Artist Profile

Grumpy Cat works in oils

Please profile the artist you chose to study in a New Post on your blog.  Please all include the information from your brochure, but instead of listing it, write the information more like a life story in paragraphs.  Include an image and/or self-portrait of the artist as well as 2-3 images of the artist's most famous works.  Give your post a creative title.   Thanks!

in the news{papers}

Please post some writing inspired by our dig through newspapers Wednesday.  You might have one longer piece or several shorter ones.  Include some images and a catchy title.  You could note the headline, photo, ad, etc. that sparked your idea, or you could leave that a mystery...

Take some time between now and the end of the week to get caught up on anything you are missing.  Please let me know when you've added a post you need points for so I can track it right away.

If you still have time, please click through your classmates' blogs and leave some comments.  You don't have to read every piece...Just choose one or two, read and comment, and move on to another blog.

Six Word Memoirs

In a New Post on your blog, please share whichever of the 6-Word Memoirs you came up with in class  that you are comfortable sharing.  Just one or all of them.  Include an image or images.  You don't need to explain them, but you could if you wanted to.  You could also submit what you've come up with to the Smith magazine website.

Thank you, Harris Burdick

Using the artwork, title and sentence you selected from the Burdick book as your inspiration, please draft a creative piece of your choice.  Spend some time on this one and shoot for at least 350-500 words, more if you can to really develop your story.  Use plenty of vivid details and consider using dialogue.  You might create a fictional short story or maybe adapt a narrative from your own experience that connects to Burdick's picture or words. 

You'll have today and Thursday in the lab to draft and polish your story and then create a New Post on your blog by the end of class on Thursday that includes both your writing and the Burdick image (looks like most of them are on Google images if you search "harris burdick").  Use the title that went with your image as the title of your post.  Use the sentence that went with your image somewhere in your piece--put that sentence in bold.

I'd like to move on to using art as writing inspiration next week, and this seemed like an interesting transition from our study of text for ideas--it so creatively (and mysteriously) fuses both.  You can read more about The Mysteries of Harris Burdick (and submit your story if you'd like!) here.

Blackout

Thanks for trying the Sharpie blackout technique (scientific terminology there) in class. Please share one of your blackout text pieces as a COMMENT on this post. You could type the text you left on the page as a sentence or poem or story.  You could also take a picture with your phone and just post your work that way.

I'm thinking you could do this same technique with any printed material containing a good chunk of text to work with. I also think you could be inspired to write all sorts of other pieces by using your blacked out piece as a starting point.

You could visit Austin Kleon's website to see what others have come up with and even post your own work there if you're up for it. 

Another interesting Sharpie-related item you can check out here...

If you'd like to, you can also post some of the writing you came up with using the words and phrases cut from magazines--the poem you pieced together with the words you cut or maybe the story you came up with using the lines I cut out.  You could post a picture of your poem.  Just if you have time and want to add to your collection...all optional.

Readers as Writers

In a new post on your blog Friday, please create an entirely new piece of writing inspired by one or more of the stories, books, topics, etc. we have touched on in our discussion of how reading shapes us as writers.  This could be fiction or something from your own life.  It could be a story or a narrative poem or something else, but go for at least 300 words.

Here are some ideas I jotted down in my notebook as you all were sharing your books that mattered to you last week...just things connected to the stories themselves or what you said about them...maybe something you can take and run with:

• a forgotten piece of paper or photo or receipt or note left behind in an old book
• a modernized retelling of a myth or a mythological character's story
• a well-known story from the perspective of a minor character 
• a secret hidden or revealed
• how to prepare for the end of the world
• stories of September 11th
• a story inspired by a letter or a series of letters of the alphabet
• a story for a character whose first name is also the name of a country or place
• a girl choosing between two guys
• a crazy ex-girlfriend
• a secret society or group
• meeting someone you admire
• a twisted version of another story
• falling in love over and over again
• living in a different lifetime than your own
• being an outsider
• a silly but wise story
• middle school nerd
• dealing with guilt
• an accident
• a kid obsessed with something unusual
• dragons and magic and all that
• how an animal came to be

You could also use the text you ended up with when we blacked out the book and magazine pages as inspiration for a story or poem.  Let's also say you could steal a starting point from one of your classmates' pieces from the comments section in the BLACKOUT post following this one.  Same with your text cut from magazines.

Also, take a look at the grade check I printed for you and see if there are pieces you have missed posting or something I missed seeing.  I've been trying to get caught up on commenting on your blogs.  I will read all of it, I promise!  Thanks for being patient with me and for taking the time to put your own comments on your classmates' pieces. 

Famous First and Last Lines

In a new post on your blog Wednesday, type up some original writing of about 250 words or more  inspired by the blue famous first line and the yellow famous last line you glued into your journal.  This could be one continuous piece or two separate pieces.  Include an image and an interesting title to your post. 

Then, create another new post on your blog presenting the following information  for each of the lines you chose.  Title this post Famous First and Last Lines.  Be sure to include the following for EACH:

• the line word for word
• the author, his or her birth/death years, and a bit of info about him or her
• the year it was published
• a 40-50 word summary of the novel in your own words
• 40-50 words on why you personally would or wouldn't like to read this book
• at least one image for each

Here's an example:

Famous First Line:

"You better not never tell nobody but God."

This line opens the novel The Color Purple, published in 1982 by author Alice Walker, who was born in Georgia on 9 February 1944. Through letters written back and forth to one another, the novel traces the story of two poor, African-American sisters who are separated, one married off to an older, misogynistic neighbor and the other called to serve as a missionary in Africa. The main character Celie also writes letters to God because she has no one else to share her shameful secrets and her deepest feelings with. 

I first read The Color Purple novel in a college class at Drury, a class taught by one of my favorite professors who I have long admired and tried to emulate as a teacher myself. I had read the work of Maya Angelou and found myself drawn to the stories of African-American women, and this story captivated me. I have since read the book 6 or 7 more times, and every single time I find something to shake my head at, mumble an "amen" to, laugh about, cry about...Such a powerful work to me--I will read it many times more, I know.

Famous Last Line:

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

F.Scott Fitzgerald ended his most famous novel The Great Gatsby with these lines, considered by some to be the best closing lines of any novel ever. The novel came out back in 1925 but still shows up on collections of all-time classics and high school reading lists. Narrator Nick Carraway offers insight into the vapid society of West Egg, New York, in the 1920s, as well as the mostly empty marriage between Tom and Daisy Buchanan. The action centers on languid afternoons and extravagant parties at the mansion of Gatsby, an enigmatic millionaire.

I read The Great Gatsby in English class my junior year in high school. I re-read it again la couple of summers ago and enjoyed it very much. I liked the new film starring Leonardo DiCaprio (so cute! totally one of my girlhood crushes) as Gatsby released a year or so ago. The director, Baz Luhrman, also did one of my all-time favorite movies, Moulin Rouge, so I knew I'd really like what he did with Gatsby.

Don't quote me on that...

We often turn to the words of others for inspiration, guidance, or even just a good laugh. These words might come from favorite pieces of literature, song lyrics, a wise family member or friend, even movies or TV.

Please create a new post on your blog featuring some of your favorite quotations.  You can find interesting looking versions of them on Tumblr or elsewhere, or you can simply type them in (you could change up the font and colors to make it interesting).  Be sure to give credit to the writer or speaker.

I have a couple of quotes that I like:

"Love is the answer,

at least to most of the questions

of my heart."

Jack Johnson

Your quote may be from a person you know or a person you don't. It may be funny or serious, thought-provoking or light-hearted. Just so it speaks to you.  You might also want to jot your quote(s) down in your journal for something else I hope we can do this week.

On the topic of "quotes," I'm adding a link here to a funny site that documents superfluous (extra, unnecessary) uses of quotation marks. Maybe it's only funny to me as an English teacher, but take a look: http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com/. Be on the lookout for unneeded quotation marks in your world...maybe you could send one in.

I Write Like

Since we've been thinking about how what we read inspires or influences what we write, I thought it might be fun for you to check out a website I've seen that analyzes a bit of your own writing and tells you what published author your writing is similar to.

I tried it with one of my blog posts and evidently I write like Dan Brown. I know who that is, but I haven't read any of his books. Interesting.

Go to I Write Like and try it yourself. Leave a comment on this post telling us your results (and what you think of them) when you do.

Memorable Passage

Post a passage (probably no more than a paragraph or so) from a book that was memorable to you. Type the passage in word for word and add some of your own thoughts before and/or after, explaining why this particular set of words caught your attention or has stayed in your memory.  See the instructions and example on the green handout from Friday. Title this post Memorable Passage.  Include an image with this post, too.

I write quite a bit on my own blog about what I read, if nothing else just to remember, but often to reflect on words that stuck with me. If you are so inclined or need some ideas about books to read or what you might write about reading, you can check out my posts here and here and here and here and here.  Also here and here.  But that's totally optional.

By the end of class Monday, be sure that you have posted this assignment and your responses to the Writers as Readers questions from last week.  Thanks for being wonderful!  XOXO

Writers as Readers

I'd like you to do some thinking and writing about how what we read plays into our creative process, how the stories we read might inspire our own character and plot ideas, how we might both consciously and unconsciously pick up sentence patterns, vocabulary and writing styles from the authors we are exposed to. You might have all sorts of things to add to your blog about your reading preferences and experiences, and you're welcome to do whatever you'd like, but please do at least the following by the end of class Friday:

• Post 5-6 of your answers to the Writers and Readers questions on the pink handout as a new post to your own blog. Title the post "Writers as Readers." Include some images in this post to make it interesting. You can even add links to author's web pages or book reviews or other related websites if you'd like. I can show you how to do this.

I have a gadget on my own blog that you might want to add to yours. It's a link to site called Shelfari that lets me track the books I've read and plan to read. It also has all sorts of options for you to record your ratings of and notes about the books you read for other users to see. You get a little bookshelf on your sidebar that shows what you're reading now. Check it out if you're interested.

I was glad to see that most of you are avid readers. I just think there's such endless inspiration and personal growth that is possible when you take the time to consider the ideas others have put in print. There is so much out there to read...how will we ever get through all of it we want to?

Caged Bird

In another New Post today, please share a poem of at least 10 lines inspired by Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings."  You might use the prompts I shared in class yesterday as a start.  Include an image and give your post/poem a creative title of your own making.  Thanks!

The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom. 

Maya Angelou

You may say I'm a dreamer...

...but I'm not the only one. Some people say they never dream when they sleep, and I've read that isn't true: Everyone dreams many times every night (the average dream lasting only 2-3 seconds) but we remember so few (or none) of our dreams because they're sent straight to our short-term memories. Unless you do something like write the dream down or share it with a friend to transfer the information to your long-term memory, that dream is gone and you may never remember having it at all.

I've done a lot of thinking and even a little writing about dreams over the years--what dreams mean, why I always have the same ones, how to avoid really scary ones...I wonder if this is a topic that is interesting to you? I've heard that it's really fun for us to talk about our own dreams but it isn't all that fun for everyone else listening?  I'm not sure anyone really wants to know about my recent dream regarding my neighbor in the buff drinking coffee in his backyard or the one where I'm sorting through tornado rubble in only a towel.  :)

I have a couple of recurring dreams, meaning dreams I have had several times throughout my lifetime, and I have to say they are mostly bad, or at least very uncomfortable. I often dream that I am still in high school and I have a volleyball game or track meet to go to and I'm not ready. I've either forgotten my uniform or shoes or I can't remember going to any practices beforehand to train. I haven't played high school sports for almost 15 years...why would this keep showing up in my subconscious?  Another dream I've had a lot (although not in quite a while, now that I think of it) is that my teeth are really chalky and they're crumbling out of my mouth, or they're all loose and if you tapped one they'd all fall out in a sort of domino effect.

I've read that you're likely to have nightmares if the room you are sleeping in is very warm and if you sleep with your arms above your head...I wonder what conditions make for more pleasant dreams? Do you think that what you have in your head right before you fall asleep will come out in your dreams, or do the littlest things from earlier in the day somehow pop up? Do you think you can control your dreams? I have a friend who is into "astratravel," which is, very simply, being able to will yourself to go places in your dreams. She said she could think about checking in on her cousin before she fell asleep and then she'd dream something about her cousin that would let her know how she was doing. She also told me that if you ever see yourself in your dreams, like you're looking down at yourself from above (in video games isn't that the third-person view?) instead of seeing the dream through your own eyes (like first-person in video games?) that you have astratraveled without even trying. Interesting...

In a  New Post today, type up the writing you did in your journal on Friday using the Dream Threads sentences and add an image that goes along with it. Let me show you how to add images if you haven't figured it out yet.  This one might be a little shorter. Use Dream Threads as your title.

Writers Dreaming

Thank you for taking the time to consider author Maya Angelou's ideas about how dreams play into the writing process. Please do a new post to your blog  with your answers to 4-6 of the questions on the yellow handout I gave you. Your post should be a decent length (400-500 words) if you've provided thoughtful answers. Also include an image (of Maya, of something connected to dreaming or an aspect of one of your answers) on this post.

If you're interested in learning more about Maya Angelou, her interesting life and her beloved works, you can start at her official website. I  bought this t-shirt showcasing her autobiography (one of my favorite books) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings from a little store downtown next to Maria's called 5# Apparel. Most of the proceeds the store nets are donated to charities around the world. You can also find the t-shirt and others featuring classic, challenged books (ones that have been put on banned books lists at one time or another) at Out of Print. Click the "Shop" link to get to the t-shirts--the site donates a book to Books for Africa for every purchase made. I'd like to do some thinking this week about books that have made a difference to us as people and as writers, and I wonder if you've read any of the classics featured on their other shirts...

Continue to customize your blog layout with gadgets in the right column, maybe a new background or header. Click on the Edit Profile link on your Dashboard and fill in the information about yourself. You can also have a look at your classmates' pages. If you're inclined to comment, be sure to be positive and supportive and write in the best English you can. Please don't be lazy and write in all lowercase with no punctuation, and don't leave only meaningless "what's up/i heart you" type comments. We'll talk more about giving feedback on our posts in the near future.

I love that several of you mentioned you "dream" of becoming professional writers. Leave a comment here telling us why you'd like/not like to be a professional writer and/or what kind of writing you see yourself doing. Stephenie Meyer said on Oprah that she always heard that was an unrealistic, financially hopeless goal, but I hope that no matter what anyone says, if that's your dream, you go for it. Seems like you'd regret not trying more than you'd regret taking a shot at it...

For class Thursday:  Please bring at least 3 books that matter or have mattered to you.  These can be books from your childhood, books you've read recently, books that matter because you love them, books that matter because they taught you something or changed your mind, books that made you want to read...We will each briefly share the books with the class.

For class Friday:  Be ready to turn in your journal for a mid-quarter check.  You should have at least 20 full pages.  Make sure the pages are filled completely to count (partial pages can be combined to make a full page--I'll consider that when I look through your notebook).