- Look How Far We've Come
- I Know why the Caged Bird Sings
- Flea Market Stories
- Old Stories Turned Reality
I liked these posts because I felt really creative while writing them. Two of my top favorite posts that I liked are more of opinion pieces. During this class, I really came to enjoy looking at Maya Angelou and the imagery she used to explain events and emotional limitations. I also liked writing stories using story starters, even using something as basic as a photo. In Flea Market Stories, I really wish that I knew the person and the real reason why she wrote something on the back of her photo.
2. My favorite pieces that I read over the quarter:
- Maddy's Photo Essay
- Taylor's Giving Thanks
- Laura's Rightness to Our Wrongness
I liked these three authors a lot over the quarter. I also like Katie Gann's work as well- it offered a great variety and I like how interesting the stories were. I think that Laura is a very descriptive and talented writer that describes little moments in perfect clarity. I also liked reading Taylor's posts not only because she is my friend, but because she writes out-of-the-ordinary stories that I find really refreshing. I also liked the stories that Maddy wrote because they were very raw and truthful, something that a lot of stories don't incorporate today.
Also, because of story suggestions, I can now say that I've read Catcher in the Rye and On Leaving Charleston.
3. I had so much fun setting up my blog! I'm really glad that I found the ShabbyBlog site so that I could find really creative backgrounds to make my blog stand out. I also tried to customize it to match the season (notice my blog theme this time)? I also wanted to make sure it was nice and neat so people would want to read my stories.
In the future, I still see myself using this blog. I don't really know if I'll make it more of a journal type thing or a writing thing or everything in between, but I will definitely let you know when I decide!
4. In my journal, I had lots of different things. I did have a lot of collages and photos and objects that inspired me. I also kind of wrote my thoughts down (random and deep). In the future, I definitely want to invest in a journal that I can write in daily. I don't know if I would write about what I did during the day like the pilgrims, but I could see myself just writing about what I thought about in the world. I'm just not a strong journal-er, but it's definitely something that I would like to work on.
5. This photo is truly inspiring to me. Even though it looks like a simplistic photo, it speaks volumes to me in so many ways.
I love how Vogel carried her rival across the finish line. As a runner and athlete, I know how much one wants to cross the line, to end the race and the hurt. I find it simply remarkable that instead of the title of winning and beating a rival that was hurt; she chose to sacrifice praise to help another out.
Another theme I picked up from the photo was the ability women have to love. I don’t see very many men sacrificing social standings and rankings to help out others.
It reminded me of the photo of the two runners where the woman sacrificed first place and monetary gain to help another runner (he was paraplegic) drink- a simple thing that most of us take for granted. How many times have we, instead of helping, stare at somebody and mock them or choose to ignore them? These women runners have showed what it means to love and serve- something that I am grateful to the photographer for capturing.
I also saw the theme of faith in this picture. Vogel is willing to literally carry her enemy across the finish line, shoulder her burdens with her. The other girl I imagine can’t believe that she is being carried, but has faith in Vogel to carry her, to not drop her or let go. This has parallels to life in so many ways. At some point in our lives, I believe that we will need someone to help us cross the “finish line”, and they will need us as much as we need them.
-I liked this one because I felt like l expressed lots of emotion. Even though this journal entry came about because I needed more pages to turn in, I feel like it is one of the better posts that I did this quarter.
6. Pillow (Talk)
He twists and turns, then wakes up, startled, wide eyed and looking around the black room. The darkness almost threatens to suffocate him. He looks at the clock, it is 2:13 AM. Quietly he tries to remember what military time translates into this civilian time. Next to him lays his wife, so glad that he is finally home, safe and sound. Little breaths are heard coming from the right of the room, his one year old is finally fast asleep.
Trying to gather his thoughts that are consuming him like a fire to dry trees, he tries to repeat what his therapist told him to do, to calm him down.
My name is Taylor Graham. I’m 25 years old and married. I am a father to a one year old. I came home about 5 months ago fro-AAAAAHHHH! Instant flashback to the dream he woke up from, where he is trying to save his comrades from an IED explosion that hit their Jeep. His dream still allows him to remember the dead in the vehicle, already long gone without any hope of revival. He smells the smell of burning flesh, machine fire, and war, hears the cries of pain and desperation. He is drowning in this dream-he can’t escape the dream, he hears and smells and touches and tastes magnified a hundred times in this dream.
He wonders when this will stop. His wife has been so supportive, helping him with his therapy and the daytime nightmares that plague him. His family thought the war was done for him when he stepped of the plane and into their arms.
In reality, the war really started for him then-a quiet war raged in his own mind, silent to any outsider.
I liked writing this story because it was a cross between and fictional and real story. I wrote it not knowing a specific person that I was writing about, but I know that for many this is a constant struggle. I also felt like I grew as a writer because it was something deep and not something that was very relate able to me personally.
7. Honestly, I don't have a lot of plans for creative writing in my high school career. However, I would like to major in English, maybe double that with creative writing and then get my masters in teaching or English. Throughout the class, I kept telling my friends that I thought creative writing was helping me come up with ideas that I would have never thought before. I looked through different perspectives to write and get inspiration, was challenged to make things up from ground zero, and control how much I was willing to get creative with the story. I also liked how there wasn't a lot of structure and that I was free to choose what direction I wanted to go in with each of my writing pieces.
8. My advice to the class:
Thank you all for inspiring me as a writer, friend, and student. I'm so glad our paths crossed- I will always be changed by your writing.
La fin.
