The very first thing I learned when I began my life at UBC was the proper way to meet new people. When introducing myself I usually give a condensed version of this:
Hi! My name is Jewel Rosario Pang, and I’m a first-year arts student at the University of British Columbia currently enrolled in the Global Citizens stream of the CAP program. I was born in Saskatoon, SK, moved to Kelowna, BC, and lived in White Rock, BC just before moving to UBC residence. My background is Chinese, Filipino, and Indian with a family so large it’s ridiculous. In my spare time I train in kickboxing and seikido and watch Community.
Although my short introduction appeared casual and a simple telling of facts, it was woven more carefully than one would think. I chose to start with “Hi!” and include my athletic extracurriculars for specific reasons. I gave a version of myself that I want readers to view me as. Facebook profiles, for instance, are a better indicator of how one wishes to be seen rather than how one is in real life. When a life narrative is told it carries a similar restriction. The nerd-turned-model is more appealing that the beauty-turned-model. Autobiographies tend to be a story of a series of events that lead redemption and a growth of character. I’d like to have a greater understanding of the nature of these narratives and how much is told accurately. Life narratives are a personal reflection and
therefore have a bias attached. A strong example is Tori Spelling, a successful American actress who starred in Beverly Hills, 90210 and lived an affluent lifestyle. In her autobiography, sTORI Telling, she opens the book by speaking about a particular moment in her life in which her mother caused her to be insecure about her nose (which later led to her nose job at the age of 16). Not to diminish the value of her pain, but she also had a specific purpose in mentioning this part of her life. If an impartial omniscient observer of my life were to write my introduction, how would it differ from my version? As mentioned in Academic Writing: An Introduction, no summary is better than another, it merely provides a new perspective with its own purposes. How do these purposes affect how we view our own lives?
Anonymous
September 17, 2015 — 5:03 pm
ColleenChambers
September 21, 2015 — 11:09 pm
Jewel
I agree that the importance of how we present ourselves and understand how others are being presented cannot be understated. In the past, we may have relied on others to introduce us such as parents or guardians, aunts, uncles and friends. We may have been too young to decide how we would introduce ourselves and therefore that role was assumed by someone older and more experienced. For example, I can still hear my parents’ voices introducing me at parties and social gatherings, “And this is our eldest daughter Colleen, she is…’how old are you love?’ thats right…she’s 5 years old—going into kindergarten already—and she loves to dance”. They chose how I would be presented and that for a while is how I presented myself as well once I started taking on that role for myself; age, school year, favorite sport/activity.
However now, particularly in times like these when we are all meeting each other and making first impressions on each other, the way we present ourselves not only establishes that fact that we have matured since the days of being introduced, but makes room for us to wipe our slates clean of however we have been seen in the past. We are now responsible for our own presentation and I wonder if the way we censor what about us is introduced affects how we live and act in that context. I wonder, if we are aware that people see us differently than how we see ourselves, do we act differently than we otherwise would? Do we act the way they expect us to, even if it’s not normal? In the context of narrative, I wonder if the authors chose their style of writing based on how they wanted to present themselves, just as we would change our behaviour.