Wednesday, October 29

In class today we did some brainstorming/catch up with your writing journal for Essay 3/4. You talked about the writing you did for Blog 11 where you looked into a closer, into a drawer, etc; you made a list of objects with dates to see if the series of objects you were connected to worked together to make a story, and you write a detailed, representational description of a photograph. These exercises were both to help you get started on descriptive writing about objects - and to give you practice seeing stories/ideas in things (as opposed to in your experiences).

The essays you have been reading - Stanton, Kincaid, Cofer + Lott use "things" to provide a ground for the ideas they develop. This is the heart of your second set of essays => to develop an exploration of a concept through writing about an object, place or person (yes, I realize it says place, object & person on your calendar - I don't know what I was thinking).

For Blog 13: describe the character of someone you know in terms of clothing. Write into the details. Only describe what you can see and use your description to tell as much as you can about who this person is. We will read these descriptions in class and wee how much your description lets us know about vocation, age, gender, interests, and so on.

To read for Monday: Review Cofer and Lott, read Nye. We will talk over the structure of these essays and think about how the "things" in the essay shaped the structure and content.

Do some more thinking about what you might write about for Essay 3. Good class today - and see you on Monday.

Monday, October 27

You read Stanton and reviewed Kincaid and hopefully those readings are giving you a more clear idea about Essays 3 & 4.

Your Blog for today was:
Blog 11: look in your closet, a drawer, your purse or wallet, your pockets or backback (if you are really into this you can look in boxes where you've put away things from your past)- write the stories of one or two of the things you find there.

and your blog for Wednesday is
Blog 12: Write about a photograph; this does not need to be a complete piece, just write, maybe ask some questions about what was going on, or what happened before or since to the people in the photo - or to the place or things.

These exercises should also help you write into a useful place for this assignment.

For Wednesday: bring several photos to class

You will do some in-class work with these.

Also - do the writing about objects listed for in-class today (which we didn't do as a group) and we will pick up on it on Wednesday. That is - in your writing journal => List objects that are important to you; put dates beside them (for when they came into your life), name any people they are associated with; list any experiences they are associated with - then read through and see if there are any patterns in what connects you to things.

Readings for Wednesday are Cofer, "Silent Dancing," 154; Lott, "Brothers" Sorry for the gloss on the Lott piece - maybe a little more than you asked for. These are two more examples of using "things" as a center of your essay.

The revised/final draft for essay 1 &2 will definitely be due Nov 6. See you on Wednesday.

Wednesday, October 22

Today you thought about titles for the piece you will revise for the Essay 1&2 assignment. Your title is your foot in the door - it is the first impression you make on the reader. Spend some time on it. Your reader reads the essay in light of the feelings/ideas you set up in your title.

You also took a look at the assignment sheet for Essay 3&4. These essays will be very much like essay 1&2 only they have less of a focus on your personal experience and more of a focus on a place, object or person. You then spent the rest of the class opening up some ideas around what and how you might revise your essay.

For your blog Monday you are going to start using objects to develop ideas for writing. Also - you are going to look at some examples of writing that uses "things" as a starting point.

We decided you would see how far you get with revising Essay 1/2 - and we will make a decision about when you want to turn your essays in.

Have a good weekend and see you on Monday.

Monday, October 20

Son now you have written TWO drafts for this course. Good work! you spent the first part of class thinking/writing about which of the two essays you want to revise. You thought about your essay's rhetorical (audience,purpose, form + overall impression) about the strengths of the essay itself, and about the practicalities of actually revising it. And then you picked one of your two drafts. You then characterized the essay you hope to revise in terms of audience, focus, form, tone, length, style => the kinds of features that editors use to decide whether a piece is right for their journal. Keep this writing so you can come back to it when we do the project on finding a venue for one of your polished essays.

You then spent the rest of class workshopping your essays in groups of two or three. I passed around a sign-up sheet - and so we can talk through your plans for revision.

Good class today.

On Wednesday we will do some specific writing/talking about revising. read Thiel, 88-96 on revising.

For Blog 10: write about how you decided which essay you wanted to revise - and why.

Wednesday, October 15

You spoent the first half of class commenting on your classmates' blogs. Your task was to support the writer in finding his/her concept, iudentifying the story (the best scenes, characterizations and events) to represent the aspects of that concept they mean to develop, and to figure out the connections between the story and the concept. I encouraged you to ask questions - to identify material you were interested in and to offer information/references/ ideas that you think the writer might be able to use. If you are having trouble identifying the focus - ask what it is - and make some hypotheses.

During the second half of class you took a quick look through the comments - and did a short bit of writing to pull things togetyher - and to make any requests for comments from me that you have in mind. And as usual, we talked.

Post your draft for personal essay 2 on your blog for Monday, and we will do some writing to decide which essay you want to revise.

have a great weekend!

Wednesday, October 8

Thanks for the great drafts! Every single one of you took on a strong topic - and you have good material you can use as a basis for a polished essay. Some of you might want to work on creating more detailed stories, some of you might work on cutting back on some detail - most of you could strengthen your essay by doing some thinking (freewriting, focusing) on the "concept" you are writing about. What thoughts do you want your reader to take from your essay? How can you circle deeper into your subject? If you ask -"so what" of your essay - what do you come up with? This assignment requires a focus on ideas or concepts - like Orwell's assessment of colonialism, Danticat's contemplation of the processes through which we become aware - and begin to judge.

In class we continued our discussion of "truth" and it seems we circled back to Lott's reflections on writers' responsibilities. And since there are no "creative nonfiction police" it is going to be a personal decision for each of you.

No class on Monday (have a good break). For Wednesday:

Blog 8: post the experience and the reflection for your 2nd essay + whatever writing you have and would like feedback on That second part is important - in a way it gives your classmates permission to write back to you - to offer comments. So put it out there.

Other than that - do some writing into your second essay. I have had conferences with most of you and we have talked about how to write more strongly into the requirements of the assignment - and you might take some of that with you as you start on your second draft. In class on Wednesday you will give some feedback to your classmates - and work on your drafts. The second draft will be due the following Monday (October 20).

Monday, October 6

So writing the truth just gets more complicated. In class we discussed the kinds of liberties journalists and creative nonfiction writers are tempted to take with truth - rounding the corners (creating scenes + dialog); compressing time or collapsing dialog, creating composite characters - even inventing testimony or support for the point they are making. Then - in addition to these temptations - there are issues that are not exactly about truth - but about ethics - who does the story belong to? what gives the author the right to write it? what kinds of stories shouldn't be told - and when might you get in legal trouble (even if your revelation is true?) We didn't seem to come to agreement on these issues - and Angel even made it more complicated by suggesting that artistic concerns - whether or not a piece contributes something of lasting value or importance - should also weigh in with the ethical concerns. AND (as if there isn't enough to think about) after class - Liz pointed out that because there are many taboo topics in our culture - writing personal experiences with mental illness, domestic violence, rape, criminal activites => experiences associated with shame, blame or both - provides family, friends as well as the central actors in parallel experiences with the language and validation that they may not be able to find in another place. Writers tell us stories about - help us think about - areas of human behavior that we are too ashamed or too confused to talk about with "real" people. They can help relieve the sense of isolation and alienation of individuals who are "outside" what the culture says is "normal". So that is a counterpoint to the ethical reasons for not telling a story that might make the "characters" in the story uncomfortable or embarassed.

So I think it is safe to say that this is a complicated decision - and that individual writers will go by their individual lights.

You have signed up for conferences on your first essay (and discussion of the topic for your next essay). I will return your essay with feedback during your conference.

For Wednesday - read the two articles about the James Frey debacle - and post to your blog about your experience writing your first essay (see the prompt posted on the calendar).

Also - in addition to posting your essay on your blog -send me a copy at the address for this course: ENG3017@gmail.com.

Good discussion today. I have lots to think about. See you Wednesday.

Wednesday, October 1

In class today we started our contemplation of "truth" and creative nonfiction. We used O'Brien's "How to tell a true war story" as a way to get into the topic. His writing opened up the idea that it is possible, sometimes even necessary, to tell stories that are not true in order to represent the truth. His story also illustrates how emotional and factual "truth" can often be in conflict - or even mutually exclusive.

I will be reading through your blogs in the next few days and providing feedback on Blogs 4- 7.

Assignments for Monday: Read Lee Gutkind's "Creative Nonfiction Police" in your textbook, and post your draft for Essay 1 on your blog. For your blog, follow the numbers as listed in the calendar (even though this is the second Blog 6 . . .); I figure it would be more confusing to re-number all the subsequent entries. For in-class journal writing you will be working on identifying "themes" from the images and concepts you identified in the analysis of your journal entries we did on Sept. 29.