1.

Wan's linguistic and ethnic identity affected how she learned English as growing up as an
immigrant coming from China she was always ridiculed for the way that she spoke her native
language, her family would comment on the way that she would pronounce certain words such as
her grandparents. This started to form a disconnection with her native culture, which was further
challenged with the how the way that she learned English, she learned English as way to fit into
society, she didn't want to be an outsider looking in anymore, as a response she began to put her
all into learning English, as she didn't want to be an outsider anymore just like in her earlier
years living in China, but as well as in the US but learning English came with a price of losing
her ethnic identity (Wan, 2017). What I believe that Wan is referring to when she writes "the
perfect, American English that doesn't exist?" is that all her life she was striving to learn an
English that was unattainable, but not in fact that she wasn't trying hard enough or that it was too
difficult but in the manner that the perfect English isn't real, it doesn't have a form (Wan, 2017).
It is a subjective topic as one person may believe that their English is better or worse than
another, but one can never achieve perfect English their are so many nuances in how we each
speak, the way we interpret, that we cannot reach this "perfect English" as Wan recalls as it never
existed in the first place.
2. The way Lamott approaches drafting contrasts everything that I've learned about drafting up to
this point in my life, as growing up I was always taught that drafting your essays is the basis of
them being good, so starting off with a well put together and cohesive draft will lead to a well-
put together essay, its an outline of your thoughts and how you plan your essay. But Lamont's
approach completely flips that script, he stated just spill your thoughts on a page, let your mind
flow free with the information that you have in it, it doesn't matter if its terrible or badly worded
its the first draft after all its supposed to be bad (Lamott, 1994,2005). This significantly changed
the way I view drafting, I had never thought about this way. I always strove to have a good, well-
made draft to have an amazing essay, but seeing that it doesn't have to be amazing open many
possibilities that I didn't have before. I can experiment with different styles, techniques, or
formats unlike before because if it isn't the best, remember it is the first draft it's okay if its not
the best. It allows my mind to flow free which is the most important thing to me when it comes
to writing as it allows me to have the most fun, and enjoy writing, I'll most definitely try this
approach in the future.