Questionable Quality
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Found on the premises of Johnson-McFarlane and Centennial Halls are what
are supposed to be “convenience” stores. These convenience stores make
their busin...
16 years ago
Monday, January 11, 2010
Generating tension
Pick a possible situation that you might use for your literacy event narrative. Make a list of all the problems, challenges, or issues that you associate with this situation. Pick two or three that are most interesting to you. In a few sentences describe the tension. Give us more context. What’s the conflict? How were these tensions resolved? What was significant about this resolution?
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The tension I recieved while writing my article came from the nervousness of working in the real world setting, and the anxiousness of knowing a professional will have to critique my writing-- not holding back from overwheming criticism. These tensions were resolved by sticking with it and not letting my fears effect my writing. The situation turned out to be a lot less intesnse than I had thought, and I left the experience with a much more than I had started with. Success!
ReplyDeleteFor my writing subject, I am going to write about what my college essay became to me, after it was already written. I had written it on my grandfather, a man who had a large impact on my life, and the paper aided me to realize his true influence on my life. However, a month after this, my paper all of a sudden meant a lot more to me. My grandfather unexpectedly died from a heart attack just before thanksgiving and this changed the mood of the holidays. So when we were talking about who was going to give the eulogy, I knew I already had one written. My family helped me fix one small paragraph and there was my reading. Normally I would have never gotten up in front of a whole church of people to do a reading, but this seemed meant to be. It seemed like a sign to step up, and it was ok because my essay made me realize my true appreciation for my grandfather.
ReplyDeleteProblems
ReplyDelete• Tryouts
• Being told that I could not become successful
• Not finding the correct style of dance that’s fits me
• No motivation
• No inspiration
• Making dance a priority
• Finding a spiritual basis due to dance
There were many different times that I did not know why I was doing the things that I was doing. I didn’t understand why I danced due to the fact that I could not find a style of dance that I actually enjoyed. I didn’t know that I was talented. I never thought that dance would be a part of me or something that I would live for. I went through many dance schools, and tryouts. I was in dance clubs in school but I never found my focus until I graduated. I never realized that the type of dance that I truly enjoy would be something that also had a spiritual connection to it. It helped me find significance to the reason why I love to dance. Reading this book set apart the other reasons that I had formed in my mind to the reason that I dance. It was the complete opposite of the things that I had thought of.
My basic conflict arises from a troublesome past. I had a lot of trouble with my childhood friends to the point where every day at recess was spent verbally arguing and developing forces against one another. Few days stayed calm and uneventful, someone was always upset and irked by the others. At the beginning we fought over who liked who or who was spending more time with who, by the end of the year the groups reshaped daily and was characterized by a gossip cycle where each person ratted out what the others had said while they were in alliance causing people to fight with others over what had been said about them but giving others in the group new ammo for the next day. For two years I tried to find my place among to fights. I ended up being to best friend to some and the absolute enemy of the others. One word slip and all hell broke loose. I hated the situation with a passion. I remember coming home every day and crying to my mom because I never understood why this drama and girl cruelty was necessary in our friendships and lives. As it turns out it isn’t necessary and of all those girls I was friends with those few years of hell, I continue to talk to only one. The tensions never really resolved until we all split up to different middle schools and moved on to new and separate lives, making new friends and less troublesome relationships. This lack of resolution caused me to find a new/different way of coping with the situation and justifying to myself a way to get through it. A good question posed is why I never got out of the situation, but at the time I had some really low self esteem and felt like the people were my only friends. I feared that if I didn’t have them I would be alone a t school sitting all by myself. That wasn’t true I just never realized the influence I had in school and how many people actually respected who I was and who were willing to be a friend to me. Some of that lack of self-confidence that I felt was a result of troubles at home. My family has a history of depression that is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. My brother, mom, and I were all touched by this issue. Some of my cousins had even committed suicide in the past. Depression effects people differently, my mother and I were influenced by an overemotional side of the imbalance. My brother, on the other hand, became suicidal. He would lock himself in his room for hours, tell us every day how much he hated this world and wanted to leave it and described in sickening detail his suicide plan. He planned to cut a hole in his chest and repeatedly stab himself in the heart. For quite a few years, in perfect conjunction with my trouble at school, my brother stayed in this very dark place. Doctors tried to mediate the situation by giving Robby medication to damper the suicide tendencies and regulate his emotions and thought, but the meds began to give him visions and hallucinations. So we all had to live through each day in fear that Robby would no longer be there when we woke up or that his feelings would intensify with his pubic years yet to come. All that my parents and I could do was remind Robby each day about how much we loved him and how much in life there was to live for. I became a pre-teen spending my first few crucial years of individual development trying to convince my brother that his life was worth living.
ReplyDeleteMy way of coping with these hardships was reading; I would escape into another world where the only problems I had to worry about were those of the characters. I always had a fantastic ability to turn the words into pictures within my head, so reading was a joy to me. Every time that life got over my head or things at home got so intense and frightening I would look to my favorite authors for strength, support, and time to pull away until I calmed down or the sickening feeling in my gut lessoned for just a moment. This resolution was significant because it got me through; reading refueled me and provided me with the stress outlet to make my days bearable and, in small increments, better.
In the situation that I am faced with in my narrative is consisted of the challenge between following the crowd or taking your own direction based on what you know you should do. In an atmosphere that obligates many decisions that are not right, that deals with discrimination and possible harm, this situation has the potential to either become a tragdey or a story that is remembered. Personally, such a dilemma provided a difficult aftermath and I discover a way to cope and bring realization for myself through poetry.
ReplyDeleteThe first speech I had to give for my freshmen speech class had to do with the significance of our favorite song. Immediately I knew what song I had in mind. I chose to write about a song dedicated to mothers, specifically my mother and why she is so special to me. The hardest part about the speech was trying to relate to the audience and to convey why my mother is important. Everything was set; my speech was great but one thing went completely wrong. I forgot my note cards. The students were not required to memorize the speech. When my name was called I was terrified. My hands shaked, my stomach squirmed, my forehead sweated. But when I got to the podium I took a deep breath and thought of the reason why I wanted to give this speech: the love for my mother, and somehow that was enough. I told that speech with cool articulacy and at the end of the speech the applause was loud and the smiles were huge. In the end the speech remained like my relationship with my mother, although not perfect, it triumphs through love.
ReplyDeleteReading the Great Gatsby, The Secret Life of Bees and how they completely turned me off to a lot of reading and classic novels that are taught in high school. The reading was so boring and taught so horribly that i found myself not liking the authors and having a general and overall dislike for all of the books i was assigned to read in high school. I struggled through these books and ended up disliking them greatly. This turned made me dread going to English class everyday and gave me a distaste for English as a subject. This was very disheartening because my dad is an English professor and knows all the books i read in high school and has a love for literature. I seemed to lose respect for literature and my English teachers. This was not only disappointing for me but also slightly for my Dad who absolutely loves literature and earns a living teaching it. I still do not have an appreciation like I believe I should for literature and English class.
ReplyDeleteA possible situation to use for the literacy event narrative could be when I reached the conclusion that not all books can be hopelessly and entirely boring. A problem I have found myself having throughout middle and high school was keeping abreast of books being read in my English classes. There was always tensions when these books were chosen for me with a composed list of dates to have certain pages read by. Sitting down at night to do homework I was always lost within the first few pages with no recollection of what I had just read. My mind was always in another place, distracted from the open book in front of me. I overcame finally selecting a specific book that I found interest in. I now have faith for some of the books out there to contain captivating stories.
ReplyDeleteSince I am studying abroad far away from my home, I cannot get in touch with my friends often. The other day, one of my friends wrote me something on her blog that she was suffering from a hard time so that she missed me so much. In order to response her, I began to operate my blog, and we shared stories there. One day, I received an e-mail from my mother. Because she saw what I wrote down on the blog, she wanted to give me some suggestions. In such case, I felt that my mother really cares about me, but I used to think she is too busy to pay take care of me. Because of that e-mail, I changed my thought that my mother doesn’t love me; instead, the way people love each is different, and her way of love is to support silently.
ReplyDeleteFor my literacy event narrative I am going to be writing about a speech that made me into who i am today. I struggled through my 2nd year in high school and i made some decisions that i regretted back then, but i know that they have made me into who i am today. I fell into making bad friendships and turning to alcohol to solve my family problems. After being caught at school for making stupid decisions i had to face a court and i almost got expelled from my high school. I ended up getting kicked off my soccer team and faced many social expulsions as well as being punished at home. I came to an epiphany during a speech directed to my peers about how stupid i basically was and how alcohol lead me to nothing but a deeper hole.
ReplyDelete^victor
ReplyDeleteWriting my speech for Kairos, an retreat at my high school, I faced a multitude of challenges. First of all, writer’s block set in. I simply couldn’t write anything meaningful. To add on to the stress of my inability to write, my fellow retreat leaders seemed to have no problem whatsoever creating moving speeches. I was frustrated that I hadn’t found the source of emotion and honesty. At my high school, Kairos is a major event, and I knew that if I failed to pen a compelling speech, I would let the entire retreat down. The pressure and stress built up around me until I realized that I wasn’t writing as myself, I had been trying to write as someone else. As soon as I made the decision to write my experiences, regardless if I thought they fit the mold of a meaningful Kairos speech, the words began to flow. I believe my Kairos speech is significance in my literary journey because for the first time in my life, I experienced writing as my own source of expression. Before, I never understood that writing isn’t the ink on paper, but an extension of myself.
ReplyDeleteGoing to college and my family for long periods of times was probably one of the hardest moments of my life. Leaving my family was a déjà vu of me leaving my friends when my family and I immigrated to the US. Before the day I leave my parents and my sister I watched the same sadness that I saw in my friends eyes that rips my heart apart. Since I left Egypt three years ago I think to myself everyday how can I move on with my life while there is so much left behind, how can I pick up the threads of an old life that I know deep in my heart I won’t be able to apart of it any more. The tears in my parents eyes before leaving taking on the long road of college reminded me of how much my friends cried when I left Egypt, reminded me of how much pain I have caused and put my friends through. The only thing that got me out of this endless vortex of regret and pain are my parents smiles mixed with tears that told me they are loving and supporting me no matter what happens.
ReplyDeleteI will write about my experience of graduation and sending off to school (DU). When I graduated I received letters from really important people in life, like Aunts, my brother, dance instructors, family friends etc.The letters were filled with words of encouragement and support, also life lessons and flattery. The difficult problem with this will be creating it into a story and finding a tension or excitement in the narrative. I think the tension will be realizing that life won't always be easy and those around me are subtly trying to convey that to me. The sadness of leaving family and best friends behind will also be conveyed in my narrative.
ReplyDelete