Philadelphia Freedom: my feelings as I edit this paper...goes into 12 of 12

I read my first draft to my best friend who attends East Carolina University.  She started to cry.  She has not been back home since August and the images that this paper gave her brought her to tears.  Now, here I sit editing it...crying.  I feel like a New Yorker trying to ruin what my hometown has brought me.  Whenever I read this paper in my head, I read it with a South Philly accent.  I am not crying that I miss home so much, but that I am ruining what home means to me and every other Philadelphian.  The changes may be phonetically and grammatically correct, but that ain't want Philly is about.  As Freddy Jones once said in The School of Rock, "Rock isn't about getting an A. Sex Pistols never won anything.Don't let The Man get you down".  Philly is all about imperfection.  Why else do you think we have a cracked bell and a statue of a fake boxing hero?  We just do what we want to do and what we were taught to do.

That is my advice to future students who take this class.  F up.  Do it.  Stick it to the man.  You are your own person and no one can take that away from you.  Yes, I am going to edit this paper, but I am going to keep the original close to my heart.  Future class, don't think too much and never stress.  There are no rules to writing no matter what Bolter and Trimble try to tell you.  Lay tells you to do what you know.  If you feel overwhelmed, blog about it.   If you feel like s#!t, say it.  There is no rule book or manuel for you.  Be who you are and write the same way.  Do not try to be perfect.  Being yourself is the closest thing to perfect we have in this world.  Hey, if you want, be someone else, as long as it's who you want to be.  Stay classy and blog for life!