2.25 Who am I and how did I get this way? and more segmented essays

Tonight's (secret) focus was on creating an essay that knows where it is going from the first word of the title: an essay that sets up its focus in the title and the first scene (even if the reader can't say it = the idea is to get her/him to FEEL it).  An essay that drops readers into carrying metaphors (like the home movie with no sound that stands for the cultural tug that keeps us in that conga line of behaviors from our past long after the real events that evoked them are over;- or like "the patch") that evoke feelings and ideas central to its contemplation.  

Brainstorming to mental flash shots.  For the brainstorming activity started by writing about who you are: what you believe, what is important to you, your assumptions, values, and beliefs about the way the world is.
When we shared lists, and tried to see if there were patterns or groupings for the different kinds of words/ideas we used to say who we were.  We came up with something like the following.
Internal values(about me): dependability, respect, hopeful, self worth, harmony, independence, trust, mistrust
Relational values: religious committment; importance of image presented to others
Personal aspirations/belief systems: education, environment,
Abstract principles: stand in the middleground, don't judge people, keep a positive outlook, balance, karma, you are on your own (only room for one person in your coffin), intensity
Social justice: gay rights, children's rights, domestic violence bullying
Other: music, food, conscience (we can see th way the world is going by the way we treat our children), 

Granted, the classification has some problems, but it got us talking about the different kinds of values, beliefs and preferences that make us who we are. 

Next, you picked four "key" features from your list and did a freewrite where you associated - connected to anything that came into your mind about those features.  Then you underlined any repetitions or really important connections that came up in the freewrite, and thought a little about what that said about who you were = and then thought about how you might have come to that belief.preference, sense of who you were.

For the last part of this exercise you wrote about/portrayed an event that was part of the experience (your life) that made you into the person your earlier writing was describing.

The last part of this exercise, which we didn't get to, was to write a scene that sets up/portrays/connects to (without stating directly) the kind of person you are/the experiences that led you to be that person.

This exercise set you up with a "bundle" of writing, some ideas/some associations - and maybe (maybe not) gave you some place to starte with an idea for an essay.  

The Patch and Silent Dancing
.We talked about these two essays using similar processes (though I did most of the talking about the structure a little more in McPhee's essay).  First we generated a list of what the essay was "about" = themes/ ideas or feelings that operated as a kind of center for the stories/material the author presented.  Then we talked about how the title, opening and closing material, key scenes contributed to/emphasized in terms of these themes.   Then we lookd at the essays' different threads:  how the author used the sequence, juxtaposition, repetition, and so on the "build" an overall felt response - the reader's takeaway for the essay.  We also noticed how these two essays lead us to a final scene which calls upon much, if not all, of the material the authors have drawn to our attention, as if, they are orchestrating an experience of reading an essay which will allow us to "see"  thoughts and feelings evoked by their writing  both in terms of our own experiences, and theirs. 

For next week:
I forgot to set up the readings on "truth" we will be talking about. This is different from the way things are listed on the calendar.  I will explain in class next week.  Thanks for the great discussion tonight and see you next week.

Read:  Smoking gun expose of A Million Little Pieces

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/celebrity/million-little-lies
Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/454/mr-daisey-and-the-apple-factory =>Read the overview at the preceding link, and then follow the link on that page and listen to the retraction episode  http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/460/retraction

Blog 5:  Brainstorming for draft 2 for the long essay.  Try listing some of the feelings/ideas you want your essay to be about, identifying "scenes" to create the experience of those feelings/ideas, listing some metaphors in your feelings & ideas that will "carry" your concept.  This may not be the way you usually write - but see what you can do with it.