these are the two pieces of work that i feel show my progress the best. they contrast each other nicely and show how much i've improved over the course of the year. my goals were relatively vague, but i think that these works still manage to exemplify them well and show my progress.

I think that a lot of what makes me who I am, the kind of reader, writer, and learner that I am, changes depending on my mood. Obviously everyone gets in bad moods sometimes, and whenever that happens, it usually means that a lot less gets done. I enjoy reading and writing a lot, but I don’t want to read all the time and it takes a lot for me to want to write. I tend to read things for the story, not very critically, and I’m overly dramatic whenever I write. As said in question six, I learn pretty well no matter what, as long as I want to learn. My mood can change quickly, and I can switch from being totally introverted to totally extroverted and back again pretty fast. For the most part, I enjoy hanging out with friends and spending time around people. I feel passive towards a lot of things, not tending to form very strong opinions without being prompted.

In Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay, Jay finds his cultural identity through a multitude of different ways, with each member of his extended family helping him discover some aspect of himself. Throughout the book, there are many events that helped him discover himself, though one could argue that every part of his trip to the Philippines helped him along the way. There are plenty of small moments that are important moments in Jay realizing who he truly is, and who he wants to be, and each one is significant in its own right. Even outside of those events, Jay’s experience in the Philippines is full of small things that help him find himself. As Santiago said, “He was always looking for what happened to Jun, but instead ended up answering questions he had about himself.” (Quintana), and this is shown to be incredibly true, as every adventure that Jun’s story takes him on helps him discover a part of himself that he didn’t know was there.

A notable event is a scene on the coast, when Jay and his Tita Chato and Tita Ines have driven out to have a beach day. Looking at the beautiful sky and sand, Jay thinks about how if he wants to accept the Philippines as a part of himself, he can’t just accept all the pretty sights. He also has to accept the poverty, the crime, and the tyranny. He seems to reconcile this with himself, realizing that even in the poverty, it’s not all bad. In another scene, he’s walking through the slums, and watching impoverished people go about their days. He thinks about how they don’t seem necessarily unhappy, he notices that they’re just going about their lives, albeit more publicly. He realizes within himself that living in poverty doesn’t explicitly mean being unhappy, and that no matter what, people try their best with the hand they were dealt. “...he realized that poverty doesn't equal unhappiness. Everyone has their own amazing things, and arguably, a lot of people in the Philippines are more happy than Americans” (Heath), and Ribay does an excellent job of showing this, especially through Jay’s character.

As said in the beginning, every member of his family helped Jay find some part of himself. It can even be argued that Tito Maning putting Jay down and brushing him off as an ignorant American helped. It let him realize what he doesn’t want to be, and also helped him solidify his beliefs. Tito Maning gave Jay something to work towards, made him want to prove that he wasn’t the ignorant American Tito Maning assumed he was. “In putting Jay down, Tito Maning motivated Jay to find himself, and actually helped a lot in that way.” (Quintana). There’s also the flipside, though. Tita Chato and Tita Ines helped Jay a lot, and they gave him a few key moments that seemed to really change his view. Taking him to the beach and having him sing karaoke both helped him realize what he was missing out on, almost. He started thinking about all the events that he’s shirked in favor of playing video games. The beach helped in a different way, but the karaoke helped him feel like a part of a community. Not everyone assumes that he’s awful, like Tito Maning does, but even in that assumption, Maning helps Jay discover his cultural identity.