Dear Readers,

I’m taking a writing class with Kirsten Bakis and will post some of the exercises:  Here’s the first –

Here’s my answer to the question, “How does your identity shape your writing?”  Identity is formed by experiences.  Simple and complex experiences, such as the learned craft of embroidery and belief in a religion, form my identity which shapes my writing.  In the following passage, I compare myself to experiences with familiar objects and mention people who are important to me.  The reader knows details of my identity:  how I dress, that I embroider, have relationships with “Mom” and “Uncle Pippi,” and that I’m religious, along with other characteristics, such as consistency and honesty:

“I am dependable, like the tight, gold button that never loosens on a lush, red-hooded jacket.  I am constant, like the yellow, embroidered French knot on blue jeans that never frays, no matter how many times cycled in Mom’s washing machine.  I am reliable, like Uncle Pippi’s hoe, a metal and wooden tool that hangs on his garage wall, ready for a hand to use in the spring garden.  I am honest, like Dear, Sweet, Jesus’s Father taught me, and cannot lie, steal, or deceive.”