Brainstorming & Inquiring

Standing in the hallway amongst the company’s top executives and engineers was Dave McMillen. Faded blue jeans, a multicolored flannel button-up and some Nike sneakers normally were not acceptable attire when the executives were in town, but everyone made an exception for Dave. Dave never even noticed that everyone was wearing fancy thousand dollar suites and even if he did, he could have cared less. “I was thinking”, he said loudly as if he was on the brink of needing hearing aids, “I was thinking” he repeated. You see, that was Dave’s line, and when he said it everyone stopped what they were doing to listen. They all knew that whatever followed next was worth their time.  

 

My word web went very well; I narrowed down my list and have decided to do my profile essay on Dave McMillen who is a senior engineer and my company. He is one of the most fascinating people I have ever met and is instantly a mentor to anyone who will have him. His quest for knowledge and his love for sharing it with others are infectious. His ideas are always out of the box and he has no fear of what others think of him, or his ideas. He has these great words of the day, most of which I have never heard of, nor know the meaning of, but nonetheless I listen and learn. It will be fun and exciting to write about Dave, I think everyone will enjoy his story.

 

“Museum Missionary” is a tremendous short profile essay. David Mills is unique is so many ways, but is also very typical, in other words he is just like you and I. He is interesting to talk to; he has some great one liners, that are not only funny, but instructive. He is willing to share his knowledge and has a point of view that others can relate to and respect.

 

“I had been an inner-city pastor, I marched in Selma, that sort of thing, but didn’t really change any lives.”  - David Mills. The critical component in this statement is that he was not changing people’s lives and he wanted too, God saw that and lead David down a different path. Ultimately, you don’t need to be a pastor in a church to touch people’s lives you can do it wherever you are, in whatever you are doing.

 

The writer of “Museum Missionary” talked about his interactions with David Mills and used those interactions to support his positons. There was a good balance of writer involvement in the essay, in my opinion it helped give the essay more feeling. It seemed easier to connect with the “Museum Missionary” essay than with the “Passengers” essay. The “Passengers” essay felt a bit distant to me, I was not connected to the story by the writer’s experience as I was with “Museum Missionary”. After reading these two contrasting essays I am thinking that I am going to insert myself into my profile essay. Not exactly sure to what capacity, but I will definitely find a way to make that happen. I just think it will help connect my reader to the profile subject better.