Reflection Project Part I.

Reflecting on my Reflections

[Part I consisting of reflections on Article Reflection No. 1 - 12]

A Reflection on My Reflections

The goal of this project is self-discovery and learning about how my own ideas and perspectives have changed over the past years. By reflecting on my previous reflections, I hope to see how I have (hopefully!) matured in thought over the years and, if not, reflect some more on ways that I can mature more and become more of who I aspire to be. 

To be honest, I’m a little scared to look back at these—who knows what I’ve written as an eighth grader about big topics around the world? But hopefully this will be a valuable experience and a journey that I can look back at. Hopefully this will make me value reflection more and inspire me to reflect more in my day-to-day life! 

1. Observation: Pictures vs. No Pictures

I’m a very visual learner and I really, really do value visuals when reading articles. Frankly huge chunks of text are sometimes intimidating, and the visuals really help me finish an article, especially if it’s a very long one. If I was looking at my article reflections from an outsider’s point of view, I would definitely be attracted to the reflections with the photos first because they directly show what’s going on and what the reflection will be about. It catches the eye more. The reason why I stopped adding the photos was because they were taking up too much storage and compromising the storage available for posting the reflections themselves, if I recall correctly. But yes I love visuals. Visuals all the way! 

2. Article Title vs. No Article Title 

For the first dozens of the article reflections I didn’t put the title of the article on them, but I think it was better for me to add the title part because it can help the reader—and myself when I look at the site—right away about what the article reflection will be about. I guess the photos partially make up for that part, but still. Photos are photos, and article titles are article titles. Both serve different purposes. 

3. Environmental Angle

I have definitely gone more towards articles about the environment over the past months, and I think that’s pretty natural since that’s an area that I am personally interested in. 

Reflection on Article Reflection No. 1

Yes, I agree with my past self in that it is horribly immoral to manipulate others for hacking. It’s so scary. How can people even think of these ideas for the sake of scamming others, of all things? To be honest I feel sad for the victims and the perpetrators—who knows how much of a lack of confidence the latter would have in themselves and the lack of self-love to do something as lowly as purposefully deceive others for money? Looking back at this I wonder how people became scammers in the first place. I think it would be really interesting if The New York Times did an investigative article on that topic (I’m saying The New York Times because I’ve read their investigative journalism and each of those pieces are so impressive with the thoroughness and level of depth). 

But my writing style—oof. “[B]ringing a chilling sensation to my stomach?” You really had to include that personal detail Mary? I guess you did. =)

Reflection on Article Reflection No. 2

I’m relieved that I was aware of marginalized communities—specifically, for this reflection, financially struggling families who feared the changes to Joshua Tree after the significant increase in the short-term rentals in the region. But yes, I agree with the last paragraph of my reflection but I wish that the proposal I made about aid was more nuanced because I’m sure there are so many more complexities to those factors that come into consideration when providing aid than what I simply stated.

The writing style on this reflection is a little rough too if I’m honest. “I gained a perception” is too wordy, but frankly that was my eighth grade self trying to sound more fancy, so I should give myself some wiggle room because I know better now!

Reflection on Article Reflection No. 3

Woah. Reading that article summary is a reminder that all we see and assume is definitely not all there is. I think this entire topic with the academic papers and all it seems to tie to media literacy and the importance of being fully aware about the type of media one consumes. 

Sorry, but I have to comment of this: I feel that my writing style has (thankfully!) evolved into a more authentic-sounding one. I think the sentence structure and the sound of starting a sentence with “[t]he key to this, I thought,” is honestly unnecessarily formal and too much like a narrative for an English project. I’m glad and thankful to be realizing this now. 

Reflection on Article Reflection No. 4

Now, I wonder how the level of polarization compares to the level of polarization back in 2022. How about back in 2020? Is it even possible to measure polarization? Is it measured by the amount of tenseness in the atmosphere across the aisles? Is it measured by research from surveys? Is it measured through patterns in media coverage? How can we measure something that seems so abstract and so big, so intimidating yet seemingly so part of American culture in this present moment? 

Reflection on Article Reflection No. 5

The pro-lottery stance in the lens of this article—I think I still stand by that logic that all students, no matter their family education legacy or level of wealth, deserve at the very least a chance to challenge themselves and improve by struggles and failures. I think the question that then comes up is “what is the best for the student or child?” and I think it really, really depends. 

How nice would it be to have personalized feedback for every single student? 

Reflection on Article Reflection No. 6 

That was a strongly-worded reflection. Looking back, I can only imagine how radical that may seem to some conservatives. Politics is scary, alright?

Reflection on Article Reflection No. 7

I definitely agree with the relief I feel from hearing about those who have good intentions and invest their time and effort into causes that help humanity. Two years and around seven months isn’t a long time, and I definitely feel that there is so, so much to improve. About everything in this world. 

To be honest, some may say that’s a blessing. Some may view it more pessimistically and say that it just makes everything so much harder. But isn't the level of difficulty so subjective? Isn’t any opinion so subjective? So truly who are we to judge in the first place when it comes to how much humanity needs to improve? I mean, I’m sure and I hope most people agree that it has so, so much room for improvement. But different interpretations on the extent of improvement is what seems to be dividing people, making negotiations and compromises harder. 

Reflection on Article Reflection No. 8 

My appreciation for those in journalism—journalism of telling the truth and being neutral for news stories—is still something that draws me to the sector. I personally don’t want to go into journalism myself because the profession is honestly too scary and political of a career for my liking, but I am really grateful to those who give voice to the truth since they are so inspiring. As I’m in my school newspaper and maybe join my school newspaper in college, I will continue appreciating the media. Yes, there is so much debate over media representation and whether the said truth is the real truth. But I’m sure that, by consuming balanced media there will be that stable middle ground as an audience or media consumer. 

Reflection on Article Reflection No. 9 

Marginalized communities and the correlation between those members and illnesses and financial insecurity. Nursing homes, hard hit. 

The nursing homes part has a personal emotional connection to me, especially. I’ve been volunteering at a local nursing home center since several weeks ago, and the grandmas and grandpas I meet there are so kind and remind me of how precious life is, and how I should not take things for granted. 

Reflection on Article Reflection No. 10 

The sentence that stands out to me most from my reflection is, frankly, not exactly related to the article or the case—it’s the following: “This inference can be made because abuse is not a light topic, and given that the article is from The New York Times, the majority of readers are most probably older, matured, and educated.” Now that is a generalization of the decade. I think I had the false perception that reading the news is what sophisticated people do—with their morning coffee in one hand, their morning bagel in the other, and a newspaper spread out before them on a round table as sun rays penetrate the nearest window, splattering light on the biggest headlines and…you get the idea. 

I often read some comments on articles that have a lot of comments, or an article I have emotional connections to. There’s comments I agree with and comments I disagree with and comments that are more or less in the middle. And while I really respect all these different opinions by people with varying experiences, backgrounds, and upbringings—I really do—I know for a fact that the population who reads the news is not bound to be sophisticated or anything like that. I mean, look at me! I read the news pretty regularly and checking The New York Times online page is pretty much a hobby of mine but I am definitely not holding a morning coffee in one hand and a bagel in the other while doing so! 

Reflection on Article Reflection No. 11  

Over time, humans age. But when it comes to books, other than the physical erosion that may occur, there is not much aging when considering solely the substance since the words and stories in a book aren’t changing as time passes. 

I think this is “timeless” aspect of books is what makes books so attractive to those who want to look back at history, and providing that sort of opportunity through book preservation shows how important of a role these people who preserve these books have. The comparison to Fahrenheit 451 when assessing books’ values. 

Reflection on Article Reflection No. 12 

We take too much for granted in this society, and re-reading that quote about once not being able to simultaneously have two shoes is a testament to that idea. I myself am guilty of this—often in this bubble in my community, I too often fail to grasp the full extent of how grateful I should truly be to be able to even write this reflection post. The full extent of how grateful I should be that my worries are about grades, not war in my personal life. In order to live with the resolve to help others, I really, really need to work on building and reminding myself of this gratitude.