Marissa Scimone
Holly Pappas
English 101
8 March 2015
It comes as no surprise that no two people are the same, not even identical twins. How can two people who share the same DNA be so different? Curiosity. Who we are and the things that capture our attention and interests are a direct reflection of curiosity. It is not only what sets us apart from so many people, but it is also what brings us closer to others as well. The question that I will propose in this essay is simply, how? How does curiosity set one person apart from another and also bring us closer to one another all at once? Also, how does curiosity affect us as individuals?
How does curiosity set us apart from others, yet bring us closer to one another all at once? Take a moment to analyze yourself, your life, and the people you surround yourself with. Now, focus on those you surround yourself with, particularly your best friend. You and your best friend share a variety of similar tastes, such as genres of music, your love for your local coffee shop, sharing an interest in tattoos and piercings, and so on and so forth. Ask yourselves, what is your ideal date? What qualities do you look for the most in a potential partner? What are your long and short term goals for your future? In a perfect world, what would your lives be like? After discussing your answers, you will discover that no matter how similar you both are, you are both also so incredibly different from one another. You two share very similar interests, but there will always be topics and things that interests one of you that does not particularly appeal to the other, and that’s okay. It is okay to share interests with one another, and it is also okay to venture off on your own and learn more about what interests and fascinates you. It is essentially what makes us who we are.
Without our knowledge, curiosity has implanted itself into our everyday routines, occasional hobbies, inspires new conquests and is the core of our interests. For instance, discussing everyday routines, curiosity lead you to your local coffee shop. It peaked your interests, so naturally, you decided to check it out. You found yourself scanning the menu until you came across something that you found to be interesting and to your surprise, you loved it. Before you knew it, you found yourself carving out time every morning to make a quick coffee stop before class or work. Just by an example as simple as your everyday morning routines, it really makes you stop and think what bigger and greater things your curiosity has lead you to without your knowledge. When you really think about it, curiosity works in mysterious ways. Our everyday lives would be nothing that they are at this very moment.
The range of curiosity is actually quite remarkable. It ranges from something so simple, such as how we express ourselves, to what we plan on doing with our lives. Take a moment to think about your bedroom. We design our bedrooms as if it was a physical representation as to what is going on inside of our minds. Upon walking into some people’s room, you can find their walls to be covered in posters of their favorite musical artists, paintings, and pictures. They have candles and books overflowing their book shelves and what seems to be an infinite assortment of pillows on their bed. Most people design their bedrooms to be a temporary escape from the world around them, so naturally it is a reflection of themselves. However, some people do not choose to put their art on their walls, but instead they put it on their bodies, some express themselves through the work of tattoos. For those who do not go as far as tattoos, they express themselves through their wardrobe. It is actually a very cool concept that such various types of clothing, shoes, and accessories can accommodate to everyone’s own style and personal interests. However, not all self expression is physical. Where fashion and decoration fail, music speaks. Some of the greatest of self expression is through music. The world is filled with genre after genre of music and for some, lyrics speak for them when they cannot find the words themselves. Music speaks to everyone differently, and it is only then that you will discover what is left unsaid by not only yourself, but those around you.
Curiosity inspires and also challenges us. More often times than not, curiosity is what inspires people to become a better version of themselves. It can inspire short term goals, such as picking up a guitar and wanting to learn your favorite song, finding yourself on a health kick to try and improve your personal health, or wanting to learn how to tumble. However, it can also lead us to much greater goals, such as getting into your dream college to study the field that you wish to spend the rest of your life working in and it is a beautiful thing.
Curiosity even goes as far as in inspiring us to explore the world around us. As we are little, we could spend hours upon hours just exploring our home and backyard, but as we grow older, we wish to go further. “The overly curious mind exhibits a “lust to find out and know,” not for any practical purpose but merely for the sake of knowing. Thanks to the “disease of curiosity” people go to watch freaks in circuses and charlatans in the piazzas. “ (Eamon.) It will take us everywhere, from our backyards, to local events, all the way to another country. It inspires self growth of knowledge of not only ourselves, but also of the world around you.
Curiosity plays a key role in how we go about our everyday lives. “I believe we are all a sum of our experiences, and that we choose what experiences we have based on our curiosity.” (Buckman.) Our curiosities and interests are meant to be indulged. They subconsciously lead us to some of our best experiences and memories, such as seeing your favorite band play two hours away, just getting in your car on a whim to go to the beach in the dead of winter just because you miss the sound of the waves crashing around you, and a group of your friends taking a trip across the country because you’re both so eager to explore somewhere that you’re not so accustomed to. Curiosity makes you want to explore not only the world around you, but also the world inside of you. It is not until you indulge your interests that you discover who you truly are and where your curiosity can take you.
Work Cited Page
Eamon, William. “The Disease Called Curiosity.” WilliamEamon. 2 August 2010.
http://williameamon.com/?p=185
Buckman, Sarah. “Curiosity and Self.” English 101. Edublogs. 14 March 2014.
http://sebuckman85.edublogs.org/
This is a good start! You’re basically following the assignment guidelines, which is an accomplishment with this challenging essay. I do feel that this is rambling a bit in the first few paragraphs, in search of a question rather than clearly stating one. You’ve got several questions in the first paragraph, and they’re not all addressed in the essay. You don;t seem to really get into where curiosity comes from,or why people are curious about different things. The question that you seem to focus on is the last one in the paragraph, about how curiosity affects us as individuals. If I were writing the essay, with that as a focusing question, I might discuss in my intro how curiosity has advanced civilization (explorers, inventions, discoveries, etc.), then narrow focus down to the individual level at end of paragraph, as a sort of thesis question…just a suggestion!
Once you settle on *one* focusing question, go back and look at paragraphs to make sure they all connect. The ideas in second paragraph could be reframed, I think. (I don’t think all of the questions directly addressed at reader quite work. Generally I advise students against using the second person unless they’re writing a process essay or a direct communication to a specific person.) You could “re-use” some of this though: something like curiosity allows us to form bonds with people, when we share curiosity about the same thing, as well as bring variety to our relationships, with our differing curiosities.
If that’s your focusing question, the paragraph about bedroom doesn’t really seem to apply. That seems to me more about creativity?
The last half or so of the essay seems more focused to me, with clear topic sentences for the most part. You might want to check paragraph focus by doing an outline in reverse, where you bullet point the main ideas of each paragraph to see how they connect.
A couple of more minor points:
–Generally you should use some wording of your own to introduce quotations (to avoid what we call a “dropped-in quotation”). It’s helpful to orient the reader so you don;t just move from your voice to someone else’s without an introduction/explanation of who is talking now and how it connects to what you’ve been saying.
–You do need one other student memoir per assignment.
–Works Cited entries should not include URL, unless it’s necessary to find the source.