Narrative Writing: The Power of Memories

www.quotegarden.com prominently displays this telling quote about memories:

     "Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose"  (from the television show The Wonder Years).

Memories are powerful. Certain foods and certain scents trigger delightful memories for me. Other memories are painful and I want to bury them.  Whenever I hear the Beatles' tune Hey Jude, I can't help but be transported back to a time I would much rather forget. Whether my memories are positive or negative, they are, as the above quote says, "ways of holding on." 

Your task: Tell the story behind one of your memories. You decide if you want to relate a positive or a negative memory. Remember that details count. Your  work should show that you have a firm grasp of grammar mechanics in your response. Preview your response and make the necessary changes before you hit the "publish" button.

My response: The smell of gardenias reminds me of my paternal grandmother. Her name was Josefina. Abuela took care of me and my sister when we were young girls. She lived with my Titi Marta and her two sons, but she ruled that house as if it were her own. Her bedroom was at the end of the hall, opposite the Master Bedroom. Outside of her bedroom window was a gardenia bush. The heady fragrance of those flowers would penetrate the closed jalousie windows nearly all year. I can remember lying on her bed in the middle of the day, secretly reading her crime magazines, the smell of those gardenias intermingling with mouthwatering smells wafting down the hallway. To this day, the best food I remember ever eating was made by Abuela. In fact, I have spent my life trying to approximate her undisclosed recipe for pasteles. Whenever I spent the night, I had to sleep with Abuela. I always did my best to fall asleep before she did, otherwise her rumbling, thunderous snores would keep me up all night. Today, I have a gardenia bush outside my front door and I work hard to emulate her piquant cooking. Maybe one day my grandchildren will hold on to fond memories of me as well.

Post your response no later than midnight, March 22.

Description: The Art of Showing

Everyone has heard that showing is better than telling. Haven't we been told repeatedly that "a picture is worth a thousand words"? I think the allure about showing as a writing technique is that the reader gets to put the pieces together and draw their own conclusions about the information given. It's a puzzle to be solved and though we may get stumped, we really enjoy the challenge of figuring things out. Hopefully, this perspective will give some depth to your attitude about description.

Your task: Describe someone’s hands so we know what he or she does for a living (without you telling us).

My response: Her hands were broad and sturdy. Her squat fingers were gently bent like young saplings that had seen too much of an eastern wind. They were rough and calloused, the nails cropped short for her everyday work. Those dull and unadorned nails, naked to the elements, hid hints of cinnabar and turquoise in the cuticles and surrounding ridges of her knuckles. She looked at them in despair, knowing that no one-time application of Shea butter would make those worn hands presentable for the night's exhibition.

I know this is a late blog posting. Please forgive me as I was consumed with activities from my daytime job. So, because it is late, you have until 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 17, to post your response. Have fun with this assignment!

The Creative Spark

Children love to explore. They are unhampered by thoughts of messing up or failing to do something just right. Coloring outside the lines looks just as good as coloring inside the lines to a child. Pablo Picasso said that "every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” What is YOUR art, and what are some of the challenges you face that prevent you from allowing your childhood artist to emerge?

Remember you should post no later than midnight on 3-15-11.

Here's my response: My art is writing. When I was a child, I would cut pictures out of magazines and paste them on pieces of construction paper. Underneath the pictures, I would write a story that tied all the pictures together. I would bind the pages together, create a title page, and present these books to loved ones. It is my desire to become a published writer, but one of the things that holds me back is a lack of time. There are so many other things I let impinge on my time that I don't feel I have adequate time to write. However, if I just sat down at a certain time every day and wrote for even half an hour, I would get closer to letting that child artist within come peeking out.

Coping

Are you fearful or anxious in certain situations?  I know plenty of people who avoid elevators, though they don't both me at all. Others I know refuse to travel on an airplane, or drive on I-95.  Every person, if he or she is honest, experiences anxiety about something.  In your assignment this week, you will tell about ONE thing that causes you to be fearful or nervous. If you have been lucky enough to overcome that thing, explain how you did so. If, on the other hand, you have to use coping mechanisms, then you should explain what those devices might be.

Here's my example:  I have always been afraid of cockroaches. Just the name of this creature sends shivers down my spine. I blame my irrational fear on my dad who, knowing about my fear, tried to "cure" it (ha, ha, ha) by chasing me around the house with a dead roach on the end of a flyswatter. I knew the dreaded insect was dead; however, that did nothing to stop my incessant screaming nor did it cure me of my fear. It was only when I became an adult and had to deal with cockroaches on my own that I learned to cope with this dysfunctional anxiety. Now, that is not to say that I am not initially paralyzed by my first encounter with one when I turn on a light and see those twitching antennae.  I have learned, though, to face my fear by running out of the room and grabbing a can of Raid, running back into the room, and spraying it with what amounts to a lake of chemicals. Thank God for insecticide! And thank God that I know how to keep a clean home so that I don't have to encounter this vile creature very often.

Okay. Now it is your turn.  remember to use vivid and descriptive language, correcting grammar errors (to the best of your ability) before you publish. You have until midnight on March 1st to post your response.

Prof. McD

Lifelong Learning

School is not the only place where learning occurs. We should be learning something every day we are alive. What have you learned this week? (Nothing academic please!)  Remember to use the R.A.G.E. writing strategy, to  properly punctuate your response, and to apply the appropriate grammar points we have learned in class so far.  Please respond by midnight on Tuesday, 2/22/11.

My response: I have learned that the older I get, the harder it is for me to operate on a shortage of sleep. When I consistently get too little sleep, I am easily distracted and much more serious than I need to be. To keep my joy and sense of humor, I need at least 7 hours of sleep.  Good night!

100% You!

Each one of us associates with specific groups of people in our world. Often we don't reflect upon those groups, but I am going to ask you to do just that because, even though the groups may change over time, our connection with them helps define who we are.

Here's your assignment: Carefully consider the groups with which you can identify and claim kinship. List the groups and assign a percentage to each one until you reach 100%. You must have at least five (5) groups listed.

Here's my response: I am 30% Christian (I'd like to say 100%, but based upon the restrictions of this assignment I cannot go higher without disregarding the instructions); 20% wife and mother; 15% reader and learner; 10% teacher; 10% creative blogger & photographer; 7% singer; 5% Cuban-American; and 3% Italian-American. That's 100% me!

Colorful Writing

Using original similes and other figurative language is one way to take your writing to the next level. For me, encountering a well-constructed sentence is like being kissed by a young Sean Connery. It is a totally breathless, heart-pounding experience. I am amazed at the level of purposeful creativity that has birthed such an incredible image. 

The only way to become a more colorful writer, of course, is by practicing. So, this week's  assignment will require you to think -- and write -- outside the box. Oops! That's way too cliche. Uh, let me rephrase that. This assignment will catapult you into thinking beyond and writing above your standard phrasing or comparisons. 

Here's your task: What is the color of hunger? Why is that true?

Here's my example: The color of hunger is unpolished copper.  It is a cloudy shine that demands your attention while trying not to dazzle you. To do so might blind you to its importance.

Be sure to post no later than midnight on February 8, 2011.