our class runneth over:

wut up.

So--in the future, I'll keep a stricter eye on the clock.  In the present, I will post this, the writing exercise:

Part one:

List all the details you can think of about the room in which you spend most/much of your time.

Part two:

Think of a random event, something from the past day or two, that occurred in the room in which you spend your time--an exchange between friends, something you observed, something you were involved in--and write that scene in *present tense*.  Weave in detail from your list above.  What makes it in?  What doesn't?  How are you revealing detail through scene?

Back to other stuff:

Ok--remember your alternate assignment on Thursday; also remember: no class on Thursday.  And remember to please *type* your responses to Sam's, Mady's, and Chelsea's essays and have them ready to hand in to me on Tuesday.

OH: a note on the responses--remember to begin your responses positively.  If you're following the model I posted here (wherein it asks you to explain what you think the essay is about), mention the positives right after that first question.  If you're following your own model--which is fine--PLEASE remember to begin the comments with what you think is *working* with the piece.  Extend this courtesy, and I promise you'll be happy you did so when you get your classmates' responses to your own work.

Rock on with the Didion, folks--y'all had some very smart things to say about her.

Joan Didion tomorrow, Tuesday, 2/9:

A reminder here, if you don't check your email--

Because of a scheduling mishap, we'll be reading Didion's "The White Album" for class tomorrow--not, obviously, the John D'Agata handout.

See you in class!

questions for essay response:

What up, folks.

In yesterday's class, we looked at yet another example of personal essay. John McPhee is a much-celebrated literary journalist with a booklist as long as your arm. In the year this essay was published--1975--as the preface to the piece says, McPhee was publishing his 12th AND 13th books. And he's still going. He's published twenty-seven books--which doesn't include occasionals he writes for a little magazine called "The New Yorker." Man's a machine. I just listened (yes, listened--while working last summer) to one of his more recent, called Uncommon Carriers--and it was amazing.

So--we'll have our first workshop on Thursday. For those of you who missed Thursday, it is your job to contact me in order to get the essay we are workshopping.

As promised, here are some questions/guidelines to think about while responding to Heather's essay:

1. What comes through for you as a reader? What is this piece about?

2. What is the thesis or insight of the essay? What question is the essay considering?

3. What was your first reaction upon finishing it? How did that change

after reading it again? What did you learn, experience, or feel reading this piece?

4. What did you notice or learn about writing from working on this piece?

5. What was successful for you in this piece? What is the most effective aspect of what you read?

6. Look at the structure of the piece. Comment specifically on how the writer has used relevant elements from the list below. Give examples and describe how the use of these elements affects the content or deep subject:

ESSAY

Idea

Image

Anecdote

Research/Evidence

Form


MEMOIR

Time

Tense

Point of View

Scene/Summary/Flashback

Image

Form

7. How would you describe the voice of the essay or memoir?

8. How would you describe the language in terms of rhythm, original detail, formality, presence, power?

9. What's missing--gaps, leaps you can't make, logical inconsistencies, openings you wish the writer would develop further, loose ends.

10. What questions do you have for the writer?

11. What ideas, beliefs, or experiences do you bring to this piece that might contribute to your reading of it?