Week 4

Renew thyself completely each day; do it again, and again, and forever again.

–Chinese Inscription Cited by Thoreau in Walden

The places we remember from the past, those we see right before us, or those we see in looking into the future– the real and imagined landscapes of our journeys– these are our subject today. What was it like to be there? What did we see? hear? touch? smell? taste? feel? Were we in a mansion, on a mountain, walking a boulevard or navigating narrow city streets? Were we in Morocco or Miami? Was our neighborhood a place where kids played in the street and dogs barked excitedly, where sometimes the flood waters rose to knee height and frogs and snakes made wild companions? Did folks sit on the porch, or did they live behind privacy gates and drive fancy cars? Can you describe your home of homes? And how does it compare to other homes, other places? What makes the place distinct? What gives it character? What kinds of life, what kinds of people and things and what jobs does one find there? If you consulted a map, what would the map reveal or tell?

Writing about place may take the form of a travel journal or memoir; or it may be a guide to those seeking to discover some part of the world from an armchair at home or in advance of making an actual visit. Often people write about the landscapes or cityscapes that they have come to love through long connection. We may become seemingly indifferent to where we live, no longer noticing the particulars, the everyday features and patterns. Sometimes we have to go away to start seeing the world around us. We are nonetheless surrounded by objects; the elemental trees, clouds, sky, rocks, rivers, and fields; and the constructed world of houses, classrooms, malls, towns, and roadways with all that lies beside.

Writing Assignment (#4): Writing about place means bringing to a reader's mind the particular aspects that define the essence of your subject place or setting. We stand on whatever ground, sit on whatever chair, stroll whatever paths or sidewalks, swim the river or climb that tree, eat those berries, smell those blossoms, marvel at the moon, swelter in the heat and the dust of late summer, or shiver in the icy blasts that make street corners formidable. In 350 words, conjure a precise and compelling portrait of a place you know well. Underline your thesis idea if it is stated, or type it out at the bottom of the page if it is implicit (clearly suggested but nowhere actually stated).

Title the essay. Double space the lines and tab indent for each paragraph.

Topic Suggestions:

Describe a place where you found or find refuge, a sense of peace and well-being.

Describe a place you find stimulating in some specific way or ways.

Describe the neighborhood you grew up in and the influence it had on you.

Describe a scene that is one you have come to know familiarly and the effect it has on you.

Grammar Work: Verb conjugations, tense forms and usage. Review the material on verb forms and use at the following URLs: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/exercises/2/22 and http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/599/1/.

Exercise: Revise the opening two paragraphs of "Coming Home" (handout) by changing the past tense construction of the original to present tense.

Week 3

Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.

–Helen Keller

Good day! How was your weekend? I spent a part of mine wondering at the journey we all take, that long journey, you know, that leads to a distant country, and that is filled with strange twists and turns, enough to bewilder us at times. I watched a documentary film called Ballet Russe that featured the "stars" of the original company, a small group of individuals now elderly but who in their youth kept alive a ballet tradition that might otherwise have been lost, and who represent the living history of modern classical ballet. They brought the art to small midwestern towns where people had never seen anything like it, introduced it to America and beyond. They didn't know at the time just how new and influential a force they were. Years later they can recount the stories of hard work and excitement and some privation all the training and touring entailed of them, many of them just 12-14 when they began performing. Their knowledge, and their memories, continue to inspire people. They were drawn by the beauty and exhilaration of the dance, their love and passion for it, and for performing. All the while, they were creating a legacy.

In a sense it's what we all do. In ways small or large, our thoughts and actions in response to life create karma, for good or ill, and we live the consequences. Another film I know, called Pan's Labyrinth (2006), directed by Guillermo del Toro, is a beautiful film, a modern fairy tale about a young girl's struggle to make sense of multiple changes and certain threats and dangers. She discovers seemingly magical sources of power that take the form, in part, of fantastic creatures that live in a spooky, labyrinthine netherworld. There she is told she is the heiress to an ancient title, a Princess, in fact, and given certain tasks to "prove" herself fit. She must learn to trust herself throughout, for things are not simply what they seem, and her survival, and that of others, depends upon her knowing what is what, and making the right call.

The twists and turns and dark corners and curves of the labyrinth are a symbol of the human unconscious, a cryptic "force" whose messengers can guide us on our life's path; though we must rightly interpret and wisely use this force, for it can be dangerous. Pan is an ancient nature God, associated with fertility and spring, with shepherds and their flocks, and is often depicted playing a pipe.

When we walk, and listen to the wind, feeling it on our skin, and the solid ground under our feet, we may sometimes hear in the wind the sound of his piping.

Stories–narratives–we tell them endlessly. They are built into the fabric of our lives. Our very lives are the stories we tell about them. The meaning we make of existence comes clear in the stories we tell each other, and each is one of the untold gazillions accumulating over time. Each has a point or a purpose. Each involves events, actions, a conflict set in motion, consequences, perhaps the underlying motives and feelings of those involved, the lessons and insights gained through the experiences recounted.

The following paragraphs are shaped as narratives:

A hundred thousand people were killed by the atomic bomb, and these six were among the survivors. They still wonder why they lived when so many others died. Each of them counts many small items of chance or volition–a step taken in time, a decision to go indoors, catching one streetcar instead of the next–that spared him. And now each knows that in the act of survival he lived a dozen lives and saw more death than he ever thought he would see. At the time, none of them knew anything.

John Hersey, Hiroshima

We imagine the action that took place in the event referenced above, but the writer does not show us the exploding bomb, the fire and smoke and devastation all around. The wails of the living, and the dying.

Narration does more than suggest, it shows action:

When I pulled the trigger I did not hear the bang or feel the kick–one never does when a shot goes home–but I heard the devilish roar of glee that went up from the crowd. In that instant, in too short a time, one would have thought, even for the bullet to go there, a mysterious, terrible change had come over the elephant. He neither stirred nor fell, but every line of his body had altered. He looked suddenly sticken, shrunken, immensely old, as though the frightful impact of the bullet had paralyzed him without knocking him down. At last, after what seemed a long time–it might have been five seconds, I dare say–he sagged flabbily to his knees. His mouth slobbered. An enormous senility seemed to have settled upon him. One could have imagined him thousands of years old. I fired again into the same spot. At the second shot he did not collapse but climbed with desperate slowness to his feet and stood weakly upright, with legs sagging and head drooping. I fired a third time. That was the shot that did for him. You could see the agony of it jolt his whole body and knock the last remnant of strength from his legs. But in falling he seemed for a moment to rise, for as his hind legs collapsed beneath him he seemed to tower upward like a huge rock toppling, his trunk reaching skywards like a tree. He trumpeted, for the first and only time. And then down he came, his belly towards me, with a crash that seemed to shake the ground even where I lay.

George Orwell, "Shooting an Elephant"

Notice how Orwell works the elements of sight, sound, movement in space, and deep feeling into the account, revealing only at the last line he has been lying down, firing up at the huge animal whose final collapse reverberates in our imagination.

Most of our stories are of events not so unusual; they are of events more homely, domestic, ordinary. These events are no less potentially interesting and dramatic. An important strategy is to narrow your account down to the one or several key events and not to swamp the telling by including too much or anything that does not work to make your dramatic purpose clear, flowing, and forcefully delivered. Dialogue used sparingly may heighten the sense of immediacy and reality. It should reflect real conversation, minus whatever does not move the action forward or reveal character. Simple words and short sentences work best.

Graded exercise (#3) due week 4: Write a personal narrative about an experience that you and your audience will find entertaining or interesting. You should write a short introductory paragraph, a well-developed body paragraph or two, and a short concluding paragraph, for a total of about 350 words-500 words.

The following is a list of topic suggestions:

*A now-I-know-better experience.

*An experience that shows something of what people are made of, or of what you are made.

*An experience that shows the power of love, anger, desire, fear, etcetera.

*An experience that brought about a significant change in you.

*An experience that reveals the kind of family you have.

*An encounter with a "stranger" you can't now forget.

Sentence Types: last week we looked at the simple and compound sentence types. To review look at the following and identify each as simple or compound:

1. Right here, right now, I would like to smoke a cigarette and take a long walk along the coast.

2. Every day the hot sun glistens on my back.

3. I am living in the moment.

4. On break I ran across the street, and in the process, Jennice called me.

5. Hannah went to the best hospital, and her friends visited her to keep her spirits up.

6. Nothing is worse than being stuck in bed, but attentive friends can make a huge difference in

such situations.

7. The lock was broken and glass lay glinting in the moonlight.

8. Come here, for I want to say something in private.

9. He appeared to listen, but I understood his mind was elsewhere.

10. The stores had all closed, so we window shopped.

A complex sentence has one independent (stand alone) clause (one subject-verb combo) and at least one dependent (can't stand alone except as a fragment) clause. Short examples follow here:

Because he could not be reached by phone, I drove to his house, anxious to see him.

Jimmi walked to work after he crashed his bike.

Unless you give me another chance, we can go no further.

John is a man who loves women more than anything in life.

Bring me the book that you have been hiding.

I cooked and cleaned as the storm raged on.

A compound-complex sentence has at least two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause:

Jimmi hated to be seen as a hypocrite, so he kept his mouth closed while the others freely confessed to backsliding.

If you are to write effectively, your sentences must be clear; words are wasted otherwise.

After the sun dropped below the horizon, and as the moon began her ascent, we set up camp, eager for a chance to relax and eat and talk; each was possessed by the sense of great adventures to come.

Sentence Exercises for Homework: Do the following comma and fragment exercises at the URLs here posted:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/exercises/3/5/16

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/exercises/5/18/38

And the following exercise on the distinct uses of the semi-colon and comma:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/exercises/3/5/23

Greater Good Magazine | The Compassionate Instinct

Greater Good Magazine | The Compassionate Instinct

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Week 2

[Photo]

Equanimity is a perfect, unshakable balance of mind.

–Nyanponika Thera

Welcome back! It's Wednesday of week 2. What will the day bring us each? And isn't it exciting to watch the world unfold, to witness the grand parade of things that pass before the eye of consciousness, noting the details, large and small, as one image, one thought, one feeling quickly passes on to the next! We ride the waves, sometimes on a crest, sometimes in a trough, but always we are in the watery mix, swimming in the primordial soup of life . . . part of the soup, indeed! For me, the meaning of life is found in the striving to become more consciously aware of the life source within and around us. If we can avoid getting caught up in our thoughts, the weight of which can at times be crushing, if we can connect with ourselves and others from that other space out of which all things flow and to which all return, we find a goodness otherwise hidden. Behind the mask of appearances, there is a river bearing us all on our way to a sea, a cosmic sea, as it were; instead of thrashing about in the water as if at any moment we might drown, learning to swim in harmony with that river seems right, feels right and true and beautiful. By writing we become, I believe, more conscious of what we see, for in the theater of our mind we look at things, turn them over, bring them close, take a step back . . . in short we find angles of view that might have escaped us had we not stopped to contemplate the show. Writing about anything, writing well that is, demands we find some perspective to put our subject in, a stance or idea to frame it. The frame or thesis tells a reader what to make of our subject. Say the subject–the raw material–is some event we can't shake from memory, whether from childhood, adolescence, or our adult life. Something happened and the memory of it has been shedding a certain light on the stage (screen?) that is there in our head. This subject (event, phenomenon, fact, instance, example, case–call it what you will) must be interpreted, its shape discovered, framed, its meaning revealed (in so far as we can grasp it) in the writing we do about it. It's not easy, but that is the challenge.

A composition of even a single paragraph must organize itself around an idea, stated or implied, which is the thesis or topic idea. Here are some examples, with frame ideas in italic letters:

Everything is changing. . . . This is a prediction I can make with absolute certainty. As human beings, we are constantly in a state of change. Our bodies change every day. Our attitudes are constantly evolving. Something that we swore by five years ago is now almost impossible for us to imagine ourselves believing. The clothes we wore a few years back now look strange to us in old photographs. The things we take for granted as absolutes, impervious to change, are, in fact, constantly doing just that. Granite boulders become sand in time. Beaches erode and shape new shorelines. Our buildings become outdated and are replaced with modern structures that also will be torn down. Even those things which last thousands of years, such as the Pyramids and the Acropolis, also are changing. This simple insight is very important to grasp if you want to be a no-limit person, and are desirous of raising no-limit children. Everything you feel, think, see, and touch is constantly changing.
–Wayne Dyer, What Do You Really Want For Your Children?

Starting about one million years ago, the fossil record shows an accelerating growth of the human brain. It expanded at first at the rate of of one cubic inch of additional gray matter every hundred thousand years: then the growth rate doubled; it doubled again; and finally it doubled once more. Five hundred thousand years ago the rate of growth hit its peak. At that time, the brain was expanding at the phenomenal rate of ten cubic inches every hundred thousand years. No other organ in the history of life is known to have grown as fast. –Robert Jastrow, Until the Sun Dies


What my mother never told me was how fast time passes in adult life. I remember, when I was little, thinking I would live to be at least as old as my grandmother, who was dynamic even at ninety-two, the age at which she died. Now I see those ninety-two years hurtling by me. And my mother never told me how much fun sex could be, or what a discovery it is. Of course, I'm of an age when mothers really didn't tell you much about anything. My mother never told me the facts of life. –Joyce Susskind, "Surprises in a Woman's LIfe"

Some paragraphs, particularly ones descriptive or narrative, have no directly stated topic idea, but the idea is implied, the purpose of the paragraph clear. What is the implied topic idea in the following examples?

[Captain Robert Barclay] once went out at 5 in the morning to do a little grouse shooting. He walked at least 30 miles while he potted away, and then after dinner set out on a walk of 60 miles that he accomplished in 11 hours without a halt. Barclay did not sleep after this but went through the following day as if nothing had happened until the afternoon, when he walked 16 miles to a ball. He danced all night, and then in early morning walked home and spent a day partridge shooting. Finally he did get to bed–but only after a period of two nights and nearly three days had elapsed and he had walked 130 miles.
–John Lovesey, "A Myth Is as Good as a Mile"

After our meal we went for a stroll across the plateau. The day was already drawing to a close as we sat down upon a ledge of rock near the lip of the western precipice. From where we sat, as though perched high upon a cloud, we looked out into a gigantic void. Far below, the stream we had crossed that afternoon was a pencil-thin trickle of silver barely visible in the gloaming. Across it, on the other side, the red hill rose one upon another in gently folds, fading into the distance where the purple thumblike mountains of Adua and Yeha stretched against the sky like a twisting serpent. As we sat, the sun sank fast, and the heavens in the western sky began to glow. It was a coppery fire at first, the orange streaked with aquamarine; but rapidly the firmament expanded into an explosion of red and orange that burst across the sky sending tongues of flame through the feathery clouds to the very limits of the heavens. When the flames had reached their zenith, a great quantity of storks came flying from the south. They circled above us once, their slender bodies sleek and black against the orange sky. Then, gathering together, they flew off into the setting sun, leaving us alone in peace to contemplate. One of the monks who sat with us, hushed by the intensity of the moment, muttered a prayer. The sun died beyond the hills; and the fire vanished. –Robert Dick-Read, Sanamu: Adventure in Search of African Art

In the old-time Pueblo world, beauty was manifested in behavior and in one's relationships with other living beings. Beauty was as much a feeling of harmony as it was a visual, aural, or sensual effect. The whole person had to be beautiful, not just the face or the body; faces and bodies could not be separated from hearts and souls. Health was foremost in achieving this sense of well-being and harmony; in the old-time Pueblo world, a person who did not look healthy inspired feelings of worry and anxiety, not feelings of well-being. A healthy person, of course, is in harmony with the world around her; she is at peace with herself too. Thus an unhappy person or spiteful person would not be considered beautiful. --Leslie Marmon Silko, Essays

Notice that well written paragraphs develop adequately the subject; that is, there is sufficient detail and enough examples to make a persuasive case for the idea(s) expressed. Often, too, in descriptive and narrative writing you will notice the pattern of arrangement is either spatial (the eye moves from point A to B and on to C and D in clear, coherent direction) or chronological (time is tracked either from a beginning point on forward, or backward, or some mix of the past, present, and future). Sometimes both the spatial, as in description of a setting or scene, and the chronological, as in an account of actions in time, are at work. Look again at the examples above. How are they arranged?

Writing Assignment: Construct a single-paragraph essay (no more than a page is necessary) on an experience or event that reveals something about the person you are, or have been. Use first-person voice, the familiar "I" that we use in conversations about ourselves. We may get time to finish in class, but if not you will bring it to class week 3. At the bottom of the page, state what is the thesis or topic sentence of the paragraph. Bring this essay to class week 3. Make sure to double space the lines, to use 11 point type in Times font, and to indent the first paragraph (and all paragraph beginnings). Try for 150-200 words. Underline in text the explicit thesis idea or write at the bottom of the page the implicit thesis idea. Bring this essay to class week 3.

SENTENCE TYPES
Sentence Type 1: The simple sentence has one subject and one predicate, the base of which is always a verb or verb phrase. And in English, the subject usually comes up front, followed by the verb and any other predicate elements. This subject-verb combo is called a clause, an independent clause, because it expresses a grammatically complete, stand-alone thought.
Jesus wept. Nuts! (that is nuts, this is nuts, he is nuts, etc., where that, this, he are the subjects and "is" the verb, with "nuts" describing the situation or person, as an adjective or subject complement).

Style has meaning. Choices resonate. What is the subject in each of the two preceding sentences? Style and choices, of course. And the verbs? Has and resonate, of course.

And in the following?
The house is surrounded by razor wire.
He and I fight too often. We cannot be good for one another. After spring sunset, mist rises from the river, spreading like a flood.
From a bough, floating down river, insect song.

He drove the car carefully, his shaggy hair whipped by the wind, his eyes hidden behind wraparound mirror shades, his mouth set in a grim smile, a .38 Police Special on the seat beside him, the corpse stuffed in the trunk.
They slept.–intransitive (takes no direct object of the verb)The girl raised the flag.– transitive (the flag is the object of the verb)

Inverted order: Lovable he isn't. This I just don't understand. Tall grow the pines on the hills.

Normal order: A fly is in my soup. With expletive (which delays the subject): There is a fly in my soup.

Sentence type 2: The compound sentence has at least two independent subject and verb combinations or clauses, and no dependent clauses. Each independent clause is joined by means of some conjunction or punctuation that serves to join:
Autumn is a sad season, but I love it nonetheless.
Name the baby Huey, or I'll cut you out of my will.
The class was young, eager, and intelligent, and the teacher delighted in their presence.
The sky grew black, and the wind died; an ominous quiet hung over the whole city.
My mind is made up; however, I do want to discuss the decision with you.

Sentence Type 3: The complex sentence is composed of one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.
Many people believe that God does not exist.
Those who live in glass houses should not cast stones.
As I waited for the bus, the sun beat down all around me.
Because she said nothing, we assumed she wanted nothing.

Do the following comma exercise:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/exercises/3/5/15

Week 1

Welcome to The Art Institute, and to your first writing class here at the school. This class is designed for practice and instruction in writing short essay compositions. In it, you will discover some of the ways in which writing can help you to develop your creative capacities and understand better your particular kinds of knowledge and experience of the world. Writing is a process that will reveal to you what you know, and what you don't. The simple act of putting words on paper (and screen!) will open the spring of remembered people, places, events, and ideas that you carry inside. What is more, writing will reinforce your sense of what you can contribute to the lives of others, for all of us are seeking greater knowledge and understanding of the very large and often complicated world we live in, and all of us are in need of the perspective and experience contact with others can give us. Each of us brings something fresh and unique and lovable to the world. In giving expression to our thoughts, memories, dreams, desires–and in sharing them with others–we discover the many ways we have been shaped by life, and the connections we have with others.

Getting started is easier than you might think. The first step is to take the pressure off yourself. Forget rules, forget rules, forget rules. Comma? Semi-colon? Forget them for now. Restrictions can make anyone freeze up, and most of what anyone writes will be forgotten or lost or trashed at some point. Suspend your inner critic. Write for the sheer pleasure of it, the sense of discovery and surprise at how the mind works, and what you've got hidden inside. The following prompts and exercises are designed to help you get started. There is no purpose to them beyond getting words to flow from you, and having a little fun. You may well find something in what you write, something for keeps, something to shape and present to the class or others. But that part of the process, which involves making decisions, making decisions about what to keep, what to toss, and how to order, shape and polish the stones if rough, all that comes later. The start of anything is often messy. And that is fine. So jump in the water. And get your hair wet!

Exercise 1: Write for five-ten minutes on anything that comes to mind, no matter what it be. Pretend, if you must, you've been let loose in a grocery store and the more items you can pull down into your cart, the fewer you'll have to pay for later. Don't pause for long. Let one thought lead into the next with as little interference from the analytic mind as possible. Don't censor yourself. Let yourself go.

Ex. 2: Write for five minutes a mini sketch of yourself, right here, right now. Record the five senses–what you see around you (objects, colors, lights, people), what you imagine you look like, what you are feeling (nervous, relaxed, tired, hungry, etc.) what you hear (even to the voices in your head), what you smell.

Ex. 3: Word Prompts: respond to one or several of the following words for two or three minutes at a stretch.

love

cherries

lips

goddess

stones

grass

the sea

music

Ex. 4: Peruse the headlines of today's LATimes. Pick one and make-up a one-paragraph article to go along with it. Now go back and read the real news.

Ex. 6: Imagine a situation, a young boy or girl neatly dressed (or shabbily dressed!) and being led by the hand of Father or Mother to the gates of the schoolhouse, on the first day of school. Include whatever conversation or dialogue occurs between the two people, characterized by great joy, or fear, concern, suspicion, love or desire, whatever comes to mind. Write it down.

For Homework: The central idea of a paragraph is the topic idea, an idea stated in a sentence that is often found at the very beginning and which gives readers a clear statement of what the paragraph is about. All the material that is in the paragraph supports the topic idea by way of elaboration, detail, example, and/or story incident.

Sort through the material you wrote today in class. Select the best of it, here an artful or interesting sentence, and here a dramatic image or fresh thought. Arrange these cuttings or clippings together in a paragraph or two that illustrate something you learned in today's writing work, as a discovery about the writing process, about yourself, or whatever the topic may chance to be. Develop and refine the material as needed with the time you have outside of class.

Alternatively, you may write on a topic that did not come up in today's class work, but which you would like to address because it is on your mind and something you want to create.

This paragraph length essay should be at least 150 words in length, typed in 10 or 11 point font (Times or Courier), and spaced 1.5. Bring the piece to class next meeting.

Remember your audience, however you imagine that group of readers and listeners, and make your work as clear and complete and generous and interesting in content as you can. Readers want to connect with the writer–that is, with you. So give them a good idea of who you are, where you are coming from, and why the topic is of interest and importance. For example, an audience of your peers, students, might want to know what other students think of just such a thing or two. If you are writing about food, to food lovers or chefs-in-the-making or restaurant owners, for example, establish a common ground of interest in advancing your point. Appeal to readers' love of a good meal, particulars of preparation or presentation, or the owner's pride in the quality of experience a restaurant can provide.

In Addition: By Next Class

Review the definitions and illustrations of independent and dependent clauses on the following page at the Online Writing Lab: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/598/01/

Review also the Parts of Speech in English: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/730/01

Finally, copy out the following sentences. Draw one line under the sentence subject and two lines under the main verb.

1. A large, sunny window brightens the whole room.

2. Certain people know early in life just what they want from life. Most do not.

3. There should be more holidays.

4. I gave myself a present this Christmas–a trip to Guatemala.

5. Swimming in the clear, cool, blue waters of Lake Atitlan invigorated me.

6. Lake Atitlan is a caldera, a very large crater lake, that filled after the extinction of a large volcano.

7. Volcanoes tower over the southern shore of the lake and provide a beautiful backdrop to the lake itself.

8. One day I will visit there again.

9. Do you dream of traveling?

10. Write about your dreams.