Saenz 1

Gilbert Saenz
English 1302
April 27, 2014
Mrs. Sheridan
From Tapeworm to Butterfly: A True Story
The silver clad eunuch swings his crescent steel blade at the emaciated peasant boy. The
boy leaps backward, knocking over a display of foreign silks, iridescent opal stones, and a jar of
honey. The peasants feet trample the sticky fabric as he turns, sprinting away from the bazar and
his assailant.
The suns searing rays scorch the boys arms and legs, his feet nearly blistering as he
races atop sunbaked sand, but his stride remains unbroken, for the sting of singed feet does not
compare to the pain of a gouged throat. In his clammy hands he holds a small helping of dried
pears; the stolen fruit the cause of all the commotion. He spares a glance backwards, trying to
gauge the distance between himself and his pursuer; however, amidst the chaos of swirling sand
and the sea of tunic draped bodies, he seems to have outpaced his hunter.
The boy smiles, turning into a shady alleyway and pops a few pieces of fruit into his
mouth. As the sweet tartness envelopes his mouth, pain explodes behind his ear and his body is
flung forward on to the white sand; blood sprays from the boys head, spilling onto his bare chest.
He stands up, his body shaking with pain and adrenaline and tries to run, but its too late. A hand
closes around his neck and throws him back on the ground. The last thing the boy sees is a silver
crescent whistling towards his neck.
Not bad, huh?
Saenz 2

To be honest, at the beginning of the year I would not have had the courage to introduce
any essay with a fictional narrative, much less one that does not directly tie into the given topic.
When I first stepped into Room D-101, I wanted to blow my teacher away immediately,
and although I knew I had strong writing foundationsyes, this prideful thinking has come back
to bite me in the can a variety of timesI did not know how to accent my academic strengths
with creative liberty. Gilbert Saenz, the troubled, fetus like writer constantly plagued Mrs.
Sheridan with, Can I do this, should I do this? questions, as I felt I needed to receive some
form of confirmation before I could move along with the ideas that circulated through my mind;
however, as the year progressed and my confidence developed, I evolved into a superior writer
truly, I feel that if the writer I am today met the writer I was at the moment I stepped into English
1301, I would have punched him and his insecurities in the face.
Now, this caterpillar to majestic monarch butterfly transformation did not occur
overnight; the intensive study of essay styles, syntax, and the improvement of stress management
skillsalong with literal blood, sweat and tearswent into my evolution as an essayist.
At first, for some reason completely unknown to myself, I had a preconceived notion that
all essays could be approached in the same way, for while the fact that essays varied in style was
known to me, I still felt that due to my natural, abundant writing aptitudesee, theres that
prideful attitude I mentioned earlierI could successfully accomplish any essay with a bit of
humor, a couple of hastily Googled quotes, and a heartwarming conclusionreality slapped me
swiftly and firmly across the face after my first two essays.
Throughout the course of our academic career we are taught that there are two styles of
essays which we can be tested on in state mandated exams: Expository or Persuasive; however,
Saenz 3

no one has the decency to mention that once you enter an English 1301 course, essay styles
procreate, creating an abundant and fairly annoying variety of writing nightmares.
The first semesters Narrative, Descriptive, and Illustrative essays came easier to me than
the second semester hellhounds: Toulmin, Rogerian, and Classical argumentative essays. Due to
my creative writing background I effectively played to my strengths during the first semester,
relying on poetic prose and extensive imagery to make up for the lack of substance in my
writing; nonetheless, this compositional crutch soon snapped in half when I came face to face
with the argumentative style.
Argumentative style papers require more in depth concepts than the pink fluff I had spit
out all year; additionally, researching concrete information is essential for the success of your
argument, along with refuting, conceding, and examining all aspects of the opponents possible
argument in an objective manner the process takes time, time that due to my heavily loaded
academic schedule, I did not have. And then, as if the time consuming style was not torture
enough, STC decided that we must write a group argumentative essay in which we combine all
of our semester themes.
Semester themes are central ideas which dictate what concepts you will revolve your
papers around; they are helpful, stimulating, and annoying as hell. Needless to say, when
choosing semester themes, individuals enjoy being unique and creativealthough clich
and boring is more like it, my own theme includedand though I am all for letting your freak
flag fly, when you try to combine four vastly distinct subjects into one paper, you will butt
heads; ideas clash, individuals refused to write their portions of the assignment, and those who
wrote them believed that they had written an essay that Jesus freaking Christ himself had
Saenz 4

whispered into their earsbelieve me, they had not. The full weight of the assignment fell on my
shoulders; I cried for about twenty minutes then pulled one of my infamous all-nighters in order
to complete the assignmentwhich only received a 90, mind you.
Although I struggled to produce noteworthy papersor sometimes just produce papers
I feel like being exposed to new essay styles benefitted me greatly, for there is always something
new to learn in the unknown, and though I was pushed outside of my comfort zone, I gained a
new set of skills that I continue to apply outside of English 1301: effective researching abilities,
in depth conceptual development skills, and the capability to type assignments even though you
cannot see the monitor through your tears.
In addition to learning about higher level essay styles and their individual requirements, I
developed a knack for complex syntax. As you may have noticed in the pages that came before, I
rarely use simple sentences; simple sentences are for wimps! I had always admired authors who
could generate lengthy, intricately written sentences which were sprinkled with a plethora of
punctuation marks, so I began to write them as well.
I will be the first to admit that my first attempts were nowhere near perfectionmy
essays came back bleeding red ink on a variety of occasions but due to my persistence, and an
assortment of tips given by Mrs. Sheridan, I soon began to produce drool worthy complex
sentencesoh, and the discovery of the double dash became the pinnacle of my sentence writing
bonanza. I can now spit out multifaceted sentences without pausing to think about it; however,
there are times when Mrs. Sheridan doubts my ability to write beautiful, Athens-worthy
sentences, and proceeds to Google grammatical rules to be sure that I am not typing out the
worlds lengthiest run on.
Saenz 5

The enhancement of my syntax has greatly improved the quality of my work; sentences
hold deeper meaning, wording is precise, and the general ideas I try to convey are expressed
more fully than before. I have stopped relying on poetic like prose to illustrate my thoughts, as I
now possess the ability to express them in a sophisticated manner, and although this is splendid,
the catalyst that propelled me from the cocoon state to a full blown literary butterfly has not yet
been discussed: stress management.
As a student who takes two college courses, one AP course, and enjoys enrollment in the
worlds most difficult physics course, my academic stress levels are usually on verge of
explosion. Homework is an ever present chunk of my lifeI even refer to my laptop as my
baeand due to the amounts of work I must do, my general sleep time is around 3AM.
Stress, teenage hormones, and a lack of sleep are under no circumstance a good mix, so
there were many times when I found myself crying, deleting entire essays, or cursing everyone in
my academic life while shoveling ice cream into my mouthnot necessarily in that order;
furthermore, the stress began to affect my writing style. I could feel that essays seemed forced;
they no longer flowed out of me like magnificent molten silver and onto my computer, and my
personality itself seemed to be absent from most of my writing. I decided to get myself under
control and stop being so depressingmy writing immediately improved after that.
I continue using my stress control techniques listening to music, yelling at myself,
playing with my catswhenever I feel stressed. This has a major impact on my style, and I feel
like many of the essays I have written after my stress relievers sound more like me than those I
wrote before.
Saenz 6

I have learned this year that I am an independent writer; my papers are superior when
written alone than when others have input in them. Additionally, I discovered that I truly hate
group work, as I despise having to rely on others to get their lives together and do their part of
the assignment; conversely, I enjoy having my essays reviewed by my peers, for peer revision
has proven itself to be effective, and helpful. My writing has proven itself to be natural when I
am not under stress, allowing my personality and opinions to shine through; additionally, my
ability to learn stands enhanced when my mind remains focused on the task at hand and not on
other topics.
The writer I am today is eons ahead of the writer I once was, for I have learned to manage
my stress, recognize my strengths and weaknesses, and apply all I have been taught to distinct
styles. And ok, I admit I may never be a Charles Dickens or a J.K Rowlingor whatever author
tickles your fancybut I can honestly say I have improved tremendously since the first essay we
were asked to write. I no longer ask for constant reassurance or doubt my ideas; if that does not
constitute as improvement, then I do not know what does.