The Identity Project, in summarization, was ultimately asking the question 'Who am I?'. Throughout the course of the first two months of school, we learned the essence of socialization (which is referring to the lifelong process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customs and ideologies, through media and our loved ones). We learned writing skills, such as TEA (Topic, Evidence, Analysis), that ultimately were able to give our final essays a 'flow' of sorts. And finally, I personally was able to learn that respect, especially towards those who deserve it, is always the way to go.
When looking at this project, my overall thought is that although at times there was certain room for improvement, the whole of my time spent was spent wisely and productively. And I feel that that shows in my work. My mask was a huge part of the Identity Project, and it represented the three key points in my essay (Racism, Media, Socioeconomic Class). What made my mask pop out, in my opinion, was the way that I clearly was able to portray my three key points. That is what I find to be my favorite part of my mask. In my essay, “This Is Me,” I state that “I have been socialized to think that racism is okay. I was born in small Santa Fe, New Mexico. From birth, my parents have been teaching me how to fit in as a human in my culture. Don’t be a wimp. Don’t cry. Wash your hands. Yet they were also teaching me a less visible lesson.” This not only was the topic sentence of my second paragraph, but I feel I was able to introduce my second key point, and at the same time create a connection through personal experiences with my readers. This was my favorite section of my essay. This project, especially for myself, was extremely eye opening, as in times past I was allowed and able to get away with telling racist or biased jokes. Not only was this project able to teach me to clean up my act, but I feel that I will remember in the future that maturity is key. Lastly, out of all the Habits of Heart and Mind that our school has implemented, I find perseverance to be the one I struggle in. Although I am not one hundred percent sure, I think that this ties into inspiration and how I am easily able to lose interest when I can’t use my interests to spark a fire within myself. My solution? During future projects, I might be able to think more in depth on how to be able to incorporate my interests into the given assignment. This was truly a great project!