Blogs

Lists of blogs to check out:

http://gothamist.com/

http://gawker.com/

http://failblog.org/

http://www.boingboing.net/

Advice on running a blog:

http://www.copyblogger.com/secrets-of-popular-blog/

If you have any blogs you normally check out--feel free to share them here.

Personal Narrative Assignment

Creative Writing

Personal Narrative Assignment

DUE March 24^th

3-6 pages, double spaced

Some important aspects of the personal narrative essay:

• Grab your readers' attention right away
• Use the pronoun I
• Present the important events in time order
• Use descriptive details to elaborate
• Use dialogue (if it fits your story)
• Write in your personal voice and style
• End the narrative in a satisfying way

When you write a narrative essay, you are telling a story. Narrative essays are told from a defined point of view, often the author's, so there is feeling as well as specific and often sensory details provided to get the reader involved in the elements and sequence of the story. The verbs are vivid and precise. The narrative essay makes a point and that point is often defined in the opening sentence, but can also be found as the last sentence in the opening paragraph.
Since a narrative relies on personal experiences, it often is in the form of a story. When the writer uses this technique, he or she must be sure to include all the conventions of storytelling: plot, character, setting, climax, and ending. It is usually filled with details that are carefully selected to explain, support, or embellish the story. All of the details relate to the main point the writer is attempting to make.

Fish Cheeks

Amy Tan

            I fell in love with the minister's son the winter I turned fourteen.  He was not Chinese, but as white as Mary in the manger.  For Christmas I prayed for this blond-haired boy, Robert, and a slim new American nose.

            When I found out that my parents had invited the minister's family over for Christmas Eve dinner, I cried.  What would Robert think of our shabby Chinese Christmas?  What would he think of our noisy Chinese relatives who lacked proper American manners?  What terrible disappoint-ment would he feel upon seeing not a roasted turkey and sweet potatoes but Chinese food?

            On Christmas Eve I saw that my mother had outdone herself in creating a strange menu.  She was pulling black veins out of the backs of fleshy prawns.  The kitchen was littered with appalling mounds of raw food:  A slimy rock cod with bulging eyes that pleaded not to be thrown into a pan of hot oil.  Tofu, which looked like stacked wedges of rubbery white sponges.  A bowl soaking dried fungus back to life.  A plate of squid, their backs crisscrossed with knife markings so they resembled bicycle tires.

            And then they arrived – the minister's family and all my relatives in a clamor of doorbells and rumpled Christmas packages.  Robert grunted hello, and I pretended he was not worthy of existence.

            Dinner threw me deeper into despair.  My relatives licked the ends of their chopsticks and reached across the table, dipping them into the dozen or so plates of food.  Robert and his family waited patiently for platters to be passed to them.  My relatives murmured with pleasure when my mother brought out the whole steamed fish.  Robert grimaced.  Then my father poked his chopsticks just below the fish eye and plucked out the soft meat.  "Amy, your favorite," he said, offering me the tender fish cheek.  I wanted to disappear.

            At the end of the meal my father leaned back and belched loudly, thanking my mother for her fine cooking.  "It's a polite Chinese custom to show you are satisfied," explained my father to our astonished guests.  Robert was looking down at his plate with a reddened face.  The minister managed to muster up a quiet burp.  I was stunned into silence for the rest of the night.

            After everyone had gone, my mother said to me, "You want to be the same as American girls on the outside."  She handed me an early gift.  It was a miniskirt in beige tweed.  "But inside you must always be Chinese.  You must be proud you are different.  Your only shame is to have shame."

            And even though I didn't agree with her then, I knew that she understood how much I had suffered during the evening's dinner.  It wasn't until many year later – long after I had gotten over my crush on Robert – that I was able to fully appreciate her lesson and the true purpose behind our particular menu.  For Christmas Eve that year, she had chosen all my favorite foods.

1.      How does Tan draw the reader into her story right from the beginning?

2.      What is the irony of the last sentence of the essay?

3.      Paragraph 3 is a passage of pure description.  Why does Tan linger over the food? 

What is the effect of this paragraph?

The TV

I handed out this story on Thursday (if you were absent there are copies outside my office...room 1141) and I am interested to see what you guys think. Is it supposed to have a larger message about mankind? Is it just about a slacker? Here is a link to a blog that asks some of the same questions.


http://perpetualfolly.blogspot.com/2010/04/new-yorker-tv-by-ben-loory.html


Have a good weekend.


Prof. O'Connell

Capote

02-15-11

We will start watching Capote today in class. Below are a few links to more information on Capote's writing style.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379725/

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/truman-capote/introduction/58/

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/84708/infamous_fictionalized_account_of_truman.html

Prof. O'Connell

Purple Prose

Here are some links that discuss purple prose to go along with what we covered on Tuesday:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PurpleProse


http://home.alphalink.com.au/~umbidas/purple_prose.htm


http://www.fiction-writers-mentor.com/purple-prose.html

As you can see and as we discussed it is a thin line between purple prose and good descriptive writing. Hopefully we can figure that out as the semester goes along.

SHORT STORY DUE TOMORROW!!!

Prof. O'Connell

News Story Assignment

Hey--

Here is a link with a few pointers for the upcoming assignment:

http://www.suite101.com/content/creative-writing-in-news-articles-a62813

Here is a link to a Joyce Carol Oates story that she wrote after she read an article about a murder:

http://jco.usfca.edu/works/wgoing/text.html

Here is some of the back story for the above story:

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/schmid/oates_9.html

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,834699,00.html

So bring a news story to class on Tuesday that you would like to build a background story around.

...and have a good weekend.


Prof. O'Connell

First Post and Syllabus

So I will post questions, further readings and stuff like that here.

Here is a link that relates to what we'll be working on in class Thursday 2/3.

http://www.sixwordstories.net/2008/12/for-sale-baby-shoes-never-used-ernest-hemmingway/

Prof. O'Connell

2/1 T Group work with short stories, A Very Short Story by Earnest

Hemmingway pg. 263, In class Exercise A Very Short Story, Read Just Before the War With the Eskimos

2/3 R Just Before the War With the Eskimos, Read 62-69, Bring in a story from the news

for next class

2/8 T Group Work with pgs. 62-69 and news story, Typed 2 page story built around news story due Tues 2/15, Read The Laughing Man for next class

2/10 R 2 page story built around news story due, The Laughing Man, In class Writing Prompt # 11

2/15 T In Cold Blood (Film)

2/17 R In Cold Blood (Film), Read Figures of Speech pgs. 81-85  for next class.

2/22 T In class Writing Prompt #9, Five Senses Piece due 3/1

2/24 R  In class assignment, Read TV Handout

3/1 T Five Senses Piece due, TV Handout

3/3 R In class Writing Prompt # 7, You can take the kid out of Brooklyn…assignment due next class

3/8 T You can take the kid out of Brooklyn…assignment due, ABC Assignment, Typed ABC Assignment due Tuesday 11/9, Read Down at the Dinghy for next class

3/10 R Down at the Dinghy, Read Narration and Its Techniques pgs. 212-216

AND “Sunday in the Park” pgs. 269-272

3/15 T In class Writing Prompt # 2, Personal Narrative Due Thursday 3/24 3 pages, typed double-spaced, Read For Esme-with Love and Squalor

3/17 R For Esme-with Love and Squalor, Think About a topic and bring in some piece of writing associated with something that bothers you or something you feel very strongly about

3/22 T In class Writing Prompt # 3, Type 1 Page Blog Due Tues 3/29,

3/24 R Fahrenheit 9/11 (Film)

3/29 T Fahrenheit 9/11 (Film)Read Pretty My Mouth and Green My Eyes

3/31 R Pretty My Mouth and Green My Eyes, Read pgs. 314-317 for next class

4/5 T Group Work on pg, 317, 319-320 In class dialogue assignment,

4/7 R Group Work with Figures of Speech, Assign Groups and exchange information Read pgs. 175-182 for next class

4/12 T 175-182, Group Work with The Elements of Fiction (Type up your section for next class)

4/14 R Group Work with The Elements of Fiction

4/19 T In assignment

4/21 R Final Group Work Due