✏️ Authorship Note (click to expand)

This piece is 100% human-authored. No AI assistance was used in writing, editing, or proofreading this content. What you read here represents my authentic voice and personal perspective.

📚 Course Submission Note (click to expand)

This piece was submitted to Georgia Tech's ENGL 1101 as Project 0: Common First Week Assignment.

Hi Mr.|Mrs. Instructor,

I hope this letter finds you well. I'm Peijie Liu, an Electrical Engineering Sophomore at GaTech. My nickname is Paige, which is intended to make my life easier as it pronounces similar to Peijie. You can call me with either of them, anyway.

So much for the introduction, I'll move on to my narration. This story of Successful Communication happened some days before my arrival at GaTech. On my way to the airport, I received at text message form my grandpa: "Dear grandson, I watched your livestream last night … As an old grandpa who has lived for decades, I'd like to share you some useful advice … Some things shouldn't be said openly during public interviews, and be mindful of potential misinterpretations … Try to focus on positive aspects of your school to protect your own reputation … Don's casually express likes or dislikes…" I was shocked by that message as I'd never expected my grandpa to watch or even criticize my streaming about university application experiences.

I'd always been someone with strong opinions and been willing to express myself. During my livestream, of course I did openly share both positive and negative experiences. While my grandpa – who clearly adheres to a conservative Chinese middle-of-the-path way of thinking – seemed concerned. When I first read his message, a series of perfect counterarguments naturally flashed through my mind: If people I might offend won't be part of my future, losing their support won't be a great deal; my school's prestige is largely shaped by my accomplishments rather than hypocritical praising…

But just as I was about to type these thoughts into the chat, the writing education I received made me pause. When I think of the logics and rhetorics required to make the composition, I realize that aggressive statements would only make the situation worse. I instead should use a more gentle, clear and respectful language to help my grandpa understand my perspectives. I ended up rephrasing my opinions: "Got your message, Grandpa. Thank you for watching my livestream, and I'd like to share some of my insights about your advice… I understand that responsibility is a great concern during public speeches… I'll remind myself to avoid groundless criticism… but being completely neutral and not speaking the truth would make my sharing meaningless…".

Identifying rhetorical situations, including audiences, has been an important step to take before writing. Thanks to that, my grandfather ended up feeling relieved by the message and told me that I shall act according to my own willingness, as long as they're carefully considered approaches. With this composition course, I'm planning to train my language organization skills and shorten that "pause and think" process. When I get sophisticated in reasoning, logics and rhetorics, I hopefully will be able to naturally implement them to not only writing but also speaking.

Cordially,
Peijie Liu

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