Dear Reader:

My name is Carla, I have been married for 31 years, and I have two adult and married children. I have included pictures of my husband, two children, and our 5 dogs. I am now a returning college student, I began college thirty-three years ago; finishing three years of college with many college credits and an Associate of Technical Arts Degree (ATA), graduating with a liscense in Cosmetology. I have styled hair for 30 years now, and had many other life experiences, including watching my children grow up, marry, and move away. I decided I wanted to do something different and return to college and to go on to a four-year college to earn a teaching degree; however, there were a few credits that I never completed at the community college level. I truly wish I had known then what it would cost me now in frustration, time, money and perseverance.

I started back to college with much trepidation; then spent the first two college quarters “finding my way.” Starting right off taking some intriguing Early Education and Psychology classes, but I’m still not sure I’ve found my direction. What I do know is that my ATA Degree needs to be up-graded to an Associate of Arts Degree (AA) that would be transferable to a four-year college. An additional two quarters to fill those latent requirements are needed. I was so afraid when my first quarter began, a middle-aged lady at a Community College full of ambitious, idealistic, newly minted high school graduates. Although that was true, there were also numerous other people that had returned to college, I wasn’t an oddity at all. Continuing with the erroneous idea that I could pick-up where I left off, led me to another shattered myth causing the realization of just how much I had forgotten. I had to get serious. It was difficult to take Logic, Environmental Science, and English 101 all at the same time during Winter quarter of 2009 without any refresher courses in math or Basic English grammar. I did it, and did it well, while driving myself half-crazy trying to keep up and make good grades.

After “the super human quarter,” I decided to go easy for the Spring quarter. Deciding to take English 97. This was a much-needed refresher course. Math 78 a self motivated course that allows one to learn as fast or as slow as one can or wants to. My goal was to work through the entire required math that I needed in one quarter. Laugh-out-loud, or L.O.L. as today’s young cell-phone-texters would say, I began at the beginning of basic math, and am now working through beginning algebra. It may take me another quarter to get through the one required course “intermediate algebra.” Doing intermediate algebra or anything else is impossible until you understand the basics that come before it.

Returning to the English 97 class, people have mentioned I have a gift for writing. I have never asked what they saw in my writing that they liked. Now, I wish I had asked. It would have been nice to build on my strengths. What I found out this quarter is that I am seriously “comma challenged,” and I have a tendency to diverge off the main topic often including way to much unneeded information. “Focus, you need to focus on the subject,” repeats our instructor. This class taught me how to focus on a topic, to use my voice to write descriptively, but not to excess, how to write a process paper, and, of course, where to put or not to put commas. I’m still working on that one. Rediscovering the joy of putting my thoughts on paper in descriptive narrative, I learned about “Show Not Tell.” Using descriptions rather than just the “facts,” building interest and imagery with words to show not tell. “I typed the assignments, with the sounds of my fingernails clicking on the keys and the incessant tapping of the keyboard filling the air.” At first, I could disregard the punctuation and spelling and set the fluid words onto the black and white computer screen. Like water, the ideas and words flowed all over the place. Eventually I needed to control the flow, but not yet, not until the 2nd and 3rd drafts. The words may have flowed, but the descriptions blossomed. I love using words to paint a picture.

The selection of my writings that I have chosen will reflect my newfound control, and the joy of description. Please enjoy these short stories, and let me know what seems interesting. You can help me to answer the question, “What was it you liked about this piece?” With your insight, I can continue to build on my strengths. Come, join me on my journey of self-discovery through my writing, and thank you for reading my e-portfolio.

Just for fun I've added a "dictionary" link to the side bar of my blog, so that you may look up or challenge any of the words or usage. (This one is for Mei - JK!)

Carla