This essay is a response to Stanford's essay on intellectual vitality. I am rather unsure as to its answering of the question... I sure hope it does! All comments are greatly appreciated.
My country is home to a surfeit of stereotypes; women are to be demure and confined to the kitchen, children are to be seen and not heard, and sadly, science students DO NOT write. With globalisation came reforms. Reforms in our thought patterns that helped quell the pervasiveness of some of these stereotypes. Sadly though, it failed to expunge one - science students still don't write.
I loved writing but would never have considered myself a great writer. Although I had been called forward occasionally to play raconteur to my own pieces, it was never so often as to warrant any form of recognition in that respect. Moreover as a science student, harbouring writing tendencies was considered near heresy, so I dimmed my passion for words . I was therefore surprised when, in my final year, my high school English teacher proposed that I write a play on child labour to be included in her presentation to the Microsoft Partners in Learning Program.
The knowledge that she had defied tradition in asking this spurred me on. In that infinitesimal moment, she revived a monster. The miniature Ola Rotimi in me had found root, and like a tree fern, had established a mutualistic relationship with the Einstein within. The result? A Da Vinci of the sort. With the flame now rekindled, I worked myself tired daily; researching and drafting each scene as it came, each time revelling in the knowledge that each word was a step against stereotypes.
Watching my play being acted out was one of the highest points of my life, bringing me as much joy as any of my scientific displays. For a moment I envisioned myself as Shakespeare, sitting through the premier of "MACBETH." I smiled.
When at the end of the play I was announced as the playwright, I stole a glimpse at my physics teacher. He awarded me a nod of approval as though to say, "But alas, science students DO write." My play went on to win third best at the national level. And although I am no Shakespeare, I AM A SCIENCE STUDENT AND I WRITE.
My country is home to a surfeit of stereotypes; women are to be demure and confined to the kitchen, children are to be seen and not heard, and sadly, science students DO NOT write. With globalisation came reforms. Reforms in our thought patterns that helped quell the pervasiveness of some of these stereotypes. Sadly though, it failed to expunge one - science students still don't write.
I loved writing but would never have considered myself a great writer. Although I had been called forward occasionally to play raconteur to my own pieces, it was never so often as to warrant any form of recognition in that respect. Moreover as a science student, harbouring writing tendencies was considered near heresy, so I dimmed my passion for words . I was therefore surprised when, in my final year, my high school English teacher proposed that I write a play on child labour to be included in her presentation to the Microsoft Partners in Learning Program.
The knowledge that she had defied tradition in asking this spurred me on. In that infinitesimal moment, she revived a monster. The miniature Ola Rotimi in me had found root, and like a tree fern, had established a mutualistic relationship with the Einstein within. The result? A Da Vinci of the sort. With the flame now rekindled, I worked myself tired daily; researching and drafting each scene as it came, each time revelling in the knowledge that each word was a step against stereotypes.
Watching my play being acted out was one of the highest points of my life, bringing me as much joy as any of my scientific displays. For a moment I envisioned myself as Shakespeare, sitting through the premier of "MACBETH." I smiled.
When at the end of the play I was announced as the playwright, I stole a glimpse at my physics teacher. He awarded me a nod of approval as though to say, "But alas, science students DO write." My play went on to win third best at the national level. And although I am no Shakespeare, I AM A SCIENCE STUDENT AND I WRITE.
