User:SusyG

=Analytical Writing=

Personal Essay
My Difficulties with Recycling

As I was growing up, I was taught to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Captain planet, sesame street, nickelodeon, my school teachers, and my parents encouraged us to do our part in “saving the planet”. My mother also learned from her Depression Era parents to always reduce, reuse, and recycle, though her parents always did it to save money. My mom made me home made shoe box/toilet paper roll Barbie sofas and reuses grocery bags and ziploc bags.

My mom and I hopped on the ecofriendly train pretty early. Before the new Whole Foods was opened in my hometown, we had already been eating mostly vegetarian, natural, and organic foods. We used canvas bags instead of collecting mountains of plastic ones. My mom started using a vinegar, water, and baking soda solution to clean instead of the synthetic chemical cleaners. (Yes, it smells terrible, but it gets the job done.)

In the parking lot of a local health/natural foods store, there was a large recycling dumpster. We collected plastic, glass, and cardboard to recycle every other week or so. It was convenient because large cardboard boxes or containers and plastic and glass bottles weren't taking unnecessary space in the trash can. We didn't have to take the trash out as often. I quickly got used to recycling. The recycling dumpster was pretty close by our house, so it was no trouble. Plus the natural foods store that it was in front of usually had tons of yummy free samples.

I assumed before I moved to Seattle that recycling would be more common. And it is to a certain extent. In this city, unlike my hometown, there are recycling bins next to most trash bins on the sidewalk. But I have had a really difficult time recycling lately. When I moved into the student housing, I was told there was a recycling dumpster in the alley way. I figured that was the norm here. My roommate and I collected recycling for months until it was spilling out of the closet. Then we would make around 3 trips to the recycling bin and back to our room to gather more. My roommate moved out but I still kept on collecting recycling to put in the bin outside. So, months went by and I finally got around to cleaning out the mountain of cardboard I had collected. I headed downstairs practically contorting my body to make sure I didn't drop anything. I walk into the alley and lo and behold the recycling bin wasn't there. I stared for quite a while at the empty abyss that had once been the great recycling bin.

This didn't seem right to me. In a liberal city like Seattle, recycling should be a piece of cake. When we had bins in the alley, they were overflowing with cardboard and plastic. So apparently I wasn't the only person using them.

I wanted to understand how there could be multiple bins packed full one day and zero the next. So I did some research. I found out that condos and apartments can get free recycling dumpsters! Free! Thats great but I was surprised. It had crossed my mind that the Art Institute may have gotten rid of the dumpster because they didn't want to pay for it anymore. But its free! I don't know why they suddenly didn't want a FREE recycling dumpster anymore. Seems like a waste to me. (Pun intended.) So, I'm going to try to find out why its gone and if it will ever come back. If the school won't get another recycling dumpster, then there's bound to be an apartment building close by that is taking advantage of this great deal. I'll just have to get someone to help me move my mountain of recycling.

Self Assessment
I'm not sure that I learned anything totally new in this class, but I think I improved my problem solving skills, and I may have gotten a little better at writing. I know, for sure, that I have gained confidence in writing. That may be because I wasn't forced to word vomit a 10 page essay about some issue that I had to fake my interest in. Those kind of papers usually end up unappealing and badly written, which lowers my confidence with writing.

I still haven't improved on speed. I am an extremely slow writer and I would love for that to change. Because then I wouldn't have any reason to procrastinate on all the papers that I will have to write as a student.

I feel like I could have contributed more during class discussions. I was present and paying attention during class but I didn't participate much. So I guess that means I didn't really contribute much to the experiences of my classmates.

I think I can write well enough now to continue my studies. Hopefully, as a costume designer, I won't need to write 10 page papers about topics I have no interest in. So, my writing skills as of now should be enough. SusyG

=Humanities I/The Commons=