There is an arrow pointing up and written below are the words “Enter Here.”
This came from all of my notes I took when I was making observations in the O'Connell House in preparation for writing the paper. It was all relevant information that fit well in my paper.
Just as I hope someone will one day speculate about the origin of the two dents in the wood at the edge of the pool table I left two nights ago.
This is one thing I kept that was quite similar to the original piece. I still mentioned the experience my friend and I had in the O'Connell House that one night in the recreation room. It was this that actually got me thinking about the whole subject and I thought that introducing my piece with it and tying it back in the end was an effective use of the book ends method.
Two nights ago, my friend struck the eight-ball with so much force that it bounced off the edge of the pool table. I
This piece evolved from the assignment that led up to the Meditation on Place Essay. It was when we were supposed to sit in our location for 30 minutes and free-write about all of its features and then write a piece about one feature in specific. I wrote about the scratches that I noticed on the floor of the O'Connell House. I wanted to work off of this piece because I truly enjoyed writing about my experiences in the O'Connell House and I simply love the place itself in general. When I revisited this piece, I realized what an interesting feature I described and how I could take it further and in a new direction that brought things onto a larger scale. As I began to write more about the marks I found in the O'Connell House, I realized that I truly am fascinated by these little blemishes because they make up an old, historic building. The original piece I wrote was nothing like what I ended up with here. It was simply describing the questions that came to my mind when I saw the scratches in the O'Connell House. But in this piece I decided to broaden my point and write about the attachment I have to old places in general.
I sit in my grandmother’s house and wonder what could have caused those four consecutive dents in the door.
I began to think about other places that I spend time in and I instantly thought of my grandmother's house that was bought during the Great Depression and that is completely filled with furniture from generations back. The house smells musty and the grand piano in the living room is so out of tune and scattered in music books that I'm sure my grandfather used to use. I am simply fascinated by all these little details that give the house its history and it is for this reason that I hold the place so dear to my heart.
They look like strangers to me because they pass, wrapped up in their personal world, so much so that I go unseen.
I had quickly mentioned this in my first draft but after getting my first draft back, it was brought to my attention that I could expand on this point some more. I continued my thought process and brought it to the point where I knew that them appearing to be strangers that don't see me would later turn into us all together on the same side of the window's glass. It was an effective tool I used to transition onto the section of my essay in which I describe my experiences with other people in the O'Connell House in addition to the contemplation and peaceful time to myself that it gives me.
fishbowl into which anyone can peer. I
This was something else I included because as I was writing my paper, I came to realize another contrast. I realized that I could compare the way people from the outside never look into the piano room during the day and how I'm effectively invisible during that time but then through the night, everyone instinctively looks into the room because it is lit up and outside is dark. It is funny how then things are completely switched around and I can barely see outside the windows because it is blocked by my own reflection but now the outsiders can see me completely clearly. It was yet another shifting perspective I had noticed about the house. It was another way that the house could be viewed and another angle to the complexity of the building that I wanted to show.
Transform the great big balconies on the second floor into a spectator area, looking down on any event that could be held in the main hall: improv shows, intense professional table tennis tournaments, or acapella riff offs. Every corner of the house holds potential.
In my rough draft, I had included the part about the O'Connell House having a lot of potential to serve many different purposes. I had put it towards the beginning of my paper as a way of showing how one should turn their negative views of the building around. However I think it works best at the end of the paper because it works as a form of advice to the reader. It can act as a suggestion to the reader in order for them to try and open their minds about the O'Connell House and realize that it has a lot more to offer than meets the eye. I used it at the end to bring the focus back to my introduction that first mentions the certain spooky and run-down reputation of the O'Connell House and how one should try to imagine it as something else, something capable of bringing about good times. I think it worked as an effective conclusion to inspire the reader to think and consider going to the O'Connell House to see what it will provide for them.
So many connections have been proven to form this way, through music. On my second night at Boston College, my friends and I were playing a game of pool when suddenly the prominent chords of a familiar song begin to feed through the thin walls of the game room. With no hesitation, I grab my friend by the hand and follow the sound of the piano into the adjacent room. We plow through giant wooden doors and while belting out the lyrics to the song, we barge in on the complete strangers who were circled around the piano. But with smiles on all of our faces, we proceed to finish the song before we formally introduce ourselves. The songs we sang together obliterated any small talk usually needed in order to make friends. The spontaneity of the moment gave me a thrill and brought me an overwhelming sense of faith that the next four years at this school would bring me exactly what I wanted. I connected with strangers through a couple of songs on the piano one random Saturday night before classes had even begun.
This is the story of my first experience in the O'Connell House that I had used as my introduction in my rough draft. I decided not to completely disregard it and I kept it to move someplace else because I think it allows me to adequately demonstrate what the O'Connell House has managed to bring to me, even as early on as the second night of orientation. I purposefully placed my first experience as one of the last ones I described in my paper because it ties the other ones that I'd previously described together. It behaves as a surprising fact showing how my love for the O'Connell House began very early on and it helped facilitate my friend-making at BC. It proves that the O'Connell House managed to help me make some of my first friends. It also shows how it contributed to restoring faith in my decision of coming to BC.
I sit at the piano and press a key that sounds clear and powerful. The consecutive key sounds dull and weak. Have previous players worn this note out and exhausted its voice?
This is a little piece that I had neglected to include in my first version of the paper. When I was originally describing my experience playing the piano in the rough draft, I realized I never even touched upon the way the actual music or sound of the keys itself. But by including this little section in my second version of the paper, I think it adds both to the mystery I find in the O'Connell house, as well as the way it provides me a place to explore my passion for music. I decided to include this question because it demonstrates how so many features of the place puzzle me but intrigue me all the same. So much of the O'Connell House prompts me to ask questions. But I also think that the way the piano sounds is valuable to my experiences with music in that room.
The portion of O’Connell house that is most commonly frequented is its dimly lit basement into which you enter through large side doors that look like they lead to a dungeon. It is the laundry room. But honestly, my first experience doing laundry there was a good one
I did not intend to mention the laundry room at all in my first draft because I did not think it was relevant, or I couldn't seem to find a fitting place for it. At the time, I think I imagined my paper focusing solely on the piano room and how it gives me a place to be by myself. I had not yet decided to expand upon all the various things it gives me. However, for my final draft, I decided to include it because I think it makes an interesting point of showing that even in doing something as simple as laundry I still managed to have a good experience in the O'Connell House. Although most students most likely view doing laundry as an annoying chore, my first experience being in that room somehow felt like I had reached another milestone. I think it added to my point that the O'Connell House provides me a place for so many different things, like even a place to feel as if I'm growing up.
The O’Connell house is ancient and haunted. It smells like whatever your grandparents’ house smells like. Cobwebs have collected on the ceilings and who knows what lurks in the shadows of its most neglected rooms. Its floorboards are loose and creak when you step on them, and the house is nearly always dead silent during the day. Any one of these reasons may be why many fellow freshmen living on upper campus avoid this commonplace.
I worked a lot with the introduction of my paper. In my rough draft, I had initially intended to begin the paper by relating the O'Connell House directly to my own experiences with it. The original introduction was a description of my first night in the O'Connell House. But for my final draft, I decided my entire point would be stronger if I began my paper with the way many people I know view the O'Connell House in a negative way. I figured it would be a good contrast to make by initially pinning it as an old and worthless building. Then the rest of my essay would be proving this pre-conceived notion to be false by explaining how much this place means to me. I also chose to use words like haunted and creak and dead silent to create a very vividly negative image of the building. I think it ended up being an effective hook.