Cover Letter

Writing my partner Kassie’s profile allowed me to view her narrative through a new lens. She gave me insight into how her narrative came to be and the memories that resurged during the writing process.  I was able to see a new side to Kassie, one where she vocalized her love and yearning for her home, The Dominican Republic, and the testing journey she faced when transporting her whole life to a vastly contrasting environment. I was able to see beyond the surface and put myself in her shoes. She went through a challenging situation that wasn’t proposed as an option for her, yet she made the best of it and through the process learned a lot about herself. From this newly acquired context, I can tell that Kassie has a lot to share from the experiences she’s been through. I’m most proud that I was able to translate this new perspective to a profile for Kassie and give the audience context for who Kassie is and where she comes from. In my profile, I used pathos to connect the audience to Kassie’s journey and emphasize the power of learning a language and overcoming the obstacles that come along with it. Through this assignment, I was able to take on a new story and connect it to the bigger themes of language and linguistics. With Kassie’s story, picking up English wasn’t much of a choice for her and in fact is the case for most immigrants, in turn it can place feelings of displacement and alienation. This is why it’s important for our communities to be diverse, accepting, and supportive; to show the different tongues and stories the people of NYC have. The audience for Kassie’s profile should be people who are in the process of learning a language at an older age. I believe that it is harder to practice speaking in a new voice especially when mistakes are bound to happen. With age, our minds are more set in language than in childhood, therefore it’s no surprise that taking on a new tongue will be more challenging both linguistically and on your ego. Kassie’s unfiltered story brings relatability between the author and the audience. I admire this new voice I heard and could see her writing touch many people, especially in the immigrant community.