Looking Back...

Raeta Daniel

Raeta’s blog posts reminded me very much of a diary as they consisted of personality, spunk, humor, and to-the-point honesty. I found it to be very courageous as she never seemed to be afraid to voice her opinion and what she truly thought about an issue. As I am a woman of great detail, as is reflected in my writings, I found it surprisingly interesting when I couldn’t help but become all the more intrigued at the simplistic tone found within Raeta’s stories. I found it, for lack of a better term, very real and honest as I admired the fact that she never tried to make reality seem more glamorous or beautiful than it is; for sometimes, life just plain sucks!

Although her blogs can seem somewhat simple at times, Raeta knows when to be serious and how to touch her reader. She is able to come across poetic when she wants her reader to take her subject-at-hand seriously and she does so in such a beautiful manner (for an example of this, read her blog “High Above” and “My Parents’ Most Tragic Day…”). Raeta is a very talented writer and has much to offer the world.

My Favorites

One of my favorites would definitely have to be “So, it came in 3’s…” I absolutely love the personal and yet, concurrently distant writing style of the author. I love how Raeta gives us a sense of what’s important to her and what’s going on in her life while not giving us too much detail or focusing too much on one topic. I felt teased as I was reading the blog, as though she was stringing me along as I yearned to uncover more about her life. I think this is a great writing tactic as it keeps the audience interested and longing to read more.

Another one of my favorites, if not my most favorite, would have to be “High Above.” Personally, I loved writing this blog! I think it opens up a whole new sense of creativity in which many of us probably didn’t even know we had. I think Raeta did a fantastic job with this blog! I feel as though the productivity and technique in her writing was highly expounded upon. It’s funny how simply taking five or so minutes out of your day to just relax and look out a window can trigger so many emotions, thoughts, and topics to discuss in great detail, which is what I can tell happened to Raeta. Throughout the entirety of this blog, she discovered secrets of life and of herself: how to manage her stress, how to survive the roller-coaster ride of life, how we, as humans, are all connected, and how our problems pale in comparison to those of others. This blog was inspiring, poetic, well-written, thoughtful, and beautiful. I felt connected to it and to the author; a true sign of a great writer.

“My Parents’ Most Tragic Day…” was another great post. So rare is it that an author has the capability and the writing technique to create a masterpiece which touches his/her reader. Even before I read this blog, only the title, I knew that the subject-at-hand would be a very serious one, as she did a great job in reflecting an unknown tragedy to come. Throughout the blog, I couldn’t stop reading, though at times, I wanted to; for I didn’t want to reach the end, as I knew what laid ahead. My eyes swelled up in the middle of story and tears slithered down my cheeks as I came to the final few sentences. My heart goes out to you and your family, Raeta. I cannot even begin to understand what you and your parents went through. All I can do is commend you for your bravery and willingness to share such a personal topic with complete strangers and say that I am truly sorry for your loss.

Michelle Nulliner

Michelle’s blog posts remind me a lot of Raeta’s; not so much the subject matter, but rather the writing style. It is very honest, full of personality, uplifting when called for, serious when needed, and inspiring when it was meant to be. I can’t help but say that it reminds me very much of a female college student’s diary. Throughout many of her blog posts, I felt as though I was standing behind her, looking over her shoulder as she jotted down her personal experiences.

I love being able to read each blog and having the ability to understand what is important to her and how her experiences have helped shaped the person she is today. Michelle is clearly very driven, passionate, loyal, hard working, and creative – and her writings reflect exactly that.

My Favorites

Michelle’s “Braided Essay” blog post was definitely one of my favorites. As a reader, I felt connected with her; for I too can be a pessimist at times and set myself up for failure. As a classmate, I felt proud of her for being brave enough to admit a weakness and tell a story in which she prevailed over her fault. It was beautifully written and came full circle with a beginning, middle, and an end.

Another favorite of mine is one in which actually lacks a title, but was written on Wednesday, February 25 of this year. As softball is the subject matter for most of her blogs, it comes as no surprise that this one was as well. However, what I found intriguing about this essay was her gratification and pride in an award in which she had received while on the ASU softball team. I admire her for receiving the award of “Most Improved” player of the 2008 National Championship Softball Team. This alone allows the reader to obtain an understanding of the type of person Michelle is: hard working, driven, and persistent, among others. I found this blog post to be somewhat of a mechanism for positive reinforcement. Sometimes we are more likely to target and write about our flaws and I found it uplifting that Michelle did not choose to do so in this case.

My favorite story would probably have to be one of Michelle’s first posts, titled “Speechless.” For this blog post, we were required to briefly mention and discuss three topics in which would be extremely hard for us to write about. I can remember reading this blog when it was first posted and feeling honored to be probably one of few people who know such intimate secrets as well as feeling proud of her for being brave enough to share such personal subject matter to a class of strangers. My feelings have yet to change. I can’t even imagine having to deal with some of the experiences she has been thrown into and I commend her for being able to cope with them, let alone being able to write about them. I found myself inspired and overwhelmed with a sense of admiration for Michelle as she did not take the easy way out of this assignment, but rather went forward with it head-on and unafraid as to what her classmates might think about her and/or her family. She did an amazing job on this blog and I am so happy for her that she was able to discuss such difficult topics.