to the fact that whenever I am in a more serious environment, like school, I tend to not show any expression at all and always be straight to the point. I think the parentheses around my mouth also remind people of those around the mouths of older adults. Another contributing factor to why people think I’m always serious is the clothing I wear; almost all of my clothing is dark or a neutral color, nothing to make someone think I’m an exciting or joyous person. Although whenever I am in an environment that does not require me to be serious I am more relaxed and joke around more, perhaps maybe even showing more expression on my face. Usually I’ll have my earphones on which might make people think I don’t want to interact much with people, even though that is not the message I am trying to give.
Daniel,
DeleteI like how you connected some of your features to personal memories that you have about yourself. It is also interesting that you approached the task giving the view of what other people generally see but how you really are. Just by a description, you seem like two different people to those who know you personally and those who do not.
Students Will Describe How They Look
ReplyDeleteWhen I see myself sometimes I forget ‘this is how I look.’ Not that I am not pleased with how I look, or care how others interpret my appearance but that my face does not match who I feel. You walk around in a world where some higher power has issued a cruel rule where you cannot ever truly see yourself, so you learn to feel. How I “look” is not how I feel. I put “look” in quotation marks because even mirrors will never give you your true image- reflections are not reliable. But in these reflections, that I rely on to give me an idea of how I look to others, I do not see the eccentric personality I possess. I do not see Georgie Exinord, but I feel her. It’s as if someone assigned me into this body and I have yet to come into terms that this is how I look.
To those that really know me, for my overbearing impulsive demeanor, they see this assignment as a match made in heaven. To them everything about me me fits to my appearance. And to those that just know of me, I definitely don’t think they wonder about my personality to appearance match up, but rather my character traits. I think to them I am funny, quiet, smart, creative, garrulous and hard-working. However, it depends on which character of me they have seen. Being a drama major, you are taught to have many characters and with so many, you forget which character certain people have seen. There’s Reclusive Georgie, ‘Ghetto’ Georgie, Diva Georgie and so many more plus my favorite, Georgie.
With Georgie, this character I am still figuring out as I go on through the trials of life. She is an enigma for now, and because of that label, I honestly do not know how I see myself. Yes, I am contradicting myself considering what I aforementioned, but that is justification enough as to why I cannot really describe myself. So in many ways, this reflection makes sense, and yet it doesn’t. Well, that’s the beauty of human.
I love how deep your description of yourself was. It was nice reading because you are comfortable in your own skin.
DeleteI like the ending of your description. Everything you wrote is profound.
DeleteI really love your description and how you look at yourself. It's true even mirrors cant tell you who you are as a person.
DeleteThank you you guys!
DeleteDeJanique Grant
ReplyDeleteFreshman Composition
October 6th 2012
How I Look
Smooth mocha skin complexion, dark-brown eyes with long dark-brown hair and sometimes short; to compliment her oval shaped face. Her thin eyebrows and lips make a balance with her long pointy nose. She is 5’10 which is beyond normal height for a female. That explains her long legs and slightly outsized feet. Her facial expressions can be rude or pleasant depending on her mood but when she opens her mouth you see a great big smile and dimples that will light up a room. She appears to be fairly confident and her posture is incredibly sophisticated and proper. Her hands are smooth with very short nails, most of the time they are not painted just natural. Her thighs are not too thin and not too thick. A body not made of much muscle so if you hit her calf it will surely jiggle freely.
The way I view myself is not the way every person I come across will view me. Some people who do not know me tell me I look antisocial, that’s if they caught me at a moment where I wanted to be to myself. Some may call me conceited if they caught me taking a picture of myself or brushing my hair. Another person may call me successful if they see me at Capital One completing transactions at 17 years old. Depending on what I am doing and where I am will effect what people look at me and see. Outside I usually get questions of if I model or play basketball that is something I can understand because of my height.
There will be different opinions on how I look, and those opinions will vary. The way I look will not really change and I am fine with that because I am DeJanique Shonnette Grant.
A mirror can tell us a whole story about our reflection, it is the only resource we have in order to see ourselves and be able to interpret how we look. The quotidian routine for me in the morning is to look at myself before I leave the house because I don’t want to look atrocious. Taking a last a glimpse, I see a short girl who can pass as a ten year old, capable of blending in with the elementary kids. I also notice that I have big eyes that are well alert, and small feet that fit into most child size shoes. My hands are small compared to others but it can fit into little crevices that others’ hands can’t reach, if I ever drop something there. I’m skinny, like a tooth pick that can be easily pushed. Whenever I smile I see a nose getting wider and bigger as well as glasses that makes me look like a nerd. I have long hair that could be manipulated into a myriad of different hairstyles every day, if only I wasn't lazy to do it. My legs and arms are slender, but strong enough to hit, and my small lips makes me feel that whenever I try to smile, they don’t show themselves. I have a pallid, skin so whenever I blush everyone can obviously see a red tomato on each cheek. My peers and friends make their judgments on my physical features. Some say I’m cute because I’m small, but others think I should grow more. There are people that like my hair because it’s long and soft. Some people notice that I’m skinny and ask if I eat, or wonder why I don’t gain weight. The big nose I mentioned to some people looks small, and many covet my small feet – a sign of my femininity, and because they look pretty on sandals. Most people believe that I can pass out to be a white person if I dyed my hair blonde because of my light skin color, but I can’t agree. They also see that I look better without my glasses. The interpretations that others form about you can sometime contradict what you think of yourself. At the end of the day, our appearance makes each of us unique, and reveals an individual aesthetic beauty that should be embraced.
ReplyDeleteMy skin is a shade of brown found in between the light and dark brown color pencils in a Crayola pack. My hands are wide and the indented lines on my left and right palms are not identical. My fingers are long and both of my middle fingers are crooked. The skin under my forearms is several shades lighter than the rest. The vanes that trail from my wrist to the middle of my forearm are barley noticeable. My feet are long and narrow, and my toes are lengthy enough to be fingers on hands a bit smaller than my own. I am tall for a girl my age and I have been told I look older than I am. My face is round and my ears are small. I have four ear piercings in total: the standard 14 gauge on each of my earlobes, and two on my cartilage at the top of my left ear. My hairline runs straight across my forehead until it reaches the middle of my eyebrows. It arches slightly before continuing around my head. My hair is a very dark brown, almost black. Its length surpasses my collarbones. My eyes are also brown and my eyelashes are long and curved. The space between my eyebrows and eyes is a bit too small to suit the proportions of my face. Due to this, without an intended expression my face may make me appear to be bored. I have high cheekbones and my nose does not have an arch. It is relatively flat up until the slope reaches my nostrils. There is a subtle dent in between the halves of my upper lip. My lips are dark pink and my mouth is neither small nor big. Its corners line up with the middle of eyes the way they are meant to. My teeth are fairly white and I have a slight overbite. There is not enough room in my mouth for all of my teeth. As a result, my bottom front teeth overlap a bit. My chin is the sharpest part of my face but my jawline is not very defined.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAnastasia,
DeleteYou do a very good job sticking strictly to just description. There's no stories or straying details and the attention to detail is great! You even paid attention to the smallest details such as veins and your hairline.
I love how you made that reference to color pencils in a crayola pack. I have always thought the same of myself.
DeleteMany people call me tall but I do not think I am. I am 5 feet 6 inches tall but I always feel short. I may be taller than a lot of people in my family but I always feel so little. I am not a very confident person so it may have something to do with that. I have long curly dark brown hair that people always mistake for being black but in the sunlight is brown and has a reddish tint. I have light tan skin but I think I have a pale face. This is usually how people can tell that I am hispanic but I always get confused as Indian because of the birth mark on my fore head. I have dark brown eyes that look reddish brown in the sun light. A lot of my friends and family members tell me I look tired all the time because I have dark circles under my eyes, I try to get rid of them by getting a lot of sleep but they never go away. I have small lips and a dimple on my left cheek that people can only see when I smile. I think that I look serious most of the time because I squint a lot and people may mistake it for a serious or focused look. I had a friend once tell me that she thought I was going to be mean when she first saw me. I have a small face overall and I think I have a small head. My ears are average sized, they do not stick out very much and I have detached ear lobes. I think that I am average weight, around 120 pounds, for my height yet people always say that I am too skinny. I have really small nails, bony fingers and really big palms. I notice that when I am walking down the street I usually have my head down and my hands in my pockets or my arms crossed. If I saw myself walking down the street I think I would look sad or in deep thought. I tend to space out a lot and people always snap me out of it saying that I looked scared because my eyes were wide. I think that I look like an average teenage girl but I know that everybody is different. My mom says I look a lot like my dad and I can see it sometimes but he says I look like his great grandma when she was my age but I do not see it. My natural appearance is not the most important thing to me but sometimes I feel that how I look on the outside does not match how I am on the inside.
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ReplyDeleteWhen people first look at me they have often confused me with being of either Asian or Indian decent. Once they hear my high pitched voice with a slight accent, is when they realize i am Hispanic. I have long silky but yet thick dark colored hair that sits on my oval shaped head. My forehead is wide but lays flat on my face, on them are long natural but weirdly arched eyebrows.They curve roundly above my chinky dark brown eyes, that many say looks of intimidation . My nose is long and pointy and tend to turn red for absolutely no reason , people compare me to a puffs plus cartoon. Along with this red nose my pail, oily brown skin makes me look sick all the time but gets terribly and easily burnt in the smallest amount of sunlight. My small curvy lips brings out my favorite features when smiling, you can easily notice my high fat cheek bones which makes my face look even rounder, my eyes suddenly disappears and my chin extends longer than ever.
My body stands at a medium height and has always been thick, making me look older than what I am. Compared to my wide matured body, my feet are still small fitting in the same shoes going back to the sixth grade. My physical features gives people a much different view of me. Most say my face expressions look mean and comment on how i look like those girls who feels the world revolves only around them. But that prove the saying " you cant judge a book by its cover". My eyes are far from mean but flied with sensitivity and just a bubbly person who by coincidence is very hard to approach. From the head down to my feet you see a strongly built young female who cant just be judged by her looks but by her inner beauty.
I like the way you described your physical appearance very detailed. The fine detail helps me actually get a picture of how you looked. I also like the way you detailed your inner appearance.
DeleteWhen I look at myself I see a brown skinned, chubby cheeked girl. That has curly hair with squinty eyes. I see pain in my eyes hidden by a smile. Flashy clothes that hides my insecurities. Even when I wear contacts, I hide my eyes with glasses because I think my eyes are too small. I know I look sweet but at times I have a not so sweet side. I’m tall, usually taller than all my friends. I enjoy getting my hair and nails done. I think I have a huge nose, but my friends don’t think so. I like piercings and tattoos, because I think they’re creative and help people express their selves. I’m very talkative. I love to laugh and have fun.
ReplyDeleteWhen people look at me, they see a brown skinned chubby cheeked girl. She has curly hair with squinty eyes, kind of almond shaped. She always smiling she must be happy. Her outfits are unique, she’s probably into fashion. Her glasses collection is cool, she seems to always have a new pair. She’s so sweet everyone loves her. She’s tall. She’s a girly girl she cares about her appearance. She has a normal size nose. She must be into rock and things of the sort because she has a lip ring. She also has three piercings on each ear. She talks a lot. She’s always laughing. She has a nice smile. When she smiles her cheeks lifts up so much her eyes seem to close. She seems like a fun outgoing individual.