Essay Eric Gomez Ms. Lehmann 1-1 English 19th February 2019 Finding Oneself Outside of The Closet It was a frosty day outside, and I was walking to school like always. The cold weather was leaving my petite nose like a pink rose petal. I heard my name being yelled afewfeet away from me, and I got jumped on by a light body. “Jayce! Good morning!” says a sweet cheerful voice. “Good morning, Mei,” I say back. Mei is my best friend and has been ever since I moved here in middle school. Her figure is small and cute; she has strawberry red dyed hair that curls on her jawline and fair skin that compliments her few freckles. We both exchanged a soft smile and kept walking to school. After a few minutes, we finally arrived.We stood in front of the doors, and I tooka deep breath. Stepping in, I already wanted to go home. I got a glimpse of Joseph. He was like an evil tower blocking people from getting around and he was smirking while at it. I nudged Mei and she growled “Ouch! That hurt! What was that fo-” she tried to finish but I interrupted her in a hurry. “Shhh, don’t be so loud.He’ll hear us.Let’s try to sneak by,” I said while I ducked my head to hide from Joseph. We thought we could pass by, but no one was able to avoid him. He saw us, and a big wolf like smile crept over his face. He walked up to us, making Mei and I seem like elves. “Hey! It's the squirt and the gaylord!” he yelled out. Our bodies shivered like chihuahuas in fear. I got a small gust of confidence, and I yelled at him with all my might. “Stop calling us those names!” I said shooting him a glare. Joseph growled like the dog he is and slapped me across the cheek, leaving a mark while his nail caught a small chunk of my skin. His slap was so hard, I fell backwards and hit my head on the lockers. Mei ran up to me, lightning quick. “Jayce! Oh my gosh, are you alright?!” She asked lifting my head up and feeling for any bumps. I didn’t want to reply because I felt as if my voice would crack, so I just nodded my head. Mei’s face turned red in anger and shot joseph a death glare. He flinched a bit but laughed and walked away. I stood up, and she walked me to the office. We planned out my excuse to my mom, saying I slipped on the stairs. When she picked me up, that is exactly what I said. “A trip on the stairs, huh? That sounds horrible.you need to be careful and pay attention jayc-e wayc-e," she said giving me a soft smile. “Ahhh, mom, please stop calling me that,” I begged,embarrased for my life. I didn’t care that no one else was in the car with us. I was just so done with that nickname. “Alright, Sweetie, Sorry. Are we still going to your support group today?” she asked, focusing on the road. I nodded in response, and she turned on her signal, then we headed towards the support group. We got there and I walked in and saw Mei was already there. She waved at me to go sit in the circle that all the kids were sitting in. We all took turns talking about our feelings. Mei was the best at it.She had no shame, and I respected her for it.She’s amazing. “Today was totally horrid! The bully at school today did something that affected both Jayce and I. Today, we actually stood up to him, though! It kinda ended up with Jayce getting hit, but Joseph was shocked!” She explained our day with such excitement and power it actually kinda scared me. After she finished, it was my turn. I already knew what I was going to talk about. Not mainly Joseph, nor the piece of skin I was missing (which hurt a lot by the way). It was going to be about me and my closet. Not the average closet you think about where you put clothes in, but the closet in my head. “Joseph called me gaylord today and it got me thinking about what my mom would think of me if I told her I was..well, gay.” I take a deep breath and continue. “I’m scarred that she’ll get mad.She doesn’t seem to care much for people in the LGBTQ+ community, and I'm just not sure how to tell her.” I said this as I looked around to see if anyone had an answer, but most of them stayed quiet. One guy out of the whole group spoke up. “I think you should tell her when you’re ready. Let her know you are the same person, even if your sexuality is different. You should not have shame for the guy you became and want to be,” he said. my heart jumped across a cliff. Something was streaming down my face like a river. Mei came to me and hugged me tightly. Was I crying? In front of all of them? Yeah, I was, and honestly, I don’t regret it. I needed it. I also needed that guy’s speech (Did I forget to mention that he is totally cute? No?? Well, he totally is, by the way!) In the end, I told my mom, and we both cried happy tears it seemed like a water fall, honestly. Now I'm in college and speak in public for equality for every human. Oh, and that cute boy I mentioned is my cute significant other who stands by my side in life and goes to public speeches with me. We express our feelings to the world!
Narrative Reflection Questions Answer all questions with complete, grammatically correct sentences. Be specific and thoroughly address each question.
List one thing you've learned from writing this paper that you can apply to other writing assignments. What will that look like? I learned to rethink my writing to make sure I know if its in past or present time so I don't put EX: I see instead of I saw
Identify a specific revision you were asked to make and explain why (this can be at any stage of the writing process). How did you revise? What did you learn? I had to change my words to past tense since the story was being told by the character from a past perspective
What are the conventions of a narrative and how did you meet those in this assignment? dialog, description, detail, show don't tell. I described things and had characters speak to one another etc.
Given more time to work on this assignment, how would you improve it? I would put even more detail and more information to make the story more emotional and understanding
What is one thing you're proud of in this paper? I'm proud of my description of things, and comparing things.