{"id":6628,"date":"2024-02-16T11:15:11","date_gmt":"2024-02-16T16:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=6628"},"modified":"2024-02-16T11:15:14","modified_gmt":"2024-02-16T16:15:14","slug":"running","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=6628","title":{"rendered":"Running"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1st Place, Personal Narrative <\/strong>
2022-23, Division 4, News Writing

By Emmy Chung<\/strong>
The Communicator Magazine
Ann Arbor Community HS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I always loved playing dress up with my sister when I was younger. We
would put on different princess dresses with matching plastic heels and headbands just
to feel fancy and walk around the house. Even now, trying on new clothes that I buy makes me excited…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mixing and matching different tops and sweaters with various styles of jeans or shorts to make an outfit gives me a sense of satisfaction that can only be reached by actually try- ing them on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was fourteen, things started to change. The excitement no longer came after trying on the outfits but rather faded when I saw what I looked like in the mirror. It felt devastating when I wanted to rip those clothes off my body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s difficult to empathize with people whose illness or pain isn\u2019t visible. There is a certain middle ground when you\u2019re talking with people who have a sports injury or a cold because the solutions are often straightforward. Ice, elevate and rest if you\u2019re swollen. Go to the doctor if you\u2019re sick, you might have the flu. Mental illnesses are different; it\u2019s hard to grasp how another person is feeling when they\u2019re experiencing something that can\u2019t be fully understood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t just wake up one day hating the way that I looked. It was the accumulation of opinions on social media that rooted these ideas into my brain. I scrolled through TikTok and Instagram looking at posts from creators. I watched \u201cwhat I eat in a day\u201d and other health-related videos for hours on end. Soon my explore page catered to my \u201cinterests.\u201d The only content I saw was about getting skinny and fit. My impressionable mind absorbed what the world produced. At the time, I didn’t understand just how much it was swallowing me whole. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As quarantine came in the beginning months of 2020, I became utterly consumed in the body I was stuck with every day. I had so much time to myself and I needed somewhere to direct it. I could no longer stand the feel- ings of shame and disappointment, so I channeled them into feelings of hatred. Day by day, I gathered more resentment towards my appearance. I chased an idealistic version of myself for eight months straight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Someone once told me that having an eating disorder isn\u2019t a \u201cdumb person\u2019s problem.\u201d You have to be extremely calculated and methodical to become so deeply buried in something that can\u2019t be attained. It\u2019s like putting all your focus in playing a game that you can never win. But I don\u2019t think having an eating disorder came from me being smart, I think it was me being naive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I no longer wanted to sit in my house all day and bake, do puzzles or watch TV. I began running away from my house and my problems. Five miles on Monday, seven the next day. I even ran a half marathon, fully driven by my mental state. I ran so far and so fast that even when I tried to turn around, I couldn\u2019t see myself anymore. I didn\u2019t recognize who I was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would\u2019ve said I was fine, but everyone in my life knew that wasn\u2019t true. My family gave me a reality check, pushing me into recovery. Something I think about everyday is that if no one had stopped me, I would\u2019ve kept going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The road to recovery wasn\u2019t linear. Each day, I had to choose to break habits that I had built for months and months. The hardest part was quieting the voice inside of me who was so used to controlling me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been almost two years since I was in that state. It\u2019s difficult for me to look back and remember the details of it because everything blurs together, all I can see is someone who hated herself. I\u2019m not proud of it, but I\u2019m okay with it. I will never be the same person as I was before all of this but I am able to know myself better now, and I think that\u2019s worth something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NW-14. Personal Narrative<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is not an opinion piece. It is a first-person account of an event or series of events that constitute a single, profound experience. The focus of the piece is on narrative \u2014 telling the story of the experience. It can be written in present or past tense. The author should take extra efforts to describe the journey and explain its importance. Dialogue and internal dialogue are essential. Submit a PDF of the print page(s) on which the story was published or the URL to the story on an online news site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUDGING CRITERIA<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • A first-person account depicting a personal experience<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Lead captures attention, arouses curiosity<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Topic relevant to interests and\/or welfare of school or students<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Effectively combines basics of good news and feature writing<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Effectively organized with smooth transitions; carefully outlined<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Sentences, paragraphs of varied length; written clearly, concisely and vividly<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Proper diction\/grammar<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Should have byline, which could include mug shot of writer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    1st Place, Personal Narrative 2022-23, Division 4, News Writing By Emmy ChungThe Communicator Magazine Ann Arbor Community HS I always loved playing dress up with my sister when I was younger. Wewould put on different princess dresses with matching plastic heels and headbands justto feel fancy and walk around the house. Even now, trying on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,62],"tags":[206,23],"class_list":["post-6628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-nw","category-personalnarrative","tag-2022-23","tag-division4","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Mikayla Mazza","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=14"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s6K0n6-running","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6628\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}