The Road Ahead: The Writing 39C Journey Begins!

Hello and welcome to my first blog! Right now I am currently at home. However, next year I am hoping that I am able to the dorm and meet new people and friends. Covid-19 has been disappointing, to say the least, I was going into this year excited to be a freshman at UCI. On the bright side, I have enjoyed online learning because I am able to spend time with my family.

Last quarter I took Writing 37 and I found the topic very interesting: Creepypastas. I personally love animals so I am equally interested in this topic. However, I am nervous because Writing 39C is a research course and this is out of my comfort zone. I have always considered myself an average write and my weakness is most likely organization and structure.

One of the topics I was interested in from the TIME article was the fact that Kanzi the bonobo was able to understand abstract concept words such as from and also grammar. I have always had the belief that humans have a more complex mind, however, this article was able to open my mind. The line between animals and humans has always been concrete and defined but this article blurred the line between the complexity of animals and humans. I feel like the world is starting to realize this as more policies are being placed, such as the EU’s reform on more acceptable methods of killings, to protect animals.

Another topic I found interesting was a statistic that found that humans who have poor social connections or friendships can raise the risk of death as high as smoking or obesity. Friendships actually decrease an individual’s level of stress and this can be applied to monkeys too. Overall, I am looking forward to this class and the challenges it brings. I am willing to learn a new style of writing and apply it to my future classes and I hope by the end of this course that I will become a better writer.

An image of Kanzi the bonobo