(utopia = the perfect place; eutopia = the good place)
Introduction
If you’re someone with an interest in architecture, planning, community revitalization, or environmental studies, then you might be particularly interested in this project. It will give you the chance to further reflect upon the places, people, relationships, and experiences you’ve written about thus far. It will offer you a chance to investigate what James Howard Kunstler calls “the art of making good places.” This project extends the thinking you did when you wrote about your place as well as the thinking you did about the lives, experiences, and places of the people you wrote about in your oral history projects.
Think about a neighborhood, community, or town you would like to improve. It’s okay—even desirable—that you focus on the community or place you wrote about in Project 1, or the general area in which you now live (or any other place you know about and want to use as a starting point for your eutopia). What could be improved about this place? How is your impression of what is wrong with this place?
Assignment
Write an essay in which you describe for your readers what a eutopia would be—that is, a truly good place (not a perfect place, which is what the word utopia implies). What would such a place have to have? Do you think such eutopias are still possible? Or not? Or maybe they already exist—in which case, let a significant piece of your essay be a depiction of some particular place you know that fulfills many of your requirements for a eutopia. Your essay should include descriptions of what is wrong with current places and the features you would improve or develop in order to create a good place.
Features to consider (in no certain order): transportation, recreation, environmental sustainability, residential and commercial, etc…
Questions to consider: What behavior do you want to encourage? Discourage? How do you want people to use the places/spaces you create?
RequirementsLength: a minimum of 1000 words
Format: MLA
Due Date: Friday, November 20th
Monday, November 2, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Excerpt from interview with my father
Conducted on October 4th, 2009 at his home in Wilmore, KY
W: Tell me about a memorable childhood experience.
R: Well…let’s see…there’s so many memorable times to consider.
W: Tell me about a memory that involves some of your childhood friends.
R: Well…did I ever tell you about the time we found Fred Waldrop’s shoe?
W: Yes, but tell me again.
R: Okay. Fred was a pretty bad drunk. He would sit around on the apron-wall where the road curves under the bridge and drink whiskey. Most of the time he would pass out, lying on top of the knee-wall, until Rhodie would come around and collect him.
W: Rhodie was…?
R: Rhodie Winkle was an old lady neighbor. She kind of looked out for him. Anyway, one evening he was drunk and decided to cross the bridge. Well, you know how the bridge is…there are catwalks on each side and two sets of tracks down the middle. Apparently, Fred passed out on the tracks. No one really knows why he was on the tracks. But a southbound train hit him and scattered his body everywhere. It was like a bomb had hit him. He just exploded.
W: oooh…pretty gruesome…
R: Yeah. About a year later (I must’ve been ten or eleven, sometime around 1948 or 49), a bunch of us kids were playing down in the river-bottom under the bridge. You know the stone piers that support the legs…?
W: Yeah, yeah.
R: We used to climb on top of the pier that was on the bank. The other one’s out in the river and you can only get to it by boat and you can’t really climb it. But the one on the bank, at that time, had a mature elm tree right beside it. We would climb the tree and jump out onto the top of the pier. It was kind of like a little hideout. We would build fires up there, play marbles, throw rocks into the river, that kind of stuff. Well, that day it was me, Billy Baker, Duckie Anderson, and…ah…I can’t remember who else. There might’ve been one or two other boys. It’s a funny thing; they’ve all been dead now for a long time.
W: What happened on that day?
R: Well, we got up there and were just foolin’ around, and I was looking down in the hole where the bridge support goes into the concrete…it really wasn’t a hole, just a little space between the support and the rock. Well, I saw this old leather shoe, and I pulled it out to show the other boys. I noticed it felt heavier than it should and there was something white sticking out the top. I sat it down, and all the boys crowded around to check it out. That something white was a bone, and when I pulled it, a whole foot came out. It was just the skeleton of the foot, but all the bones where still attached by blackened, dried skin and cartilage I guess. Even the toes where still attached.
W: That’s really gruesome…
R: Yeah, but to a ten year old boy it was a real find. At the time, we didn’t put two and two together right away. We didn’t know who the foot belonged to, but we took it down. I held it in one hand and shimmied down the tree. We all ran as fast as we could back up the road and up the lockhill, yelling at everyone we passed that we had found a foot!
W: What did you do with it?
R: When we got to the store, we proudly showed our treasure to Ms. Isom, told her where we found it. She was a little upset that we had brought a foot into her store. But she took us out on the porch and stopped Brigham Freels as he was going by. She told him what we’d found, and he said “Boys, I betcha that’s Fred’s foot.”
W: Tell me about a memorable childhood experience.
R: Well…let’s see…there’s so many memorable times to consider.
W: Tell me about a memory that involves some of your childhood friends.
R: Well…did I ever tell you about the time we found Fred Waldrop’s shoe?
W: Yes, but tell me again.
R: Okay. Fred was a pretty bad drunk. He would sit around on the apron-wall where the road curves under the bridge and drink whiskey. Most of the time he would pass out, lying on top of the knee-wall, until Rhodie would come around and collect him.
W: Rhodie was…?
R: Rhodie Winkle was an old lady neighbor. She kind of looked out for him. Anyway, one evening he was drunk and decided to cross the bridge. Well, you know how the bridge is…there are catwalks on each side and two sets of tracks down the middle. Apparently, Fred passed out on the tracks. No one really knows why he was on the tracks. But a southbound train hit him and scattered his body everywhere. It was like a bomb had hit him. He just exploded.
W: oooh…pretty gruesome…
R: Yeah. About a year later (I must’ve been ten or eleven, sometime around 1948 or 49), a bunch of us kids were playing down in the river-bottom under the bridge. You know the stone piers that support the legs…?
W: Yeah, yeah.
R: We used to climb on top of the pier that was on the bank. The other one’s out in the river and you can only get to it by boat and you can’t really climb it. But the one on the bank, at that time, had a mature elm tree right beside it. We would climb the tree and jump out onto the top of the pier. It was kind of like a little hideout. We would build fires up there, play marbles, throw rocks into the river, that kind of stuff. Well, that day it was me, Billy Baker, Duckie Anderson, and…ah…I can’t remember who else. There might’ve been one or two other boys. It’s a funny thing; they’ve all been dead now for a long time.
W: What happened on that day?
R: Well, we got up there and were just foolin’ around, and I was looking down in the hole where the bridge support goes into the concrete…it really wasn’t a hole, just a little space between the support and the rock. Well, I saw this old leather shoe, and I pulled it out to show the other boys. I noticed it felt heavier than it should and there was something white sticking out the top. I sat it down, and all the boys crowded around to check it out. That something white was a bone, and when I pulled it, a whole foot came out. It was just the skeleton of the foot, but all the bones where still attached by blackened, dried skin and cartilage I guess. Even the toes where still attached.
W: That’s really gruesome…
R: Yeah, but to a ten year old boy it was a real find. At the time, we didn’t put two and two together right away. We didn’t know who the foot belonged to, but we took it down. I held it in one hand and shimmied down the tree. We all ran as fast as we could back up the road and up the lockhill, yelling at everyone we passed that we had found a foot!
W: What did you do with it?
R: When we got to the store, we proudly showed our treasure to Ms. Isom, told her where we found it. She was a little upset that we had brought a foot into her store. But she took us out on the porch and stopped Brigham Freels as he was going by. She told him what we’d found, and he said “Boys, I betcha that’s Fred’s foot.”
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Notes from Cynthia Stokes Brown's Like it was: A complete guide to writing oral history
Paying attention is very difficult work... Listening well is much more important than consulting a list of questions, especially if your narrator wants to talk. Nevertheless, it helps to have prepared the questions. Writing down the list makes you think through what you hope to get on tape (or paper) and gives you practice in generating good questions. Also, having the list helps you feel confident that you know what you are doing.
Make a short list of general questions you would like to ask. You will need to personalize them when you are actually talking with your narrator. After the interview you can check off the ones you covered and remind yourself to ask the others at the next interview.
After you've decided whom you want to interview, write down ten reasons why you chose this person to interview. What is it about this person that interests you? Now take your list of reasons and develop out of it some questions to ask. What kinds of question words are more likely to produce interesting responses? Are any of your questions "leading"? That is, do they lead your narrator to give a certain answer that agrees with what you think, or with your expectation of what the narrator thinks? Interviewers should refrain from indicating their own opinions and expectations. Analyze your questions to see whether they reveal your attitude; all too often they do.
Don't be afraid to ask questions in order to get beyond the surface answers. This can be difficult. But in an interview the usual roles for social conduct do not apply; you are likely to be rewarded for boldness.
Answers that are interesting include not just information, but also feelings and interpretations. What does your narrator's life mean to him or her? How does he or she make sense of it? What are the main themes?
If your narrator is a big talker, your job as interviewer will be easier. If you narrator is quiet and shy, you may need to come back several times before he begins to feel comfortable. Good listeners remind their narrators that they are right in there listening by making comments such as "Uh huh," "Really?" "What next?" "Just what I needed to know," "Go on." These non-directive comments are often better than questions; they keep your narrator going without steering his remarks in any particular direction.
Don't expect to be able to complete an interview in just one visit; plan to come back a second and third time. You and your narrator will both appreciate having time to reflect about what came up during the first interview, and during the second or third you will both be able to achieve greater depth.
Remember that interviews are unpredictable. Narrators will respond in ways that you didn't expect; surprising topics will emerge that suddenly seem more important than what you had planned. Go with these surprises--play detective--follow your instincts.
Even if your interviews are going extremely well, some of your questions might be painful or discomforting to your narrators. Some aspects of their lives will be difficult to discuss. If your narrator is uncomfortable, drop it for now. Come back to it later from a different angle when you have established a closer trust. Life has its dark side, and to leave it out is dishonest. Conflict, challenge, obstacles, tragedies--these are the times when a person's real spirit emerges.
Practical Tips for Interviewing
1. Making Arrangements
Make a visit to your potential narrator to describe what you want to do and to solicit his cooperation. Agree on a time and place for the interview, give them an idea of the topics you want them to talk about, and suggest about thirty minutes for the first interview. Describe how you intend to use your story and ask permission from your narrator.
2. Setting Up
Try to minimize interruptions. Find a place well away from other people. Having spectators doesn't work--they can't avoid jumping into the conversation. (Trying to interview two narrators also doesn't work; they often contradict each other and even argue. Do this only if both narrators were present at the same event you are investigating.) Make sure your narrator is comfortable; don't let him give you his favorite chair.
3. Interviewing
It's a good idea to take notes. The main things to jot down are questions and topics that you want to come back to, or questions you didn't get to ask because you didn't want to interrupt. It is also a good idea to jot down the names of people and places that the narrator mentions. That way you can check the spelling with the narrator after the interview. Remember to let the narrator chat in a natural way. Don't hustle him along by rapid-fire questions. Ask only one at a time. Give him time to reflect. Silence is wonderful; use it to jot down a note rather than to leap in with another question. Usually the narrator will reveal the most sensitive material only after hesitating; if you rush in with a question, you will miss it.
4. Ending the Interview
Interviewing is tiring; stop before both or you are exhausted. Agree on a future time and place; plan with the narrator what topics you want to cover next. Ask the narrator how he is feeling about the interviews. Is he enjoying them? Could anything be done to make them more pleasurable?
Make a short list of general questions you would like to ask. You will need to personalize them when you are actually talking with your narrator. After the interview you can check off the ones you covered and remind yourself to ask the others at the next interview.
After you've decided whom you want to interview, write down ten reasons why you chose this person to interview. What is it about this person that interests you? Now take your list of reasons and develop out of it some questions to ask. What kinds of question words are more likely to produce interesting responses? Are any of your questions "leading"? That is, do they lead your narrator to give a certain answer that agrees with what you think, or with your expectation of what the narrator thinks? Interviewers should refrain from indicating their own opinions and expectations. Analyze your questions to see whether they reveal your attitude; all too often they do.
Don't be afraid to ask questions in order to get beyond the surface answers. This can be difficult. But in an interview the usual roles for social conduct do not apply; you are likely to be rewarded for boldness.
Answers that are interesting include not just information, but also feelings and interpretations. What does your narrator's life mean to him or her? How does he or she make sense of it? What are the main themes?
If your narrator is a big talker, your job as interviewer will be easier. If you narrator is quiet and shy, you may need to come back several times before he begins to feel comfortable. Good listeners remind their narrators that they are right in there listening by making comments such as "Uh huh," "Really?" "What next?" "Just what I needed to know," "Go on." These non-directive comments are often better than questions; they keep your narrator going without steering his remarks in any particular direction.
Don't expect to be able to complete an interview in just one visit; plan to come back a second and third time. You and your narrator will both appreciate having time to reflect about what came up during the first interview, and during the second or third you will both be able to achieve greater depth.
Remember that interviews are unpredictable. Narrators will respond in ways that you didn't expect; surprising topics will emerge that suddenly seem more important than what you had planned. Go with these surprises--play detective--follow your instincts.
Even if your interviews are going extremely well, some of your questions might be painful or discomforting to your narrators. Some aspects of their lives will be difficult to discuss. If your narrator is uncomfortable, drop it for now. Come back to it later from a different angle when you have established a closer trust. Life has its dark side, and to leave it out is dishonest. Conflict, challenge, obstacles, tragedies--these are the times when a person's real spirit emerges.
Practical Tips for Interviewing
1. Making Arrangements
Make a visit to your potential narrator to describe what you want to do and to solicit his cooperation. Agree on a time and place for the interview, give them an idea of the topics you want them to talk about, and suggest about thirty minutes for the first interview. Describe how you intend to use your story and ask permission from your narrator.
2. Setting Up
Try to minimize interruptions. Find a place well away from other people. Having spectators doesn't work--they can't avoid jumping into the conversation. (Trying to interview two narrators also doesn't work; they often contradict each other and even argue. Do this only if both narrators were present at the same event you are investigating.) Make sure your narrator is comfortable; don't let him give you his favorite chair.
3. Interviewing
It's a good idea to take notes. The main things to jot down are questions and topics that you want to come back to, or questions you didn't get to ask because you didn't want to interrupt. It is also a good idea to jot down the names of people and places that the narrator mentions. That way you can check the spelling with the narrator after the interview. Remember to let the narrator chat in a natural way. Don't hustle him along by rapid-fire questions. Ask only one at a time. Give him time to reflect. Silence is wonderful; use it to jot down a note rather than to leap in with another question. Usually the narrator will reveal the most sensitive material only after hesitating; if you rush in with a question, you will miss it.
4. Ending the Interview
Interviewing is tiring; stop before both or you are exhausted. Agree on a future time and place; plan with the narrator what topics you want to cover next. Ask the narrator how he is feeling about the interviews. Is he enjoying them? Could anything be done to make them more pleasurable?
Questions created by FoxFire students
1. What were times like when you were a child?
-How did you and your family live?
-Were times better, or worse? Why?
-What is your earliest memory?
2. What types of things did you do as a child?
-What did you like to do most? Why?
3. How did your parents treat you?
-What did they do with you that you remember best?
-What times with them were the most enjoyable to you? Why?
4. What advice or training did your parents give you that has helped you to lead a better, fuller life?
-What examples did they set for you?
-How did you profit from them?
-Do you feel your parents prepared you well for life?
5. As a teenager did your parents let you socialize with boys/girls?
-Did you have “dates” as we call them now?
-Where would you go when you went out?
6. What was it like when you first went out on your own?
-Were times hard?
-Did you marry?
7. What kind of work did you do to support yourself?
-Was it difficult?
-What did it mean to you?
8. How do you feel about living in the country?
-How about the city?
-Which do you like best? Why?
9. Do you feel there is a difference between country people and city people?
-If so, what is it, what makes it so?
10. How big a part has religion played in your life?
-What are your feelings on it?
-What is your proof for your belief in God?
-How has he shown himself to you?
11. How do you feel about life in general today?
-How different is it from the way it used to be?
-Is the quality of life better or worse now?
12. Are people different from what they used to be?
-In what ways?
-Are these changes good or bad?
13. How do you feel about the youth of today?
-Are the teenagers different now, from the way you and your friends are?
-What has caused these changes?
14. What do you think of the direction our country is going in today?
-Is American being run well, or badly?
15. What do you consider to be the most valuable possession you have ever had?
-(something you could not have done without in your lifetime.) Why?
16. Have you done everything in your life you wanted or planned to?
-If not, what were you not able to do?
17. If you could go back and live your life over, what would you change?
18. How do you feel about:
-money
-friendship
-kindness
-honesty
19. What do you consider to be vices, or faults, in people?
-Why are these things bad?
-How can they be overcome?
20. What advice could you give young people which would help them to lead better lives?
-What experiences have you had that they could benefit from?
-How did you and your family live?
-Were times better, or worse? Why?
-What is your earliest memory?
2. What types of things did you do as a child?
-What did you like to do most? Why?
3. How did your parents treat you?
-What did they do with you that you remember best?
-What times with them were the most enjoyable to you? Why?
4. What advice or training did your parents give you that has helped you to lead a better, fuller life?
-What examples did they set for you?
-How did you profit from them?
-Do you feel your parents prepared you well for life?
5. As a teenager did your parents let you socialize with boys/girls?
-Did you have “dates” as we call them now?
-Where would you go when you went out?
6. What was it like when you first went out on your own?
-Were times hard?
-Did you marry?
7. What kind of work did you do to support yourself?
-Was it difficult?
-What did it mean to you?
8. How do you feel about living in the country?
-How about the city?
-Which do you like best? Why?
9. Do you feel there is a difference between country people and city people?
-If so, what is it, what makes it so?
10. How big a part has religion played in your life?
-What are your feelings on it?
-What is your proof for your belief in God?
-How has he shown himself to you?
11. How do you feel about life in general today?
-How different is it from the way it used to be?
-Is the quality of life better or worse now?
12. Are people different from what they used to be?
-In what ways?
-Are these changes good or bad?
13. How do you feel about the youth of today?
-Are the teenagers different now, from the way you and your friends are?
-What has caused these changes?
14. What do you think of the direction our country is going in today?
-Is American being run well, or badly?
15. What do you consider to be the most valuable possession you have ever had?
-(something you could not have done without in your lifetime.) Why?
16. Have you done everything in your life you wanted or planned to?
-If not, what were you not able to do?
17. If you could go back and live your life over, what would you change?
18. How do you feel about:
-money
-friendship
-kindness
-honesty
19. What do you consider to be vices, or faults, in people?
-Why are these things bad?
-How can they be overcome?
20. What advice could you give young people which would help them to lead better lives?
-What experiences have you had that they could benefit from?
Monday, September 28, 2009
Project 2: Oral History (adapted from Derek Owens’ Composition and Sustainability, 189-91)
Oral History Preservation Project
As older generations pass on, so too do their experiences—the unique ways they responded to the circumstances of their lives and places. This assignment gives you an opportunity to play the role of preservationist: you will record and write an oral history, thereby preserving portions of one person’s life, memory, and history.
Step 1
Find someone who matters to you, ideally someone much older. This person could be an older relative, a friend of the family, a neighbor, or an acquaintance. The person need not be living nearby, so long as you can talk to this person on the phone at least three times in the next three weeks for at least thirty minutes per call. After you’ve selected your person do the following:
a. Write down a list of questions you’d like to ask this person. Let this list be at least several pages long. Be sure the questions can’t be answered with “yes” or “no” but are worded to get the interviewee talking as much as possible.
b. Interview the person for at least half an hour.
c. Write down the results of that interview. It’s up to you whether to print this up in an interview format or to compile the results in a narrative. In the former case the text will read something like a play, with each paragraph preceded by your name or the interviewee’s name, followed by what was said. In the latter case your text will look more like a narrative, in which you’ve compiled and probably rearranged the results of the interview, “gluing” it together with your own comments. Either way, be sure to accurately and truthfully record what the person says—don’t “clean up” his or her English, or alter what he or she said because it “sounds better.” The more accurate you are in getting down the person’s voice, and his or her responses, the better off you’ll be.
Step 2
Go back to this person and conduct a second interview. Let this be your opportunity not only to ask new questions but also to go back to the person’s earlier responses in order to get more information and further clarification. As before, you can either stick to the interview format or assemble the results of your interview into a narrative.
Step 3
Conduct one final interview with your person. Ask questions that might get the interviewee to supply more anecdotes and insights. Also, ask the interviewee what he or she would like to talk about and why. Let him or her play a role in selecting the topics discussed.
After this final interview, look at all the information you’ve collected and put together a brief oral history of this person. The end result can look like an interview, or you can assemble the material into a narrative. As you put together this assignment, ask yourself: What information should I include, and why? What might get edited, and why? How might I rearrange this material for better effect? Are there any themes I find running throughout this person’s life? What exactly makes this person’s history worth recording? Don’t just attach all three interviews together; think about ordering and arranging them to make a more finished, coherent product.
It would be a good idea to write an introduction to your interview and maybe even conclude it with an afterword in which you provide some additional information about the person you’re interviewing: why you chose this person, any details about your relationship with him or her, any closing thoughts you have about this person and what you learned from these interviews, and so on. It’s okay—preferable, really—to let the introduction and/or conclusion be fairly long.
Also, if you wish, you can interject commentary throughout the interview, inserting your comments in parentheses or italics to differentiate it from the main narrative. For example, in the past, some writers have indicated stuff like: “At this point we moved into the living room; my mom put her feet up on the coffee table, obviously exhausted from having worked in the bakery for thirteen hours that day. I started asking a few more questions…”
(This is optional, and only if your subject gives you permissions: take some photographs of this person, or gather up some that you already have, and bring them to class to show the class as we read and discuss your interview.)
As older generations pass on, so too do their experiences—the unique ways they responded to the circumstances of their lives and places. This assignment gives you an opportunity to play the role of preservationist: you will record and write an oral history, thereby preserving portions of one person’s life, memory, and history.
Step 1
Find someone who matters to you, ideally someone much older. This person could be an older relative, a friend of the family, a neighbor, or an acquaintance. The person need not be living nearby, so long as you can talk to this person on the phone at least three times in the next three weeks for at least thirty minutes per call. After you’ve selected your person do the following:
a. Write down a list of questions you’d like to ask this person. Let this list be at least several pages long. Be sure the questions can’t be answered with “yes” or “no” but are worded to get the interviewee talking as much as possible.
b. Interview the person for at least half an hour.
c. Write down the results of that interview. It’s up to you whether to print this up in an interview format or to compile the results in a narrative. In the former case the text will read something like a play, with each paragraph preceded by your name or the interviewee’s name, followed by what was said. In the latter case your text will look more like a narrative, in which you’ve compiled and probably rearranged the results of the interview, “gluing” it together with your own comments. Either way, be sure to accurately and truthfully record what the person says—don’t “clean up” his or her English, or alter what he or she said because it “sounds better.” The more accurate you are in getting down the person’s voice, and his or her responses, the better off you’ll be.
Step 2
Go back to this person and conduct a second interview. Let this be your opportunity not only to ask new questions but also to go back to the person’s earlier responses in order to get more information and further clarification. As before, you can either stick to the interview format or assemble the results of your interview into a narrative.
Step 3
Conduct one final interview with your person. Ask questions that might get the interviewee to supply more anecdotes and insights. Also, ask the interviewee what he or she would like to talk about and why. Let him or her play a role in selecting the topics discussed.
After this final interview, look at all the information you’ve collected and put together a brief oral history of this person. The end result can look like an interview, or you can assemble the material into a narrative. As you put together this assignment, ask yourself: What information should I include, and why? What might get edited, and why? How might I rearrange this material for better effect? Are there any themes I find running throughout this person’s life? What exactly makes this person’s history worth recording? Don’t just attach all three interviews together; think about ordering and arranging them to make a more finished, coherent product.
It would be a good idea to write an introduction to your interview and maybe even conclude it with an afterword in which you provide some additional information about the person you’re interviewing: why you chose this person, any details about your relationship with him or her, any closing thoughts you have about this person and what you learned from these interviews, and so on. It’s okay—preferable, really—to let the introduction and/or conclusion be fairly long.
Also, if you wish, you can interject commentary throughout the interview, inserting your comments in parentheses or italics to differentiate it from the main narrative. For example, in the past, some writers have indicated stuff like: “At this point we moved into the living room; my mom put her feet up on the coffee table, obviously exhausted from having worked in the bakery for thirteen hours that day. I started asking a few more questions…”
(This is optional, and only if your subject gives you permissions: take some photographs of this person, or gather up some that you already have, and bring them to class to show the class as we read and discuss your interview.)
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Blog Assignment for Friday, Sept. 11
If I let you borrow my time machine, where would you go? What time,specifically, and what place, specifically? In order for the time machine to work properly, you have to choose a precise date and a precise place. Why this time and place? Explain your decision so that we clearly understand your interest in this particular time and particular place. Compose your response as a New Post on your blog for class on Friday.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
PROJECT 1: “Where I’m From”
Introduction
One of the most familiar tenets of writing is: “Write what you know.” Everybody knows the place he or she calls home. Or we think we do. But to know something—anything—in its richness, complexity and contradiction, one must write about it.
Place is a space with a story. It’s a simple question then: Where is your place? But it is followed by two not-so-simple questions: How did that place shape who you are now? What do you like and dislike about your place?
Describe this place so that readers will form a detailed and relatively accurate picture in their minds of what it is (or was) like, and of its influence on you. You may want to identify a prominent geological, architectural, social, or cultural feature as a focal point, and develop a fuller picture of your place around this central feature. For example, my place is transected by a river of great historical import. By focusing on the river, I am able to reflect on geologic time as well as cultural history—the ways the river has intersected and helped pattern peoples’ lives, including my own, down through the years.
If you are writing about a place you can visit now, get a hold of a camera, take some pictures that are illustrative of this place, and include photo-images in your essay. In my case, these pictures are mostly scenic, but your pictures don’t have to be. You might include images of features and scenes that are symbolic of your attitude toward your place—dumpsters, strip malls, abandoned swing sets, street corners, parking lots. Just make sure your images are of actual places that appear in your mind when you think about your place. If you’re unable to take pictures, perhaps you can obtain some old photographs from other sources. Images, of course, are optional.
GOALS:
-create a dominant impression of the place you call home.
-experiment with concrete, physical description and reflective/emotive, sensory description.
-develop paragraphs with topic sentences and supportive sentences of varying length and pattern.
-arrive at original answers to the questions above (particularly “How did that place shape who you are now?”)
Readings (on reserve):
“Scary Places” by James Howard Kunstler
“The Unsettling of America” by Wendell Berry
“Working Landscapes” by Tony Hiss
One of the most familiar tenets of writing is: “Write what you know.” Everybody knows the place he or she calls home. Or we think we do. But to know something—anything—in its richness, complexity and contradiction, one must write about it.
Place is a space with a story. It’s a simple question then: Where is your place? But it is followed by two not-so-simple questions: How did that place shape who you are now? What do you like and dislike about your place?
Describe this place so that readers will form a detailed and relatively accurate picture in their minds of what it is (or was) like, and of its influence on you. You may want to identify a prominent geological, architectural, social, or cultural feature as a focal point, and develop a fuller picture of your place around this central feature. For example, my place is transected by a river of great historical import. By focusing on the river, I am able to reflect on geologic time as well as cultural history—the ways the river has intersected and helped pattern peoples’ lives, including my own, down through the years.
If you are writing about a place you can visit now, get a hold of a camera, take some pictures that are illustrative of this place, and include photo-images in your essay. In my case, these pictures are mostly scenic, but your pictures don’t have to be. You might include images of features and scenes that are symbolic of your attitude toward your place—dumpsters, strip malls, abandoned swing sets, street corners, parking lots. Just make sure your images are of actual places that appear in your mind when you think about your place. If you’re unable to take pictures, perhaps you can obtain some old photographs from other sources. Images, of course, are optional.
GOALS:
-create a dominant impression of the place you call home.
-experiment with concrete, physical description and reflective/emotive, sensory description.
-develop paragraphs with topic sentences and supportive sentences of varying length and pattern.
-arrive at original answers to the questions above (particularly “How did that place shape who you are now?”)
Readings (on reserve):
“Scary Places” by James Howard Kunstler
“The Unsettling of America” by Wendell Berry
“Working Landscapes” by Tony Hiss
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
