Danika Miller

                 Grandly romantic balls, wizards and magic, boys who never grow up, a detective solves the impossible, and Bram Stoker invents the fear of fangs. The grandest of bedtime stories and the most enticing of adventures all took me to one place, London, England. Pride and Prejudice, Dracula, Harry Potter, Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, and the legend of King Arthur. These stories entranced me and so did the city they took place in. I needed to experience England for myself. In the Fall of 2010, I did.

 

                 Chance and circumstance led me to my dream destination, my own grand adventure. After ten hours in the air I was in London. Bright red double deckers, cobblestone streets and nothing of familiarity greeted me. I saw fashion years ahead of America; Londoners’ were rocking combat boots, p-coats, and leather jackets. The city held a balance of nature in their concrete jungle, with secret gardens and massive parks. I ate at cozy pubs and not once did I miss the chain restaurants from home. 

 

                 History was living and breathing on every corner in a way I had never experienced before. The literature I loved came to life and I walked the same streets as Sherlock Holmes, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, J.M. Barrie and Shakespeare. I had tea with them at Poets’ Corner. 221B Baker Street led me to the Sherlock Holmes Museum, where I stepped into stacked terrace flats and a book cluttered sitting lounge. I pushed my trolley through Platform 9 ¾ at King’s Cross. Big Ben lit up at night and I wished upon the Second Star.

 

                 I enlisted all eleven years of education to figure out the looping Underground, feeling accomplished when I did so. Each time I emerged from the tubes it was a new side of the city, never disappointing. I began to understand why so many stories emerge from England. The vine covered alleyways and repurposed brick buildings that once held home to a shoe cobbler, now served tea.

 

                 Although America is sometimes nicknamed the world’s melting pot, this title truly belongs to London. People come from countless countries and all different walks of life, with over three hundred languages in the city alone. Yet it doesn’t matter, they are Londoners and I was one too. I never once felt like tourist in London, rather like I was returning home. (Which may be historically and technically accurate). 

 

                Have I mentioned the accents? Every word uttered with a British accent sounds intelligent. I was among intellectuals who had an overall value for style and class. How could my parents have been so selfish to birth me in America when my soul so clearly belonged in England? I may have been born and bred in the corner of the Pacific Northwest, but my heart belongs across the pond.

                I quickly adopted the Union Jack as my own personal flag, a symbol of the country I believe in. I wore more p-coats and purchased combat boots. I borrowed terms like “bloody hell” and “blast”. I focused my future career around the opportunity to one day live in London.

                Breakfast always includes beans in this city. Suits are worn on the daily in this city. The chocolate is real in this city. Tea is an occasion in this city. The texts of my classrooms are written from this city. Life feels bigger in London. Life feels more exciting in London. Life feels delightful. God Save the Queen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                 The “This I Believe” genre is one that examines a personal philosophy and the life experience that has led to that. It’s about beliefs that are rooted deeply within a person due to their unique experiences. This essay genre is about sharing that belief in a way that gives an audience a look into the authors experience and how that came to be. Beliefs are usually presented optimistically, with passion, vulnerability, and enlightenment.

                I looked at my life. I looked at the experiences I had had and the things I had come to believe in. London stood out right away. It sings to my soul and I tried to capture that in this piece. I focused on the journey that led me to believe that London is my true home and that there is a special aliveness and magic that the city breathes with. I initially struggled with forming the exact belief that resulted from the experience.

 

               My first draft simply described and listed things I loved about London, but revision led me to hone a belief. I hope to have conveyed that I believe London is my home, that it is a place unlike any other. And perhaps that sometimes the place we are born in is not where we belong.

 

               The title, The Old Smoke is London’s nickname equivalent to New York being called The Big Apple. I thought it was a unique detail that also said a bit about the historical nature of the city.

                I establish a casual footing with the audience, as this genre often does. An understanding with the reader that this is not meant to be academically educational, but rather passionately enlightening. This is seen in the way I address the reader, "Have I mentioned the accents?" This question is rhetorical and more comical, not meant to lead a question or provoke a thought. Therefore it’s the kind of question you ask when talking about an experience with a friend.

 

                I messed around a bit with tense in this, but due to the genre, I decided past tense would work best. Past tense allows for the insertion of reflection within the essay. The pieces of reflection during and after description of particular events allowed for a clearer connection and formatted the belief of the paper. Rather than an in the moment peek at what I had seen and experienced but didn't yet understand the effect.

 

               The first biggest shift in style was cutting my beginning and refocusing the initial spark of my passion for the British culture. I realized that the books and stories I was most in love with were the reason I became so obsessed with this foreign country. I made that more concrete by listing specific examples and giving short hints at their plot line, "wizards and magic, boys who never grow up," for example.

                My original draft spent a lot more time making comparisons between the nature or Americans and Londoners. It had a few extra random details about the things I liked about London, but I chose to cut those in order to really hone in the central belief. I put more focus on the stories that led me to London and how I saw those come to life. For example, this sentence was cut, “A new-found passion for theater was awoken by the Victoria Theater’s presentation of Wicked. (I saw this again in the U.S. and it was nowhere near the same level).” It didn’t serve the focus of the paper and was a detail I thought only brought about more questions.

 

                I revised other details of the essay to explore how they changed me and how they made me feel at home in London. For example, the sentences “I enlisted all eleven years of education to figure out the looping Underground, feeling accomplished and adult when I did so. Londoners are also aggressively polite and similarly disturbed by ignorant folks who don’t wait their turn onto the metro,” changed to, “I enlisted all eleven years of education to figure out the looping Underground, feeling accomplished when I did so. Each time I emerged from the tubes it was a new side of the city, never disappointing. I began to understand why so many stories emerge from England. The vine covered alleyways and repurposed brick buildings that once held home to a shoe cobbler, now served tea.” I connect the Underground to this sense of adventure and story telling that really drew me to London. This revision further enhanced the belief I present and the themes about storytelling that helped me arrive there.

 

              I end the piece on a more lyrical note, employing parallelism and repetition in the last few sentences. There are a few random details but I think they serve as last minute quirky things that made me fall in love with this city and that really indicate how different it is from where I actually live. My last sentence, “God Save the Queen,” serves to indicate I am a true Londoner who believes in their queen and their culture.

  

            I've included a recorded audio of this piece to be played above. The recording of this essay led ot a few minor changes that simply sounded better when spoken out loud. The passion behind this piece is more evident when spoken as well.