Reading Response:

Chapter 9

• To me, this chapter is about avoiding reductionism. Don't reduce a story down to action, solely plot, or vigorous planning, but realizing that there are stories waiting to be made from anything, essentially, hence her Willie Nelson reference: the air is full of melodies [stories] you just have to reach out.


• this chapter also kind of reminded me of the quote "you owe reality nothing, and your imagination everything." Avoid reductionism. :p

random impulse

wking up and gainig consiousness with the feelings and emotions lingering from the reams that are slowly dispersing. I can hear the curtains besidemy window expanding and contracting against my open window as if they were breathing. Eyes still closed, the birds sound louder than usual. I open my eyes and catch the time: 9:30am. The sun is shining through my sheer curtains coloring my room baby pink.

Junkyard: An Old Indian Saying

It doesn't interest me what you do for a livingi want to know what you ache for,and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.It doesn't interest me how old you are.I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love,for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon.I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow,If you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain.I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own,without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.i want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill youto the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to becareful or realistic or to remember the limitations of being human.It doesnt interest me that you insist the story you're telling me is trueI want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself;and i want to know if you can admit dishonesty to be true to another;that you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul.I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy.I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day and if you can source your life from god's presenceI want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of thefull moon, "Yes"!It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair,weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done for the childrenIt doesn't interest me what mistakes you've made, or how you came to be hereI want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink backIt doesnt interest me where or what or with whom you have studiedI want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away i wan to know if you can be alone with yourself,and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments

Random Impulse -- Maybe sensitivity is the real backbone of strength

Random thought: I'm an extremely sensitive person. I think that's a blessing and a hindrance at the same time. It's a blessing because it's proof that i'm not jaded. It's a reminder that i dont hold the illusion that i'm above growth and change.It's a hindrance because it can be so consuming and destructive at the same time.but then again, maybe it's not a hindrance at all because if i'm pushing through the pain that often accompanies that sensitivity, that's just proof to myself and others that i'm stronger than we think.

Random Impulse -- Maybe sensitivity is the real backbone of strength

Random thought: I'm an extremely sensitive person. I think that's a blessing and a hindrance at the same time. It's a blessing because it's proof that i'm not jaded. It's a reminder that i dont hold the illusion that i'm above growth and change.It's a hindrance because it can be so consuming and destructive at the same time.but then again, maybe it's not a hindrance at all because if i'm pushing through the pain that often accompanies that sensitivity, that's just proof to myself and others that i'm stronger than we think.

random impulse -- Humans are like atoms...maybe

I was reading an article on Gaiam.com by Jack Canfield about people’s individual life purposes. There were a couple of lines at the beginning that stuck out to me: “We are all here for a reason, and we are all here to serve each other. We are like individual cells in a body, each of us performing our own unique functions and collectively serving the being as a whole.” People spend so much time thinking about what God is, if there’s an after life and wondering how it all works. WELL, I’ve been saying for years that all i think God is a collective energy source that binds us all. (so many of us are so oblivious to how powerful our collective energy is) Okay, on the small scale there are atoms that are made of really tiny particles that each have their own unique jobs and are saving a bigger purpose…WELL, what if Humans are just really tiny particles working together with their own unique jobs towards something bigger like, or i don’t know, Heaven. We all work together and affect each other daily. So many people think that we’re all so separate from one another (it’s all about extablishing your place in our social hierarchy, right?) , but in reality every little thing we do or dont do affects everyone on a larger scale… And maybe the things that all of us humans do collectively affect that bigger energy source/being that many people refer to as God (or Gods) We’re all in this together. We’re not separate from one another, or better, or whatever. That’s just an illusion. We’re all working toward something bigger. And i think it’s quite obvious that we’re all oblivious (just like the little atoms) to what ever that big picture is. This world IS important. If we ignore it, dont you think that there is a possibility that we’re stunting the growth of the bigger picture/higher power/God? Maybe this higher power couldn’t exist without all of the beings on earth, just like we couldn’t exist if Atoms didnt exist. And if atoms didnt do their jobs and spent thier time thinking about what the next life is going to be like, then we wouldnt exist. I feel that if we are to become closer to what ever this superpower / after life is that we hold up so high on a pedestal, we need to become closer to each other first and work together. Our assumptions about what/who God and what/where the after life is are just that, assumptions. BUT, one thing that we can be sure of is that this world is real, and that we have each other, and we need to pay more attention to what we have here.

Junkyard

• You can shake the world gently"


• "if you're growing, you're always going to be out of your comfort zone"


• "write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow"


• be who you need to be


• You are told to love your neighbor -- but you have never loved yourself. And a person who has not loved himself, how can he love the neighbor? From where can he get love? First you have to have it. You are loving the neighbor -- you who knows nothing of love because you have never loved yourself. The neighbor is loving you -- he has never loved himself. Such insanity is happening in the world: people who know nothing of love are loving each other. It is like beggars begging from each other, each thinking the other is the emperor. Both are thinking in the same way: the other is the emperor. Both are beggars. Sooner or later the reality manifests itself; then there is misery, suffering. Then you think you have been cheated, this beggar has been trying to prove himself an emperor

-osho

Random Impulse

This past week in my sixties culture class, we started talking about the legacy of the sixties. We have seen many video clips, documentaries, and we have even had several guest speakers who have said that the sixties revolution was a natural phenomenon because the frustration level, anger, and lack of hope was on an epidemic level, so naturally the world rebelled collectively. Dr. Aanstoos believes that the main purpose of the sixties revolutions was to save the earth; it was all a result of an environmental crisis that was obviously a threat during that time because of the use of nuclear weaponry. He felt that the main goal of the hippies and activists, ultimatly, was to attempt to encouage people to relate to the world differently, because, after all, the earth is the mother of all things living on it. The hippies were trying to buy us time. According to some ecologists, we only have three generations left before the earth is too toxic to live on, but of course we never hear that on the news because people want to continue driling for oil and creating nuclear power plants. There have been TONS of books before during and after the sixties trying to encourage people to live with less and to live closer to the earth. I'm reading a book right now called 'the voice of the earth' by Theodore Roszak who breaks down the reasons why we are so apprehensive about living with less to take care of our home. I dunno, just wanted to share.

Random Impulse

• We talked about point of view in class this week. In my 60s culture class, we've been talking about the different perspectives from different social, racial and political groups in the sixties. I wrote a paper about the differences between civil rights activists based on race. In my paper for sixties culture, we talked about the SDS (Students for a Deocratic Society) and the SAS (Student Afro Society) during the Colombia University riots in 1968. The cause of this riot was because of two things: a gymnasium that was going to be a segregated gym (Gym Crow) along with the exposure of Colombia University's involvment with the assymbly of weapons to support the vietman war. The adults on campus were trying to supress the students' right to free speech because they felt that the students were bringing outside affairs onto campus. The SDS and SAS (both student ogranizations on campus) ended fighting each other instead of combining efforts. I feel the sixties, obviously, had a huge impact on where we are today socially. And for that reason that these two student groups who, for the most part, were different races of people (black -vs- white) along with different view points about what to do with the political and social situations they were forced to deal with. my point is that because of the fact that the view points during that time differed so much during the sixties, the perspectives where skewed and even exploited during times to come.


• I think it is interesting that in MLK's letters from bermingham he found a way to talk to the people who were opressing using the 'involved author' point of view where there is no single viewpoint from one character being utilized, but King takes on the perspective of those opressing, those being oppresed, and those who have the power to end oppression but turn the other cheek (usually friends). Choosing the right view point and utilizing it properly can obviously have a huge impact on how things are delt with inside of a story, during a speech, an everyday conversation, or letters being written to others in hopes to change the world for the better.

reading response

• The Fat Girl:

I enjoyed this reading. It's a story about a common girl, and her 'rebirth' so to speak in several different stories that are fit into one short story. I felt like i could relate to Louise and Carrie. Even though Louise and Carrie's lives are pretty different from mine, the auther found a way to create a feeling of some type of common ground. When i'm doing writing exercies, i like writing about people and things that are unique, and find a common ground and similarities between the characters and the reader. Even though Carrie and Louise seem to come from a different time and background, i i felt comfortable in a sense because i too was an awkward child with a parent that was constantly hard on me. This is going to sound corney, but i think that we caught louise in a part of her life where she was cacooning like a butter fly. She was in the 'mushy' phase of her growth. Parts of her life were highlighted that were significant to who she became by the end of the story as well as who she will become later as a parent and a grandparent. I think it's interesting how authors can write about people who are so common but they find a way to make their stories profound.

• Chapter Seven

Being a psychology major, i found chapter seven to be really interesting. Because humans are thrown into different cultures, lifestyles and given a different set of parents and siblings, attend different schools in various cultures and communities and have so many different languages that portray these different was of seeing the world there are so many different perspectives to write from. I thought it was interesting that different perspectives were broken down to portray a different idea and view point. I plan on doing more exercies pertaining to perspective because i enjoy being forced to look through someone elses eyes and perspectives. I find creative writing interesting because it allows me to study and analyze human behavior and toy with it. I liked this chapter. :]

junkyard

1. "You owe relaity nothing. You owe your imagination and your feelings everything" -the triggering town "There is no such thing as a weird person, it's just that some need more understanding than others" - Tom Robbins


2. "we do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is vulnerable, worth listening to, worthy of trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit. --e.e. cummings


3. "I made my shoes shine with my coal / but my polish didn't shine the hole" Modest Mouse - Edit the Sad Parts


4. "We're all so funny but he's lost his joke now / our communications come from one lined jokes / from stand up comics and rock musicians / making so much noise you don't know when to listen" - Modest Mouse


5. "my concern was always about the nobody (not the genius), the man who is lost in the shuffle, the man who is so common, so ordinary that his presence is not even noticed... the only benefits, i reflected, which could offer me was to remove the differences which separated me from my fellow-man -Henery Miller


6. There is a world in me unlike the world i know of. I dont think it is my exclusive property, it's only the angle of my vision which is exclusive in that it is unique. If i take the language of my unique vision nobody understands; the most colossal edifice maybe reared and yet remain invisible -Henery Miller

Junkyard

i really fuck things up sometimes …but guess what? I’m really fucking human all of the time

random impulse

if America were an egg it would need to be a lot less cheesy It would need a lot less scrambling and it would need to be a lot less greasy.

random impulse

The People in power around the world are like a bunch of bonobos throwing shit at each other… and the civilians are the little chimp spectators. watch out for the shit, please.

random impulse

Some (jumbled) notes i took when i was chilling in the parking lot this week waiting to go to work: Parking lot Black baptist church. Choirs singing 'it won't work'. What a strange place to have a black baptist Church. The poor goth kids smoking pot and cigarettes, being loud and mooching. what a weird coincidence. Sammy's first black owned restaurant. They sell BBQ and beer. So proud to be the first black owned. There seems to be a loss of 'umph' in 'first black owned'. I went there with my Mexican boyfriend, and one of the workers said 'hola' in a mocking, stereotypical Mexican accent. How about first to be okay with owning the first to own an 'un-self-segregated' spot in downtown. The parking lot is grey and holds divided cars. Each spot waiting to keep a car. It also holds every one's litter. Each car owned by an unknown face with an unknown color. Each piece of trash left there by an unknown face with an unknown color. Sooner or later, it will be picked up and put into the green dumpster in the corner of the parking lot. The dumpster will eat any one's trash. Parking lots don't discriminate. Parking lots are a common ground, and they're happy to keep any one's car.

Reading Responses

ch 3 -- Sentence length and complex syntx In this chapter, Guin talks about sentence length and the use of words. I think i have a lot of work to do when it comes to sentense length. Being a psychology major, and having taken a DSW course in abnormal psychology, i've been trained that 'short and sweet and to the point' is important, so in that sense i think it's good. Guin talks about how it could be useful to shorten a sentence, but not to the point that you've given away too much in one sentence, like in a research paper or a piece of poetry. What i got out of it is that a little fluff is good, which, of course, is the opposite of what i was taught in my Abnormal psychology class. Each sentence should be used to lead to the next so that the reader's attention isn't hung up on just one line or image that you have created.

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Ch 4 -- Repetition Guin believes that repetiton can be a very valuable tool whesn it comes to pros writing. It can be awkward if used the wrong way, but she believes that it should be ruled out. If that is the case, using a thusauras is the right way to go. She doesn't believe that pros should 'rhyme and chime' like poetry does, but it should be used in a more subtle way. It should be used to create a subtle rhythm in a story.

Junkyard -- Haha!

Junkyard

We are all time travelers moving at the speed of exactly 60 minutes per hour

Junkyard

"I've never met a tree that rushed it's growth, so why should you?" -- My friend Maritza

"I feel underwhelmed and overwhelmed in all of the wrong places" - Unknown

"The real trouble with reality is that there is no background music"

"Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car."

"War doesn't determine who's right. War determines who's left"

Reading Responses

Ch 1 -- The Sound of Your Writing

"the basic elements of language are physical: the noise we make and the rhythm of their relationships."

After the poetry segment of the semester, i've become a fan of alliteration, and according to some of the people in the class i'm fairly decent at piecing together poetry that is fun to read and say. As the first half of the semester progressed, I've become a fan of word play. I love writing something that is fun to read out loud. Putting it together so that my readers understand has been secondary and a bit of a challenge, though, because i'm still new to the art of creative writing

Ch 2 -- Punctuation

I'm guilty of being one of those writers who forgets about punctuation while i'm in the process of writing. I'm too busy trying to build on my ideas and stories so i forget any kind of punctuation that isn't a period or a comma. Since i'm new to creative writing, and writing in geral hasn't been a strong point of mine, i plan on looking into buying, or at least, googling the ideas from the book referenced in the chapter, The Elements of Style.

I also feel that i may have been one of those students in grade school that was constantly scolded about using incorrect grammar and punctuation. As a result i've become intimidated by the idea of writing. I think that that is one of the reasons why i struggle with writing creatively now because i over analyze what i write as i am writing so instead of just getting my ideas down.