{LAD} Fair Play

Please decide on at least 3 pieces of your writing (as is from your blog or reworked a bit, maybe even something you've written in your journal or on your own) to submit to the LAD Fair today or tomorrow and follow these steps:

1.  Email all 3 (or more if you choose) pieces to me at hfraser@spsmail.org as attachments, in a single message or separately. In the message, let me know what category you're thinking for each piece.  Be sure to include a title for each.

2. Fill out the BOTTOM only of the gold half-sheet entry form (your name and signature).

3. Turn in your gold forms to me.

Thanks!  I know all of you have done work that you can be proud of...

Keeping it REAL

New Post today: Share your thoughtful answers to 4-5 of the Dan In Real Life questions. Include an image.  This post should be at least 300 words.

Our schedule for this week (our last! boo hoo!):

Monday: Dan in Real Life post + Pulitzer Prize Photos Writing post

Tuesday:  Final Reflection Post on your blog + any catch up

Wednesday:  JOURNAL due--20 new (unstamped) full pages (some is better than none) + Field Trip to Panera--bring signed permission slip

Thursday:  Last day activities (no school Friday!)

Any extra journals you do can be counted for extra credit. Let me know if you've done some late posts on your blog that you need credit for.

If you have any pieces you've written for this class, for other classes, or on your own this year, I'd love for you to submit them to me for possible use in Think. Magazine. Email them to me if possible before the end of this week. Much love...

Pulitzer Prizes and Some Ice

Your post today should come from some of the journal pages that you wrote last Wednesday about the photographs.  I looked for the photographs online but was not able to find them so I have described the four different options that you have to write about.





1. You wrote an "I am" poem about a large woman in dirty old clothes.  Her eyes were a little crazed and you learned that she was a migrant worker who lived an incredibly tough life.







2. You wrote the thoughts or feelings of a young man breaking apart the graffiti covered Berlin wall.  He was dressed in black and had an intense look on his face as he held up a hammer to crash against the wall.






3. I showed a few photos of ice covered plants and you wrote your memories of the ice storm that happened in 2006/2007. You can find the photo again at the following link: http://www.imagesbysandra.com/p70344088/e2d73a3ac


4. You wrote the background story behind a photo of hundreds or thousands of people walking with their belongings in their arms.  The land around them was desolate and their clothes looked like they were ready to fall apart.  After you wrote your stories, we discussed that they were refugees from the Hutu/Tsutsi conflict.



Your assignment is to post two of those pieces that you wrote.  Please make a separate blog post for each one.  

Movie time

Do a second New Post today answering the following questions about your preferences in movies.

• Tell us about your favorite movie and why you like it.
• Tell us about the kinds of movies you don't care for usually.
• Tell us about how often and where you usually watch movies.
• Tell us about what you need for movie viewing (environment, food, company, etc.)
• Tell us about what this survey says about you.
• If my life story was made into a movie...

Include images in this post also. Thanks!

This is...photo poems/prose

I like this image...it's a print available at one of my favorite websites called Etsy, where you can buy all sorts of vintage and handmade goods. So much creativity and inspiration there...have a look some time.

Today I'd like you to do a New Post on your own blog with some writing about one of your own photos inspired by Katy Barber's "Photograph 1969." I'll leave it up to you to decide whether you'd like to arrange your words as a poem or a short piece of prose. I'll be looking for a vivid description of what we can actually see in the photo, followed by that "twist" we discussed in class yesterday, where you intimate or imply what else is "in" the photo...an understanding, an observation, a hint at something that came later...something more. Please include the photo in your post. If you don't have a photo of your own or find that too personal, find a striking or interesting photo that speaks to you on the internet or in a magazine and write about it in this same way instead.

Photograph 1969 by Katy Barber

This is my mother
lifting her hair long
like a low whistle
off her neck
These are her fingers
caught in the tangles
of brown and gold caught in
silver earrings
This is my father
reaching through the lens
to touch the edge
of a new family
to touch her opening belly
under her full dress

This is existing
before I exist

This is me growing up
against their lives
him watching for a sharp
breath from her looking out
onto the border of birth
this is bumping us into three

Through the window..

Fingers crossed for a snow day this week???
Leave a comment on this post telling us what you'll do with your snow day
if we get one and/or what you think our chances are...

Create a New Post on your blog today with the Window Poem you created in your journal during class.  Feel free to add to or revise.  Include at least one image.

Here's my example...As you can see, I didn't follow directions and wrote about the view looking into a window (my neighbors'!  creeper!) rather than out.

Window Poem:  On the Birth of Alex C.

I see chili pepper barstools

through the kitchen window

of the house next door--

barstools I wouldn't have chosen

but a dining table I might have

and a pantry I envy.

The man of the house

ducks down quickly behind that table,

shielding himself from the glow

of my headlights, but I still see

he's in only his tightie-whities.

Tonight the lights are still on

long after my neighbors' normal bedtime.

New babies always disrupt schedules,

change lives completely.

Melting ice drips from the gutter

above the window onto mounds of

lingering, dirty snow on the driveway

between our two houses.

Shiny balloons float above the table

heralding congratulations upon

the family's new arrival.

A new mother leans for a moment

against the kitchen counter

trying to catch her breath.



Inspiring images

Photo #1

Photo #2

Photo #3

Photo #4

Photo #5

Photo #6

Photo #7

Photo #8

Photo #9

Photo #10

Please do a New Post today on your blog inspired by one of these images and following these steps:

1. Add the image to your post. (You can right-click the image and save it on your computer to upload, or you can click the link below the photo and copy/paste the url--sometimes you lose the image later when you do it this way).

2. Write a prose paragraph of about 300 words inspired by the image (a fictional story, a personal memory, a vivid description...whatever comes to mind).

3. Then rearrange the exact same words in your paragraph as a free verse poem (like we did with the horoscope sentences). Experiment with the font if you'd like.

Example--yours should be a bit longer at 300 words (inspired by Photo #10):

Prose:

He put his hand on the back of my neck and kissed me, like he knew just who I was and what I wanted, that I loved summer nights and big, thick books, dancing and chocolate milk. I just closed my eyes. I didn't know if his favorite color was red or blue, if he liked Italian or Chinese.

Poem:

He put his hand
on the back
of my neck
and kissed me

like he knew
just who I was and
what I wanted

that I loved summer nights
and big, thick books
dancing
and chocolate milk

I just closed my eyes

I didn't know
if his favorite color
was red or blue
if he liked
Italian or Chinese.

For this week and next: I know it will be hard to remember, but I'd like you to bring in some images of your own to inspire some writing--your own photos, snapshots, family pictures or even images you've come across in magazines or on the web. Could you get these photos onto your phone or flash drive so you can upload them to your blog at some point later this week or next?

Also today, please review your grade check and makeup any posts you're missing or add to posts you haven't earned all the points for.

Keep writing in your journal on your own this week.  We will be busy and might not have time to fill any pages together.

Thanks so much...

The language of flowers

Take a look at the color you were going for on our carnation dye project and consider the suggested meanings from buzzle.com below.  In a New Post on your blog, write a 12+ line poem that relates to one of the feelings or themes mentioned in connection to your color below.  Include an image.  You could think of a time you felt that way and describe it, or you could make up a ficitonal scenario. 

• Yellow: A yellow flower is a symbol of happiness, friendship, enthusiasm, luxury, success.
• Red: A red flower is a favorite of youth as it represents an essence of emotions such as love and passion. It is also a symbol of courage, desire, admiration, constancy and respect. A red flower is a token of youth and enthusiasm.
• Orange: You can represent your strong love, or a satisfaction of attaining the success through an orange flower. It is also a token of desire and enthusiasm. This vibrant color conveys satisfaction, confidence and passion for life.
• Green: This refreshing color represents resilience, youth, health and good fortune. The green flowers send a message of pleasure, renewal and optimism.
• White: White itself is a symbol of peace and purity, humility, innocence and silence. It represents heavenly, pious and sincere feelings. White blossoms convey an elegance and modesty.
• Pink: Pink is a color of love. And hence, offering a pink flower expresses your love and passion for the other person. A light pink flower is a symbol of delicacy, gentleness, grace, admiration and confidence. A dark pink flower represents gratitude and appreciation.
• Lavender: A lavender flower represents beauty, solitude and admiration. Lavender flowers are a token of grace, refinement and elegance. Lavender blossoms convey a message of a feminine beauty.
• Peach pink: If you wish to express your sympathy, gratitude friendship or gentleness, then you can offer a peach pink flower.
• Purple: This color is associated with the royalty and ceremony. The purple flower is a token of pride, dignity and success. Purple blooms represent admiration and accomplishment.
• Blue: The blue flowers can reduce stress and worries. They represent serenity, openness and peace. A blue flower offers a cooling effect. It is a perfect gift that promotes the muse of an artist, poet or musician.

Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/meaning-of-the-color-of-flowers.html

i have found (a lot) to like about this one...

Thanks for taking a look at the work of one of my favorite poets, e.e. cummings, on Valentine's Day. I'd like you write a poem of at least 12 lines inspired by his style, his words, his ideas or something else and add to your blog as a New Post.  Attach an image, too.  The lines we circled as starting points are listed below, but you are welcome to pursue a different direction.

i love you much ( _________________ )
more than ______________ ...


i have found what you are like:
________________


if you love me...


who pays any attention to ______________


it may not always be so; and i say...

 

A little more poetry

1. On Wednesday, we ended class by talking about eulogies, memoirs that are written about someone and read at their funeral.  Your assignment was to write a poetic eulogy about yourself.  Create a new post titled eulogy on your own blog and post it there.

2. Your next post on your blog is going to use idioms.  Idioms are a combination of words that have a figurative meaning that is very different from the literal meaning.  So, for example, an idiom would be "I'm going to run some errands."  Are you literally running anywhere?  Probably not.  You are probably driving to the stores.  But, no one questions you because they know the figurative meaning.  You can tell your friend, "I'll shoot you a text later" and no one freaks out thinking you are actually going to shoot them.  They understand you are going to send a text message to them later.  Try to find one I didn't mention.  There are many sites that have lists of hundreds of idioms.  A few others to get you thinking, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."  "Doubting Thomas." "A drop in the bucket." "A taste of your own medicine."  "It's all Greek to me."  Your assignment is to list 3 or 4 idioms that seem funny to you and then write a poem about one of them making fun of the differences between the literal and figurative meaning.  So while you are thinking, don't take too long.  But put your pedal to the metal, and you'll come out strong!

Here is an example by John Randal

'You can't cry over spilled milk!' 
my mother always said. 

'Life's not a piece of cake!' 
she hammered in my head. 

'That's the way it goes, 
'that's the way the cookie crumbles' 

My mother saved her idioms 
for all my idiotic troubles. 

Did you know it? You're a poet!

Create a new post on your blog.  Choose 3 of the poems you wrote in class last Friday or Monday and post them to your blog. One of your three poems can be a poem of your choice that you had written before.  Your options from class are a ballad, cinquain, biopoem, diamante, haiku, tanka, acrostic and limerick.  After you are finished, find two classmates' poetry on their blogs and leave a comment.  Remember to be encouraging!

The KHS librarians would appreciate if you could take this very quick survey today, too.

Also, review your most recent grade check and do some catching up.  Let Mrs. Fraser know if you've completed something you can earn some missing points for.  Thanks!

And the beat goes on...

Please do 2 New Posts on your own blog today...

For the first one, type up 5-6 of the answers you got from your teachers about music. Add some of your own thoughts here and there, too, if you can--like if an answer surprised you or taught you something new or one you didn't understand.  Use the word "teachers" in your title somehow...

For the second post, type up your results from at least one of the music inspired activities we did last week and give your post a creative title:

• using a lyric or lyrics cut from the Swedish House Mafia, Taylor Swift, Philip Phillips, The Wanted songs to start (or end or inspire) your own story, song, poem etc.
• the journal entry where we divided the page into squares with a marker and listed the music we associate with childhood, relationships, family, right now.
• any or all of the freewrites we did while we listened to 3 Libras, Wonderful Tonight, You Shook Me, and Golddigger
• any of the writing you came up with yesterday during Ms. Ferkel's activities regarding Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and other music

Add images to your posts to make them visually interesting...Comment on your classmates' work if you have time.  Be sure you're caught up on last week's work as well.  And please turn in your journal today so I can give you a mid-quarter score.  You should have at least 20 full pages.  Even if you don't, turn in what you have.

Music to my ears...

Please do a New Post on your own blog today...
 

This week and next, I'd like us to look at all the different ways music can inspire us to feel, think, act and even write. Today, create a New Post on your own blog with the word "music" somewhere in the title and type up your answers to at leat 5-6 of the questions regarding music on the pink sheet I passed out today. Include images and links if you can.

 

Add images to your post to make it visually interesting...comment on your classmates' work if you have time.

Be sure you've finished the creative piece of your choice we posted on Friday.  Also, plan to turn in your journal for a mid-quarter check this Thursday.  We've been doing 5 pages a week for 4 weeks, so you need to have 20 full pages to earn all the points. 

Thanks! Hope you've had a great day!

You choose...

Please post a creative piece of your choice to your blog today.  I'm looking for a piece of about 400-500 words (roughly 2 pages double-spaced in Word) with at least one image attached.  You can use material you've come up with in your journal during our activities this week (or in the weeks before, I suppose), you can create something entirely new, or you can expand on an idea you might have worked with in another post.  You can do fiction, non-fiction, longer poetry, opinion...whatever.  Just make it interesting to read...

Please take the time when you're finished to comment in a supportive, positive manner on your classmates' posts.

Have a great weekend!  Thanks for working hard and making my job fun...

I would like to make a comment...

My title references, of course, the sweet statement of the Indian man who complimented my son at Walmart this week that I told you about...So kind.  And unexpected.

You might have noticed when you post comments to your classmates' blogs that you have to type in a security word before your comment will show up. Most of the time it's a jumble of letters but sometimes it's a real word or phrase. This is mostly to prevent computers from leaving comments on your blog to promote a company's websites or other things like that, to ensure that an actual human is leaving you a comment. I personally hadn't gotten many computer-generated spam comments on my own blog until lately.  I guess I don't really see it as a problem, and many people find it annoying to have to do this extra, seemingly pointless, step to leave a comment. If you'd like to disable the need to do this on your blog and make commenting faster and easier, just go to the Design link at the top of your page, click on the Settings tab, then Comments, then scroll down and click "no" on the "show word verification on comments?" section. You are, of course, welcome to make other changes or none at all.

I did read an interesting article about sometimes when you're given a word to verify in a situation like this that it's actually one from an old or even ancient text that scholars are trying to translate. Take a look at the story...fascinating.  I've been noticing a lot of numbers in the word verifications for our blogs, like pictures taken of address signs on buildings and houses, it looks like.  This leads me think that we are doing deciphering work for Google Maps or something...

As you finish making up your missing posts and doing the new work for this week, take some time to visit your classmates' blogs and let them know you've noticed what they're putting out there.  I've been seeing lots of good stuff...

Famous Lines from Famous Books

Famous First Line:

"You better not never tell nobody but God."

This line opens the novel The Color Purple, published in 1982 by author Alice Walker, who was born in Georgia on 9 February 1944 (Happy Bday soon, Alice!). Through letters written back and forth to one another, the novel traces the story of two poor, African-American sisters who are separated, one married off to an older, misogynistic neighbor and the other called to serve as a missionary in Africa. The main character Celie also writes letters to God because she has no one else to share her shameful secrets and her deepest feelings with.

The book was lauded by critics and was awarded both the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award. The NY Times deemed Walker "a lavishly gifted writer" and this, her third novel, "her most impressive." Readers responded to Walker's narrative style and identified with her female characters especially. Most agree that Walker's novel is "a poignant tale of women's struggle for equality and independence." Some of Walker's other works include In Search of Our Mother's Gardens (a non-fiction book about her life and her writing that I turned to many times during my graduate school work) and Meridian. She is also a poet, and I remember reading her collection Horses Make a Landscape More Beautiful when I was a college freshman.

I first read The Color Purple novel in a college class at Drury, a class taught by one of my favorite professors who I have long admired and tried to emulate as a teacher myself. I had read the work of Maya Angelou and found myself drawn to the stories of African-American women, and this story captivated me. I have since read the book 6 or 7 more times, and every single time I find something to shake my head at, mumble an "amen" to, laugh about, cry about...Such a powerful work to me--I will read it many times more, I know.

Famous Last Line:

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

F.Scott Fitzgerald ended his most famous novel The Great Gatsby with these lines, considered by some to be the best closing lines of any novel ever. The novel came out back in 1925 but still shows up on collections of all-time classics and high school reading lists. Narrator Nick Carraway offers insight into the vapid society of West Egg, New York, in the 1920s, as well as the mostly empty marriage between Tom and Daisy Buchanan. The action centers on languid afternoons and extravagant parties at the mansion of Gatsby, an enigmatic millionaire.

The NY Times called The Great Gatsby "a curious book, a mystical, glamourous story of today" and one that "takes a deeper cut at life" than others before and after. Fitzgerald also wrote This Side of Paradise and The Jazz Age and is also known for his tumultuous marriage to his wife Zelda. Fitzgerald, born in 1896, lived a lavish lifestyle and died of a heart-attack at the age of 44.

I read The Great Gatsby in English class my junior year in high school. I re-read it again last summer and enjoyed it very much. I am looking forward to the new film starring Leonardo DiCaprio (so cute! totally one of my girlhood crushes) as Gatsby to be released later this year.  The director, Baz Luhrman, also did one of my all-time favorite movies, Moulin Rouge, so I'm thinking I'll really like what he does with Gatsby. 

Don't quote me on that...

We often turn to the words of others for inspiration, guidance, or even just a good laugh. These words might come from favorite pieces of literature, song lyrics, a wise family member or friend, even movies or TV.

I would like you to add a quote (or two..) that means something to you or that you just like as a comment to this post today. Then add that same quote as a Text Gadget in the sidebar of your own blog.


A few quotes that I like:



"Love is the answer, at least to most of the questions in my heart." Jack Johnson

Your quote may be from a person you know or a person you don't. It may be funny or serious, thought-provoking or light-hearted. Just so it speaks to you. You might also want to jot your quote(s) down in your journal for something I hope we can do if the weather warms up in the near future.  You might find your quote formatted in a cool way on sites like Tumblr or Pinterest or even Google Images...



On the topic of "quotes," I'm adding a link here to a funny site that documents superfluous (extra, unnecessary) uses of quotation marks. Maybe it's only funny to me as an English teacher, but take a look: http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com/. Be on the lookout for unneeded quotation marks in your world...maybe you could send one in.

I Write Like...

Since we've been thinking about how what we read inspires or influences what we write, I thought it might be fun for you to check out a website I've seen that analyzes a bit of your own writing and tells you what published author your writing is similar to. I tried it with one of my blog posts and evidently I write like Dan Brown. I know who that is, but I haven't read any of his books. Interesting. Go to I Write Like and try it yourself. Leave a comment on this post telling us your results (and what you think of them) when you do.

Memorable Passage

 

Post a passage (probably just a paragraph or so) from a book that was memorable to you. Type the passage in word for word and add some of your own thoughts before and/or after, explaining why this particular set of words caught your attention or has stayed in your memory.  See the instructions and example on the blue handout. Title this post Memorable Passage.  Include an image with this post, too.

 

I write quite a bit on my blog about what I read, if nothing else just to remember, but often to reflect on words that stuck with me. If you are so inclined or need some ideas about books to read or what you might write about reading, you can check out my posts here and here and here and here and here. But that's totally optional.

By the end of class Friday, be sure that you have posted this assignment, the Writers as Readers assignment, and the Daydreaming assignment.  Check with me or Ms. Ferkel to be certain you completed all of last week's posts, too. 

Thanks again for being such an interesting and friendly group to work with...

Writers as Readers

I'd like you to do some thinking and writing about how what we read plays into our creative process, how the stories we read might inspire our own character and plot ideas, how we might both consciously and unconsciously pick up sentence patterns, vocabulary and writing styles from the authors we are exposed to. You might have all sorts of things to add to your blog about your reading preferences and experiences, and you're welcome to do whatever you'd like, but please do at least the following by the end of this week:

• Post 5-6 of your answers to the Writers and Readers questions on the pink handout as a new post to your own blog. Title the post "Writers as Readers." Include some images in this post to make it interesting. You can even add links to author's web pages or book reviews or other related websites if you'd like. I can show you how to do this.

I have a gadget on my own blog that you might want to add to yours. It's a link to site called Shelfari that lets me track the books I've read and plan to read. It also has all sorts of options for you to record your ratings of and notes about the books you read for other users to see. You get a little bookshelf on your sidebar that shows what you're reading now. Check it out if you're interested.

I was glad to see that most of you are avid readers. I just think there's such endless inspiration and personal growth that is possible when you take the time to consider the ideas others have put in print. There is so much out there to read...how will we ever get through all of it we want to?

Daydreamers

 

Create a New Post on your own blog using any or all of the writing you came up with at the end of the daydream activity Ms. Ferkel led you through on Tuesday.  You may type the work directly from your journal as is, or you can add to or alter it as you post.  Give your post a creative title.  Please include an image or images in this post (and all others from here on...).  I'm happy to show you how. 

Friendly readers

This class is meant to be student-centered, rather than teacher-centered, so it's important for you all to comment on one another's work regularly. In fact, I hope you will be commenting just as much or more than I will, because I want you to consciously write for your classmates as your audience instead of just me, your teacher.

Today, I'd like you to comment on the "I am..." Poems you all posted last week, and for this time, I just want you to comment as a friendly reader. (I thought this dolphin looked "friendly.") We will experiment with several ways of responding, and you will eventually be able to ask for the specific feedback you want.  Mostly we'll just use what's called BLESS. This involves reading a work and offering positive (but sincere) feedback, mostly just to say you read it and made note of it. Some phrases you might use to get started:

• It's interesting...
• I was surprised...
• I noticed...
• I like...
• I wonder...
• You remind me...
• We both...

We're being friendly, but try to avoid just making silly or solely sociable comments that don't pertain to the writing or our work together.

Please try to comment on everyone's work and skip around that everyone gets comments instead of just the posts close to the top. If you notice a piece hasn't been seen or doesn't have as many comments as others, please make an effort to offer feedback on those. If you have time to read and comment on your classmates' other posts, please feel free to do so.

Before commenting, though, be sure that you've finished the blog posts assigned last week:  your "I am..." Poem, your response to the Maya Angelou Writers Dreaming questions, your dream threads writing created in class, and your response to the bulleted questions regarding dreaming in my previous post.

I am so pleased with what we've created so far...Thanks for giving this process a chance.

You may say I'm a dreamer

...but I'm not the only one. Some people say they never dream when they sleep, and I've read that isn't true: Everyone dreams many times every night (the average dream lasting only 2-3 seconds) but we remember so few (or none) of our dreams because they're sent straight to our short-term memories. Unless you do something like write the dream down or share it with a friend to transfer the information to your long-term memory, that dream is gone and you may never remember having it at all.

I've done a lot of thinking and even a little writing about dreams over the years--what dreams mean, why I always have the same ones, how to avoid really scary ones...I wonder if this is a topic that is interesting to you? I've heard that it's really fun for us to talk about our own dreams but it isn't all that fun for everyone else listening?  I'm not sure anyone really wanted to know about my recent dream regarding my neighbor in the buff drinking coffee in his backyard or the one where I'm sorting through tornado rubble in only a towel.  :)

I have a couple of recurring dreams, meaning dreams I have had several times throughout my lifetime, and I have to say they are mostly bad, or at least very uncomfortable. I often dream that I am still in high school and I have a volleyball game or track meet to go to and I'm not ready. I've either forgotten my uniform or shoes or I can't remember going to any practices beforehand to train. I haven't played high school sports for almost 15 years...why would this keep showing up in my subconscious?  Another dream I've had a lot (although not in quite a while, now that I think of it) is that my teeth are really chalky and they're crumbling out of my mouth, or they're all loose and if you tapped one they'd all fall out in a sort of domino effect.

My husband loves to watch scary movies and I try to be a good sport about joining him, but I always have terrible dreams after I've seen a scary movie. We saw The Blair Witch Project many years ago when it came out in the theatre, and that night I dreamed the witch had come into our bedroom and stapled the outfit I'd been wearing to the ceiling above my bed in the shape of my twisted dead body. Then I ended up having Ryan hold a pillow over her head while I shot her with a huge silver pistol with a silencer on the end of it. (How all that happened in 2-3 seconds is beyond me...) You must know that I am not a violent person and don't normally contemplate these kinds of things! How did that come out of my head?

I've read that you're likely to have nightmares if the room you are sleeping in is very warm and if you sleep with your arms above your head...I wonder what conditions make for more pleasant dreams? Do you think that what you have in your head right before you fall asleep will come out in your dreams, or do the littlest things from earlier in the day somehow pop up? Do you think you can control your dreams? I have a friend who is into "astratravel," which is, very simply, being able to will yourself to go places in your dreams. She said she could think about checking in on her cousin before she fell asleep and then she'd dream something about her cousin that would let her know how she was doing. She also told me that if you ever see yourself in your dreams, like you're looking down at yourself from above (in video games isn't that the third-person view?) instead of seeing the dream through your own eyes (like first-person in video games?) that you have astratraveled without even trying. Interesting...

I hope you've also done some thinking about how dreaming can play into the writing process. Please do a new post today (300+ words) on any one or a combination of these related topics (add an image, too, if you can and use some form of the word "dream" somewhere in the title of your post):

...a recurring dream you have
...the worst dream you've ever had
...the best dream you've ever had (PG-13 or tamer :) )
...what you think causes dreams
...books you've read about dreams or dreaming
...if you think dreams are symbolic or have deeper meaning
...if you think astratravel is possible
...something else connected to dreams?

In the same post (or a different one if you'd rather), also include the writing you did in your journal on Tuesday using the Dream Threads sentences and add an image that goes along with it. 

Here's one I wrote in the past...I would have never gone this direction in my writing without others' dream threads to borrow from... 

The paper said that I specifically had to stick the six-inch needle through my kneecap.  I was skeptical that the relatively tiny cylinder of metal could penetrate the dense bone and reach the byways of blood beneath, but if I wanted the results, the escape, I had to follow the instructions left for me by The One Who Knows.  After a deep breath, I tilted my head to the sky, squeezed my eyes closed and blindly jabbed the syringe into the flesh and rock of my knee.  Seconds, minutes, hours, days later...who knows...I woke up gasping for air.


Thanks for a great couple of weeks so far! Keep dreaming big!

Writers Dreaming

Thank you for taking the time to consider author Maya Angelou's ideas about how dreams play into the writing process. Please do a new post to your blog today with your answers to 4-6 of the questions on the yellow handout I gave you. Your post should be a decent length (300-500 words)  if you've provided thoughtful answers. Why don't you also try to include an image (of Maya, of something connected to dreaming or an aspect of one of your answers) on this post as well?

If you're interested in learning more about Maya Angelou, her interesting life and her beloved works, you can start at her official website: http://mayaangelou.com/. I recently bought this t-shirt showcasing her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings from a little store downtown next to Maria's called 5# Apparel.  Most of the proceeds the store nets are donated to charities around the world.  You can also find the t-shirt and others featuring classic, challenged books (ones that have been put on banned books lists at one time or another) at http://outofprintclothing.com/. Click the "Shop" link to get to the t-shirts--the site donates a book to Books for Africa for every purchase made. I'd like to do some thinking next week about books that have made a difference to us as people and as writers, and I wonder if you've read any of these classics...
Continue to customize your blog layout with gadgets in the right column, maybe a new background or header. Click on the Edit Profile link on your Dashboard and fill in the information about yourself.  You can also have a look at your classmates' pages. If you're inclined to comment, be sure to be positive and supportive and write in the best English you can. Please don't be lazy and write in all lowercase with no punctuation, and don't leave only meaningless "what's up/i heart you" type comments. We'll talk more about giving feedback on our posts in the future.

I love that several of you mentioned you "dream" of becoming professional writers. Leave a comment here telling us why you'd like/not like to be a professional writer and/or what kind of writing you see yourself doing. Stephenie Meyer said on Oprah that she always heard that was an unrealistic, financially hopeless goal, but I hope that no matter what anyone says, if that's your dream, you go for it. Seems like you'd regret not trying more than you'd regret taking a shot at it...

I am...Mrs. Fraser

I am...

a daughter, the oldest of 3, raised on small town sports, a life in the country and the desire to be a good girl.

 

a sister, the first to do most things, lucky enough to have been born with 2 built-in best friends.

 

a granddaughter, missing the days spent in the country with my Nanny and Papaw and my 9 cousins, riding horses bareback, picking vegetables from the garden, sitting around the old dining room table for meals and domino games, going shopping in a Ford Crown Victoria piloted by my lead-footed grandmother and keeping in touch through letters with my family far away.

a Drury girl, where I learned about Alice Walker, the secrets of Pi Beta Phi, how to live with roommates, and that the world is much bigger than Cassville, Mo.

a wife to Ryan, my friend and partner since I was 19, a man who knows I don't like to talk when I first wake up, who loves me even though I don't like to cook, and who every day tells me I'm silly and sexy and sassy and smart.

 

a mother to Macauley, a fourth grader who's been reading since before kindergarten but can't tie his own shoes, a little boy discovering this world faster than I can show it to him, already living his own life and letting me in on only pieces of it, amusing me and frustrating me and making me better every single day.

I am...

 

sweet tea and chocolate milk, chips and guacamole.

 

puffy, comfy white couches, ironstone pitchers and platters, chippy white furniture, burlap and linen, mismatched silverware and old photos, flea market finds and treasures that make me smile.

a tattered teddy bear bought with my birthday money in Eureka Springs when I was 8.

 

tightly folded notes passed between teenage boys and girls in class and church.

 

photos and scrapbooks and a project always in the works.

 

big, thick books and glossy magazines.

 

sleeping late on weekends, especially when it rains, in a soft bed with lots of covers and feather pillows.

I am...

 

dark blue eyes and my dad's olive skin, black-framed glasses when I read or watch TV.

 

blonde, small but not thin, curvy and soft.

 

pointy-toed shoes and lots of black, jeans and flipflops, a ponytail and no makeup, Uggs and a cardigan.

in the fourth decade of my life whether I feel like it or not.

 

not 16 anymore.

 

older and wiser, more experienced.