Day One: Student Research and Writing Conference

The first day of the conference was very good overall. I attended two panels. The first one was the panel that members from our class participated in. The title of the panel was: "Interrogating the Journey". Laura was the first to present our other classmates and to introduce the theme of the presentation. She expressed herself very well and her essay " A Puerto Rican Identity" was very great. She connected her experience with the Jamaica Kincaid's and Peter Roberts description of identity. The next speaker was Karla. Her essay "Helping and Comunication" explained the fact that there is a very thin line between helping and cheating and how this dynamic hurts the chances for being successful. Sahara used Cooper and Roberts to defend her essay about Identity. Her closing sentence was very simple yet strong, "I never questioned my identity. I know I'm Puerto Rican." Lorna read her essay where she explained all the characteristics that defined our identity and how we are responsible of protecting it even though Puerto Rico has many problems and issues including bad government administration. To conclude the panel, Sylvette read her essay about the connection between tourists and the communication model. She reflects on her experience in Condado. One example that she used was the short interaction with the tourist due to the tight schedule. She compared it to one of Kincaid's essays in "A Small Place". Overall I could say that the members of our course, A Journey in Literature, did a very splendid job in demonstrating the issues that we as Puerto Ricans have when it comes to developing our identity and how it can be very difficult due to the many issues the island has. 

The next panel that I had the chance to attend was "Mini Sagas: My Creative Process". In this panel five students not only read their mini sagas but they sort of acted them. Before the panel I wasn't really familiar to what mini sagas were, but I was completely amazed at how short and interesting they were. The mini saga that I liked the most was Expectations by Ashley Dalmau. She gave many details at first making you think that she was talking about any object but at the end she explained how difficult it is to find a husband in our present time. I found it very creative and unique. The students later explained that mini sagas look easy but may be complex. They first need to find a topic or theme and then begin to write. 
Both panels captured my complete attention. I was able to connect them to my everyday experiences and my interdisciplinary studies.