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Personal Narrative - Coggle Diagram
Personal Narrative
What does that Nigerian Dilemma say about me? What am I trying to present myself as?
Seems to me like I'm trying to present myself as a thoughtful, considerate person. In that article, I emphasized a lot that the Nigerian-American dilemma was a lot more complicated and intricate than it seemed.
I want to portray myself as intelligent. I use some complex words and phraes.
I was trying to present myself as still Nigerian but at the same time I made it clear that I was well-educated, or at least somewhat removed from the culture. I put "big men" in quotations - a common saying in Nigeria- and said I went "abroad," putting another common Nigerian phrase in quotation marks
These sayings are not said formally. Often said in very casual settings and not usually by the upper echelon of the upper class. Me putting these phrases in quotation marks was partly me trying to be relate to Nigeria/Nigerians but also show I was different.
It's strange. I embrace my Nigerian identity but I push away my American one. Perhaps because this article was written to a Nigerian publication and I didn't want to be written off as just another rich guy who fakes American identity. I didn't write about how I didn't actually feel at home in BOTH America and Nigeria, I just talked about that for America.
What does that Presentation say about me? What am i trying to present myself as?
Most obvious thing is that I was trying to present myself as funny and cool. Basically a good time
I showed that I am Christian. I told them about my faith. I did it in a funny way at first though. Was that so they could digest my religious beliefs easier?
I showed good times (formal) with my friends to show that I wasn't a loner. I had friends. I was "cool." I don't think I was particularly interested in being friends with any of my vision leaders, but I wanted them to know that I had friends.
I showed my soccer skills. I put the captain picture for a reason. I'm definitely proud of that and I wanted to flaunt that achievement.
Secondary Source: Social Media Use Can be Positive for Mental Health and Well Being
I think the Vision Group presentations is perhaps the ideal way to use social media. Instead of trying to post the coolest pictures, people tried to show pictures that were representative of who they were.
From the article: "Emotional connection to social media—for example, checking apps excessively out of fear of missing out, being disappointed about or feeling disconnected from friends when not logged into social media—is negatively associated with all three outcomes."
I had a fear of my life not looking as cool or lavish as my fellow Vision members. I wanted to make sure my posts looked cool. But at the same time, there was something healthy about our mini-Instagram. We were trying to get people to know who we were- our hobbies, our family, our loved ones, our personalities... there is something genuine about that.
Most people delete old pictures on their Instagram because they see it as embaraasin.g. Maybe they were not as attractive as they are now. Maybe kid photos doesn't look impressive enough. But in the Visions group presentations, lots of people displayed family photos or photos of them as a kid.
Instead of trying to one-up each other on how cool the parties we went to were, we were showing bits of our personality and the stories of our lives rather than the story of the day
From Vanderbilt supplemental essay:
I was trying to portray myself as very skilled and high-achieving. Very passionate and very thoughtful. Able to take corrections.
How does your authoral voice change depending on the narrative?
In the supplemental essay I present myself as a flawed character who learns a hard lesson. In the article, I present myself as a thoughful, well-informed author. And in my presentation to my Vision group I present myself as an easy going guy
So to prospective friends, I took them laughing as priority. Feeling good around me. I cared that they knew I was a high achiever, though. I put the captain picture for a reason. I wanted to be deemed admirable by them.
For the Vanderbilt supplemental essay, I think I took this approach because I wanted the admission officers to be impressed by me but also to be convinced that I was a good human. I wanted to be likeable, in a different way.
intelligent, accomplished for both
Maybe the thesis is that I have a deep desire to be liked?