Koyaanisqatsi Blog

Please write for 5 minutes about what you saw/liked/interpreted in/about/from Godfrey Reggio's film, Koyaanisqatsi.

Please leave your initials at the end of your post. Thank you!

"Love, Your Only Mother" Blog

After reading "Love, Your Only Mother," you should consider what makes the letters from the narrator's mother so haunting and so difficult to bear.

Using what you believe to be the voice of the mother, please write a letter to the daughter/narrator.

At the top, please indicate where you are by city/location, and please date the letter. Dating this letter could bring about some interesting historical events that you may or may not want to mention.

Try to stay consistent with the clues/textual details we are given in the story, and make this as interesting as you can.

Sign it with a salutation similar to "Love, Your Only Mother." You can be as creative as you want here.

Be sure to leave your initials at the end of your entry. Thank you!

Objective Correlative Blog

After checking under SF Documents, reading the Objective Correlative Writing Assignment, and typing the assignment; please copy and paste your Word document on the blog.

Leave your initials at the end.

Thank you!

"January 13" Inspirational Blog

Rick Bass directs his readers to think about life's burning questions in his story, "January 13."

Please choose one of the following questions about which you will comment:

1. How might you "remember to look at [life] like a child?" (224). What does this mean to you?

2. After reading Bass' advice, "Take nothing for granted," please consider the things in your life that you have absolutely taken for granted. How will you make a concerted effort to live your life to the fullest?

After choosing one of the previous questions, please write an entry that would equal one page on a Word document. Deeply consider these questions before beginning your entry.

Remember to leave your initials at the end. Please email me your entry if it doesn't post.

Thank you all!

Tone Vocabulary Blog

Please pick 3 tone words from the Tone Vocabulary List under SF Documents on the class web page. If you do not know the meanings of these words, then you need to look them up.

Please write the 3 words as the first part of your entry. Then, without telling, please write a passage--no fewer than 10 lines--that exhibits ONE of the tone words.

Try to be grammatically correct and creative, and please write your initials at the end of the entry.

We will use your entries as part of an in-class game/activity involving tone.

Thank you!

San Francisco Blog

After reading your email, reading the story, and discussing the story as a group, your group should be ready to analyze Richard Brautigan's "The Weather in San Francisco" for tone.

Using DIDLS, please pick quotations from the story that prove each letter of DIDLS. Write the letter represented from DIDLS, write your quote, and then explain how the quote applies to that aspect of DIDLS/Tone. At the end of your DIDLS, please write a short synopsis of your group's overall reaction to the story. Be as detailed as possible.

Due at the end of class on Friday, 4/1

Thank you!

"Vernon, Florida" Blog

Please respond responsibly to each of these questions.

Questions to consider:

1. Why did Errol Morris make this film?

2. What does the film say about our world/the world around us?

3. What did you find interesting in this film?

4. With what do you empathize in this film?

5. With what do you sympathize in this film?

6. Who was the most fascinating person to you and why?

7. If you had a camera pointed at you right now, what story would you tell?

After answering each of the questions, please respond to the documentary with anything you haven't written/said yet. Please leave your initials at the end of your entry. Thank you!

2nd Person Life Narrator

Please narrate your life in the 2nd person omniscient.

Pick a scene or experience about which you can vividly expand, and--appealing to the five senses--write your thoughts and actions.

Entries should be 20 lines, minimum.

Leave your initials at the end of the entry.

TAL "Reality Check" Blog

After watching an episode of "This American Life", in which four different people hatch plans that inevitably snap them back into the real world, you should be able to empathize with one of them. Please share an experience that checked you back into the realm of reality. Entries should be at least 10 sentences, and please write them descriptively and with sound grammar. Due by the beginning of class on Thursday, 2/24. Thank you!

MJ Stanza Post

Using your creative writing--in other words, your Word Bank--from class, you should be able to construct a short, one-stanza, free verse poem about anything you want. These are the only requirements:

1. The poem must be a minimum of 10 lines.

2. The poem must have a minimum of 5 words per line.

3. Read Major Jackson's poems for inspiration, and follow his advice by ending each line with a noun or a verb, rather than with a conjunction (FANBOYS) or an article (a, an, the).

Leave your initials after your entry. Thank you!

You are Jamaica Kincaid

Give advice to a younger sibling, friend, or peer in the tone of Kincaid's "Girl." Entries should be at least 10 sentences. Please leave your initials at the end of your entry. Thank you!

Can I Get an Ending, Please?

Write and post the last paragraph (5-7 lines) to the start of this story: “On certain occasions, he yearned to tell her about the trip. That was before Amanda revealed her tattoo.”

Be as descriptive and creative as possible, and please leave your initials at the end of the post.

Due before the beginning of class on Wednesday.

Thank you!

"Going Down in History" TAL Blog

During Friday's (1/28) class, we watched This American Life's "Going Down in History" episode.

This particular episode--funny, introspective, and strange--focuses on people who are dealing with different aspects of memory and of being remembered. Something like finding a certain type of bird can earn someone important accolades, whereas something like escaping prison can earn someone desired freedom; something like a yearbook photo seems so trivial in the scope of life, whereas something like a horrible physical altercation can scar someone with an indelible impression on his/her mind forever.

At the end of his solid speech in Chapel this morning, Luis Torres posed a very important question to the audience: "What will you do with what you've been given?" Think about the cards that the people in the four segments of the TAL episode have been dealt. How have they dealt with their problems, successes, and failures? Which person do you remember and why?

PROMPT:

This episode deals specifically with two subjects: confinement and freedom. Each of the people from the episode has confined him/herself to a certain standard/condition/idea/way of life, and each seeks his or her own freedom in different ways.

In no fewer than 10 sentences--for full credit--please post a free response to this episode that includes some details about how you empathize with the people we saw today. Pay specific attention to your usage and grammar in this assignment.

Due before class begins on Monday, 1/31

Your Story Blog

You have just turned 100 years old, and a reporter has to come to interview you.What do you want to tell this person? Your accomplishments? Regrets? Success? Chances taken? Hidden secrets? Last night, you considered how much your life has changed in the last 4 years. Consider how much it will change in the next 80…

PROMPT: From the point-of-view of the reporter, write your story in the THIRD person with vivid detail and description. Your story should be roughly 250 words, or 1 to 1 1/2 pages. Please leave your initials at the end of your entry. Thank you!

The Best, Shortest Story You've Ever Written

For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.

In no more than three sentences, please write a story that evokes some creative response and thoughtful criticism. Please write your initials after your entry. Thank you!