1. Zohabe Bakali Honors Portfolio
ENGL2089 Reflection
Zohabe Bakali
Honors Portfolio

2. My theme: Enlightenment
For my curation, I will be choosing pieces that represent what I feel was the most important thing I got from this class: enlightenment. The structure of this class was very interesting and very honors-esque. It started with clear cut guidelines for what we were supposed to submit and what our assignment was, but as the class progressed and we delved deeper into our campaign, the class became more abstract. We had a big project and the direction of the project would go wherever we took it. We were not told which angle to take and it was all up to us and the success or failure of it was determined by how much we put into it. It was not about a grade anymore, it was about the process and the product we as a class would create. So, that is what this curation will be about: The process, what I learned from it, and how it opened up my mind.

3. Thematic Areas: Community Engagement
Our Behind the Face campaign was all about spreading mental health awareness and having others open up about their experiences and struggles with mental health.
We held booths where we could discuss the importance of this cause with people
We conducted interviews to get different perspectives on the issue
We took feedback to see what we could do to make it better the next time we tried something similar.

4. Thematic Areas: Research
As a class, we also wrote a paper on our findings through face to face interaction and primary social media data
We had to find relevant information about the topic for the paper and the campaign website that we built, such as narratives, statistics and local and national resources
We also researched the methods that would be most effective in disseminating this information and applied them

5. Artifact 1: Genre Analysis
First major part of the process
It helped me expand my view of literature and exposed me to a whole different class of genres
It showed me that what we are involved in can relate to something bigger (like starting a campaign) and researching for this paper helped me figure out how to do that
This assignment was relatively guided, but began to open my eyes and lead me into the campaign

6. Artifact 2: The Struggle and Failure
When starting the campaign, we got into groups and tried to launch our own separate campaigns
Our group decided to focus on raising awareness of and trying to address the issue of food desserts in Cincinnati
This picture is of me listening to the interview that I conducted and writing down notes for data collection and the interview write up that we were assigned.

7. Artifact 2: The Struggle and Failure
I felt that this was important to my theme, because it exposed me to a different experience of trying to start something from scratch
I had also never conducted a formal interview and trying to do so along with data collection and the summary of the process was very foreign and strange to me
It took quite a bit of time to prepare for this interview with research on methods, question preparation, and finding a suitable person to interview

8. Artifact 2: The Struggle and Failure
After all the work, however, it did not really matter, because we ended up suspending the campaign and joined the class project
This showed me how much actual work goes into a project so abstract like this and that there will be setbacks
I realized that it was just another step in the process and that I had gained a new skill out of my effort, even if it did not translate into a part of a successful campaign

9. Artifact 3: Mental Health Narrative
I personally feel that this assignment was the most important one that we did in class and it clearly stated “my need for enlightenment”
The assignment was very open ended and we were allowed to take it in any direction that we liked and I chose to talk about how I needed to learn more about mental health illnesses
I did not have much exposure and I related how I was so absorbed in my own life that I did not take out the time to empathize with the struggles of others
This narrative was also really eye opening, because once all of them were uploaded to the website, I was able to read the stories of others and connect with their stories on a more raw and personal level

10. Artifact 4: The Support
This Facebook post proliferating the campaign received the most support out of any of my other methods to spread the campaign.
I feel this is important, because it actually showed that our cause was working and that the process was paying off
We were gaining traction and could actually make this campaign a success!

11. Artifact 5: The Final Product
Looking back at this experience, it was truly something unlike I had ever done before
We were able to come together and make this great campaign with everyone pitching in with what they were good at, whether it be report writing, managing social media, or creating designs
Looking back at the statistics in our final paper and how well written it was and how big of an impact it was really made me proud of what we were able to accomplish
I was also able to walk away feeling enlightened about a whole process for doing something that I had never attempted before and also educated about a topic I had never even stopped to think about