1. Write a reflective essay on your own name (first, middle, last, or all of them). Where did it come from? What does it mean? What does it mean to you? Do you like it or dislike it (or both)? Why? Some people have never thought much about their own names; if you have not, do some thinking and some research, if necessary, before writing. But make your first draft as wide-ranging and spontaneous as you can, to let your real feelings about your name come through.
2. Describe as clearly as you can one of the first good times you can remember having with a friend or friends in your childhood. Think about it first, and then try to make the descriptive narrative as immediate and concrete as possible, the way Esperanza narrates her experience with Lucy and Rachel in "Our Good Day."
3. Write an essay analyzing one of the characters (or narrators) from a story in "Woman Hollering Creek" and Other Stories. What is important to the character and what is not? What motivates him or her to act? What does she or he like, dislike, and why? What do you like or admire, and what do you dislike, about the character? Base your analysis on whatever evidence you can find in the story and on your own best guesses. You may choose a fairly well developed character, or if you want to you can choose a very minor character and, still using whatever evidence you can find, write an imaginative analysis.
