Sabrina Schembri Portfolio and Cover Letter

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14 December 2018
Dear Reader,
This letter will be an analysis of my growth during the Fall 2018 semester in English 11000 at City College. Writing is something that I really enjoy so I am happy to look back at the pieces I worked so hard on throughout the semester. I hope that this letter helps you understand the purpose of the pieces I created as well as provide some insight into my writing process. I will include information regarding why I chose my topics, places where I struggled, and feedback from both my peers and professor.
My purpose in writing the profile “Paul Taylor” was to help my reader(s) learn about Mr. Taylor’s career as a dancer and choreographer. I wanted to provide information that showed how Paul started and how it led him to becoming such an important creator in the dance world. I included information from his autobiography when discussing his early life so that the reader could hear his voice and see his point of view alongside the descriptions in the other sources I used. This assignment is the one that I’d say I struggled with the most. I feel that the paper could have used more information about Mr. Taylor that was less known as well as more in depth. I don’t think that I provided enough to properly detail the many things Taylor accomplished. I thought that this paper was too general and needed stronger content, especially quotes. Quote selection was something that I also struggled with in this assignment. I think I could have found quotes that were more relevant to my purpose. Lastly, I struggled with concluding this paper. I ended the piece with the line “I hope that people can find what he saw in his pieces and make their own discoveries.” I don’t think that properly summed up what I wrote because it was a very
vague statement in response to a quote by Paul Taylor himself. As I continued writing through the rest of the semester my conclusions got stronger.
My purpose in writing the narrative entitled “High School Physics class” was to detail the events of a change in my life. I chose to write about my experience in a physics class because it led me to change my future goals and influenced where I ended up going to college. I wanted to take the reader through the story from where I started, where the change came in, and finally how the change affected me. Although I struggled with this piece I thought it was one of my strongest. The main issue I had while writing this paper was the fact that I didn’t have experience writing about myself in the format of a narrative. Even though that was my main issue, it was also an enjoyable challenge. I liked being able to share a personal story while keeping a relaxed tone that truly felt like my voice. In summary, the change I discussed was going from wanting to be a professional dancer to taking a physics course and struggling through it which led me to consider science as a career choice. I think I did a pretty good job of using vivid imagery to tell my story and providing anecdotes to paint a clearer picture for the reader. Contrasting the previous paper, I felt that the ending of this piece was much stronger and referred to a motif I kept throughout the piece. I wrote, “Physics was a difficult number to learn but once I got the steps right, I never wanted to stop practicing.”
My purpose in writing the final piece I provided entitled “Teenage Issues Portrayed Through Netflix’s “Insatiable”” was to provide a detailed analysis of an article written by writers who disliked the show. The main goal was to keep myself out of the paper by not sharing my opinions or defending either side. I believe that this was the strongest piece I wrote this semester because I was able to make it extremely personalized while still hitting all the things I needed for the assignment. One struggle I had while writing this piece was keeping the same tense the
whole time. I edited this paper very carefully to make sure that all the quotes I included and the responses I wrote for them corresponded well. I also needed to make sure I didn’t use I, me, my, etc. or come off too biased. This was my favorite paper to write because it was the only one where I could not add personal input. I could have improved this piece by making my counterargument and rebuttal more detailed.
In conclusion, I feel that I grew a lot throughout the semester. I was able to write in ways I wasn’t used to like with the narrative. I received a lot of useful feedback that helped me open my eyes to mistakes I make often and my peers and professors provided insight that will help me on future papers. Even though I am a civil engineering major I know there will be a lot of writing in my future so producing these pieces was very useful.
Sabrina Schembri
Paul Taylor, Final, 14 Oct. 2018
Sabrina Schembri English 11000/A Intro to Composition Prof. Iris Bodre October 14, 2018
Paul Taylor
Paul Belville Taylor Jr. was an influential modern dancer and choreographer. He was born on July 29, 1930 in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania and died on August 29, 2018 in New York City. As a dancer, I never felt right for ballet but continued to study it until I found modern dance. The Taylor style opened my eyes to a world of dance that was right for me and where I felt accepted. Paul Taylor was a rule breaker and his creative choreography and attitude continue to inspire me even though I no longer want to pursue a dance related career. Paul Taylor truly changed the way I look at dance.
Taylor was born during the great depression which caused financial strain within his family. He was cared for mainly by his mother as his parents had separated early on (Taylor, 5). Taylor was a swimmer and a painter. His art and swimming background gave him an interesting point of view when it came to dance and contributed to what became the Paul Taylor style. Taylor started dancing when he was 21 years old (1951), which is considered late compared to many other people in the dance world. He studied modern dance, training under well-known names including Martha Graham and Doris Humphrey. Taylor also studied some ballet. He studied at Julliard in the early 50s and speaks about his audition in his book. He said his audition piece was “…made out of moves from the dancelike duet that Anita and I had done in the park at Syracuse”
(Taylor). He also said that figuring out what to wear to the audition “…had been a puzzle. I’d decided to wear sweatpants and sneakers, which, at the time, no serious dancer wore” (Taylor). In 1953 he joined the Martha Graham company “…creating roles such as Aegisthus in Clytemnestra (1958), Hercules in Alcestis (1960), and Theseus in Phaedra (1962)” (Brittannica).
Fig 1. Paul Taylor in a double scoop, a classic Taylor shape used in many of his pieces. (Mitchell).
Taylor established his company in 1954. One of his very first pieces ever performed was called 7 New Dances (1957) in which he “…wanted to create a new dance vocabulary based on pedestrian movement” (Wegmann 1). To do so, he “incorporated stillness and eliminated traditional dance movement in these works” (Wegmann). Taylor’s use of pedestrian movement became a staple in several pieces he created including Esplanade (1975). Within Paul Taylor’s Esplanade, the dancers run, slide, walk, and jump across the stage using various zig zag patterns. The dancers are supposed to seem as though they are performing everyday tasks. Another staple in Taylor’s works was contrasting negative and positive emotions to tell a story. This is evident
in the piece “Company B” (1991). The piece “…celebrated the optimism and deal-with-it gumption of Americans during World War 2.” (Kaufman). Throughout the piece the music switches between upbeat with quick and fun partner work to match to more dull music with slow and isolated movements to reflect the emotions dealt with in America throughout the period. Paul also created some darker works including “Promethean Fire” (2002) which reflects a string of emotions that humans experience. The music is dark and powerful with movement to match. Taylor also created several pieces that were meant to be funny including “Also Playing” (2009). This piece is an exaggeration of what Vaudeville performances were like. In total, Taylor created over 130 pieces. These pieces are still taught and performed at Lincoln Center in New York City and toured around the world.
Paul Taylor is one of my inspirations mainly because of his background. Since he didn’t have an early dance background like most people in the dance world, it is fascinating how he committed to dance and was able to become successful through his hard work. I appreciate the fact that his other interests influenced his dancing as well as his choreography. Paul’s transition to dancing from a different field reassures me since I am transitioning from dancing to engineering. Taylor has taught me that if you put your all into something that might be new it is still possible to be successful. He makes me want to take my background and use it to my advantage in my new field. Paul did what he wanted and strayed away from the norms. His pieces reflect this since they are very inventive and unlike anything I have seen before. When I discovered Paul Taylor’s works I was truly amazed by not only how different they were than anything I’d seen but also by how different each piece was compared to all his other pieces. Paul died at 88 just two months ago, which was very upsetting since his work means so much to me. I had the privilege of being a part of the Taylor Teen Ensemble at the Taylor School for three
years where I got to explore many of his works up close. This was an amazing experience because I got to learn the stories behind some of his pieces and perform excerpts. I was surrounded by people who had gotten to know Taylor and performed his works around the world. I hope that Taylor’s legacy lives on so that people can continue to be affected by his work the way I was. He said it best himself, “Today each dance is a new beginning, a new place to discover; and though each one may be related to a past one, at some point in the making, if I’m lucky, it shows me its own special face…” (Taylor). I hope that people can find what he saw in his pieces and make their own discoveries.
Works Cited The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Paul Taylor American Dancer and Choreographer.”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, August 30th, 2018, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Paul-Taylor-choreographer. Accessed 14 Oct.
2018.
Kaufman, Sarah. “Paul Taylor, prolific modern dance choreographer, dies at 88.” The
Washington Post, 30 Aug. 2018,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/paul-taylor-prolific-modern-dance-chor
eographer-dies-at-88/2018/08/30/fd8c5fc4-ac60-11e8-8a0c-70b618c98d3c_story.html?ut
m_term=.cc489b4fc7f4. Accessed 14 Oct. 2018.
Mitchell, Jack/Getty Images. Paul Taylor in 1971. Daily News, Aug. 30, 2018,
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-news-ny-paul-taylor-20180830-story.htm
l. Accessed 28 Oct. 2018
Taylor, Paul. Private Domain. North Point Press, 1987.
Wegmann, Mary. “Paul Taylor 1930-).”Dance Heritage Coalition, 2012, Pages 1-3,
http://www.danceheritage.org/treasures/taylor_essay_wegmann.pdf. Accessed 4 Oct.
2018.
High School Physics Class, Final, 22 Sept. 2018
Sabrina Schembri English 11000/A Intro to Composition Prof. Iris Bodre 9/22/18
Narrative: High School Physics Class Approaching physics for the first time was frustrating and in all honesty, terrifying. It led me to grow into the aspiring engineer I am today and helped change my perspective in various ways. I was a dance major in high school. I always did have a love for science but I never thought of it as anything more than my favorite class in elementary school. I had always thought I’d continue dance in college and eventually pursue a dance related career. This all changed when I took physics my junior year of high school.
I had dance three periods a day as well as three days a week outside of school. Dance was one of the most important things in my life. I enjoyed that it challenged me while, simultaneously serving as a source of joy as well as a stress reliever. The week before junior year started I went online to see my class schedule. I noticed “honors physics” listed after my dance classes. I was proud of myself because this was a course that seniors usually took and being placed there meant I was ahead of some of the other people in my grade. I didn’t really know what to expect and I let
the thought of physics leave my brain while I gathered the leotards and tights I needed to bring with me the following week.
My junior dance classes were amazing! I was excited to be introduced to a style of modern dance that I wasn’t used to. Meanwhile, physics turned out to be one of the most challenging classes I’d ever take during my high school career. Memorizing equations and attempting to do math I’d never even heard of stressed me out to the point where I’d cry to my physics teacher. This led me to doubt myself and my intelligence. I felt like I’d never be good at physics and I wanted so desperately to be good at it the way I felt I was good at dancing. I wanted physics to be a breeze like my dance classes seemed to be.
The day I failed my first physics quiz was a breaking point for me. It was a quiz about kinematics (the study of the forces that lead to the movement of objects) and I struggled with choosing the right equation for each question. To make matters worse, when we finished the quiz my teacher told us to pass our papers to the front to be redistributed for our peers to grade. I felt the back of my neck heat up and the color drain from my face. “It’s not a big deal, we all failed.” and other variations of this were whispered all around the room. This didn’t matter to me, though. I was so embarrassed by how bad I thought I did and I didn’t want anyone I knew to see my quiz and judge me silently. The teacher went through the answers and with each answer choice I knew I didn’t pick, my stomach felt like it was tying itself into one big knot. The dreaded phrase, “Pass your quiz to the right person.” filled my ears and I quickly placed the slip of paper on my classmate’s desk. A senior I didn’t know handed me back my quiz and I wanted to throw up. I had gotten a 3/12. Even the questions I felt confident about were wrong. Everyone either accepted their failure or shrugged at their passing grade but I felt like I was falling into a black hole. There was no right song or dance for physics.
I went back to my teacher for advice. I explained to him that physics made me feel stupid. We sat down and looked at my quiz and he asked me if I learned anything. I was confused as to why he was asking me this when all I wanted to know was if there would be any extra credit opportunities. I said yes and I gave a short summary of the topic we were quizzed on. His response shocked me. He said, “You just proved that you learned something so this number doesn’t really matter. You may not have been able to answer these questions but you have knowledge about the topic that can help you move forward. This number is not what determines your intelligence.” He was right. There are other factors that lead to failing grades on tests that have nothing to do with intelligence or studying or knowledge of the topic.
My relationship with physics finally began to change for the better. I started to find parts of it that I loved and my teacher continued to motivate me. Physics was different and it scared me, but I started to see parallels between physics and life and even physics and dance. I realized I wanted to put more energy into physics and not just let it be a grade on my transcript from junior year.
This change in perspective led me to want to make physics a part of my career. As the class progressed and we neared the end of the school year, I realized that like dance, physics did challenge me, but it was also a source of joy. Seeing my grades go from 30s to 90s was something that seemed impossible at the beginning of the semester but ended up being my reality.
By the end of my junior year, I decided I wanted to pursue engineering as a career. I learned not to doubt my intelligence and it completely changed my career path. My dance background created a unique point of view for my future in engineering. Physics was a difficult number to learn but once I got the steps right, I never wanted to stop practicing.
Teenage Issues…, Final, 19 Nov. 2018
Sabrina Schembri
Prof. I. Bodre
ENG 1100/A
Intro to Composition
November 19, 2018
Teenage Issues Portrayed Through Netflix’s “Insatiable”
In movies and television, the lives of teenagers are sometimes depicted unrealistically. These depictions range from extreme exaggerations to avoiding the discussion of actual teen issues that the audiences of these films may relate to. Netflix created their own show that addresses topics including bullying and body image called Insatiable. The show sparked controversy because of the lengths gone to address them, though. Controversy surrounding the series had to do with whether the show was meaningful and realistic or offensive and fabricated.
Fig.1 Patty and Bob getting ready for a pageant. (Annette Brown/Netflix, Harris and Stanford). https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/09/arts/television/netflix-instatiable.html
According to Aisha Harris, author of the New York Times Article “Is Netflix’s Insatiable As Offensive As it Looks?”, the controversy began because the show’s premise is that “…a bullied teenager named Patty (Debby Ryan) seeks revenge when she loses weight after an incident forces her to have her mouth wired shut” (Harris). People began petitioning for the show to be cancelled soon after the release of the preview. Some of the negativity came from people who argued that the show supported and encouraged body-shaming. The vice president of the show responded by, “…defending the show as a satire meant to critique the act of fat-shaming” (Harris). Alongside the initial negativity, positive feelings were also shared regarding the show’s premiere. For starters, the lead actress Debby Ryan tweeted about her opinion on the show; “I was drawn to this show’s willingness to go real places about how difficult and scary it can be to move through the world in a body.” (@DebbyRyan).
As viewers continued to dive into the show, more people began to react. Harris detailed her own experience with the show. She described the displaying of its themes as insensitive. She encountered many details that would become red-flags for Insatiable haters. Another writer, Eleanor Stanford, continued to point out flaws in the creator’s method of discussing teenage issues. She wrote that “…The creator Lauren Gussis’s approach seems to have been to throw as many inflated, controversial plot points as possible against the wall to see what sticks. As far as I’m concerned, this is not satire, or at least not successful satire” (Stanford). Stanford suggested that although the show addresses taboo issues and relatable themes, the creator’s satirical approach took away from this and added more controversy.
Harris and Stanford both agree that the show is offensive and understand why so many people were against it. A major topic of discussion within the show was the main character Patty’s dramatic weight loss and struggle with an eating disorder. Stanford believes that the show doesn’t “…treat (the eating disorder) in a meaningful way…” which does not provide any help to real life teens struggling with the same issues. Harris discusses the lack of providing meaningful solutions for teens further by including examples of other characters’ relationships with Patty and how they react to her disorder. “The problem is that “Insatiable” doesn’t seem to view Patty and Bob’s disorder as a disorder or something that needs to be addressed directly with the aid of a trained professional; instead, it imagines it as a character flaw that leads them to act out as vapid, terrible human beings” (Harris). Harris believes that the show is offensive and does not provide a good model for teens struggling with eating disorders because it treats them like a “character flaw”.
Similarly, Kayla Upadhyaya, the author of, “’Insatiable’ Is Netflix’s Worst TV Show Yet-By Far” also believes that the show is inappropriate and too over-the-top. Upadhyaya
discusses that although the show brings up the issues of body-image and eating disorders, it is unsuccessful in providing insight for those who struggle with them. She says that although the show is meant to be satirical, it doesn’t have a direct message to go along with its controversial plot points. Kayla details the creator’s methods and says that the show “…doesn’t have many discerning opinions about body image, confidence, and overcoming bullying. It tries so hard to push the envelope that it doesn’t really push anything at all…” (Upadhyaya).
The responses to Insatiable were not all negative. Some viewers saw the crude humor and wild plot points as an interesting approach to discussing real life issues. In fact, Brian Lowry of CNN said that the shows unique controversies make for one of Netflix’s better shows. “Perhaps foremost, “Insatiable” feels like one of those shows that validates Netflix’s let’s-throw-a-lot-of-stuff-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks strategy” (Lowry). Debby Ryan, the show’s star also had positive beliefs about the show’s message (see aforementioned tweet). At the end of his review, Lowry countered his positivity with a statement that the show isn’t for everyone. He acknowledged the controversy and warned viewers who were unsure about watching the show (Lowry).
Harris, Stanford, and Upadhyaya all seem to have the same opinion which is that the Netflix original Insatiable is offensive with a lack of true meaning. All three authors discuss the lack of purpose or a message within the show. Upadhyaya says that it is “…rife with inconsistencies, unevenly employing a clunky voiceover narration from Patty that attempts to channel (and supposedly satirize) a coming-of-age, confessional high school series” (Upadhyaya). The three authors acknowledge that the show does discuss important issues left out of many teen shows or movies but they do not believe that the show was successful in raising awareness of the issues and showing teens healthy ways to overcome them.
Works Cited
Harris, Aisha, and Eleanor Stanford. “Is Netflix’s ‘Insatiable’ as Offensive as It Looks? Let’s Discuss.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Aug. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/08/09/arts/television/netflix-instatiable.html. Date accessed: 18 Nov. 2018
Lowry, Brian. “’Insatiable’ Feeds Appetite for Juicy, Southern-Fried Soap.” CNN, Cable News Network, 9 Aug. 2018, www.cnn.com/2018/08/09/entertainment/insatiable-review/index.html. Date accessed: 18 Nov. 2018
Tan, steffanie. “Netflix’s ‘Insatiable’ Actor Debby Ryan Responds To ‘Fat-Shaming’
Backlash.” Pedestrian TV, 22 July 2018, www.pedestrian.tv/film-tv/debby-ryan- responds-insatiable/.
Date accessed: 18 Nov. 2018
Upadhyaya, Kayla Kumari. “’Insatiable’ Is Netflix’s Worst TV Show Yet — By Far.” Traditional Mexican Food Vs Tex-Mex Food – What’s the Difference? – Thrillist, Thrillist, 14 Aug. 2018, www-thrillist-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.thrillist.com/amphtml/entertainment/nation/insatiable-review-netflix?usqp=mq331AQHCAFYAYABAQ%3D%3D&_js_v=0.1#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thrillist.com%2Fentertainment%2Fnation%2Finsatiable-review-netflix.Date accessed: 18 Nov. 2018