As you may be aware, college applications for private schools are due in January. For me and the three schools I'm applying to using the Common App, January 1st is the golden day. After that, I'm free as a bird (until my second semester starts in mid-January.)
But until then, I'm editing and re-editing my personal statement and several other essays. My personal statement talks about how blogging shaped me into a stronger person especially concerning my very first blog and the trolls on it.
So, since I'm doing my personal statement on blogging, maybe someone will want to read it and tell me what they think? Even if you haven't applied or gone to college, I would still love some feedback.
It would be very much appreciated and I shall give everyone who gives me their opinion virtual hugs.
Here it is:
It’s like in those movies when someone sits on a park bench and explains his or her whole life to a complete stranger. The only difference is that you can get notifications in your email when the next rant is and you don’t have to sit in the rain or an ungodly amount of sunlight to enjoy the woes, excitements and normality of another person’s life. Blogging is not for the weak of heart and I learned that the hard way with my first blog but that couldn’t keep me away from the love of my life.
I first started sitting on the bench, spouting out my story to anyone that would hear, in August of 2009. My first post was a hundred words of me complaining about my high school’s uniform. The whole blog was just the ramblings and grumbles of a fourteen-year-old Goth.
“Your posts are pointless,” said a commenter.
“God, you’re just looking for drama, get a life,” said another.
I had a fair share of “trolls” –people who like to insult others via the Internet –on my blog, so much so that I dreaded checking the comment box. My hesitation grew when I realized that a girl who bullied me in school posted several of the comments. The final straw that caused me to discontinue my blog was when several people started mocking the fit of depression I was in.
Whatever blood my heart was pumping went straight to my head and ran so cold that it froze. The heat from my anger thawed it and the icicle stuck in my eye started melting and it went down my face. Wiping the saltwater away only caused more trails.
However, there was a light in the blogging world in the form of a gay boy from Seattle called Willow. Happy saltwater would reach the edges of my mouth when I would read his comments scolding those who encouraged my depression. There was a boy who barely knew me but still decided to defend me. He defended me on almost every post that had hateful comments plastered on it.
Seven months after I discontinued my first blog and switched schools, I created my current blog. Willow told me that most people in the blogging world aren’t like the “trolls” that bombarded my old blog and I decided to believe him.
It’s been twelve months since I started that blog and I recently received my first mean comment on it. However, because of all the friends I made from Australia, Germany, England and New Jersey from blogging, I no longer have to feel dejected because one person doesn’t like what I write about that day.
I can’t please everyone and I don’t want to. As long as I have Willow and all the other bloggers I know commenting, they shadow out all the negatives. Blogging has helped me come out of the shadows and embrace the fact that I’m a writer with an opinion that counts and no one has the right to take away my beliefs, mock my downfalls, or censor what I need to say.
That URL is my bench, located in a humongous park, and it’s bolted to the ground.
1 comment:
I regret not reading this sooner. I (just like you) have been rather busy over the past few months and yesterday was the first time I've logged in since November.
I like your statement and I think it will stand its ground just fine against all those other personal statements that float across college admissions desks this time of year. The parallel between your blog and a bench created a great visual in my mind. I could see the two people sitting in the gray, gloomy rain as the sad story passed from the subject to the dark stranger. I also think you tied the “not quitting” and “lessons learned” messages together very well; one negative action yielding two positive outcomes.
I think I might have changed… “The whole blog was just the ramblings and grumbles of a fourteen-year-old Goth.”
To read more like… “The whole blog was just the ramblings and grumbles of an awkward fourteen-year-old.”
This has nothing to do with your goth lifestyle either. I know you’re totally comfortable with who you are and I respect that completely. I would have made the same recommendation to anyone, be they a jock, a hick or a preppie. This is because sometimes less is more, and I would have let the reader fill in their own imagery. Let them see you the way the want to. It would have made them more comfortable filling in the mental blanks but more importantly It helps eliminate any preconceived notions before they actually get to meet you. This is my own personal belief though and I could be totally wrong – who knows.
Over all I loved your personal statement and I wish you all the luck in the world Hayley. Did you apply to Salem State College in Massachusetts? I remember reading in one of your posts that it was one of the schools you were contemplating. I went there and I loved the area and its history…even though I studied (evil) biology.
GOOD LUCK!
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