Hello, my name is Samantha Beaumont, I’m 21, and this is my first semester here at Bristol Community College. I have always been fond of English and according to my grades, I wasn’t too bad at it either. Even though I was so critical of my work, I always thought there was room for improvement. The hardship I gave myself gave me a reason to focus when it came to English 101; I was determined to hone my skills. When it comes to me as a writer, I was and still am, awful with run-ons. I wanted to get as much information in the sentence as possible, and sometimes it got out of hand. This problem carried from my high school writing over to my college writing. I then realized I try correcting my run-ons with an abundance of semicolons or commas. I still haven’t mastered the use of proper punctuation; this is something I will continue focusing on in English 102. Throughout my writing, I stuck with the theme of nature; I automatically knew I would achieve my best writing with something I was familiar with like the environment.

The first essay I wrote this semester was a memoir. At first, I was a little apprehensive of this one because I wasn’t sure I had much to say about myself. In my memoir, I describe a 15-minute walk to my cabin while I was at summer camp three years ago. I ended up enjoying this essay the most because it was something I had never done before. I learned to make my writing more descriptive, and this allowed me to add my flare and originality. My original piece was almost 3,000 words, and I was shocked that I could even write that much. I, of course, ended up shortening it, this was probably one of my better revisions. I found, instead of not having enough to say, I almost always had too much to say, and my essays would end up being overly wordy. I would have to say my biggest personal challenge this semester was revising my essays.

My ethnography hit home in a personal way; I wrote about the powwows I go to each fall. This piece was important to me because I want to document the most significant moments in my life, and this is by far on the top of the list. We were asked to attend an event revolving around our theme, and then write down our observations in essay form. Since these powwows only happen during the fall, I went to my teacher and asked if I could still write about it. She agreed that it was a perfect topic, and I decided to write from memory. Throughout the essay, I was nervous that writing from my memory would hurt my writing. However, after rewriting it and revising it three times, I made a piece I was proud of. I was happy with myself because I always immediately faced a problem with each essay but managed to resolve it by the end.

The third and last piece was my photo essay. My photo essay is about great birds of prey in the grand canyon. I had fun with this one because the whole reason for me starting college in the first place was to, hopefully, go to school in Arizona. I want to become a geologist, and I thought the gorgeous landscape of Arizona was the place to go. I decided to talk about birds because it wasn’t something I knew very well, so I wanted to take this experience and try and learn from it. I used this essay to practice my citation work because there was a fair amount of research that went into each bird. I also took what I learned about citing my work and apply it to my other classes when writing papers.

I enjoyed taking this class to help explore different kinds of writing. I feel I have improved significantly from the beginning of my semester and am excited to start English 102. I believe that developing your writing skills is always an important life skill. In conclusion, I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my essays. I hope I could pull you into the moment just as if you were there with me when it was happening.

Sinecerly, Samantha

Dining Hall Hill

After settling in for the week before camp two years ago, I found myself relaxing with Mrs. Tellier, this year’s cook at Cachalot Scout Reservation and mother of my current boyfriend. I had grown close to her and her family, and she was very dear to me. This year I was the camp’s kitchen manager and Mrs. T, and I had come a week early to help set up the kitchen. It would be just us for the week. Just past midnight, and after a long day cleaning and rearranging the kitchen, we sat comfortably in the Cooks Cabin where Mrs. T stayed the entire summer. She indicated to me through very obvious means she wanted to be alone and go to bed. “Are you okay walking by yourself?” she said as she was making herself coffee; she lived off coffee. Smiling, but with heart aflutter I said, “Yeah I should be fine,” nonchalantly. I lived in a cabin in the forest, and I was scared. It was dark, and I had never been in this camp without the bustling staff. I knew my walk would be accompanied by only the woods that night. I left the dim light of the Cooks Cabin porch.

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In this ethnography, I will be documenting one day out of a weekend powwow. A powwow is a sacred gathering of Natives; it’s a time-honored tradition that involves dancing, singing, drumming and the renewal of old and new friends. I have been blessed to be allowed into a tribe in the New England area; they host powwows every year during the cold days of fall. I’ve been able to witness countless ceremonial dancing and singing from tribes all around the area. Our powwows, unlike most, are inter-tribal and open to the public.

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When you head to the Grand Canyon, you may be there to visit one of our national parks, for the sights and the experience. Try looking for some of the Grand Canyon’s native birds of prey, next time you visit. From the research I’ve found that many birds of prey “ranging in size from the Northern pygmy owl — to the massive California condor” call the Grand Canyon home (“Birds”). In this photo essay, I will be highlighting six of those birds.  The Canyon offers many different environments for these birds to dwell in; from pine forest, desert scrubs, and riverside homes, this giant gorge offers sanctuary to over 370 species of birds. Some of these birds are migratory birds and will travel great distances only to use the Canyon as a safe place before moving on. However, the birds I will be analyzing stay here their whole lives.

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