Brandon Tells of Writing and Reading 1
Luebke, Brandon (2009-04-22)
>>BRANDON LUEBKE: I am going to tell you a short story about the 2008 spring semester. It was a fabulous year; wonderful, warm outside, beautiful. I was taking a Persuasive Writing class which is fun, all well and good. I decided to write on a topic I believe my teacher and I had a great difference of opinion about. It was a definitions paper and I was defining paradise. I wasn't defining it in any sort of spiritual sense; I was defining it as say people in utopian or dystopian societies sort of define themselves as their place being a paradise.
>>BRANDON LUEBKE: The thing was, she didn't exactly agree with me on the way I portrayed it at first. So, on my paper I got an F-. Well, it was actually check minus minus, which she said "Well, if you get a check minus minus, you might as well just come see me in my office. We will arrange a date to talk about your paper." The first time I submitted my descriptive essay of the definition of paradise, I got a check minus. The second time I submitted it I got a check minus minus. By god, I said I am not going to take this. I am going to grab it by the horns and really do this paper right. I think after fifteen drafts I finally got a paper that I was happy with. 
>>BRANDON LUEBKE: It turned out to be wonderful; I enjoyed the rest of the class. We all got along just fine. It was a wonderful experience. But I think having the tenacity to try and get an A out of that F- paper was probably one of the highlights of my college writing career; being able to do that and being able to come out with an A and have the knowledge that I could write in such a manner. So, that is my story.