http://
Take care!
Monday, May 17, 2010
CI 5410 Final Project
The bellow link leads to my self-developed, wiki-based final project for CI 5410. It was a pleasure working with all of you!
http://teachingfictionandpoetrymanual.pbworks.com/Teaching-Fiction-and-Poetry%3A-a-Short-Repository-of-Useful-Resources
Take care!
http://
Take care!
CI 5410 - A Throwback to Poetry; Exploring Tone Through Performance
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GENERAL INTRODUCTION
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While browsing the interwebs to help me brainstorm ideas for this week’s assignment, I came across the following page utilized by Susan Somers-Willet (a writing instructor at the University of Texas - Austin) to help facilitate her poetry and performance class. In addition to publishing assignment ideas specifically related to performance poetry, Somers-Willet has crafted assignments applicable to many other poetic genres / styles.
http://www.susansw.com/318performance/assignments.htm
For this week’s assignment, I would like to appropriate (and of course modify) Somers-Willet’s “Performance Poem #1” assignment which you can find about 2/3 of the way down the page:
“Performance poem #1”
For your first performance assignment, you will perform a poem by someone else. The poem you select should be one by which you think both you and your audience could benefit. Your performance should last at least 1.5 minutes long and should be memorized (although you may have a partner on book during your performance). For some tips on memorization, read "Memorizing a Poem" in SLAM pp. 50-55. For this assignment, think of the poem as a script for performance.
You will be graded on (in order of importance):
• Your performance and interpretation of the poem. You can fulfill this by simply addressing the question, "What separates my performance from a mere recital of the poem?"
• Your use of performative aspects that don't involve props, costumes, or other "outside" assistance--such as voice, tone, sound, rhythm, use of space, and gesture (you will get the chance to use props or costumes in your other performances). The key here is to strive to engage the audience in your understanding and experience of the poem.
• The effort you have put into understanding and interpreting the poem's performative aspects. Your audience can easily tell when you've put in the time and effort to not only memorize the poem, but to understand what the poem means to you and sharing that with an audience.
Now that you have the basic foundations of this performance-based assignment…
-------
MY SPECIFIC MODIFICATIONS
-------
Materials: Copies of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Song’s of Experience.
Time span: About 2-3 class periods.
Although I am fairly confident that an upper-class, college student could successfully engage Sommers-Willet's extremely open task (after all, the course is a 3XXX level English course), I highly doubt that a middle and / or high school student could independently negotiate the
-wide open selection of ANY poem to perform
-isolation of intended meanings / purposes to guide their performance
-performance of the poem in a way that clearly and effectively communicates an intended interpretation / meaning to their audience.
The following modifications are designed to incorporate necessary scaffolding by re-framing the activity around the communication / consideration of tone across William Blake’s Songs of Experience and Songs of Innocence. Per usual, further modify this activity to YOUR unique learning context.
1.) Begin by exploring the specific differences between performing a poem and reciting a poem. To do so, the following question set may be useful:
-What sort of meanings can you communicate when you recite a poem? Perform a poem?
-Are there meanings that a performance can communicate that a recital may not? How so?
-How would you characterize a recital? A performance? What specific features might you notice?
-What are the potential effects of a recital on the listener? What are the potential effects of a performance on the listener?
Further probing questions?
-How might you talk when reciting / perform a poem?
-How might you move when reciting / perform a poem?
In addition to the discussion you and your class generate, a simple YouTube search will yield further multi-modal examples of performances and recitals.
Whatever is generated, conclude on the following core concepts:
*People perform poems to amplify and / or create meanings that the text alone may not necessarily be able to communicate.
*Tone can be greatly amplified / created / emphasized / revealed when a poem is performed vs. simply recited.
2.) If your class is not familiar with the concept of tone, provide them with the necessary background contexts re definitions, uses, and so on.
*More important to this activity, discuss how tone is created (in poetry AND every day life) via the complex interactions between:
a. ) the base meanings of specific words we chose
b. ) the additional meanings created when we VERBALLY communicate said words (e.g., the inflections we use, the intensity or lack thereof in our voices, and so on)
c.) the additional meanings created when we NON-VERBALLY communicate said words (e.g. the way we stand, move, our facial expressions, and so on)
d.) the surrounding social, cultural, political, and so on contexts we are located while communicating.
Again, in addition to the discussion that you and your class create, a simple YouTube search will yield TONS of rich examples to further explore the creation / communication of tone.
3.) Distribute examples of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence to ½ the class, and Songs of Experience to ½ the class.
NOTE: the idea here is that these poems have DRAMATICALLY different tones which can be further amplified / revealed via the specific decisions students make while performing them.
4.) As a class, in groups, and or individually, have students read their poem and identify a.) WHAT specific tone it creates and b.) HOW, specifically, the text alone creates this tone.
5.) Once students have identified both the specific tone, as well as how the text contributes to the establishment of this tone, have them explore the following question set:
-How can I amplify / emphasize / reinforce / reveal the tone of this poem?
-What specific word choices / phrases contribute to the tone I want to amplify?
-How, specifically, might I perform them? What sort of energy, or lack their of, might I use? What sort of inflections might I use in my voice?
-How will I act / look / move when I perform? Will I look angry? Sad? Happy? Depressed?
6.) In class and as homework, have students further consider the decisions they will make and rehearse.
7.) In class the next day, have students perform their poems, potentially switching back and forth between examples from Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience.
NOTE: again, the idea here is to clearly show your students via co-performance the nuanced ways in which specific performance decisions can greatly influence diverse tones that are communicated to audiences.
8.) As a sort of post analysis / reflection activity, have students write a short paragraph responding to the following questions:
a.) What SPECIFIC decisions did I make during the performance of my poem that were successful / communicated my intended meaning / purpose / tone?
b.) Why SPECIFICALLY do I think this / how SPECIFICALLY could I tell?
c.) If I were to perform this poem again I would change the way I _______ because _______.
d.) If I were to perform this poem again I would note change the way I _______ because _______.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
-------
While browsing the interwebs to help me brainstorm ideas for this week’s assignment, I came across the following page utilized by Susan Somers-Willet (a writing instructor at the University of Texas - Austin) to help facilitate her poetry and performance class. In addition to publishing assignment ideas specifically related to performance poetry, Somers-Willet has crafted assignments applicable to many other poetic genres / styles.
http://www.susansw.com/318performance/assignments.htm
For this week’s assignment, I would like to appropriate (and of course modify) Somers-Willet’s “Performance Poem #1” assignment which you can find about 2/3 of the way down the page:
“Performance poem #1”
For your first performance assignment, you will perform a poem by someone else. The poem you select should be one by which you think both you and your audience could benefit. Your performance should last at least 1.5 minutes long and should be memorized (although you may have a partner on book during your performance). For some tips on memorization, read "Memorizing a Poem" in SLAM pp. 50-55. For this assignment, think of the poem as a script for performance.
You will be graded on (in order of importance):
• Your performance and interpretation of the poem. You can fulfill this by simply addressing the question, "What separates my performance from a mere recital of the poem?"
• Your use of performative aspects that don't involve props, costumes, or other "outside" assistance--such as voice, tone, sound, rhythm, use of space, and gesture (you will get the chance to use props or costumes in your other performances). The key here is to strive to engage the audience in your understanding and experience of the poem.
• The effort you have put into understanding and interpreting the poem's performative aspects. Your audience can easily tell when you've put in the time and effort to not only memorize the poem, but to understand what the poem means to you and sharing that with an audience.
Now that you have the basic foundations of this performance-based assignment…
-------
MY SPECIFIC MODIFICATIONS
-------
Materials: Copies of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Song’s of Experience.
Time span: About 2-3 class periods.
Although I am fairly confident that an upper-class, college student could successfully engage Sommers-Willet's extremely open task (after all, the course is a 3XXX level English course), I highly doubt that a middle and / or high school student could independently negotiate the
-wide open selection of ANY poem to perform
-isolation of intended meanings / purposes to guide their performance
-performance of the poem in a way that clearly and effectively communicates an intended interpretation / meaning to their audience.
The following modifications are designed to incorporate necessary scaffolding by re-framing the activity around the communication / consideration of tone across William Blake’s Songs of Experience and Songs of Innocence. Per usual, further modify this activity to YOUR unique learning context.
1.) Begin by exploring the specific differences between performing a poem and reciting a poem. To do so, the following question set may be useful:
-What sort of meanings can you communicate when you recite a poem? Perform a poem?
-Are there meanings that a performance can communicate that a recital may not? How so?
-How would you characterize a recital? A performance? What specific features might you notice?
-What are the potential effects of a recital on the listener? What are the potential effects of a performance on the listener?
Further probing questions?
-How might you talk when reciting / perform a poem?
-How might you move when reciting / perform a poem?
In addition to the discussion you and your class generate, a simple YouTube search will yield further multi-modal examples of performances and recitals.
Whatever is generated, conclude on the following core concepts:
*People perform poems to amplify and / or create meanings that the text alone may not necessarily be able to communicate.
*Tone can be greatly amplified / created / emphasized / revealed when a poem is performed vs. simply recited.
2.) If your class is not familiar with the concept of tone, provide them with the necessary background contexts re definitions, uses, and so on.
*More important to this activity, discuss how tone is created (in poetry AND every day life) via the complex interactions between:
a. ) the base meanings of specific words we chose
b. ) the additional meanings created when we VERBALLY communicate said words (e.g., the inflections we use, the intensity or lack thereof in our voices, and so on)
c.) the additional meanings created when we NON-VERBALLY communicate said words (e.g. the way we stand, move, our facial expressions, and so on)
d.) the surrounding social, cultural, political, and so on contexts we are located while communicating.
Again, in addition to the discussion that you and your class create, a simple YouTube search will yield TONS of rich examples to further explore the creation / communication of tone.
3.) Distribute examples of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence to ½ the class, and Songs of Experience to ½ the class.
NOTE: the idea here is that these poems have DRAMATICALLY different tones which can be further amplified / revealed via the specific decisions students make while performing them.
4.) As a class, in groups, and or individually, have students read their poem and identify a.) WHAT specific tone it creates and b.) HOW, specifically, the text alone creates this tone.
5.) Once students have identified both the specific tone, as well as how the text contributes to the establishment of this tone, have them explore the following question set:
-How can I amplify / emphasize / reinforce / reveal the tone of this poem?
-What specific word choices / phrases contribute to the tone I want to amplify?
-How, specifically, might I perform them? What sort of energy, or lack their of, might I use? What sort of inflections might I use in my voice?
-How will I act / look / move when I perform? Will I look angry? Sad? Happy? Depressed?
6.) In class and as homework, have students further consider the decisions they will make and rehearse.
7.) In class the next day, have students perform their poems, potentially switching back and forth between examples from Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience.
NOTE: again, the idea here is to clearly show your students via co-performance the nuanced ways in which specific performance decisions can greatly influence diverse tones that are communicated to audiences.
8.) As a sort of post analysis / reflection activity, have students write a short paragraph responding to the following questions:
a.) What SPECIFIC decisions did I make during the performance of my poem that were successful / communicated my intended meaning / purpose / tone?
b.) Why SPECIFICALLY do I think this / how SPECIFICALLY could I tell?
c.) If I were to perform this poem again I would change the way I _______ because _______.
d.) If I were to perform this poem again I would note change the way I _______ because _______.
CI 5410 Week 11 – Assignment; The School Newspaper Muse
INTRODUCTION
In their introduction to exercise #41 titled “The Newspaper Muse: Ann Landers and the National Enquirer,” Bernays and Painter (2005) quote Joyce Carol Oates’ treatment of the everyday newspaper as a rich source of fictional fodder:
“…it is the very skeletal nature of the newspaper, I think, that attracts me to it, the need it inspires in me to give flesh to such neatly and thinly-told tales, to resurrect this event which has already become history and will never be understood unless it is re-lived, re-dramatized” (120).
Although there exists a virtually infinite pool of easy to access and transport print AND digital news material at your fingertips to use for this sort of activity (just think of your own used newspaper that you would otherwise throw away and / or the myriad of online local, regional, and national newspapers!), I argue that students often feel relatively dissociated with local, regional, and / or national events to which they may perceive little to no personal proximity. Whether influenced by adolescent egocentrism and / or the seemingly universal human tendency to pay less attention to information one perceives to hold little to no influence over their lived experience and / or identity, I argue that the creative potential of Bernays’ and Painter’s (2005) intriguing exercise could be negatively compromised if students perceived their available pool of news stories to likewise hold little to no relevance to their own lived experiences and / or identities. After all, when readers don’t personally know the individuals involved, incur any personal costs, and / or incur any personal benefits in relation to a given news story, what is their incentive to care? If my students are anything like me, they frequently have a difficult time finding an incentive to read on and / or “do” anything with the news stories they consume.
Therefore, this assignment will require students to
1.) identify
AND
2.) “give flesh to”
the “neatly and thinly-told tales” found in their school’s own newspaper to which they ideally perceive a higher degree of relevance to their own lived experiences and / or identities.
PROCEDURE
-Acquire enough copies (and some extras just in case!) of your school’s newspaper to ensure that EACH student has their own copy to work with.
NOTE: although I imagine that students will logically perceive larger degrees of personal association with coverage of more vs. less recent news, feel free to dip back into the archives and acquire a diverse range of newer and older editions of your school’s newspaper (you never know what exactly will trip a student’s creative trigger!).
NOTE 2: also, because “school news” isn’t reported / doesn’t occur in a vacuum, encourage students to consult outside news sources for more information if an event or issue trips their curiosities. In other words, although the “school news” should be a rich enough ecosystem in which to navigate this activity, encourage students to explore other news ecosystems if they wish.
-After acquiring and distributing school newspapers, students will
**NOTE: Before jumping into the creative portion of the activity, it might be necessary to establish some ground rules re what is / isn’t appropriate when utilizing familiar people, places, and things as writing catalysts. For example, clarify with your class that it is NOT acceptable to use their fiction as a guise to ridicule and / or harass other students, teachers, administrators, community members, etc. In other words, create and enforce rules re your own unique learning context.**
In their introduction to exercise #41 titled “The Newspaper Muse: Ann Landers and the National Enquirer,” Bernays and Painter (2005) quote Joyce Carol Oates’ treatment of the everyday newspaper as a rich source of fictional fodder:
“…it is the very skeletal nature of the newspaper, I think, that attracts me to it, the need it inspires in me to give flesh to such neatly and thinly-told tales, to resurrect this event which has already become history and will never be understood unless it is re-lived, re-dramatized” (120).
Although there exists a virtually infinite pool of easy to access and transport print AND digital news material at your fingertips to use for this sort of activity (just think of your own used newspaper that you would otherwise throw away and / or the myriad of online local, regional, and national newspapers!), I argue that students often feel relatively dissociated with local, regional, and / or national events to which they may perceive little to no personal proximity. Whether influenced by adolescent egocentrism and / or the seemingly universal human tendency to pay less attention to information one perceives to hold little to no influence over their lived experience and / or identity, I argue that the creative potential of Bernays’ and Painter’s (2005) intriguing exercise could be negatively compromised if students perceived their available pool of news stories to likewise hold little to no relevance to their own lived experiences and / or identities. After all, when readers don’t personally know the individuals involved, incur any personal costs, and / or incur any personal benefits in relation to a given news story, what is their incentive to care? If my students are anything like me, they frequently have a difficult time finding an incentive to read on and / or “do” anything with the news stories they consume.
Therefore, this assignment will require students to
1.) identify
AND
2.) “give flesh to”
the “neatly and thinly-told tales” found in their school’s own newspaper to which they ideally perceive a higher degree of relevance to their own lived experiences and / or identities.
PROCEDURE
-Acquire enough copies (and some extras just in case!) of your school’s newspaper to ensure that EACH student has their own copy to work with.
NOTE: although I imagine that students will logically perceive larger degrees of personal association with coverage of more vs. less recent news, feel free to dip back into the archives and acquire a diverse range of newer and older editions of your school’s newspaper (you never know what exactly will trip a student’s creative trigger!).
NOTE 2: also, because “school news” isn’t reported / doesn’t occur in a vacuum, encourage students to consult outside news sources for more information if an event or issue trips their curiosities. In other words, although the “school news” should be a rich enough ecosystem in which to navigate this activity, encourage students to explore other news ecosystems if they wish.
-After acquiring and distributing school newspapers, students will
- identify ONE headline off of which to develop a story
- write said headline at the top of a sheet of paper as a sort of tentative title / lens to help them frame their story
- develop their story! (I’m thinking about 1-2 pages as one night's homework here, but like always, the assignment parameters and drafting times you chose depends on your own unique learning context!).
**NOTE: Before jumping into the creative portion of the activity, it might be necessary to establish some ground rules re what is / isn’t appropriate when utilizing familiar people, places, and things as writing catalysts. For example, clarify with your class that it is NOT acceptable to use their fiction as a guise to ridicule and / or harass other students, teachers, administrators, community members, etc. In other words, create and enforce rules re your own unique learning context.**
CI 5410 Week 10.2 – Chapter 4, exercise 23; “An Early Memory, Part Two: The Reminiscent Narrator”
The following creative example is in response to PART TWO of Bernays' and Painter's (1990) exercise titled An Early Memory: The Reminiscent Narrator.
In PART ONE of the exercise, B&P challenge writers to recollect and recast the event on the page via the perceptions and emotional tones appropriate for a child. As a result, B&P argue that writers will run less of a chance of intentionally influencing reader's perceptions of what is written, and simply report the basic "facts" of the memory instead. In PART TWO of this exercise, however, B&P challenge writers to re-color the same event, but this time through perceptions and emotional tones appropriate for an adult. As a result, the objective of this exercise is two-fold:
1.) explore the underlying "meaning" of the memory that writers simply "reported on" in PART ONE, and
2.) do so by recasting/recoloring the memory in a perspective, point of view, and overall emotional tone appropriate for an adult.
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The Neighbor's Moat
Impulse control, as I’ve heard some psychologists call it, has never been one of my strong suits. When the feeling of not knowing makes my skin crawl, I do not have the control to push it aside and focus even for a second on the other things in my life that I desperately should do, or desperately need doing. In comparison to the mountains of fly-infested dishes piling gradually higher in the sink, to fixing the relationships corroding in the acid bath of my decisions, I cannot or will not tolerate being so uncomfortable in my own skin.
When I was seven years old, I received the first glimpse I can recall of what I am capable of when confronted with the impossibility of not knowing. As I kicked a favorite soccer ball back and forth in the open lane of grass separating the reclusive neighbor’s house from my childhood home, I noticed that some sort of construction was taking place in the adjoining back yard – the majority of grass had been completely removed, and a deep, freshly-dug, moat-like trench lined the rear of the house. Propelled by my impulse via the guise of accidentally kicking my soccer ball closer and closer to the curious scene, the ball suddenly vanished from my sight, followed by a quite, yet noticeable, splash. As I peered into where the ball had disappeared, I noticed that the trench was filled with a rather high volume of water, most likely from the combination of the intense rain we’ve been having that summer, as well as the contractor’s inability to understand the concept of adequate drainage.
The trench wasn’t just moat-like, but a real moat in every way that I could logically discern. Like a real moat surrounding a castle, this moat-like trench surrounded a structure that could need guarding if the owners wished. Like a real moat surrounding a castle, this moat-like trench was deep and filled with dangerous looking water, deep enough and watery enough that it could trap an intruder for later judgment. But, I could not figure out if it was indeed a real, honest-to-God moat, or a fake moat-like substitute. Because I have never seen a real moat, I was worried that my comparative criteria were flawed, and I decided to test my hypothesis further. If it was a real moat, a real intruder would indeed become hopelessly trapped, I concluded.
Having devised a reliable experiment, I began to brainstorm possible subjects, focusing on my younger friend and adjacent neighbor Kevin, who I thought best fit the profile – like me, he couldn’t resist a construction site. But unlike me, he wouldn’t be calculated enough to immediately perceive my designs for him.
Kicking the ball briskly through my yard to Kevin’s, I did my best to look like a normal child at play. But, my twists and turn did not even carry me half way through the yard until I was intercepted by my mother shaking out the foyer rug on the front steps, and placed under the lens of her scrutiny.
“Why are you so dirty?” she immediately demanded, noticing the physical most indications of my plot.
“Just playing,” I returned, doing the best to focus my attention on clumsily dribbling the ball at my feet than her eyes carefully assessing me. “Can I go over to Kevin’s?”
“You look like you are up to no good,” she turned over over in her mind. As she continued shaking out the rug, the increasing cloud of dust, dead skin cells, and dog hair masked any potentially remaining tells. Finally, her struggle with the rug had won her immediate attention, and she sent me on my way with nothing more than a warning to not get my clothes any dirtier than they already were.
Kevin’s dad answered the door, and I asked if Kevin could come out and play. Flying out of the front door, Kevin stole the ball at my feet, and I engaged him in this play to keep up appearances.
“Hey, you wanna see something really, really cool?” I asked after quickly growing tired of our game of cat and mouse.
“What is it?”
“I found a giant hole in their backyard that looks like a moat.”
“Like a castle?”
My heart raced so suddenly at the quick progression of my experiment that I found it nearly impossible to speak. But this was a different type of racing heart than getting yelled at for getting my clothes too dirty, or running from the adjacent neighbor’s German Sheppard that we shot it with the hose. This was the first taste of the racing heart that now runs me.
“Just like a castle,” I managed to choke.
I reenacted my initial surprise and curiosity at discovering the neighbor’s construction site, and Kevin continued to fall hook, line, and sinker, just as my father would say after returning home with the latest piece of electronics that he didn’t really need. After allowing Kevin several victories in king of the hill atop the construction site’s small, scattered piles of dirt, all conditions but one were in place to initiate my the final stage of my experiment – Kevin was still much too far away from the edge of the moat-like trench.
As fate seemed to have it, Kevin had a stronger kick than he expected, and the soccer ball plummeted into the watery chasm of the moat-like trench following a final victory kick. As he leaned over the moat-like trench to recover the results of his miscalculated contact with the ball, the final condition of my experiment fell into place. As if out of instinct, my impulse immediately reacted, and the accelerating momentum of my seven-year-old form sent Kevin falling head first into the watery prison bellow, his screams to my back as I retreated to assess the outcomes of my experiment.
From a secure vantage point behind the utility shed in our backyard, I could hear Kevin’s cries bellow hopelessly from the moat-like trench. Although I could see an occasional hand desperately brush the rim of what was once merely a moat-like trench, Kevin was not exiting the hold of the honest-to-God moat under his own power. As Kevin’s mud-covered hands continued to rake back and forth across the edge of the now-confirmed moat, the sheer joy of knowing surged through me, my impulse tearing my body from the safety of the utility shed and sending it running and skipping around the backyard. If anyone was watching me, they would have seen the normalist, happiest child in all of Oakdale.
As I tumbled and zigzagged my way home, my mother was already lying in wait for me in the open threshold of the front door, hands on her hips, telephone in hand, my father standing slightly behind her with arms sternly crossed on the now dust, skin, and dog hair-free foyer rug.
“Kevin’s father is on the phone,” she yelled frantically at me as I approached. “Did you push Kevin into that hole in the neighbor’s backyard?”
“Yes.”
“Why on earth did you do that?” She was begging now, completely bewildered by such a guilt-free affirmation to such a dreadful question.
As I excitedly explained that Kevin helped me to test if the moat-like trench in the neighbor’s backyard was indeed a real moat (and that it had passed the test wonderfully), she rudely interrupted, simultaneously informing me that I was not allowed to play with Kevin anymore because I hurt him so terribly, and apologizing to Kevin’s father for my behavior.
Uncomfortably shifting his position on the foyer rug, my father asked me a question that I have pondered in various tenses and terms ever since the day I discovered the neighbor’s moat –
“Was it worth it, son?”
More than you or anyone else can possibly imagine.
CI 5410 Week 10.1 – Chapter 4, exercise 22; “An Early Memory, Part One: The Child as Narrator”
The following creative example is in response to Bernays' and Painter's (1990) exercise titled An Early Memory, Part One: The Child as Narrator. In this exercise, B&P argue that although the phrase "write what you know" has become completely cliche, it does hold extremely true: "Your own life - and your memories of it - have an intensity and immediacy that are useful in creating fiction" (64). However, B&P argue that it is integral for writers to explore and consider their proximity to their own memories, more specifically, the idea that "it's not just what you know, but how you see it, shape it, and enhance it with your imagination" (64).
In part ONE of this exercise, B&P challenge writers to recall and write about an event in the most objective voice possible, working to NOT color the recollection with current/adult perceptions, feelings, wishes, and so on. In other words, B&P challenge writers to present the "facts" of the recollection as accurately as possible, coloring the event with perceptions and emotional tones appropriate for a CHILD. As a result, the recollection should present the narrative "without nudging the reader or in any way explaining what she has written" (65).
-------
I lose sight of my favorite soccer ball as it bounces down the big field of green grass between the two backyards. As I run to find it and kick it back up the field, I see that the neighbor’s backyard looks really different – there was a huge field of grass yesterday, and now there are tall mountains of dirt all over the place. I pick up my ball and run into the yard. I have to run fast because mom and dad wouldn’t let me go over there. They would say that I would just hurt myself.
What I find looks like a big, brown castle – a huge trench is dug around the back of the neighbor’s house, and it is filled with muddy water just like a moat. I kick the ball around in the dirt for a while and climb all over the dirt hills. The ball bounces off of one of the huge mountains and falls down into the muddy water, and I wonder if this moat works like a real moat. If real moats are used to trap people and keep them out of castles, a good way to test the realness of this moat would be to push my friend Kevin in and see if he got stuck.
I walk over to Kevin’s house with my ball under my arm and see my mom on the front steps shaking the dust out of a rug. I try to walk by without her seeing me, but she stops me and asks,
“Why are you so dirty? You look like you’re up to no good.”
“I’m just playing,” I say bouncing my ball off of my knee. “Can I go over to Kevin’s?”
“Sure,” she says waving the dust out of her face. “Just try not to get any more dirt on your clothes.”
Kevin’s dad answers the door and I ask if Kevin can come out and play. I wait on Kevin’s front steps bouncing the ball off of the side of their house, and Kevin's dad tells me to stop it. After he sees my ball, Kevin comes outside and steals it from me.
“Let me show you something really cool,” I say.
“What is it?” he asks kicking the ball past me.
“I found a big hole in their backyard,” I say pointing to the neighbor’s house. "It looks like a moat."
“Like a castle?” Kevin asks.
“Just like a castle,” I say. I feel good that I am able to get Kevin to come without him knowing what I am going to do to him.
Kevin runs ahead of me with my ball, and we both wave at my mom as she shakes the dust out of another rug.
After we kick the ball around in the dirt and play king of the hill on the mountains for a while, I tell Kevin to look at the moat. As he leans over the hole, I run up behind him, push him as hard as I can, and run. I hear Kevin splash into the water and start crying as I cross into our yard and hide behind the side of our house. At first, I feel good because I proved that the moat was a real moat, but then I get scarred and run home because Kevin doesn't stop crying. I can still hear Kevin crying my entire way back.
As I walk up our front steps, mom is waiting for me with her hands on her hips and the telephone in her hands. Dad is standing behind her in the house with his arms crossed.
“Kevin’s father is on the phone,” she says, pointing the phone at me. “Did you push Kevin into a hole in the neighbor’s backyard?”
“Yes,” I say, spinning my ball in my hands.
“I knew you were up to no good,” she yells. “Why on earth did you do that?”
I tell her that I wanted to see if the neighbor had a real moat or not, and Kevin helped me test it out. Mom tells me that Kevin's dad is really mad at me and doesn't think I should play with Kevin anymore.
“Was it worth it?” dad asks from the inside of the house.
I drop my ball and start crying.
CI 5410 Week 9.3 - Chapter 3, exercise 13; "Funny - You Don't Look 75"
The following reflective example is a response to Bernays' and Painter's (1990) exercise titled Funny - You Don't Look 75. In this exercise, B&P discuss the reader's need to "know" certain basic facts about characters, including their general appearance and approximate age (39). To practice communicating the aforementioned details to readers, B&P challenge writers to list the subtle ways in which basic facts about their characters can be conveyed (41).
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Non-physical markers of age:
-Type of car driven
-Smell(s) inside of house and / or car
-Pictures on display
-Technologies found in home and / or on person
-Furnishings
-Types and styles of food stocked in cupboards
-Medications / health / hygiene items stocked in medicine cabinet / bathroom
-Music displayed / listened to
-Literature displayed / read
-Amount / type of nick nacks
-Presence / amount of stairs
-Stores shopped at
-Social locations frequented
-Activities / hobbies interested in
Physical markers of age:
-Walking speed / gate
-Posture
-Hair color / style / pattern
-Reflexes while walking / driving
-Personal style
-Overall physical shape
-Overall physical health
-Complexion
-Most / least frequent topics of conversation
-Most / least frequent tones of conversation
-Personal lexicon / vernacular
CI 5410 Week 9.2 - Chapter 3, exercise 14; "Naming Your Characters"
The following creative examples are from Bernays' and Painter's (1990) exercise titled Naming Your Characters. In this exercise, B&P caution writers against simply pulling names out of a hat when naming their characters. Instead, B&P challenge writers to carefully consider how the names they give their characters help convey a sense of a particular character's role in your fiction (42). To practice this calculated selection of character names, B&P challenge the writer to assign names that "fit" the bellow character types.
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A petty, white-collar thief who robs his boss over several years:
- Marcus Conroy
- Seth Pierce
- Gordon Chilling
An envious, bitter woman who makes her sister miserable by systematically trying to undercut her pleasure and self-confidence:
- Carolyn Bender
- Danielle Lynche
- Selma Thorne
A sweet young man too shy to speak to an attractive woman he sees every day at work:
- Miles Quinn
- William Greene
- Rick Filipkowski
The owner of a fast-food restaurant who comes on to his young female employees:
- Lou Piles
- Frank Boyle
A grandmother who just won the lottery:
- Mable Bodewell
- Beatrice Sykes
CI 5410 Week 9.1 - Chapter 2, exercise 9; "Mining Memory"
The following reflective examples are in response to Bernay's and Painters' (1990) exercise titled Mining Memory. In this exercise, B&P encourage writers to view their lives as far from boring and dull. Instead, the authors suggest that writers take the time to "store away for future use the odd, funny, sad, and suspenseful things" that happen to them (28). After all, you never know what little thing can spark a detailed story!
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Over about the past week...
Things that pleased me:
1.) The observation that all morning doves (at least I think they're morning doves) sing the exact same two note tune.
2.) Ginger "asking" me to let her outside by barking and spinning in a little circle vs. just peeing (or worse) in the house.
3.) Annie "asking" Ginger to play by barking and moaning like a board little child, only to be completely ignored as Ginger simply isn't in the mood.
4.) Ginger looking at me in complete bewilderment (or is it defiance?) when I throw her the ball.
5.) Hearing hidden frogs croak over the noise of "Dancing Nancies" playing on my iPod.
6.) Tasting my first home-made, grilled "No Name" steak of the Spring.
7.) Paying less money for a delicious imported beer than I would for a mass-produced Diet Coke at the Kitty Cat Klub's daily happy hour.
8.) The cashier at Trader Joe's double-bagging my groceries without my having to ask.
9.) Being offered a small gig at the Dunn Bros. coffee near my home.
10.) My machinist father fixing my broken iPod case vs. myself having to replace it.
Things that made me angry:
1.) Annie biting at bees (and usually getting stung in the mouth at least once) EVERY Spring since I've had her.
2.) 65 pound Annie getting herself hopelessly tangled on a tiny stick, bush / tree branch, and / or one of her own turds.
2.) Ginger trying to "sneak" rabbit turds, even though I repeatedly yell at her for eating them.
3.) Waiting for at least one dozen cars before I can cross Hadley Avenue.
4.) Teenagers vandalizing the Oakdale Nature Center - MY suburban getaway.
5.) Walking into any Walmart in the United States. Enough said.
6.) Facebook status updates fishing for sympathies.
7.) Getting furiously passed by BMW man while stuck in a traffic jam on Highway 36.
8.) Listening to how much money has been offered to MN Twins player Joe Mauer.
9.) Getting "no-showed" by a client who begged me to fit them into the schedule.
10.) Not being able to find pre-made hamburger patties at Trader Joe's.
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