Full Stillingness' First Finale

 

Turned towards the stillingness up there,
I am open to clear Night's inflowing;
ebbingly my senses have been going,
and my heart's enlarged beyond compare
-Rainer Maria Rilke, 1913

 

Writing in peer-to-peer ecologies like ours is a complex process. The “gift-economics” disposition and  convergentemergent approach to "commons-formation" that we have undertaken took a tremendous commitment (but also some facility with detachment), a willingness to fall out of balance, and an ability to dwell in uncertainty. Our serious play produced periods of paralysis and found us in phases of full-on "fulfillingness" (Wonder). Yes, this kind of transaction and exchange is a lot different than other economies of writing out there, and perhaps asks a lot more. Indeed, the sadhana of forming a creative commons is a very “high” rhetorical practice. Each of you cultivated your own space, and walked your own path, together, amidst quite a storm. Big props and kudos, y'all.

OK, but now--bifurcation point. Now the time has come to slow down, turn down the volume, dim the lights, and gently back away (a little bit) from the wiki. We now have two more meetings, and then another week (finals week) for fitting, finishing, buffing, polishing, fulfilling. During this time frame, I think it is best for each of us to spend time alone in the stillness of the special writing nook of our own respective monastery, lamasery, or similar retreat, and within the narrow channel of our favorite word processor. If you are weary from tracing the hyperbolic manifold that is our wiki, good, now is the time to draw a straight line, and follow it--write it down, linear. Deep attention. Slowness. Let the silence build. One idea. Develop it. Post it here, or on the 30th November page, with an excerpt and a reflection conveying ONE important way this excerpt illuminates your writing process and makes it sharable. We need to post within 2 days of each workshop. Peruse each others brief posts for inspiration, and if spontaneous feedback occurs, so be it...but then quickly return to your focus! This is the coda to the chaos, compositionalists--it will render a bounty of fully developed drafts for me to peruse and feedback on as we move into finals week. Be still, and know you are. -ShareRiff

HEY ~ IT'S FRIDAY.  WHERE IS EVERYBODY!?!?!? 

BY THURSDAY:

1) Under your name, copy and paste an excerpt of writing from your final project. 

2) Create a 1-2 sentence summary/thesis statement describing your project.

3) Write a brief reflection conveying ONE important way this excerpt illuminates your writing process.

 

 

 

6 hours of class left = 360 minutes divided by 17 people = 21.176 Minutes of workshop per person!

 

 

 

November 23rd:

• Adam Parker 

  

I need the weekend for this one. So...you aint got mine yet. But so many have so much less. Take a listen to Nina and she'll tell you what you have got:

 

  

• Heidi MacLean 

   

   

Excerpt:  Dumpster Diving
I could choose to change myself to fit Patricia Clemins’ world view and deny myself and deny myself the right to show the world a different way to get to Point C without necessarily going to Point A and then Point B in sequential order.

However, I could just not take Patricia Clemins personally, realize her viewpoint is as valid as anyone’s and hope that maybe she will come around at one point or another instead of looking down on her to hide my own weakness in not acknowledging the integrity of my unique process. 

 

Thinking about her now and thinking about the Patricia Clemins archetypes I have encountered, I realize I have much to learn from her.  She is an obstacle.  If her opinion shakes my resolve, then the problem is my own and not hers.  After all, we all have freedom of thought and freedom of speech.  If I am inhibited by someone exercising that right, then there’s something I have to confront and deal with on my own.  And with that, I have decided that we need people like her to test our boundaries, our convictions, and our own sense of internal honor. 

 

Summary: A series of thoughts related to the overall ideas expressed through my writing through the course while also touching on similar prevalent themes and subjects (of the sort which are less likely to frighten casual readers and hence why I tend to write about the same old same old, sounding like a broken record) which indicate a niche amongst my habitual free-flowingness of nichelessness. 

 

Process: Wading through the garbage heap in my mind, I pull out bits and pieces and haphazardly attempt to convey such materials in a manner which resembles coherent thought.

In less cryptic words: I don't think in neat little structures. Without a specific subject or prompt, I am forced to pick one of many, many ideas that run and re-run in my mind. Often to deal with the blank-word-document-makes-my-mind-also-go-blank syndrome I just write. It is not my forte to really stick for a long time with a very specific and concrete subject. And so my final piece has thus far reflected this process. It does not necessarily reflect my more focused writings which I am capable of but do have to really change gears and get into my more left-brained mode of thinking. So I would compare “Dumpster Diving” to me pulling my mind out, putting in front of me, and sketching what I see, but with restraint, censoring the overtly wonky or grotesque things I might see which would likely get me in trouble with the FCC if we were to put my mind on air...to do so is only natural of anyone to do, self-censoring, of course.

Other than that, I, to sometimes combat my blank-mind-funk-and-I'm-about-to-run-away-to-useless-distractions default mode of operation, take a walk to think, write/type outside, and so forth until I find an idea to work with if I don't have one thrown my way.  I notice scenery changes what I am inclined to write about and so I like to experiment with that.  In this case, it was the front yard and office of my best friend's house after doing several hours of setting up Christmas lights, running around on roofs, and going up and down ladders.  Physical exercise has an interesting effect in regards to the writing process...yeah.

 

 

 

• Jaime Boyko Food Stamp Cooking Booklet

 

1. Excerpt:  

               Chicken Noodle Soup

• Pantry items: 2 tablespoons salt, water, 1 bay leaf
• Grocery list: 2-3 pound whole chicken, 1/2 pound carrots, scrubbed and thinly sliced, 1/2 pound parsnips, scrubbed and thinly sliced, 1 medium onion, thinly sliced into wedges, 8 ounces wide egg noodles
• Recipe:  In a deep pot that is large enough for the whole chicken, combine parsnips, carrots, onion, bay leaf, and chicken and fill with enough water to barely cover the vegetables and chicken.  Add the salt and heat on high.  Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until the chicken is completely cooked, about 25-30 minutes.  While the soup cooks, a foam will form on the surface.  Use a spoon to remove the foam periodically.  Remove the chicken and allow to cool, but keep the pot of vegetables simmering.  While the chicken is cooling, add the noodles to the pot.  Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, pull the meat from the bones and add to the pot, discarding the bones.  Heat through and serve.              

2. Summary:  Through the end of the semester, I'll be working toward the final product: a short booklet/pamphlet that provides a foundation of healthy cooking habits for individuals who are currently receiving food stamp benefits (ages 18+). The booklet will be something tangible that recipients can take into the kitchen with them, utilize, and build from.

 

3. Process:    

 

 

• Kelsey Hastings Food Finale: The St. Petersburg College Dining Compilation 

   

   

     Unfortunately I will be absent on 11/23 due to illness. I will be happy to present next class!

 

1. Excerpt:

 

"I first discovered greek food at the ripe old age of nine, when my mother's friend (who was originally from Greece) brought over a platter of foreign, scary little appetizers with a name I couldn't pronounce. They looked like pastries I would eat for breakfast, flaky little golden brown triangles with a mystery filling. Although I was scared of what this mystery might have in store for my tastebuds, I've always been adventurous when it comes to food, so I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and popped a triangle in my mouth.  And it was love at first bite. 

 

Spanakopita. I've learned to pronounce the name since then, and it's become one of my all time favorite foods. Of course, once I had one authentic Greek dish, I couldn't wait to try more. I've been bouncing around Florida for the last four years since I graduated high school, and never have I lived somewhere so abounding with amazing Greek food as St. Petersburg. My two favorites (see below for more information) are both reasonably priced, and both offer spanakopita in addition to a vast array of other Greek cuisine, like fresh Greek salad with kalamata olives, feta cheese, and house made Greek dressings, with a scoop of potato salad on top."

 

2. Summary:   For this project, I intend to write about the best places to eat in St. Petersburg & Tampa areas on a student's budget, as a continuation of my previous interest in food blogging. Although I have no culinary background whatsoever, I love food and would want to share it with readers, from a student's perspective. The purpose of this series of food blogs is to show students that they do not have to depend on fast food andmac and cheese in order to maintain a college budget and lifestyle. Each blog will include contact information of each restaurant mentioned, along with vicinity to campus, happy hours and specials, and a summary of pricing.

 

3. Process: Throughout the semester, I've been writing based on my love of food. Workshopping my food writings in class and getting feedback from my classmates helped me to find a focus for my final project, especially because my target audience for this project is college students. Two weeks ago I made a schedule for the remainder of the semester, for the food focuses I would discuss in the remaining articles, as well as when I would like to workshop. Since I will unfortunately be missing class on 11/23, I will be unable to workshop but I will be finishing up the food blogs I have laid out for the week and looking at websites for me to share my college dining blogs at the end of the semester.

 

 

 

• Elizabeth Sellers
• Excerpt: 

 

A FUN, IRREVERANT & IRRELEVANT REMIX OF M.O'NEILL'S

Annotated Working title Bibliography the literary canon (in other words)

 

"THE PINK HOUSE AND THE CROOKED ROAD"

 

M.O'Neill's original text

Elizabeth's original text

          

     Cuddled up by the fire in a woolen blanket, in a huge pink house on a tall, steep hill in a fantastically remarkable neighborhood, Neil came up with the grand idea of trying to figure out how he would design a long, crooked road so that he might one day find a wife.  You might be asking: what on earth does building a crooked road have to do with finding a wife? Well, if you saw the hill, and you knew about the pink house, you might begin to understand...

     Neil had always been self-conscious about the pink house.  His mother, in her later years of dimentia and widow's grief, had spent her days walking down the tall hill to the town's only store to purchase a single gallon of pink paint.  She would then walk back up the hill with her gallon of paint, singing old war tunes and whistling dixie, until she returned home to her two young sons.  Then she would paint the house pink, inside and out, one brush stroke at a time, until she ran out of paint.  The next day, she began her routine once again-- walking, singing, painting, and drinking champagne all the while.  

 

     So- that is how the house came to be pink.  Neil's mother passed away when he turned 18, just old enough to inherit his father's grand estate.  For Neil had always known that he lived in the biggest house on Sluts Hole Lane, but it wasn't until MRS. HORNEE passed away that he gained access to the 947 tons of gold bars and coins in the pink basement of the pink house.

     I'm sure I don't need to tell you that most women might be offended at a dinner invitation that requests their presence at "Mr. Hornee's giant pink house on Sluts Hole Lane".  (By the way, the last name is French, and is pronounced /hoor-nay/, but most Americans butcher the pronunciation and say /whore-knee/. This had always been a problem for Neil, who has the utmost respect for women.

 

     But, on the rare occasion that a lady might finally look beyond the surface of the pink house, and the Hornee host on Sluts Hole Lane, and actually accept his invitation, there was no road on the tall hill to walk on or bring a carriage.  It was a tall, muddy, grassy hill, and the only way up or down was to walk the trodden dirt path that Mrs. Hornee had stomped out in a zig-zag fashion (any hill-climber or mountain-dweller knows that the only way up a steep hill is to wind your way back and forth).  Mrs. Hornee had spent years walking this zig-zag path, so the foundation was well laid.  However, the mud was slippery and dangerous, and the few women who DID accept Neil Hornee's dinner invitaiton never made it up the hill.  Sadly, one of them was even buried alive in a mudslide after a particularly heavy rainfall... The girl's parents never forgave Neil and he paid them 10 gold bars for their loss.

 

     Now that his mother was gone and his brother was off fighting the war, it was time for Neil to find a wife.  This would inevitably be a long process, but one that could easily be broken up into three steps: (1) Build a road, (2) Paint the house, and (3) change the name of the street.  Neil was certain that he could find a suitable mate if only these three obstacles were overcome.  And so, he began. 

 

     In the lofty name of research, he ransacked dusty bookshelves (and braved the subsequent paper cut threat) for engineering journals and scholarly articles.  He studied the road-building techniques used in the Swiss Alps and other mountain villages around the  world.  The library produced enough articles to keep Neil busy well into the fall. Since he cared about the production of history and literature as much as he cared about architecture and engineering, Neil made sure to consider articles from different time periods, so that he could view how engineering has adapted to surrounding circumstances. Neil figured out quickly that thelimits of good taste and fiscal responsibility did not apply to him, since he was the richest man, with the biggest house, on the tallest hill in a small town, and so he began to fervently plan his extravagant new road......

 

(full story on "Right Wing, Left Wing, Chicken Wing")    

 

 

 

 

 

• Summary: 
• My complete, final portfolio and collection of writings for this class is a three-part collection that spans several genres of writing.  The first part consists of thirteen political articles written from a right-wing journalistic slant, shifting next to a second collection of personal, autobiographical stories, and ending with a few off-kilter remixes and creative writing pieces. The above excerpt is my most recent piece of original fiction, written today, and inspired by three lines from M.O'Neill's article on the literary canon.
• Process:
• For the above piece, my process was simple and fun.  Taken from The Pink House and the Crooked Road, found in its entirety on my portfolio page, entitled "Right Wing, Left Wing, Chicken Wing", this is an example of my "free writing", using another student's page as an inspiration.  Throughout the semester, I have been fairly satisfied with the quality and quantity of my writing.  However, one area where I have felt lacking is in my remixes and critiques of other student's writings. I have focused a lot on my own pieces and only occasionally written about and commented on other people's items.  In an attempt to remedy this, I decided that, for my last piece of original writing for this class, I would read another student's page and use it as an inspiration for something totally different.
• I was hoping to find inspiration for my portfolio in other people's pages, so I scanned through the titles and found M.O'Neill's page "Rough Draft of Final".  I read the whole page first, then went back and decided to do my own little creative writing exercise.  I took the first sentence, reversed every concept completely, and then just let the creative juices flow  The result was a totally off-the-wall piece of fiction that just came pouring out of nowhere.  I ended up having a lot of fun with it, and it was a nice change of pace from the kinds of pieces that I have written to date.
• In a way, I kept with Trina's description of "Journaling Our Way to Self-Actualization", I started with just a few words and a simple writing exercise, which mushroomed into an entire short story.  Sometimes, all you need for inspiration is:
• "Words.  Sometimes I begin with just words. Scribbling words on a page, in a margin, on a notepad, a napkin.  The words may evolve into phrases.  Now I am learning to enjoy the ability of quickly reworking & repositioning with technology, even though I find it can be distracting. (It can also be helpful: Merriam-Webster, Wikipedia, Google - all at my fingertips.)  The process of this project was like one big rough draft" (Trina).

 

 

 

• Dylan Ketrow  

 

1. Excerpt:

VII. How the entire experience demonstrates race as a social stratification.

 All of the reference points, facts, miscellaneous information, history, museum studies, and ultimately the paper itself, were conceived to show that race is nothing more than a term or set of divisions that allows society to pigeon-hole people in order to distribute wealth, power, and process to the masses. If one is to research all of these holocausts and other acts against entire sects of people, this view becomes crystal clear just as it was in the past, and now the present, and depending on how the future runs its course, there too. Looking at each section, specifically the ones dealing with the facts behind the Jewish and Kurdish Holocausts, we can note that all race, ethnicity, gender, etc., are all terms that society has come up with in order to be able to classify people when there is no easy or simple way to classify human beings. In other words, what system of labeling can be constructed to describe the differences between one group of people and another, hence the system was created. It is all politics and the need for excuses to back various arrangements of power, conflict, war, genocide, and so forth. What if these constructs did not exist? -I can only assume they would surface as they have in recent years under different terms; the actions remain the same regardless. Adding to that, even if those terms were to lose their meaning and no subsequent action of the same sort was to resurface, human beings would likely find another way of setting people apart. As a retort, certain cultures have shown no concept relating to the differences in race, ethnicity, etc. Instead, it should be noted that while a neighbor may have appeared different from another neighbor, they were of the same people and area, and therefore, were the same as their neighbor. That point or discovery lends itself to the ideology that humans do not actually have these concepts of social constructs built it biologically, rather we learn them depending on the society in which we reside.

 

2. Summary: While I was fumbling around with writing on economic turn-down versus holiday shopping culture or the details and underpinnings of writer's block, I discovered something that made much more sense to write about. Generally speaking, I tend towards straying away from writing about topics such as genocide, ethnic/racial debates, and so forth. This time however, I had a prompt from an anthropology course I was working on, and being that I could simply extend the ideas created in that particular assignment, it ended up making far more sense (in my opinion) to continue in that direction for my final project. Thus, here it is.. There are downsides with everything though, and with this paper that happens to be the wealth of information that I could add to the dismal amount currently present. Going by that logic, the paper would not be complete in time, so the plan is to refine and hone what is already written and if/when an opportunity to add more presents itself, I'll add. simple. —but not really. 

 

3. Process: Debate with self conflicting ideas, debate more, calm down, stare at the ceiling and ultimately imagine the stars floating above it, return to reality, feelings of disgust, realization that nothing is perfect or definite even if my elementary school grade teachers said that math equations only had one answer, attempt to refocus without the hindrance of massive ADD, failure, can of Dr. Pepper and television, turn on the trance accompanied by foot tapping, a paper begins to develop, incoherence at 10 pages in length, organize, proofread, repeat..  ..  ..  ..  .. .................... 

 

Interesting offering, indeed. Is the plan, then, to perform some comp algorithms on this "source code?" Can we run this through a Composition "machine" of some sort? Let the content/form go into disarray and then come back together? Can you use basic formatting, color-coding and interlinking patterns to create space within the selection for novelty to emerge, in the "gutters"? Reflect on ways you can develop different basic rhetorical modes (narration, exposition, persuasion, dialogue, etc) in these intermezzo sections. Create alternating currents of different forms of reasoning (deduction, induction, abduction)? Engage different perspective on the social construction/essentialism divide. As with all of the projects, I am trying to think of ways to give each of us a chance, in the last couple of weeks, to teach the commons by openly performing the gestures and testing the tools we have explored this semester. Let me know how this meshes with your plan and process. -ShareRiff

 

It's going to take a while to figure out where I want the pieces to fall with this one, I really pushed myself into a corner with the converging topics contained in the paper.. I realized that after I thought more about what folks were saying. Instead, I think I'm going to make this in to a massive paper to debut at a later time. That's also the process in which I'm going to add both sides of the arguments if they exist and so forth. - Dylan

 

 

 

 

 

• Trina Steinbach  

1. Excerpt:  from Journaling Our Way To Self-Actualization Within the process of this class, many of us wrote about life events.  We documented incidents and experiences and sometimes added personal reflections.  We read each other's work.  We had class discussions not only about the words we had written, but about the events we had experienced in order to write them.  We offered each other emotional and critical support.  Throughout the process we continually heard that writing was a therapeutic outlet for most.  In my personal opinion, it appeared that our writing, and our literary discussions about our writings, assisted us to move forward in a variety of ways.  We stepped out of our comfort zone to write poetry or fiction, worked to improve a downtown community, created an informative food pamphlet, designed an environmentally sound child care center, or began work on a doctoral application.  We learned to cope with our insecurities or find a way to live with our pasts.  We certainly became better writers. 
2. Summary: This project seemed to take on a life of it's own.  ShareRiff knew this of course, yes?  Apparently that is the point of Emergence / Convergence.  For this project, I attempt to show how individuals explore self and self-actualize through writing.  Additionally, by knowing the self, we move toward knowing others, and through this knowing we build a better world in which to live; we build community.
3. Process:  For most writing projects, there is a specific assignment.  I write, let it set, review, rewrite, repeat.  I used to agonize over each and every word from the beginning.  What I have learned is to just get it down.  Now I write as when writing in a journal.  Thoughts on paper.  (I used to prefer pen in hand; I am fond of my fountain pen, and for Crane's for letter writing; too expensive for drafting.  I enjoy the physical sensations of holding a pen and writing.  If I am stressed, it calms me.)  Words.  Sometimes I begin with just words. Scribbling words on a page, in a margin, on a notepad, a napkin.  The words may evolve into phrases.  Now I am learning to enjoy the ability of quickly reworking & repositioning with technology, even though I find it can be distracting. (It can also be helpful: Merriam-Webster, Wikipedia, Google - all at my fingertips.)  The process of this project was like one big rough draft.  Writing, contemplating, writing more, contemplating again, repositioning thoughts.  I participated in this emergence/convergence experiment and watched as the class learned from each other, not only about writing, but about life.  And what is writing, if not about life?  Fictional life, actual life, thoughts on life, how to change a life, move through (overcome?) life, entertainment life, scientific life, the sharing of life, loss of life . . all life.  I listened as students commented on how writing helped them to cope, to grow, to think.  I began to research journaling and the art of recording life, and exploring life, and the process of self-actualization through writing . . . and a project was born.

 

• M O'Neill 

   

  Here's my final rough drafts

   

  Click here for my final 
  

1) Excerpt

 

When I studied the ‘classics’, I was taught to think about aesthetics and universal truths and innovative literary devices. When I studied newer material (mainly stuff from the 20^th century that was not written by a white man), I was taught to think about politics and socioeconomic concerns and authorial intent. I can count on one hand the texts which we studied from both frameworks. I wondered why this pattern appeared to me, what it meant for me as a teacher, and how I could bring the two frameworks together. I sat in that rocking chair, my thoughts gathering momentum. Somewhere between the chair tipping over and my piqued thoughts giving way to the pain of my head hitting the floor, I remembered that, as with most of my thoughts about literature, it was highly probable that someone somewhere had already thought what I thought. So I turned to that bastion of lit crit, JSTOR, in search of thoughts already played out in the arena of academia.

 

A related theme in Baumlin's article involves the relevance of literary criticism from the two viewpoints of the traditionalists and the Marxists. For a critic like Bloom, literary criticism actually interferes with the purity of a text, which makes his position as a critic all the more hypocritical. The Marxists, along with feminists, postcolonial critics and other socially-based schools of thought, view literary criticism as the means by which a text's cultural value is investigated. While some critics of these kinds will go so far as to say a text's social value trumps all other concerns, Baumlin calls for the "middle road between high traditionalism and radical reform" (39), which reflects the current state of the English Department.

 

2) Summary

 

How to read this piece: Unwilling to add to the pile of scholarly work about the literacy canon concept, I have set out to compose a piece which demonstrates critical thought, but in a more palatable language. All the theories and frameworks of literary study provide scholars with food for thought, but the prose which conveys these ideas to us is often convoluted, limiting and dare I say, undemocratic.

 

3) Progress

 

I took Trey's advice last week and went back to what I wrote in the beginning of the semester. I took a good look at my goals in studying literary canonicity, and while I feel closer to understanding where my path as a student will converge with my future as an educator, I also feel that putting the whole shebang under a microscope was a poor choice. I sought the perimeters of this idea of literary canons only to discover that there are not perimeters. In other words, there's a reason why scholars choose a niche and seldom lift their heads from this work: sanity. I was seeking a snapshot of the larger framework in which I will work as a scholar only to discover that there isn't a lens wide enough to capture the length and breadth of literary criticism. No, I must choose: either the forest or the trees. I can't have both.

To bad!

I believe it would have been interesting to watch you lose your sanity!

 

4) Process

 

November 30th:

• Jenna Gravino- Please click here to access my FINAL PROJECT.  

     1.  Excerpt from Today I'm 23

      I looked around at the crowd as it flowed in from all sides of the theater. I looked for people like me, and didn't find many. I felt like I was one of the youngest people there, and I think I was, aside from my younger sister. We chatted amongst each other, waiting for the show to start. Finally, the announcer came over the loudspeaker, an unpleasing voice for some unknown reason. Perhaps because it disrupted my anticipation, and made me nervous. I peered down to the stage from our faraway seats and joined in the applause for the guest we had all come to see. Then, he was there in front of me, in real life, and I barely believed I was actually there, and he was actually there, and we were there in the same place. I felt that rush you get when you drive too fast over a tiny hill. It drops your stomach for a second, and it always makes me want to make a U-turn and do it again (except I never do, because I've got some place to be, and clearly I'm already speeding).

 

     2. Summary

     My project is a compilation of writings, a portfolio of sorts, ranging from creative nonfiction to personal and professional pieces. The pieces have emerged over the course of the semester from assignment prompts, reflections, collaborations, and little sparks of inspiration (I feel like one of those trick birthday candles; just when I feel like my flame has been extinguished, something sparks it back to life again).

 

     3. Process

     Coming into this course I felt unsure of how my writing would emerge. I felt an internal pressure to create something that "fit together." I wanted to put boundaries on my writing process so that I was in control of what it would produce. This clearly hindered the natural creative process, and once I let go of this idea, I was able to produce some honest writing that I could be proud of. Some weeks seem harder than others, but when I feel that self-doubt creeping up again, I look back on the portfolio I've created and feel inspired to keep writing like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Andrew Copeland  

   

 

 

Excerpt:  Suddenly there was this long silence where nobody said anything and there we were, me and sally, just sitting there, doing nothing. Staring into space. The space was all around us. It was like there was nothing but space, so I started to feel kind of, I don’t know, spacey, or something. I wanted to say something to sally, but with all this space around, I couldn’t think of things. So I tried to get to her and say something except I didn’t know what. All this space was in the way and so I couldn’t reach her and so I went to the me that was inside myself and I asked for something to say but I couldn‘t think of anything because of all this space. So I looked over to sally, and, it was cool, because she didn’t even look like I was there. Like I could have been somewhere else. So I stopped thinking about this for moment. Then the moment got longer until I realized we were just sitting there, not doing anything. I didn’t Know what to say so we just sat there, and didn’t say anything for a long time. Then sally got all quiet and things got weird. Then she looked at me and said “so, what do you want to do?”

 

 

Summary: For my project I wanted to experiment with different modes of narration. I wanted to go outside of my comfort zone and experiment with different ways of driving a story forward that I was not familiar with. These different methods include: stream of conscious, intertwining narratives, and speaking through a female narrator.

 

 

Process: My writing process  for this project differed from my normal writing process in that I had time constraints to deal with. Typically I will work on a piece sporadically over the course of a few months until it begins to take  shape. However, due to the time constraints of the semester, I did not have this leisure.  I had to write each piece is a single sitting and then revise them the following day. This was challenge because  I don't always know what I want to write about right away. I feel I was pretty successful, though, and learned a lot about the level of self discipline it takes to become a successful writer.

 

 

 

• Lindsey Braun- "So tell me how you really feel..."

 

Excerpt:

 

 

According to this rap song white people make "their people" live in those shitty conditions, and we have that much power over them, then why haven't we just whipped their color out completely? Or why are there interracial marriages? Why are more blacks that are less qualified allowed into college over whites just because of their color? and why do we have a BLACK PRESIDENT if the "whites" are the "oppressers"? / And so, my last week of Summertime fun was redefined as gloomy skies, kid parties complete with 30 evil children running around like they have never been let out of their cage while thinking, jumping all over the restaurant and climbing walls (yes, they apparently grew Spiderman powers and mastered the climbing section) is smart to do it with chopsticks in their hands. Along with having to chase those hellions, the parents I guess thought my job description entailed babysitting; which it clearly does not. 

 

Summary:

 

 

For my final project I have decided to compile all of my writings that I have already written about my opinions on some controversial issues along with journal entries of certain parts of my life that I have also written about. I will include remixes and additions onto my previous entries so my ideas and views are more thought out and so they can be more informed and educated on the actual topic. I tend to have an opinion on topics or conversations that are brought up, but I can admit that I'm not always right and I am always willing to learn more or hear the other side, so I am not going into the topic ignorant and oblivious.

 

Process:

The final project will be set up as journal entries with footnotes on tangents. I want to make sure it is creative and true writing from my heart and what I strongly believe in which is very different for me but I want to go out of the box for this one so my entries may be overwhelming and unorganized but that's how your mind usually is and I want the journal to be authentic jumbled yet educated thoughts.

 

 

• Lauren Campbell 

Excerpt:

"I need you to think back for me. As far back as you're able. It's very important for this case and we're relying on you to help us solve it." The detective had been questioning me for about five minutes, but it seemed like an eternity to a child whose "perfect" world had just been shattered. I knew it wasn't really perfect then, nor would it ever be close to it, but it was what I knew and to a pre-teen, that is as close as it gets to perfection. "I don't remember anything happening," I reluctantly told her. "Can my mom please come back in?" "Not yet. I deal with these cases all the time and i know that often times people your age are more comfortable reaching out to a stranger in a protected situation than friends and family." She completely lost me there. I told my mom everything, including how much I hated and feared my step-father, and often times her too. "I just don't remember," was my last and final response to this woman. It's not that she wasn't talking to me politely or that I was hiding things from her, I really just couldn't remember!

 

From that moment on I thought, and thought. I knew there needed to be something, some reason for this absence. It was then that I realized that memories are kind of like puzzle pieces. They're all shaped differently, but somehow, some way, they all seem to fit together to create what we call life. While some may consider their memories to be more uniform and fit together more easily, others, like me have confusing, misshapen memories. It’s not as easy to fit them together to complete the picture because their edges are a bit fuzzy and don't have strong locking pieces that hold them together to make the picture look semi-complete during the process of being put together.

 

I realized that I was right in what I told her. Much of my childhood is blurred or absent from my memory. Of what does remain, very little contains pleasantries. For me, depression started at a very young age. Much of this remained unknown to me, until much later through re-telling and learning the dates of my medical appointments. While much of that likely influenced me greatly, it’s not a part of my memory until later, so it must not be yet important to my story.

 

Summary and Process:

I am evaluating the process of memory and how it relates to people as a formation of their past. There are points in life where memory has been suppressed due to tragic experience. Even the absence of memory presents an element memory of the past, with questions for the absence.

 

 

 

 

 

• Jon Faiell 

Excerpt from abstract of Community Involvement and Media Instruction, Keystones for achievement in Literacy classrooms

 

 The purpose of the literacy achievement study 2009 was to question critical thought for classroom instructors in better understanding there student base through community knowledge, and the use of media as a tool to open up and breakdown student barriers as a bases for curriculum development within these classes.  Fifteen educators participated in this study by completing an online survey of 32 questions.  Based on the data from this study, it is apparent to the researcher that community involvement is necessary by the educator as a great portion of the participants affirmed.  The study also confirmed that a more insightful, perceptive, and understanding of one’s student is necessary by the educator.  These communication tools may not be initial critical issues in classrooms where literacy achievement is not the optimum goal.  The study also theorizes that the use of media is an essential tool in developing a cohesive and invigorated classroom leading to literacy achievement. The understanding of how, when and what to use in media is imperative in using this powerful tool.  The study provides a complete instructional and technology plan on implementing a more insightful and innovative instructional approach for literacy deficient students through media and community involvement.

The purpose of the literacy achievement study of 2010 is to develop a more thorough case history relative to the previous study of 2009.  An analysis from peer reviewed articles and studies that question critical thought for classroom instructors in literacy achievement, as well media as a tool for curriculum development.  The emphasis of the 2009 study was on K9, through K12, ELL, and at risk students.  The 2010 study will introduce adult education concerning literacy achievement as part of the ongoing study.

The passion that I feel throughout the pages of this study have not diminished, but have only grown into an other way of communicating these essential theories as a practical approach to literacy achievement.  The writing that I have done in this class has exposed a bit of a different expression in professing the basic concepts and guide for this educational process.  I will not make these changes now as I am too far into this paper but they will occur in the near future.  I now hear a more conversational informative guide for educators in literacy achievement, such as a (Survival Guide for literacy Educators).  Compact and concise, in simple language is a voice that I have tuned into throughout this classes frequency

 

The phrase “illiteracy” applies to more than a simple inability to read or write. There is also “functional illiteracy”, defined as ignorance of the fundamentals of a particular area, or minimizing an expected standard of competence regarding some skill or body of information. Functional illiteracy indicates that a large segment of society has been taught how not to rely on reading as a primary source of information. (“Literacy as a Status Characteristic,” Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata, California State University, Dominguez Hills, June 1999). This problem affects crime rates, the U.S. economy and impacts adversely on American youth, as their test scores are typically among the lowest among industrialized nations.


The U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) estimates that functional illiteracy affects 24 million Americans. Educator Chester E. Finn, Jr. states, “Just five percent of seventeen-year-old high school students can read well enough to understand and use information found in technical materials, literary essays, and historical documents. Barely six percent of them can solve multi-step math problems and use basic algebra." ("A Nation Still At Risk," Chester Finn, May 1989, p. 18).
           

 

 

 

 

 

• Shawn Dudley 

 

1. Excerpt :  From A Handbook for Audio Storytelling,  Part Two: Essentials of Interviewing

The basis for every audio production is the sound bite. Your job is to find good ones. In “professional” radio circles, this critical piece of audio is called an actuality,  but that's just an unnecessary piece of jargon that radio people use to impress each other.  I know plenty of reporters and producers who refer to these pieces of audio as “bites,” or “clips.”  Call them whatever you like, but they are the golden nuggets you are panning for, out there in the endless river of sound.  When you begin working on an audio piece that involves multiple voices and multiple interviews, it quickly becomes a formidable challenge to locate these nuggets, to identify them, and to keep them organized.  

 
The Interview

Being There:  
It is critical to be present in the moment  with your interview subject, in a way that will allow that person to communicate without reservation or distraction. You must establish trust and respect with your subject, or the interview will fail. This involves doing your research, being prepared for the interview and acting confidently.  You must be comfortable with your equipment.  Be prepared for the unexpected. Arrive early. Make yourself familiar with your surroundings.  Introduce yourself clearly. Make eye contact and explain everything you are doing. Smile.

Learn to Juggle Chainsaws on a Bicycle, and Remember to Bring Extra Chainsaws and Bicycles:
To become a good field interviewer, you must develop the capacity  to do two , three,  or even four  things at once.  As you begin gathering audio in the field for the first time, you WILL find yourself distracted by a host of variables that you never thought about before:  Have you pre-tested your equipment?  Are your recording levels set correctly?  Is the recorder  working? Is your microphone placed correctly? Is your audio recorder fully charged? Did you bring extra batteries, or battery packs?  If the interview goes longer than you expected, do you have enough onboard memory to keep recording? Did you  pack spare memory cards? Is there distracting background noise, or wind noise that may render your recording worthless when you go back to edit it?  

This is just the beginning.  Let’s say things are going great, and halfway through the interview, during an especially sweet response, your subject’s cell phone rings. You remember asking your guest to turn it off before the interview began.  Wait.  It’s your cell phone.  Ugh.  You recover, and ask the question again. Now the interview takes an unexpected turn.  How closely were you listening  to what the subject just said?  Are you prepared to offer a meaningful follow up question?  

As you can see, there are a lot of  variables which can ruin your recording, or sour an interview.  Unless you are recording your Mom, your cat, or your spouse - you will have only one shot at the interview. In the real world, there are no “do-overs.”  You need to make it count the first time through.  Be prepared, and pay attention.

Leave Markers, but Always Go Back and Review your Sound:  
When interviewing a subject , or recording an event,  it is sometimes easy to identify  or “hear” the key moments.  One reporter who I interviewed for this handbook says she feels the bites while she is interviewing her subjects.  I don’t doubt she is telling the truth. But this reporter has interviewed thousands of people over the course of almost twenty years.  For most people doing this for the first time, hearing the bite is the biggest challenge.  There are ways to make it easier. Decent quality consumer or professional digital audio recorders will allow you to leave a digital marker during the recording session.  The “Mark” button on your recorder  will add a small digital stamp to the audio file which can be helpful  in leading you back to the moments that are most memorable during your recording. But don’t make the mistake of relying on those markers alone.  Review your audio. Transcribe important interviews, then read them again later. The interviewing process is a highly subjective one. It’s easy to overlook a great moment, if you pre-judge your audio.  Listen to your whole recording.

 

2. Summary:  The Handbook for Audio Storytelling evolved out of my fascination with sound, audio production and storytelling.  As long as I can remember, I have been fascinated with radio broadcasts and the power of the recorded human voice to reach across time and space. There is something incredibly intimate and powerful about  this kind of storytelling

 

3. Process:  My process involved a lot of paralysis this semester. Maybe paralysis isn’t the right word – maybe it was gestation, more like pregnancy in a way.  I feel like I spent a lot of time reading other people’s work.  Some of it was experimental and stretched my mind. Some of it was more personal than I felt comfortable with. I have been healing this semester after a few personal losses, and I think that emotionally I have been splinted. I think I had a compound fracture in my creation bone. I struggled to find my own voice.  I really struggled, and I felt like my voice was locked inside me.  I realized that the best way I have ever found to express myself was through sound. And I started to feel more alive by thinking about sound, and audio production and by listening to things that make me feel alive. My  process during the last month involved listening and re-listening to  dozens of my favorite audio pieces, including news stories, audio features, and radio productions stretching back to the 1930s. For me this was like eating comfort food. It made me remember who I was. For inspiration, I recently re-read  Sound Reporting:The NPR Guide to Audio Journalism and Production, by Jonathan Kern; andRadio: An Illustrated Guide, by Ira Glass and Jessica Abel. About 8 years ago, I led an internship program for student journalists at anNPR stationin New York.  It was one of the most fulfilling thing I have ever done. I learned a lot about how to teach audio production from my students. I learned a lot about how to listen. I'm not sure why but this feels like my path.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• William Kuncz 

   

   

 

 

Homemade Man: Cursery Rhymes  

 

• Megan Bailey 

 

 

 

 

• Casey Shuniak