Welcome to the ENGL 429 Hall of Fame, home of model essays from previous semesters. I created this page to showcase the variety of approaches to the various writing assignments in the course and to provide samples you might look to for inspiration. I have tended to bump the essays I consider the strongest models for each assignment to the top of each list (though these are not necessarily the best pieces of writing from each group).

Unit 1: Texture
(models for essay 1b are at the bottom)

Abigail Bessler, “Dear Rufus” (spring 2016)

Lindsay Jost,”I’m Not Like Other Girls. I’m Not on SSRIs” (spring 2020)

Xavier Ruiz – “XFAT (Xavier’s Father Admission Test)” (spring 2022)

Lydia Hill, “Barbie Opens Up About Her Morgellons Disease” (spring 2020)

Adam Chase, “Other, Failed Musicals about Treasury Secretaries that Lin-Manuel Miranda Wrote Before Hamilton” (spring 2019)

Abigail Bessler, “Inside Out 2” (fall 2016)

Faith Tomlin – A Smart Girl’s Guide to a Lucrative and Fulfilling Career as a Sugar Baby (spring 2022) – a great example of a visual parody

Charlie Foster, “One Small Step for Man” (spring 2020) – another great visual parody

Anna Blech, “Should I Go To the Women’s March, Or Should I Stay In Bed and Order Halal Guys?: An Intersectional Feminist Analysis” (spring 2018)

Rebecca Shaw, “Dr Seuss Teaches Sex Ed” (spring 2018)

Annie Nelson, “Hey, It’s Me, The Craziest Bitch You Know” (spring 2018)

Jeremy Zitomer, “My Favorite Thing” (fall 2016)

Grace Wynter, “I’m a Sexy, Empowered, 15-Year-Old Slut in a Teen Melodrama” (spring 2019)

Tim Caradonna, “Giving Up” (fall 2015)

Sarah Brandt, “SoulCycle 257: ‘SoulSurvivor’ Class Syllabus” (spring 2017)

Shon Arieh-Lerer, “Most People” (fall 2013)

Rebecca Shaw, “What to Expect When You’re Rom-Com Pregnant” (spring 2018)

Arya Sundaram, “Anna McClelland, Senior Activist at Yale University”

Julian Drucker, “Leveling Up” (fall 2015)

Isabella Giovannini, “Eulogy for Grandma Krindy” (fall 2016)

Haohang Xu, “How to Tell if You’re in a Primetime Cop Show” (fall 2015)

Shon Arieh-Lerer, “Bain & Company” (fall 2013)

Andrea Villena, “Finding Love in Lake Hepatitis” (fall 2013)

1b – Ridicule Essays

Lydia Keating, “To the Stray Pube People” (spring 2017)

Sahaj Sankaran, “McKinsey Addresses Its Alleged Involvement with the Galactic Empire” (spring 2019)

Maxine Dillon, “In Memoriam Taylor Swift (2009-2016)” (spring 2017)

Anna Blech, “I am so tired of talking about that time Ted Kennedy committed manslaughter, OK?” (spring 2018)
(This was submitted for Essay 3, but it is a great model of a short ridicule piece. If you want to read the truly scorching ridicule Anna submitted as essay 1b, it is published here.)

 

Unit 2: Tone

Sevi Burget-Foster – College Seminar Essays (spring 2022)

Lily Shoretz, Sorrymumbling Essays (fall 2013)

Ben Kronengold, White Privilege Essays (spring 2017)

Sebastian Rivero, Taka$hi 6ix9ine Essays (spring 2019)

Walker Caplan, “Not Like Other Girls” Essays (spring 2019)

Chase Ammon, Pride Essays (spring 2018)

Lauren Modiano, “Beyonce Doesn’t Poop Essays” (spring 2015)

Charlie Foster, “Bad Vision Essays” (spring 2020)

Tim Caradonna, FOMO Essays (spring 2015)

Josh Toro, “Prom Proposals” (spring 2016)

Jeremy Zitomer, Dad’s Privilege Essays (spring 2016)

Emily Rice, Gap Year Essays (spring 2018)

 

Unit 3: Character

Liz Leonard, “A Love Letter to Adam Driver’s Face” (spring 2021)

Tessa Palter-Poston, “Yes, I Have a Yeast Infection and Yes, It’s the Most Interesting Thing About Me” (spring 2018)

Sevi Burget-Foster – I’m Just a Regular Girl Except I have Chronic, Incurable Digestive Issues (spring 2022)

Lindsay Jost, “It’s Me, the Copy of Twilight on Your Bookshelf. Please Don’t Do This.” (spring 2020)

Zoe Larkin – Don’t Ask Me about My Half-Marathon (spring 2022)

Will Cramer, “We Are Starting a T-Shirt Company!” (spring 2021)

Anastasia Ibrahim – I Don’t Have Anger Issues, But Sometimes They’re Induced Because I Love My Mom (spring 2022)

Caleb Cohen, “Hey Kiddo! My Name’s Dr. Brent, DDS” (fall 2019)

Monica Hannush, “My Legal Name Is Allistair Q. Bancroft III, But I’m Proletariat as Hell” (spring 2016)

Asha Prihar, “My Dating Life A Profile” (spring 2021)

Lulu Klebanoff, “My Three-Stage Plan for Letting Go of Control” (fall 2019)

Abigail Bessler, “Abigail Bessler, Ph.D” (spring 2016)

Emma Osborne, “I’m a College Dorm Washing Machine, and This Job Can Be a Load of Shit” (spring 2020)

Ben Kronengold, “My Theory of Life and Existence and Holy Shit I’m Having an Anxiety Attack” (spring 2017)

Jake Dawe, “End Your Life with EndLyf!” (fall 2013)

 

Unit 4: Narrative

Nonfiction

Lea Rice, “Complications” (spring 2018)

Em Schussheim, “How I Thought Coming out to My Parents Would Go Versus How It Went” (spring 2022)

Charlotte Polk, “A Very Fictional First-Person Account Of A Made Up First Kiss That Is Completely Made Up And Not Mine Because Mine Was Very Romantic In A Gazebo At Sunset At The Botanical Gardens And There Were Twinkly Lights And The Guy Was Really Hot But You Don’t Know Him He Goes To Another School So This Isn’t My Story Even Though It Is In First Person It Isn’t About Me I Made It Up For Class The First Person Is Just An Artistic Choice” (spring 2020)

Faith Tomlin – “Dearest Readers (A 23rd Birthday Story)” (spring 2022)

Anna Blech, “Chariots of Sparks” (spring 2018)

Lauren Modiano, “They’re Coming Out” (spring 2015)

Natalie Epstein, “Natalie vs. God” (spring 2016)

Sarah Brandt, “Tinder on the Toilet” (spring 2017)

Tessa Palter-Poston, “Holy Mackerel” (spring 2018)

Emma Brodey, “In Which I Recite Sonnets to a Very Large Bear, and Win True Love (spring 2019)

Lucas Riccardi, “Sunday School” (spring 2015)

Isabella Giovannini, “Cappuccino” (spring 2016)

Vince Kennedy, “Why Is Your Tongue in My Mouth?” (spring 2015)

Jeremy Zitomer, “This is a True Story about Me” (spring 2016)

 

Fiction

Xavier Ruiz – “Boston Copulation Group Meeting Minutes” (spring 2022)

Caleb Cohen, “The Three Weasels and the One-Eyed Doe” (spring 2019)

Lulu Klebanoff, “This Is Not a Date” (spring 2019)

April Wen, “The Growing Season” (spring 2015)