COLL300 – Introduction Letter

Jeremiah Hall Palmer
COLL300
June 10, 2012
Introduction

Dear Dr. Myron,

As you may have already figured out—through the title of this document, the name attached to the submission, and the very first line on this page—my name is Jeremiah. First, I would like to admit that I am partially recycling a letter that I wrote for a previous attempt at taking this course; without that admission I could easily be accused of plagiarizing myself—a notion which I’ve always found ridiculous. Secondly, I’d like to apologize for breaking away slightly from the model given for this assignment—the personal introduction will run for more than a single paragraph.

As mentioned, this is my second attempt at this course; the prior hadn’t faired well due to some changes which came about in my life—changes that still have an effect on my life today. In late February of this year my wife of eight years, partner of nine, had an affair with a coworker; the following day she informed me that our relationship was through. Over the course of the following month I remained at home with her so that I could continue to care for our children. This period was quite painful, and left me in a state of depression in which I had no desire to continue with my course-load. In mid-April I left my home and moved into my parent’s attic. We continued to talk and see each other regularly until the first week of May, when the other man moved in; two weeks later our son moved in with me because of the friction caused by this man which has no desire to be surrounded by children. Life has hung in some twisted state of limbo—best described as some sort of purgatory—in which she still begs me to hang on, to wait and see; she has discovered that living with a selfish boy eight years her junior isn’t what he had her to believe it would be. She has since requested we attend counseling to see if there is a chance to repair the damage, and to muster the strength of removing her dead-weight.

It is very possible that I will be faced with the same mental anguish that I faced a few months ago over the course of this class. Do not be surprised if my work suffers or I disappear altogether. I may allude to my current status online from time to time; therefore, if you are curious, I would like to invite you to Google my regular Internet handle, “kg4vma”. In doing so you may also find some of my previous writings and school assignments that I have posted on varying profiles and blogs.

With regard to prior assignments, I have had some experience in drafting reports, providing analyses and supplying opinionated/persuasive writings in response to varying assignments and prompts. I would have to say that most of these assignments have been quite enjoyable, as I do tend to have a preference for expressing myself in writing. I must admit, however, that I struggled in writing responses for a course I took that dealt with human sexuality. This course was quite troubling for me as I was taking the class while being separated from my wife—the separation had occurred, in part, due to issues of infidelity; yes, this is a recurring theme that has gone on for several years.

I cannot offer much on my thoughts or interpretations of academic writing as related by my prior educators. I do understand that there are certain “rules” to writing when the works are for a particular audience; unfortunately, I have issues with the rules from time to time, as I prefer to lay my thoughts out as they happen. Additionally, I hate revising my thoughts to fit the “acceptable” format; this usually becomes more evident in “forum” postings for class work. In forums I frequently break from the main topic and develop some form of sub-topic in order to better illustrate a point. These methods however would not necessarily “fly” in many professional or trade publications.

In order to analyze other writing styles, practices, audiences, etc., I frequently turn the text that I am reading into an internal conversation or dialogue. In my personal experience I have found that if I can assign “voices” to the text and create defined characters for the audience I can then become one of the speakers and members of the crowd; once I have achieved this, I can begin to host my own internal open- “hometown” forum.

The strongest skill or tactic that I have relied upon since seventh grade is “free-writing”. I discovered that if I simply try and let the words flow, no matter how ridiculous or unrelated, I will eventually discover the words needed to develop a proper response. Without the use of this technique I face a cold-start which often triggers “writer’s-block”. A downside, however, is that it can lead to a lengthy writing; the upside is that what I do cut out often makes good fodder for a personal journal entry.

I do not know what sort of tools I should hope to learn from this course, nor do I have any expectations thereof. In my high school days I discovered that if I paid less attention to the “black and white” of a course I would be able to see many more colorful elements; therefore I try not to pay too much attention to course descriptions and syllabi. In doing so, I’ve found that I absorb more of the information—thinking in abstract grabs my attention and grasps at my mind.

I hope this letter meets the requirements, and has helped introduce you to the trouble you’re about to face! (Something else I frequently do in my writing—make very poor jokes.) Thank you for your time. I look forward to seeing what this course will bring.

Sincerely,
Jeremiah Hall Palmer