September 27

We started out making a list of stories that changed us - but before you wrote into a particular story we talked about factors that swayed us to choose one story over another. We used this discussion both to classify some of the common types of stories that get written (or that it is our first impulse to write) - and to think about why it is that some (good, important) stories don't get written. We noticed that coming to a resolution or having an (acceptable) ending played a role in defining stories, and in driving us to tell them. We also noticed that stories that weren't "resolved" pressed us both to tell and not tell them. So this is sort of an unstorylike post in that it doesn't come to a clear conclusion about why we write what we do (and don't) - but then I think maybe that is accurate.

You wrote and shared some "stories that changed you), and we covered some serious ground in terms of grappling with experiences that left us wondering - or at least thinking. Thanks for the good talk.

We then talked about John McPhee's "The Patch." And while it may have had more information about pickerel than some of you necessarily wanted to know, it also used the fish, its ways, and McPhee's contemplation of fishing as a metaphor to a much more emotional message. As we talked in class this essay was "about" McPhee's relationship to his father, a contemplation of learning to "listen" be aware of our fellow beings, a wish to take part in human connection, and a perhaps a commentary on - if not hospital care - at least one conception of "care" that often plays out in hospitals. And while this essay clearly is filled with detailed observation and facts characteristic of "eye" essays, I included it as an "I" essay precisely because that observation so stands in for the "I" the narrator "gives"" to his father.

For Wednesday:

Read: an "I" essay or two from your text

Blog 5: For whatever essays you chose to read - what is the main concept/idea in these essays (what is the 'point')? How do authors develop their ideas? What kind of structures do the essays use to build the dramatic impact for that concept?

The point of this post is to get you thinking about a conceptual focus for your essay. OFten the story wells up and you feel it and you know that is what you want to write about - but the "what is it about" comes with more difficulty. In class Wednesday we are going to talk about the idea part - and you will (finally) get your first writing assignment.

Great class tonight. I am really getting quite impatient to start reading your writing!