Everybody's Got A Story

It's true - everybody does have a story. Some stories are sad, while others are uplifting; some stories make us laugh, and yet others make us pause and think. What's your story? Relax. Have something cool to drink, and tell me all about it.

Narrative writing is simply telling a story. Now, there are at least two ways to  do that, right? You can tell only the important points - the bare outline - or you can embellish it with details. Which one would you rather hear? Narrative writing isn't like writing a report or an outline; narrative writing depends on those lovely details that enliven the facts and make us lean in closer so we don't miss a word. Of course, there has to be a point. And that point should be made clear to the reader. Some writers make that point early on, while others save it until the very last so it can make a definite impact. Bear in mind, though, that without making the point clear to the writer, why bother to tell your story at all? It's like the bad joke teller who forgets the punchline. All that effort was pointless , reminding me of Oblio in the Pointless Forest. Oh, you don't know the story? Click here and enjoy a little nostalgia about making a point. 

Blog Assignment:  On page 88 in the textbook, select either #2, #10, or #13 and write a narrative paragraph. Be sure to provide a topic sentence that clearly states your point.

My Response:  To look at me, most people would never guess that I have Latino blood. Taking only my last name into consideration, people think I am just a white girl of Irish descent, but McDonald is my married name. Few people know that my family name of birth is Diaz, and because of this lack of knowledge, and the incorrect assumption that I am just a "white girl," they feel free to spout their prejudices in front of me. They really are surprised, however, when my true identity is revealed. Let me confess a rather unusual incident. I was shopping one Saturday with my mother in  Miami's "Garment District" when I was in my twenties. We were in a certain manufacturer's shop looking at dresses and we had made several trips back and forth between the racks and the fitting rooms. By the time we were ready to check out, we both had three or four items apiece that we were planning to buy. We weren't the only ones in line, but we were clearly the second and third customers at the checkout. We were also the only ones not chattering away in Spanish. The sales ladies at the registers were plainly ignoring us, calling out in Spanish to the obviously Latin women in line around  us and beckoning them to bump us and come up to the register. My mother, who was in every sense of the word a lady, patiently stood her place in line, but when the women at the register began laughing at us and calling us ignorant "gringas," my regal mother replied back in perfect Spanish that they were the ignorant ones for assuming we did not understand their rude comments just because we didn't look like the other Latin women in the store. She directed me - in Spanish - to drop the designer clothes that we were planning to buy on the floor (easily worth several hundred dollars) and leave before paying customers could be insulted any further. You should have been there to see the horrified looks on their faces as we promptly left the store. Prejudice, in whatever form it comes, is a monstrous creature that should be slain with a silver bullet before humans get hurt. 

Your Turn:

Sign in and post your assignment in the Comment box. Preview your response so you can see what you need to correct. Make your corrections and click the Post Comment button. Please be sure to post your response no later than midnight of October 12. Remember your Engrade option is still available should you need it; look for Blog #6.

It's All About the Right Step at the Right Time

Do you watch "Dancing with the Stars"? It's one of my favorite TV reality shows. I admire the contestants; they have to learn two new dances each week and perform them with expertise. Imagine how successful the contestants would be if their partners, who are renowned dancers, didn't present the steps in order. While one moves this way, the other would move in a different direction with his or her feet doing something completely different. The outcome would be embarrassing. Process writing is exactly the same -- it's all about presenting the right step at the right time.

Successful process writing involves knowing your subject matter intimately. You are telling another person what to do, in exactly the correct order, using the exact materials needed in order to achieve a desired outcome. You can see how planning, as well as transition words and phrases, become extremely important to competent process writing.

Blog Assignment:  On page 107 in the textbook, select either #2, #8, or #10 and write a process paragraph. Be sure to provide a topic sentence. 

My Response:   Last week I made one of the best meals ever - in spite of burning the sauce! I had been thinking about the combination of ingredients all day and I knew exactly what I was going to do to prepare this dish. When I got home from work, I laid out all the ingredients and began to cook. I forgot to turn the heat down to a simmer when I covered the saute pan, but I won't ever forget that again. Even my husband, who never eats olives, consumed every bit of his portion and asked for more. What more could a cook want?  So, paying careful attention to all the details, I am sharing the steps to creating my healthy, low fat "Mediterranean Chicken Thighs."

6 skinless, chicken thighs, all visible fat removed

1/2 large red onion, thinly sliced

4 large cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

4 canned artichoke hearts, quartered lengthwise

12 pitted Greek salad olives, sliced

1/2 cup chopped eggplant flesh

1/2 cup low fat, low sodium chicken broth

2 Tablespoons Greek seasoning

spray oil

Spray a large saute pan with the cooking oil. Saute the onions for three minutes, until they begin to soften. Add the sliced garlic and continue to cook for 1 more minute. Move the cooked vegetables to the side of the pan. Place the chicken thighs in the center of the saute pan and season the accessible side with 1 Tablespoon of the Greek seasoning. Cook for 2 minutes. Flip the chicken thighs and season the browned side with the rest of the Greek seasoning. Move the cooked onion and garlic onto the top of the seasoned chicken thighs. Add the chopped olives, artichoke hearts, and eggplant flesh to the top of the chicken. Add the chicken broth to the pan. Cover, lower the heat, and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve over a bed of couscous (or your favorite side dish), spooning the sauce over everything. Enjoy!

Your Turn:

Sign in and post your assignment in the Comment box. Preview your response so you can see what you need to correct. Make your corrections and click the Post Comment button. Please be sure to post your response no later than midnight of October 5. Remember your Engrade option is still available should you need it; look for Blog #5.

Two Sides (at least) to Everything

It's true; there are at least two sides to every story, every issue, and just about everything. And that's where comparison and contrast come into the picture.  We have to be able to look at the details and see where they are the same and where they differ if we are going to have any valid opinion of our own. So, how  do you accomplish this in a piece of writing.  Well, there are two ways to approach a comparison/contrast piece: (1) you can tell all about Thing A, and then you can tell about Thing B, being sure to line the details up in the same order, or (2) you can approach the topic one point at a time (usually with each point in a separate paragraph when you are writing an essay) discussing that point in relationship to Thing A and also to Thing B. Those transition words and phrases will keep the reader on track, so be sure to use them carefully.

Keep reading for more clarification.

Blog Assignment:  On page 135 in the textbook, select either #3, #7, or 9 and write a comparison and contrast paragraph. Be sure to provide a topic sentence.

My Response:  When I have the chance, I prefer to do my grocery shopping at Sam's Club rather than at Publix. Both Publix and Sam's Club are kept spotless, so either one of these two stores rank high on my list of favorite places to shop for everyday needs. However, while Publix seems to have a greater variety of products, all the products at Sam's (including the Member's Mark brand) are high quality products.  So, instead of having to wade through 60 different flavors or varieties of coffee at Publix, I can compare eight products before I make my decision, which saves me a lot of time. Another reason I prefer to shop at Sam's Club is that I get more product for my dollar, and this is usually true even when an item is "buy one, get one free" at Publix. For example, let's say I have chosen to buy some soup. At Publix I will pay $2.15 for a can of Healthy Select, times 6 cans, and my price is over $12.00!  On the other hand, I can buy a case of six cans for $7.99 at Sam's. And that's only one item. While I may not have the extensive variety of fresh fruit and vegetables that are available at Publix, when I purchase fruit and vegetables from Sam's I get much more for a smaller cost. I can get a pound of blackberries for $3.95 at Sam's instead of paying $4.95 for 10 ounces. It's a no-brainer for me -- when I have the chance, I shop at Sam's Club.

Your Turn:

Sign in and post your assignment in the Comment box. Preview your response so you can see what you need to correct. Make your corrections and click the Post Comment button. Please be sure to post your response no later than midnight of September 28. Remember your Engrade option is still available should you need it; look for Blog #4.

Illustration -- Give Me an Example and I'll Catch On

People often try to impress us with their fancy words and unintelligible concepts; however, I am one of those people who, when given a choice, prefers to encounter an example in order to really get at the idea someone is trying to present.  The example can take many different forms. The point is that the concrete illuminates the abstract. So, let's see what that looks like when applied to a paragraph.

Blog Assignment:  On page 80 in the textbook, select either #2, #5, or #12 and write an illustration paragraph. The topic sentence has been given to you. Now all you have to do is construct a paragraph that gives at least one example.

My Response:

Eating disorders harm people in many ways. Often, those negative consequences don't show up for a long time, but when they do, they can last for a lifetime. Take, for example, my sister. At the age of fourteen she was involved in her first "romantic" relationship. The break up with her boyfriend occurred around the same time that our father decided he was leaving our mother. My sister felt as though she was subject to the whims of other people in her life, so she looked to the one area in which she absolutely could exert control: what she put into her mouth. Subconsciously decided, my sister became anorexic. For well over a year she consumed only black coffee and jello. She lost a huge amount of weight (she weighed 54 pounds) that she kept off for several years. I remember being with her in the dressing room of a department store. She wore only her undergarments and she held onto her thighs as she looked into the full length mirror. Her words were, "I can't believe I am so fat." The reflection I saw through my tears was the image of a Holocaust survivor. After several years in therapy, my sister finally regained  normal control over her eating, but even though she began to gain weight, she lost all her hair. Not only did she lose the hair on her head, but she lost it from inside her nose, lost her eyebrows, eyelashes, and even the hair on her arms and legs. The rare condition, which is a direct result of having starved her body for so many years, is called alopecia areata. Today she weeps about the unintended negative consequences -- her hairlessness being only one -- that her eating disorder has caused.

Your Turn:

Sign in and post your assignment in the Comment box. Preview your response so you can see what you need to correct. Make your corrections and click the Post Comment button. Please be sure to post your response no later than midnight of September 21.

Descriptions and Introductions

As odd as it may seem, these two ideas really do go together. When we are introduced to someone for the first time, we tend to focus on features that will help us remember his or her name. See the connection?

Description is an amazing tool in the writer's "bag of tricks;" it is one thing, if done right, that can keep the reader focused on the writing. I find that the books I love best are penned by authors who are superskilled in description. Sure, I like action and even some semi-steamy scenes, but a good description helps the movie in my mind become so much better than what I can see on the big screen.  Don't forget that a good introduction grabs the reader's attention in some way, going from the general to the specific, and ends with a strong, 3-part thesis statement. So, having said all that, let's get started.

Blog Assignment: There are two!  (1) p. 51, Writing Assignment 2, Paragraph 2; and (2) p. 205, Writing Assignment 1, write an introductory paragraph for any two statements listed.

My Response:

Description:  My sister's face is indelibly etched in my memory. Maybe that's because we are seven years apart and had more of a mother-daughter relationship than a sister to sister one. Because of a uniquely rare autoimmune disease, she is bald. She once had amazingly thick mahogany colored hair that she labored over for hours on end as a teenager. Now she wishes for a bad hair day! Since this disease has removed ALL hair from her body, she doesn't have any eyebrows. Needing to bolster her self-esteem, she had her eyebrows  tattooed, and the casual observer would never know. Those lovely eyebrows frame one of her best features -- large, intelligent, doe-like brown eyes that watch every move you make. Her nose has a slight crook in it from the many times she has broken it, but it is one of those features that make you smile because of its slight imperfection. You would definitely notice her full, movie star pouty lips. They frame large, white teeth that are always showing because she is almost always smiling (she's definitely always talking so you'd see them either way). All in all, my sister is a Latin beauty whose imperfections only point to how beautiful she is -- inside and out.

Introductions: (Remember, you MUST do two, even though I am doing only one.)  Oh, that summer sun is smiling down from a cloudless blue sky. I have two weeks off and I know I need to take a vacation.  It's been about ten years since I have had the opportunity to plan a vacation, but this year I'm going to do it. I've been to the Caribbean islands, Mexico, and Costa Rica. If I had to pick one to revisit, I'd return to Costa Rica. Costa Rica is a wonderful vacation destination because you can experience a tropical cloud forest, you can enjoy its immaculate black sand beaches, and you can visit the once active volcano Irazu.

Your Turn:

Sign in and post your assignment in the Comment box. Preview your response so you can see what you need to correct. Make your corrections and click the Post Comment button. Remember you have two different activities to complete for this posting. Please be sure to post your response no later than midnight of September 14. 

Fall Semester -- Blog 1

Welcome to our class blog. For many of you, this will be the first time you have participated in a blog (an online journal). Since this is an academic blog, I will expect to see -- over time -- improvement in your writing. When you post, pay special attention to spelling, whether or not your message is clear, and the use of punctation. Each time you have to post, you should see my example. Ready? Here goes!

Blog Assignment: Select either #2, #7, or #12 from page 16 of your textbook and post your response.

My Response:

The quotations listed below are among my favorites. They come from the "Quotation Bank" at the end of the textbook.

1. "He who does not hope to win has already lost." Jose Joaquin de Olmedo
2. "The first duty of love is to listen." Paul Tillich
3. "Your children need your presence more than your presents." Jesse Jackson
4. "A smile is the shortest distance between two people." Victor Borge
5. "If you can't change your fate, change your attitude." Amy Tan

Your Turn:

Sign in and post your assignment in the Comment box. Preview your response so you can see what you need to correct. Make your corrections and click the Post Comment button. Remember you can select any one of the three options. Please be sure to post your response no later than midnight of September 7.

My Favorite Things

How often do we think about the things that we love? Those things should be showing up repeatedly in our pieces of writing, so some exploration of what those things are is essential to writing more specifically. Take a few moments and create your own list. Add to it as time goes by. Post it someplace visible in the area in which you prefer to write. We'll be coming back to this list and using some things in later prompts.

Prompt: "...Write a list of a few of your favorite things. If possible, don't stop at a few. Write a list of a lot of your favorite things -- foods, activities, possessions, seasons, settings, whatever comes to mind...Pick an item from your list and explore it, giving your reasons for liking the item or developing a history, perhaps, of how long you've liked it, what associations it hold for you, particular memories of enjoying the item" (The Writer's Idea Book, p. 53).

My response:  Gardenias, cats, Puerto Rican pasteles, the color purple, Preston & Child novels, exploring the internet, singing, hot showers, lying in the sun, books by Sarah Dessen, coloring, throwing dinner parties, bed sheets with patterns in vivid colors, air conditioning, the sound of the waves crashing onto the beach, the sound of the wind clacking the palm fronds, a baby's attempts at speaking, libraries, bookstores, second-hand stores, Gran-Becky's diamond wedding ring, stucco houses -- inside and out, tropical gardens, taking photographs, winter in Florida, snow skiing, museums, the tangy salt smell of the ocean, smiling, giving and getting hugs, kissing, jazz, vegetable biryani, mangoes, my grown-up daughter, Chaleur d'animale perfume, massages, scrabble, steampunk novels, Apple computers, seeing God all around me, ice cold stone crab claws with mustard sauce, purple sunsets, Midnight Oil coffee, pirates, history, Native American Indian culture.

Salt water runs through my veins. I'm not sure when or how my fascination with the ocean began. Perhaps it exists because I am a water sign -- Cancer, the crab. Maybe its roots go even deeper. I have been told I am related to the pirate Jean Lafitte, but even if I am not, all things seaworthy hold a fascination for me. Some of my fondest memories are anchored in the salt, like being awoken at 3 a.m. to be stowed like cargo in the backseat while my dad steered the family to Key Largo, where he would submit our 19-footer to the temporarily placid Atlantic. I can clearly recall the sound of the car's tires racing over the road and the rhythmic, hypnotizing thump-thump as we passed over the highway's expansion joints. Once the boat was launched, my place was perched on the prow, legs crossed Indian-style, clutching the anchor's rope. My spirit was free as we soared over the water, spray and wind bathing me in a salty perfume. I didn't care whether or not I caught any fish, though I was a  decent fisherwoman and usually hooked my share of the day's haul. For me, the snare was my developing love with the sea.