750: Invention Work & Klosterman’s “The Lady or the Tiger”

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Bryan

Invention Work (for upcoming essay)

Take five minutes and list all the toys (new or old) you can think of.

Take a short break.

Take five minutes and list all the board games and video games (new or old) that come to mind.

Take another short break. Then comb over your lists and pick the one artifact that feels most magnetic to you (it draws your attention; you want to think about it more). Write about why you think you chose this particular artifact.

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Process-writing (mandatory part of 750 to get full credit)

Content:

In this essay, Klosterman analyzes sugary cereals, but he also does some broader cultural analysis (see his readings on different types of cool). Let’s practice your skills of cultural analysis:

What is coolness? What qualifies something as cool?

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Craft:
Is there a thesis in here? Is it more than one sentence?

If so, where is it—and what makes this the thesis?

How do Klosterman’s ideas develop through the essay?

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750: “Poor Me” and Narrative Map

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Bryan

Poor Me—Content

Finish one of these sentences:

This is a story of _______.

or

This is a story about ___________.

(Here are three abbreviated examples of how this kind of thing works with other stories:

1. This is a story of a man coming to a kind of reckoning with his grief over his father’s suicide.  For years, this man has been stuck on the question of why? about his father’s suicide.  But then he goes on a fishing trip alone – alone for the first time in years – where he meets a stranger who helps him get over that hump.

2. It is a story of healing.  Emma is resurrected from her obsession with grief and her misery by art.

3. This is a story about a period in Revie’s life when his father is making the transition to a new state of life, post mom and post marriage, while Revie flounders.  He is being left behind by his father.  It’s really a story about grief, and how grief is private, a room one enters (and leaves) alone.)

How can you tell that this essay is about what you say it is? How does the writer create this meaning?

Who has power in this essay? What are the sources of power?

Poor Me—Craft

Look back at what you wrote for the prompt about how the writer creates the meaning of the essay. What techniques might you steal from this writer to build meaning in your own essay? (In other words, what moves could you make in your own essay to make meaning out of your event without saying to the reader And here is what this event meant to me…?)

 Narrative Map

This one’s mandatory for the 750: Per the Furunessay on narrative design, write a narrative map for your essay.

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750: For “Describing” and Mudpit

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Bryan

Mudpit for Significant Event Essay: Building Meaning

How did you react immediately?

How do you feel about it now? If you feel differently about it now, why? What accounts for the difference?

In retrospect, do you wish you’d reacted differently when it happened?

What from the experience do you still carry with you?

Did it change you in any way? If so, what are the effects of that change? In other words, how is the change manifested in your actions or the way you approach the world? (This could allow you to “show” your change instead of just telling the reader about it).

Process Writing for “Describing”

What are three things you learned from this chapter?

What connections can you make between this chapter and other stuff we’ve read or talked about in class?

What are you discovering—about your significant event, about writing, or about yourself as a writer?

What writing challenges are you running up against, and what will you do about them?

What questions about description, or writing in general do you still have?

 

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750: Mick Jagger Wants Me

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Bryan

Almost all communication is built on the chassis of story. Your upcoming personal essay will be a kind of story, of course. But even the more formal, academic-type essays you’ll write in your college career can be considered stories, stories of your thinking about a topic.

The more you understand about storytelling, the more interesting and powerful communicator you will be in every area of your life. So watch these short videos featuring Ira Glass. On one level, he’s talking about broadcast storytelling, but on another, deeper level, he’s talking about learning, writing, and storytelling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loxJ3FtCJJA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW6x7lOIsPE&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI23U7U2aUY&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baCJFAGEuJM&feature=relmf

In what ways has Glass confirmed what you’ve thought about writing and storytelling? In what ways has he challenged your notions? 

Mick Jagger Content:

Think about the main character’s personality. Track how it changes over the course of the essay. What are the changes? Remember to point to specific areas of the text. What are the forces that change her?

What do you think the writer thinks of her younger self? Why do you think that? (Use evidence from the text)

How are your ideas about what essays are and what essays can do evolving?

Mick Jagger Craft:

Describe Gilman’s technique for the opening. What is she doing, and how is it different than a typical “intro paragraph” for a 5 paragraph essay?

Mudpit (material for your own upcoming essay):

Stories are almost always driven by desire (this one certainly is). In your personal narrative, what is it that you desired? Where’s the yearning?

What’s getting in the way of the yearning? Where’s the tension, trouble, conflict, or choice in your story?

 

 

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750: “Let it Snow” and Significant Event Article

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Bryan

Split this 750 up into two parts: process writing for “Let it Snow” and a 3-2-1 for the Significant Event Article.

As you start with the process writing, please note that these questions are meant to serve as springboards for your thought, not jails. You can answer all of them if you want, but if you really get going on just one or two (or if those lead you to some thoughts about the story that are unrelated to these questions), that’s fine, too.

Let it Snow

What are the conflicts (internal and external) in this story? How do they drive the story forward?

What makes this event significant? What does it mean to the narrator?

Does your view on the mother evolve over the course of the story? If so, how?

What’s your read on the ending? Is it closer to a gesture of tenderness and connection, or a picture of dysfunction? Support your claim with evidence from the text.

What is the nature of power in this story? How is power used?

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Significant Event Article: 3-2-1

What are three things you learned from this article?

What are two questions you have, or two things you still want to learn?

What is one challenge you want to lay down for yourself in the writing of this essay?

 

 

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