Over the next few weeks, we will do a series of informal writings. These writings have three purposes:
1) to give us all an opportunity to know more about each other;
2) to allow us to practice a range of writing skills;
3) to explore in our own lives the themes and issues of this semester’s readings.
Each writing should take about 40-45 minutes to think, draft, and revise.
Try to develop one idea in each piece and write 300-500 words on each topic. Remember, these writings are not meant to be finished pieces. What is important is that you try to develop your thinking on each topic.
These pieces are to be read aloud in class, so do not write something you would not be comfortable sharing with the group.
If you do each writing on time and have the completed piece prepared to to be read in class, your grade will be A. Miss one, the grade will be B+; two, B; three B-; four C+ and so on
1. Theme Song: Everyone has to have a theme song. What is a theme song? A theme song is a song that no matter how awful you feel or no matter how hard a day you have had makes you feel good! You only get to choose ONE! So, think over all the songs you know and select one that is your theme song. Write about why the song is your theme song. See below for my piece on my theme song as a model. Then bring in the song on a CD so we can hear it!
2. The Object: Choose an object (one that you can bring to class) that best represents what you can bring to the class. Write about how the object represents that personal quality/characteristic/element.
3. One world we share is the world of reading. Choose a world you have explored in your reading before the age of ten. You could write about childhood books you loved or a series of books you read in middle school. You need to write at least one paragraph about the world the books offered you and then another paragraph on why you loved them so much. If you have not yet come to love books, then write about your best reading experience or your feelings about reading.
4. Another world we share is the world of AFS. Choose an aspect of this world you like and write about why you like it. Then, select an aspect of this world you would like to change and write about why you would like to change it. Remember to do both parts of the question (at least two paragraphs).
5. In class, we developed a list of different “worlds” which people live in, know, and experience. Select one “world” you feel very much a part of and comfortable in and write about it. The world could be the world of your grandfather’s workshop or the world of camp. However you define it, you need to write about both what the world is made of and why you feel so comfortable in it (at least two paragraphs).
6. Select one “world” you live in and yet do not feel comfortable in and write about it. The world could be the world of a school you attended or any other place where you had to spend time. However you define it, you need to write about both what the world is made of and why you feel so uncomfortable in it (at least two paragraphs).
7. Write about a new “world” you have recently begun to know or explore. Explain both what drew you into the world and what your experience is so far (at least two paragraphs.
8. Write about a world you would like to be a part of or know. Explain both what it is that interests you about this world and how you hope to be a part of it (at least two paragraphs).
9. Write about a world you have “lost” or are no longer a part of. It may be a part of your childhood or may be an activity you are no longer able to do or are no longer interested in. The world should be a loss which makes you feel some regret at the change. Explain both what it is that you have lost and why you feel regret (at least two paragraphs).
10.Write about a time you experienced a conflict between your world and another world. Answer in three parts: What the conflict was, how it developed, and how it was resolved or not (at least two paragraphs).
11. Without going into detail about the act itself, write about a time when you did something you knew to be wrong. Write about: How did you decide to do it? How did you feel afterwards? (at least two paragraphs)
12. Every family has qualities or ideas which it thinks are important. Sometimes these values are explicit in a family; sometimes these values are implied or unspoken. Whatever the value is, a family expresses or shows that value by what it does or says and by what it does not do or does not say. As a young person grows up, s/he may come into conflict with the values of her/his parents. First, write about one value important to your family and explain how and why your family expresses it. Second, explain whether you accept or reject that value, why you accept or reject it, and how you express your feeling. (at least three paragraphs)
13. Agree or disagree with this quote: “There is no such thing as acting out of character. Each of us has within the germ of our most exceptional action.”
Model for Theme Song: About 375 words
My theme song is “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor. I first heard this song over thirty years ago when the song first came out and I have loved it ever since. When I think about a theme song, a song that always, always, always lifts my spirits, this one comes to mind. There are other songs I love, of course, because the melody is wonderful or the lyrics are memorable; there are other songs that make me feel want to dance. But this is my signature song.
Why? The song describes fear and self-doubt and the long process through which a person comes to see her own strength and feel her own emotional resilience. The story of the song is getting over a break-up, an event that is certain to make anyone doubt whether she can move on and trust again. A break up of a relationship, the end of love, is certainly one of the hardest experiences anyone can have. In my own life, I have felt that terrible pain at the loss of someone’s love and remember the feeling that you can’t even breathe because you hurt so much. As if your life is over. As if you’ll never stop crying. But your life isn’t over, of course. You will stop crying. You will stop hurting. You will survive.
But I think the break up is a metaphor for all of life’s hardship and adversity. “AT FIRST I WAS AFRAID. I WAS PETRIFIED. THINKING I COULD NEVER …” fill in the blank: get out of bed in the morning, live, succeed, love myself again, love others again, try to do something difficult. The person in the song finds the courage inside herself. She begins to feel her strength. She becomes a new person. And she is not subject to the same feelings or behaviors that she was subject to before. She has endured. She has survived. She can’t go back to those old feelings.
I love this song because it is a reminder that I will, indeed, survive. Even when things seem to be at their worst. AND I WILL HOLD MY HEAD UP HIGH. Also because it is a reminder that the only certain change is the change we make in ourselves.