SENIOR PORTFOLIO
INTRODUCTION
"Mirror reflections" of younger selves ...kind of what you'll be doing for this portfolio
FORMAT
ALL PIECES
- Label everything with title in "" and your name
- Though you are welcome to play with font style and color, make sure that in Times New Roman, size 12 font, your written pieces are at least one page, double-spaced
HELP WITH COVER:
- A collection of book covers (from 2011-1996); these covers manage to introduce the many nuances, details, characters, and conflicts that the story within narrates
- Use these as inspiration for your own cover - one that should hint at everything you are (or know yourself to be)
- Memoir covers on Pinterest; Google Image search results for memoir covers
- BRAINSTORM
HELP WITH DEDICATION:
- Collection of some funny, thoughtful, silly dedications
- Barnes & Noble collection of dedications
You are welcome to write
a simple, single line
HELP WITH LIFE'S THESIS:
- NPR's THIS I BELIEVE series may help you; featured pieces
- David Brooks' LIFE REPORT, a series that asks people 70 and over to give some life advice (click here for featured essays)
- Brainstorm questions
- Commencement Speeches: these often serve as a sort of Life's Thesis
- My sample Life's Thesis statements from previous years
HELP WITH NON-FICTION PIECES:
- STORIES told through images, audio, poetry, etc. (Iconic black & white images colorized; notice how the color makes the photo's subjects much more "human" and relatable (& here))
- HELP WITH POEMS:
- General help here
- Learning how to write poetry by learning how to read poetry
- NARRATIVE POEMS: cool examples - Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market," Chen Chen's "Poem by Noisy Mouthfuls," Margaret Avison's "New Year's Poem," here, here, here, and many others
- My Examples
- SAMPLE STORIES:
- Great collection of memoir pieces (by the likes of David Sedaris and Lena Dunham
(and some more here))
- Some more sample stories
- HOW TO WRITE A MEMOIR:
- Useful resources, tips, & characteristics
- Wonderful (though lengthy) essay written by William Zinsser on memoir writing
- HOW TO USE SETTING: here
- Historical Context: see what was happening in the world during some of your memories
* WRITERS ON WRITING:
- AWESOME collection of essays by writers on writing (their advice runs the gamut and reminds us that what works is different for every single one of us)
- one author's advice on how to use your real life in stories
- Quotes from writers
SUPPLEMENTALS:
Visual Memoir Piece:
Iowa State Examples, more examples, my example
Video Memoir Piece:
A sample (you don't have to do it this way), student sample (again, this is just one way to do it)
Musical Memoir Piece:
How music stores memories, music and unlocking the memories of Alzheimer's patients, famous songs that reveal real moments
Your Life’s Soundtrack:
To get you started, look here and here
Your Virtual Footprints:
Haven't tried this but check this out to track your earliest online posts, the history of text messages (article; kind of interesting)
Your Life’s “Look Book”:
A Bucket List:
The pros and cons of bucket lists, some examples/items, a collection of bucket lists, video, and my sample
A Letter to Your Younger Self:
NYTimes sample; advice from older students to younger students; an excerpt from my sample
Family Genealogy:
Video, another video on the "official" way to do it, more basic version, chart to help you make sense of all the family relationships
OTHER:
Before beginning work on another option, please check with me
INTERVIEW/AUDIO:
TIPS:
- Jot down 5-10 questions before your interview - something to fall back on during conversation lulls
- Give your interviewee the questions and ask her to choose one with which to begin
- Ease into the tough or weighty questions, don’t throw them into the deep end right away.
- Do ask them the questions you are interested in having answered
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
- Tips for professional writers
- A sample acknowledgements page from a dissertation (though this is not a full page)
- Acceptance Speeches as inspiration
- Acknowledgments Brainstorm
- My sample acknowledgments pages
