I will write my project in many different locations.

(1) In my room

I will write parts of my project in my bedroom located on the second floor of my house. My room is a place I feel very comfortable in; moreover, not only is my room where I am most comfortable, its significance in my house and life holds a deeper meaning to me. My room is located in my house that my Jewish family resides, in the year 2019. This is the same Jewish family that has raised me, and shaped my experiences as a human being since they are responsible for my upbringing. As a result of this, a big factor in my life as well as my identity is my family. Since my home is where my family lives, I think about them whenever I am home. Because my room is located in my home, it brings about the same feelings and memories as my home does along with a feeling of safety that comes along with being alone in my room. It is a place nobody can hear my thoughts, secrets, fears, or anything else, I would be afraid of other people seeing (like when I get dressed). Being mindful of the fact that I’m sitting in my room of the house where my family and I live will affect my writing because I desire to write about my identity, and being in my home brings about so many memories that are correlated with my upbringing that contribute to my identity. Having an awareness of my location and these memories associated with it, will allow me to be able to use them to help me write a strong autoethnography on my identity.

(2) On the New York City Subway

Every day I have to go to school I ride the subway. Whether it’s taking the B train to Atlantic Avenue and then taking the 4 train, or taking the Q train to union square and then taking the 4 train it’s a long trip. No matter which route It takes a long time to go from Southern Brooklyn to the northern Bronx. As a result of this it’s only natural that I would be writing part of my project on a subway train going across New York City in 2019 with all the New Yorkers looking at me. I’ve lived in this city, more specifically, in Brooklyn, since the day I was born. As far back as I could remember all my memories have occurred in this city. From birthdays, to siblings born, to first days at school, to going to synagogue on the Jewish holidays, to graduating high school, to starting college, they all occurred in this city. New York City is not just the place I live in, but the place my heart resides in. The only place I could really feel comfortable in, the only place where I could feel “at home” in, the only place I could honestly say I have a real connection to. As I write being mindful of the fact that I’m writing part of my project on the New York City subway will have a great effect on my writing, since the center of my project is going to be about identity. Thinking about this city, and also thinking about the memories that I associate with it and how it has affected me along with my perceptions of myself will help me to enhance my writing. My writing will be enhanced because without being mindful of where I am writing this project I may never have thought about just how much the city in which I lived has shaped my identity, and in a project based around identity it is very important information to add.

(3) At school

I am a student at Lehman College in the Macaulay Honors program. Consequently, I have to take a lot of classes, do well in all of them, and do all the work I am assigned (which is a lot). As a result of this it is only natural that I do a large portion of my work at school in addition to work done at home so that I get ahead of the game, and so that I am not rushing to finish my homework at the last minute. School is a very important part of my life.  As far back as I could remember I’ve been in school. Whether it was Elementary School, Junior High School, High School, or even college I’ve always been in some form of school. As a result of this I’ve learned many important lessons in school, attained a lot of knowledge, made and lost a lot of friends, and created many good memories and some bad memories as well. People say school is important because otherwise you wouldn’t learn anything, but I see it as more than that. School prepares you for life through knowledge as well as preparing you for life through things such as socialization and memories. Your experiences in school are an important factor in your life, since you have to be there every day.  School also has an important impact on your identity, since your experiences in school will have an impact on how you view your life and in turn yourself. Being aware of the fact that I’m writing at school will impact the writing of my project by making me think about how schooling has impacted my identity, and by using my life experiences at school, as well as the affect it has had on my perception of myself and identity, will all help enhance my piece.

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.