‘ unattainable goal ’. W r i t i n g

Discussion 1

The Beauty of Being a Misfit

1. What is Yuknavitch’s thesis or main argument? Yuknavitch’s main argument is that those people who do not feel like they belong, like they don’t deserve the best in life like they are failures, are worth something. Additionally, she adds that it does not matter how many times you have failed, what kind of grief or pain you have faced, because, despite all that, someone somewhere is like you. Someone somewhere will understand what you are going through because they know what it feels like and how it feels like to feel like you don’t belong. Yuknavitch, speaks for all the people who do not feel worthy of their lives. People who do not feel worthy of the opportunities that might be presented to them and people who don’t feel like they are worth chasing their dreams. Yuknavitch states that it doesn’t matter how long it takes to achieve your dream and it does not matter the kind of pain one has gone through because in the end it is all worth it and someone somewhere will listen to your story and it is worth being you, because you are the only one.
2. Does Yuknavitch try to appeal to your logic, your emotions, or both? Think about the big three rhetorical strategies (ethos, pathos, logos) and discuss: Does Yuknavitch effectively appeal to her audience? (Remember to use specific examples.) Yes, she appeals to my emotions. She uses Pathos to appeal to my emotions. She begins by telling the story about her short story win, where the prize was traveling to New York City and meeting other writers and professions in the industry. This story creates an emotional connection with me as an audience because it shows the value of participating in something. Additionally, she shares stories of her personal life which are truly emotional. She shares the story about her daughter’s death who died the day she was born. In addition, she also shares a story about her childhood where she explains that she grew in an abusive household. Moreover, she adds an appeal to the audience’s emotion by sharing stories about her failed marriages. Moreover, Yuknavitch continues to use pathos by sharing her story about being and wanting to be a writer and having had the opportunity to meet the professionals in her field and even being given an opportunity to become one of them but she rejects the offer by not feeling worthy of the opportunity.
3. Do you consider yourself a misfit according to the definition Yuknavitch gives? Why or why not? Yes, I do. I do consider myself a Misfit based on the definition that Yuknavitch gives. Yuknavitch states that a misfit is a person who does not feel worthy enough to belong. A Person who despite being given endless opportunities and a chance to follow and achieve their dreams, still feels like they are inadequate. The reason why I connect to Yuknavitch’s idea of a misfit is that I have also been in situations where I feel like I’m not good enough. I have been in a room with people who I considered better than me because of how they are dressed or their status in society. I have suffered pain and grief and failed numerous times leaving me feeling unworthy and inadequate. I have tried telling my story to people who would not listen to me, people who would constantly laugh at my misery making me feel even more inadequate and unworthy.
4. Yuknavitch artfully says, “Even at the moment of your failure, you are beautiful. You don’t know it yet, but you have the ability to reinvent yourself endlessly. That’s your beauty” (Yuknavitch). Do you agree with this statement? What do you think Yuknavitch is saying about the upside or benefits, even though it is painful, of failure? I 100% agree with this statement. Although moments of failure is when a person feels worthless or inadequate, it is also the moment where one has the ability to get up, dust themselves up, and try again. What Yuknavitch is saying about failure is that failure has the ability to crush you. Failure can make one feel worthless, inadequate, and even incapable. It can make one stop believing and it can make one be in a state of misery. However, with failure comes reinvention. By failing, one learns how to do something differently. How to approach a situation in a different light. In addition, by failing, one is able to get up again because they have nothing to lose, they have already failed. However, failure serves as fuel, a bridge to seeing the other side of life. Failure is a moment that gives light to life. It is when one is most motivated to take on the world.
5. What was your biggest takeaway or AHA moment from this Talk? What interested you or surprised you the most? The first thing that surprised me about this TED Talk was the title itself. I saw the title and I wanted to learn more about the TED Talk, furthermore, I was hooked to the entire talk and was left speechless when it ended. The thing that interested me most about this TED Talk, was how Yuknavitch gave the talk by sharing stories about her personal life. I could feel the emotion in her voice, it was like I could feel whatever she felt when she went through those moments. I was also amazed at how many failures or low moments she had faced but was able to continue to wither life. The thing that caught me the most from her personal stories was when she lost her daughter to death the day she was born. How she dealt with the pain and the grief and lacking a better way to come to terms with the pain. That was a very moving story for me.

Discussion 2

What is Yuknavitch’s thesis or main argument?

-Yuknavitch’s main argument is that you can always keep reinventing yourself and bettering yourself regardless of what you have been through in life. She explains that misfits are people who just missed fitting in and that she would classify herself as a misfit because she was a misfit in so many categories of her life like her marriage, as a daughter and as a mother. Yuknavitch even lost a daughter and went through homelessness. But even through all the rough patches in her life, she still reached her back then ‘unattainable goal’. People who keep persevering and understand that life is a rollercoaster of up and downs, will be able to get ahead and get to the dreams that they want. At the end of her talk, she seems happy to be there and happy to be where she wants to be in life, even if it might not be what she first imagined.

Does Yuknavitch try to appeal to your logic, your emotions or both? Think about the big three rhetorical strategies (ethos, pathos, logos) and discuss: Does Yuknavitch effectively appeal to her audience? (Remember to use specific examples.)

-I think Yuknavitch did appeal to my logic and emotion. She used her life as an example and her life did have some very tragic instances. She talked about how she lost her daughter the day she was born and how she was homeless. Those two examples of her life right there made me so sad and made me feel like she went through some really tough times and yet she is persistent and is standing giving a speech at one of the most famous stages of the world. Yuknavitch’s did an amazing job at appealing to her audience. She was able to inspire while at the same time reminding us to be humble and patient in her own way. I love that she was able to bring in her real-life experiences because that helped deliver her message perfectly. Overall, I can go back to our grit conversation and say that Yuknavitch is a perfect definition for that word.

Do you consider yourself a misfit according to the definition Yuknavitch gives? Why or why not?

-I would consider myself a misfit if we are going through Yuknavitch’s definition. I would say because I feel like I missed fitting in a lot of things in life. The first thing would probably be college. Everyone of my friends and my high school either went to a 4-year university or had a job lined up right after high school. I did find a job, but it also put my education on the sidetrack. Fast forward to 7 years later, all my peers have finished school and have been in their field of choice for years now, while I am at square 1. In no means am I comparing myself because everyone’s path is different, but I feel like I personally failed when it came to education in the eyes of plenty of people. But, regardless of what happened and why I put my education behind, I am here now giving it my all and actively working to better myself.

Yuknavitch artfully says, “Even at the moment of your failure, you are beautiful. You don’t know it yet, but you have the ability to reinvent yourself endlessly. That’s your beauty” (Yuknavitch). Do you agree with this statement? What do you thing Yuknavitch is saying about the upside or benefits, even though it is painful, of failure?

-I think that when Yuknavitch says that beautiful quote, that she means it and it is true. I probably come from a family of misfits according to Yuknavitch but also if we look around the world there are so many examples of people rising from the ashes like a phoenix. Even the creator of Hot Cheetos started as a janitor and gave himself the opportunity to reinvent himself to become the CEO of a multimillion-dollar company. So yes, I do completely agree with her statement. I think she is trying to say that the upside or benefit to this is that there is a light at the end of the tunnel if you want to climb out of the whole you are in. That regardless of what you are currently going through, it can, and it will eventually get better. It might not be today or tomorrow or even a month, but it will.

What was your biggest takeaway or AHA moment from this Talk? What interested you or surprised you the most?

-My biggest AHA moment from this Ted talk is that no matter what throws at us, there is still possibility. I can relate so much to her in so many ways and I would consider myself a misfit myself as well. There are so many categories in my life where I would consider myself a misfit especially under Yuknavitch’s definition. Life is hard and is only going to get harder as we grow up and we need to understand that it is okay. Life will not always be rainbows and butterflies, we will have to go through things that will be tough and knock us down, but we must resist and keep pushing forward. Especially if we are misfits who just keep making bad choices but again, that is okay. We can keep reinventing ourselves and making ourselves the best version possible, but we must remember that there is possibility. For those who want it.

• Your response to at least two classmates should be 150-200 words long and be more than “I agree” or “I like what you said.” Engage in conversation!