journal response

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Letter to English Class

© 2017, Nicholas Mulenge all rights reserved

My name is Nicholas but my close friends and family call my Nic, I am an immigrant like so many people I came to the states when I was relatively young about 4 years old. Even though I hear so many people speak about their citizenship status like it is a huge issue, which if anyone understands that topic it’s definitely me, I never really had too much of a problem to speak of I guess until I started talking and getting to know people in the states, in the neighborhood we live in now. My parents were and still are wealthy business owners, they have operated a successful business in the Caribbean, I won’t say what precise location typically people have a funny way of casting judgments about where you come from and care too little about where you want to go in life. Growing up with parents who are successful is amazing; nothing short of surreal and as their only child for the bulk of that golden time my life was fantastic. I could go on in particular about this aspect of my life you know the up part but the point of this essay might be lost on some people who have never realized that dream yet. So then I guess I can start to get to the point for you and tell you the reason I penned this letter to you specifically, all of you are students now in this writing class and each of you bring something special to the class and whether or not you really take full advantage of the opportunity and precious moments is up to you and maybe of little consequence to anyone if you don’t. This writing class actually became a therapeutic outlet for me; seriously! I know you might have trouble believing that but as a former hard drug abuser and addict I can tell you that writing has a special place for us all to retreat to and gain back some of the things we lost living so carelessly as we do. I had a serious drug problem that started with casual weed smoking and then moved across the way to cocaine and eventually I became severely addicted to opiates and ecstasy. As I mentioned before my family was well off and unfortunately I had a substantial amount of money that was supposed to be reserved for either college or just part of my general savings that I used to buy and eventually become addicted to serious narcotics. I won’t get into the details about how bad or problematic this was for myself, friends I stole from and family that I betrayed, but I am sure as you read this you can easily imagine the devastation drug addiction leaves behind. So by the time I turned 17 years of age I had a full-blown addiction between 18 and 22 years of age I went to 5 different rehab clinics and the sixth time I actually began a full recovery or at least me and all of the people involved are on the road to recovery. I used to be into sports as I am sure you might be too, in my mind I was an aspiring soccer player looking back at the opportunity to get scholarships and play for a pretty good school is painful now. I don’t want this letter to be a ‘learn from my mistake’ kind of letter at all. I just wanted to let whoever know that I used drugs to deal with some issues I had, the kind of issues that we all have and now I’m doing so much better that’s all that really matters to me and my family at this point. I can say that one thing about this class which, at first got on my nerves, but now is a normal part of my day is writing in my journal.

I am not a person who wants to write for the New York magazines or write books, but I really see the way I get to release negativity and tension from my life this way and maybe you don’t see writing like I do, but do you think it would hurt to just give it a chance for say one semester? If you really can’t do it then that’s you. Many times during my sessions in rehabs I had to write in a journal which I absolutely hated at first, probably because my brain was fried. For this class you have to do in class writing assignments and write essays to turn in just give it a shot and keep an open mind about it, you never know how something can benefit you until you try it for long enough to see a difference. Well I will let you be the judge of the writing teacher and they way things go for you, my best advice is for you is to keep what matters most in the front of your mind, for me it was getting my 2 year degree and moving on to a good university so that I can make something out of myself. I hated having to repeat this class putting my pride and ego to the side made things go smoothly, but I am grateful at least this time around I ended up with a professor that wasn’t impersonal or judgmental about all my problems. After realizing that the rest was up to me I believe that being drug free was the most important factor. So I wish you all the best, so do your best peace!

Sincerely,

Nic.

Prompt: After reading the letter create a formal essay outline and then write a journal response at least 1000 words; your journal response should discuss your reaction(s) interpretations and understandings of the text. The journal response you create should not summarize what Nic said at all, but it should provide general and specific details about your reactions to the letter.