Choosing A Topic

Krystall Fasel

English 101

04/22/15

Characteristics to Follow

·         Clearly identified event (Who? What?)

·         Described setting (When? Where?)

·         Vivid descriptive details (Story brought to life)

·         Consistent point of view (Who’s telling the story?)

·         Clear point (Why does it matter?)

Choosing a Topic

·         Reading a biography on Marilyn Monroe

When I was younger I watched my first Marilyn Monroe movie.  ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’.  Being a blonde girl myself I instantly fell in love with the movie.  Followed by me watching, ‘The Seven Year Itch’, and ‘Some Like It Hot’. I started obsessing over Marilyn. I started looking up facts. Reading books.  Always wanting to find an autobiography, or a better biography then the last. Searching antique shops to find any little thing that was different from what over processed box stores had to offer. This girl had survived so much in her childhood.  She had been passed around from family members, abandoned by her mother and finally placed into foster care.  Her foster family did not care for her properly and she suffered many forms of abuse.  In order for her to free herself from this pain she married at 16 years old.  It was only as she got older and started being allowed to find herself that she realized what she wanted from life.  She fought hard every single day to prove her worth.  Most people look at her and think she’s just a ditzy blonde girl.  I see so much more.  She gives me strength.  I myself had a very rough childhood. I see strength in her that she never gave up. She did her best to prove she was worth it. This topic I believe could include all five characteristics.  I am somewhat hesitant however due to one rule in #4.  Consistent Point of View. To not switch first to third person. I do believe in the story and know that I could accurately compare the two stories into one to make sense.

·         Clearly identified event (Who? What?) Marilyn’s story told by me comparing her life to my own.

·         Described setting (When? Where?) Her history related to mine. Childhood into adulthood.

·         Vivid descriptive details (Story brought to life) Memories, dreams, hopes and pain.

·         Consistent point of view (Who’s telling the story?) Possible issue here.

·         Clear point (Why does it matter?) Proving that she wasn’t just a sex symbol. Feminism.

·         Medication and a change in writing

As a 15 year old girl I sat in the counselor’s office at school waiting for my turn. I had been in and out of every school counselor’s office in every school I’ve ever been in. In an era where there is obviously something wrong with a child if they ‘don’t get it’, so let’s medicate them all. I was used to being here. I was not prepared, however, for the counselor to refer me to a physiatrist. I knew something was up, something was wrong with me. I was a little bit different. Instead of math homework I sat and wrote poetry. I wrote stories. I drew pictures. I loved writing. There was so much in my head. Pain, guilt, frustration, longing, and praying. I stayed open minded to a prescription that might turn some of that off. My mother was not.  She put me on herbal remedies and lit candles in hopes that I would grow out of it. Story short, I did not grow out of it. I continued to write and I continued to hurt. I was opening up to the physiatrist, telling her what was on my mind, reading her my words and exposing all the truths about my childhood that I had never told anyone. She finally after a year, diagnosed me with P.T.S.D. How could this be possible? I thought that’s what war veterans came home from overseas with. There was no way that I could have that. Simply explained to me, there is a chemical imbalance in my brain. With practice I could learn to work with it but for now she suggested medication. At 17 years old I was put on a low dosage anti-depressant. Over a year the dosage went up. A little more at a time. The pain started to dissipate, the anger fell to the far side of my mind, and so did my creative writing. I started not caring and therefore not writing. I tried, and with work I could write, but it wasn’t the same. Words used to pour out of me. Now I had to plot everything I wrote. Take meticulous notes on my own poetry. Finally I gave up. I thought I was done with it. Prepared to live my life writing letters in birthday cards with cute little one liners. I find myself today thankful that I had recent health issues which caused me to rethink my current career, and go back to school. It’s been a long time but it does feel so wonderful to be given the opportunity to be creative again. Wish me luck!

·         Clearly identified event (Who? What?) Personal history of medication and writing.

·         Described setting (When? Where?) Childhood through adulthood.

·         Vivid descriptive details (Story brought to life) Very personal details.

·         Consistent point of view (Who’s telling the story?) Story written by me about me.

·         Clear point (Why does it matter?) Controversial reasons to medicate children and the repercussions it creates.