Re: American Icons Reflection Part 1

For our first project, we had to research a person, object, or event that has had an effect on American culture. After researching, we had to choose 3 icons (and their pictures), and blog about them. We then narrowed it down to one person and created an 8x10 inch black and white self-portrait in which we creatively exhibited a connection to one of their photos. With that, came an artistic statement where we wrote about the American icon and our connection to them.

I chose Audrey Hepburn- a famous actress, model, and ballet dancer from the 40s. To me, she is an inspiration because she held a high status position while retaining grace, beauty, and charm. Out of everyone who met her, most said she was extremely charasmatic and unusually beautiful. While researching her, I thought about how she has had an effect on American culture now and it seems she has a ton of fans even in today's pop culture. After reading many articles and biographies on how she expanded her social popularity, I began to view pictures. The most popular one, which is sold on a huge canvas in Ikea, is the photo of her with a cigarrette in her famous little black dress. Over time, I debated which photo to portray because many photos seemed interesting to me. Eventually I chose the classic Breakfast at Tiffany's shot that is widely known.

Over the writing process, I learned that my writing required a little more higher vocabulary terms, so I added them after my drafts were corrected. I think that one writing technique I used was creating a story. In my statement, I begin it with a personal story from Africa, connecting Audrey Hepburn more to my events. I used this after Randy told us to catch a technique from our partner's paper. In my case- Alia's. Her whole artistic statement was about how she connected to her mom so that definitely helped me in the end because it gave better flow.
If I had time for one or a few more drafts, I'd reread my statement and check if anything needs to be revised. I had to shorten my original 994 essay to 600 words, which I didn't enjoy one bit!
One sentence I believe is well written is "Who could I emulate if I could choose one person? The answer became clear immediately: Audrey Hepburn, for her tireless efforts working with UNICEF, for her beauty inside and out, and for her overall love of doing favors for others. " These sentences are in the first paragraph, and states the thesis in a clear message.