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I chose the theme of marine flora and fauna for this project because I have always thought that how versatile different creatures in the ocean can be in writing is very interesting- for example, swimming through the ocean and seeing all of the different creatures can be written about as terrifying, wondrous, scientifically intriguing, or many other things! That is why I wanted to do this project about analyzing genres with this theme.
I have also always loved reading or writing about the ocean in general, which was an added bonus with this theme. I grew up on an island, going boating with my family every spring and summer, swimming in the ocean and fishing for a variety of different creatures. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been deeply familiar with the different jellyfish, seaweed, fish, and other creatures that can be found in the pacific northwest. Most of my favorite memories involve these creatures- fishing for the little herring, smelt, or piling perch while standing at the end of a barnacle-covered dock; jumping from rock to rock at low tide, slippery rockweed popping and snapping beneath my feet when I pause to peer into tidepools, prying at limpids and chasing the scattering shore crabs. There was always the contrast of the big and the small- for all those little herring and smelt, there were monstrous lingcod or powerful salmon, which took all my strength to reel in when I was younger. For the scuttling shore crabs, there were the dungeness crab I was always scared to pinch my toes, or the vibrant, spiky, orange and purple Puget Sound king crab that my mom caught once. There were the little moon jellies that I could scoop up with a net and poke, and the bright red masses that floated by further from the shore. I miss wading out into the water to swim in the bull kelp, or waiting, determined, under a street light on a dock as shrimp slowly start to gather. The ocean and all its creatures has had a huge impact on my life, and that will always be a part of me.
The ocean has also had an undeniable impact on my journey as a reader and writer. One of the first things I remember being very invested in writing was a short story about a girl lost in the San Juan Islands, relying on the resources of the ocean for survival. I wrote it for it for a creative writing competition when I was around 8 years old. Some of my favorite books have been nautical fiction- I loved fiction and fantasy novels long before I read Moby Dick or The Old Man and the Sea, but there was always something special about discovering and experiencing a work in a genre I enjoyed that was also focused on the ocean. Poetry is maybe the best example of this for me- I was never very interested in poetry before a particularly fun English teacher in 6th grade- from then on, I wrote poetry both in and out of school very frequently. I occasionally drew inspiration from memories of running along a beach, but I never really connected poetry with the ocean until I read The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in 8th grade, which was a reading experience that absolutely thrilled me.
In conclusion, a lot of my writing and reading history has been affected by my memories of and love for the ocean, and that, combined with the versatility of the ocean in different genres, inspired me to choose ocean plant and animal life as a theme for this project. I hope you enjoyed it!
– Elli Sandberg
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