Dear Dr. Honeycutt,
Writing the reflection letter was quite the process for me! I chose my topic, J.D. Salinger, simply because he is my favorite writer, and I’ve always heard that he lived a very interesting life. I knew that he was in the war, that he’d had flirtations with various different religions, and that he eventually became a recluse. The “why” of all of these little anecdotes was intriguing to me, and I thought it would be fun to explore and try to find some answers.
I decided on a blog, because that is one of the few technological platforms I’m really comfortable with. I began working in Word with the intention of transferring the information, but soon found it was much simpler to just do my work directly on the blog itself. I simply changed the dates so that the posts would appear in the order necessary and then got down to work.
As I read through my sources – Paul Alexander’s biography was particularly helpful – the ideas just started pouring out of me. It was hard, in fact, to keep the project from growing out of control; there were just so many possibilities! I could write a short story in the style of Salinger. I could talk about how difficult it was for him to grow up Jewish. I could compare Salinger to his literary creations. Tons of different poetry subjects— his time in the war, Salinger speaking with the character of Holden, etc. came to mind as well. Finally, I just sat down and decided which pieces of his life were the most important, which had the most influence, and which could be crafted into a logical, comprehensive, sequential story. I decided to focus on Salinger’s childhood briefly, his disdain for formal education, the time he spent studying writing, his experience with mentor Whit Burnett, his first successes as a writer, his experience with the war and how that affected him, and, of course his time as a recluse.
I can say that I enjoyed this assignment much more than I thought. In our textbooks, we read about students getting lost in their topics, wanting to write more and more, and having real fun with the assignment, and I did just that. I shared my process with a few friends, and I was pleasantly surprised by their responses to my poetry: they really seemed to like it. Another student in the class also commented on enjoying my poetry and, as a result, I feel much more confident about my poetry writing skills and think I will try writing poetry in the future. I’d never thought I had a knack for it before and had avoided it altogether.
So, completing this project not only allowed me to discover a wonderful new assignment for my students—one that I can feel confident they’ll enjoy, because I did—but to find another outlet for expressing myself creatively. Though it was difficult and challenging at times, I think it has been one of my most memorable and enjoyable educational experiences, and I thank you for that.
Cordially,
Cynthia S. Potter
