Writing Progress

This semester I can see a change in my writing pieces. For example, in one of my weekly writings from the beginning of the semester in October, I was all over the place rambling about my thoughts and opinions. Now, I feel like I have more cohesive ideas on how I want to go about writing about something. In one of my more recent writing assignments, I have a stronger foundation and flow through my writing, like in my essay on Jack the Ripper’s letters. I feel like I definitely improved in this aspect and more on how to go about my writing as a whole. I would still like to make some improvements on my writing process and the amount of detail that I have in the pieces that I write. I feel like I do not have strong vocabulary and the ability to express what I want to say correctly, so I feel like if I read and write on my own more often, then I will be in a place where I feel like my writing is at my best. As of now, I know that I need to improve and that my writing will always change; I am open to continuing to do research and reading more literary pieces and books.

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Cover Letter

Dear Hiring Manager,

I am writing this letter to show my interest in the ‘Curatorial Internship’ position. Currently, I am a student at Muhlenberg College. Through my Printmaking art course, I was first introduced to this internship opportunity at Alfa Art Gallery. After discussing this in my class, I became extremely interested in applying. I am comfortable in my communication skills, as I have had much experience with my volunteer work and workplaces. The volunteer organization that I had the privilege of helping was with ‘Center for Food Action New Jersey’, where the other volunteers and I would work together to plan out everyone’s roles for the day and who would be responsible for interacting with the poor income families who signed up for food assistance. I worked at Lollipop PreSchool, where I assisted the teacher as a camp counselor during the summer. Here, I became more adept at communicating in a team setting, with other assistants and faculty, communicating with kids of all ages, and managing a week’s worth of activities. I am also very flexible when it comes to working and interacting with different people, seeing as how in my previous line of work I had to constantly acclimate to the different needs of different kids. I also have established knowledge of different art pieces and concepts throughout the years; I have taken a variety of art classes, where I compared and understood the meaning and background of artists’ work and their mediums. I know I have the ability to showcase my skills and bring a notable amount of value. Through my experiences in communication skills, organization, and art research, I know I am proficient in interpersonal relationships, teamwork, and work ethic. I would be delighted to be given the opportunity to speak more about my qualifications if selected for an interview for one of these internships. Thank you for taking your time to read my letter.

The Notorious Serial Killer: Jack the Ripper

In the year of 1888 in Whitechapel London, the streets of East End were rife with illicit and promiscuous activity. Drinking, prostitution, and other such proceedings were not unknown to this area in London, but on August 31, 1888, an elusive murder will make a name for himself, dubbed ‘Jack the Ripper,’ for his multiple, brutal killings. His murders would become sensationalized in British media from his two letters ‘From hell,’ and ‘Dear Boss.’ While serial killing itself becomes a performance in media, it can be argued that Jack the Ripper’s letters were substantial in cementing his legacy, and displaying his murders to the general public as a grand spectacle. 

His letter ‘From Hell’ was sent with a kidney of Catherine Eddows, his fourth victim. Murder is already agreed upon to be wrong, but by sending the kidney he signals to readers that he is a character which is truly and utterly morally perverse. In this and how warped the writing is, ‘From Hell’ is the most believable letter to be written by the true serial killer. The murder’s and the victims alone would never have been able to connect Jack the Ripper’s persona to the public. The letters were what drew ordinary people into his character. He finds everything to be humorous and entertaining, so he continued to work off of this and send this letter to the chairman of the vigilante committee, George W. Lusk. This reflects how contemporary murders are often able to garner support or sympathy, because through interviews and media coverage they are able to appeal to the public. While in the 19th century England did not have television to broadcast Jack the Ripper, his letters were enough to spread like wildfire— because this was one of the very few and rare times in which the public was able to truly hear the assailant’s voice. His voice and thoughts, while appalling, are utterly captivating and mesmerizing. In his other letter, ‘Dear Boss’ he continues this streak of grotesque display, when he writes that he will cut off the ear of his next victim, who was evidently Catherine Eddows. This bold proclamation not only would verify his letters as being penned from the killer himself, but also continues to elaborate on this morally abominable charcaicature. Once Catherine’s body was found with a severed earlobe, the police released the letter and ‘Jack the Ripper’ became to be known all around London. 

The letters continued to fuel the public’s frenzy and craze. Their mania over the character, ‘Jack the Ripper,’ is only solidification as to how the letters were the cornerstone to his characterization. In the midst of the killings, a flood of letters enter the media (which in reality were ordinary people attempting to impersonate Jack the Ripper) so much so that it became unclear which were Jack’s letters, and which were faked. While the complication in whose letters were whose, it proves the idea that Jack’s letters were what helped in fostering his image as a notorious killer. The public knew that his letters were what gave birth to his character, because so many others sought to recreate his letters in order to get attention for themselves. Negative attention was attention nonetheless, and this insight reveals that the grisly murders were not the root to his sensationalization— but rather his letters.

Five women were murdered in cold blood in the streets of East End: Mary Ann Nicholos, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly. Yet it is none of these names that are left remembered in history. Jack the Ripper’s infamous shadow looms over in history, making sure that he will live on through his letters. 

Letters to a Young Writer by Colum McCann 

In Letter to a Young Writer it says to continue to have curiosity and expanding your knowledge, don’t be afraid to look to others for help, writing is always changing so don’t wallow in the failures, everything you write is important to how you grow as a writer, “a lot can be taken from you — even your life — but not your stories about that life”, no one can stop you from writing down your stories and thoughts throughout your life, so write everything down.

In Habit of Hoping it says wherever you are, keep finding your desires and joys in life; have hope in the beauty of living, theres a lot of negativities in this world but you should try to focus on what makes you see the positives in life, like writing.

In The Dark Dogs of the Mind it says that in order to not succumb from the negative mind and depression, write your way out of the darkness and fight the light through your imagination. If you lose motivation and are consumed in bad thoughts, write through your suffering and pain, because this can be your saving grace.

In Write Yourself a Credo it says to always write down your thoughts and anything that comes to mind because everything you think about and are inspired by is important and worth writing down because you never know how far one simple idea can take you.

Short Story – WWII Letter

02/05/1945

Dear Archie,

I know I have not written to you in a while, I had to get new envelopes. I hope this letter finds you in good health, and you need not worry about myself, I am safe and on rest now. I am currently in the hospital with minor wounds but I’ll be able to come home and see you once I am all healed; thank you for writing to me, I miss you so much. I have been thinking about you a lot. I know Christmas has just passed and I hope you are well and enjoyed the holiday. I was just informed that we are not allowed to write detailed experiences, due to the postal censorship, but I want to tell you what I have been faced with.

It was on the 24th, and we were stationed in Ardennes when we were called to fight. We fended off the damned Germans in a fierce last attack, and came out victorious! I must say, I was worried because I had heard shouts and explosions around me— but we were able to pull through. Though, it was not without minor cuts and bruises (my doctor said that I may have to amputate my leg but that’s neither here nor there, as is my leg hahaha).

I try to make light of it now, for we cannot change the past, but I fear I will be forever haunted. I make the light I cannot see. I cannot lie to you, dear friend, I believe I am irredeemable. Yes, all is fair in love and war, but taking a life changes you in a great numerous ways. The only way to survive was by always having a gun in hand, even at night when sleep should have protected you. Some nights, I wake up in a cold sweat… the blood, and smell of burning flesh and sound of gunfire and bombings… that last battle. I did come out of it alive and half-well, but others did not. My friends… my brothers in arms fell like flies in the night sky to the blaze of fire. By day I am able to smile and go about life as if I am free from the looming threat of battle, but by night I become terrorized once more. I can never forget the smell of burning flesh. The loud explosions. It pains me to admit that I cannot even celebrate in the nights festivities because of the loud noise. Too much remembrance comes about when the nights’ shadowy fingers grasp my conscious. Our trek back home was not much better. Heavy snow fell— cold and treacherous. My friend who had also been injured—but more gracious than I— had to be carried, and I was the carrier. 

Do not fret, my comrades and I who had survived made it back and we are all in recovery. Every day I am grateful that I am still alive. Please send my regards to my family and friends and tell them of the good news of my homecoming! Write back to me soon before I get back (don’t forget, especially with that terrible memory of yours). I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

James Valley

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

In the movie, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, the main character undergoes internal and external struggles, which causes her to resort to fraud by forging letters and selling them for money. It is sad how poverty can cause this. She developed an alcohol problem, trust issues, and eventually resorting to an illegal way of getting money. Because she had low income she struggled mentally and did not have time to keep her house clean, which then made people look down on her and not treat her the same as she was then treated after she had money and was able to give gifts to the landlord. Because of this she was able to get rid of her insect problem. Having a good income from forging letters and selling them helped her in that aspect and also allowed her to receive good treatment, a possible love interest, and medicine for her cat. In doing this she also gained a friend that she started to trust and have a good relationship with. Sadly that friend gave the cat the wrong dosage of medicine and it died. I feel like this movie portrayed that money is worth more, as the love interest never worked out in the end, the friend betrayed her trust, and the cat died. I feel like the only thing that stayed constant was the fact that she was getting a lot of money. Eventually she confessed to the fraud and bettered herself and forgave her friend. In the end she found motivation to write again (wrote a book about this experience of hers) and made a long lasting friend; she was proud of her work and regretted nothing.

The Gift

Short story by Emma Donoghue‘s in the form of letters. I find it sad that Mabel/Lily was never told that she was adopted. I think it is important to tell children who their birth parents are, but of course help them understand that that doesn’t mean they are their birthparents are their mother and father. Whoever raises you is your true mother and father and I do not think it is okay to keep information of how you were born away from a child and especially even as an adult; they have the right to know who their birthparents are regardless of the situation. Mabel/Lily should have at least been told when she was 18 who her birth mother is and how her true life was and that her birth mother did not abandon her. It’s sad how poverty can ruin a mothers chance of raising their own child. I feel bad for Mabel/Lily’s birth mother, but also happy that Mabel/Lily was raised well in a well off family, where she was able to succeed and get married and have children of her own in the end. Maybe with how her birth mothers income and marriage was, Mabel/Lily might have not had a similar life, but this doesn’t excuse the fact that her parents never told her the truth. I like how the author of The Gift showed how distraught the birthmother was; her clear change in emotions were very expressive and in my opinion felt rushed. I felt like she was always trying to give explanations, which she does because she is scared of her birth child to think of her as fully abandoning her. It was interesting to see how Mabel’s father felt, and I think he is right in keeping the child, but they should have told her the truth of her life early on. These things can be explained to children in ways where you can also clearly show them that they have their mother and father, but also birth parents, which biologically gave birth to them, but their true mother and father are the people who raise and give love to you. Regarding the tone I think that the mother’s emotions were captured well. She was distraught and worried the whole time, and which you can see in every letter the mother wrote, as she sounded all over the place. It’s sad because of her dependency on a husband and never being able to provide enough for her and a child. Although she was never stable, I feel like she should have been allowed an opportunity after Mabel was 18 to be able to see her and have her child know her background. 

WWII Love Letters

In listening to some love letters between a soldier from WWII and his lover, I was able to understand the true connection and love behind words. I felt as if this was the type of relationship that was needed during this time; something where you can hold on to physical letters, having the ability to always look back on the thoughts that someone had written down. Love letters are different than regular letters, where you would just write down simple things going on in your life or how you are doing. With letters between you and someone you love, emotions pour out and the two express their pure thoughts about the other, being completely vulnerable. I admire how open Chris was towards Bessie and how he said anything that was on his mind. I wish I heard more with how Bessie felt, but besides that I felt like they both equally expressed their love and understanding with each other. Even though they met through writing to each other, they still insisted on getting married, which worked out well anyways. It just goes to show that you do not ned physical conversation nor touch to fall in love. It’s amazing how people can fall in love through exchanging letters and having the strong trust in one another to be faithful and wait to one day be together. I wonder how many relationships had lasted in WWII with people who were fighting.

9/26 Holocaust Letters and Classmates Presentations

3 Points: reading a letter by a child living through the holocaust was eye opening and saddening, as she had expressed gratitude and appreciation for her families letters. I admire how appreciative she is of the little packages and letters she had received and treasures from her family, she said it was like having “A little piece of you”. So grateful for them. She was very optimistic and positive, as she had hope for being together again with her family. That is the only thing that she looks forward to. Misses her siblings and parents and doesn’t want anyone to worry about her. It’s just sad thinking about how this was the last letter she had sent before she was killed in the womens concentration camp in France. Considering her living conditions, she was so thoughtful and uplifting with the way she wrote these letters. She wanted to make sure everyone she loved was doing okay. Another letter that I read about, young girl, She secretly wrote this last letter in a bunker as her last goodbye, knowing she was going to die soon. Poured out all her her last thoughts, as she was trembling and crying with her mother and father. She knew everything was lost but was proud to be Jewish and dying for her people. I just thought this was packed with so much emotion, as she wished the best for everyone who would be alive reading this but you can tell this letter was rushed. The last point I have is that I think that from what I have read so far regarding holocaust letters, they either are pouring out emotion and last minute appreciation and gratitude for their lives and religion or writing about having hope for the future.


2 Questions: one question I have is how the secretly written letters from the holocaust were preserved and the second is, how was anti-Jewish legislation in Germany established?


1 aha Moment: Having listened to my classmates presentations on different Muhlenberg alumni who had served during WWII, I gained a deeper understanding of their personal experiences and relationships, as I had an insight to specific emotions and situations that they had wrote about in letters to the office of Muhlenberg alumni or their loved ones. Considering some of their letters were v-mail, it was interesting to see how they had to get around to the restrictions on what they could say. In general, I was pleasantly surprised with how positive and hopeful most of the letters were. The alumni were grateful for the ability to write letters and the ones sent to them were something they could hold on to from their old lives with their families and at Muhlenberg. I admire how a lot of them had a great perspective on life, even though they had to give up their last year/years at Muhlenberg, and some went to achieve great things after the war was over.

WWII Japanese Internment Camp Letters to Clara Breed

3 points: the children sent letters to Clara Breed and felt safe enough to talk to her about their experiences in the camps, expressing how they felt (ex. some children complained how they were only allowed showers for 2,000+ people. sometimes they didn’t have access to basic food, like dairy, eggs, butter… there were some schools that were created so that the children could learn during this time, so they were grateful for that and grateful to miss breed for giving them books, responding to them.). The letter i specifically read was from Christmas Day and Hisako Watanabe’s brother, Jack, didn’t have any toys for Christmas and the books that Clara Breed gave made up for the loss of joy during their time in internment. Clara Breed helped the children and young adults by sending letters and assisting with requests for supplies and advocating for activism, which is very admirable and something to emulate. Clara breed was simply a librarian at San Diego Public Library, and when she saw that there were children in need of help, she was one of the few people that Japanese American young adults and children looked up to and sent letters to.

2 questions: Reading the letters that the children wrote makes me question just how the exectuive order was able to pass in the first place. While I understand that the Japanese were fighting alongside the Nazis (Axis power alliance) I don’t recall having seen this occur in other instances of history… where the U.S. imprisons American citizens that just happen descend from a country in which we are fighting a war against (ex. this has never happened to the British citizens during the War of 1812, or Spanish citizens during the Spanish-American war). While this may just be attributed to racism, it is just utterly mind-boggling. I had read that Eleanor Roosevelt had tried to persuade FDR against passing the executive order, but even then he continued to let it pass.

Another question which came to mind during the readings was I wonder what it was like for Clara Breed to receive so many letters from these children’s. It must have been emotionally and mentally distressing to read what the children were going through, especially when she received letters from such a numerous amount of children. Her way of comforting them was solely through books, and perhaps this helped give her some piece of mind that they could live some semblance of a normal childhood. But I know for myself that reading through these letters caused my heart to ache, knowing that these innocent children had to suffer and experience such trauma out of the irrationality of the U.S. government… and knowing how I personally felt I can’t imagine how Clara Breed or the children felt during that time.

1 aha moment: these letters gave great insight into what it was like to be a child living in the internment camps. While in a regular history class you can learn the facts of internment and the hrrible conditions that Japanese Americans had to live through just for being a different race during WWII, the letters written by children help emphasize just how cruel the Internment camps were. Children are not prone to lying, and are often uncensored with their thoughts. Their complaints about food, showering, and their lack of toys help to reaffirm the tragdey that was Executive Order 9066.

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