Victoria Wilson

October 21, 2008

Allen

According to Muckelbauer, imitation has always played an important role in literature and thought systems even going so far as to say “...western thought itself might be an imitation” (Muckelbauer 3). To lay the groundwork for his beliefs on imitation, Muckelbauer first talks about the term “imitation” which is described as being too vague a term when you consider what imitation entails and how it has changed over time. While imitation exercises were predominate in learning for quite some time, it was replaced with romantic subjectivity. The way Muckelbauer explains it, however, imitation was not replaced. Instead, he shows (using examples from literary theorist Mihai Spariosu) that “...far from abandoning the theory and practice of imitation, he claims that romanticism merely refined it” (Muckelbauer 4). Using an example from Neitzche, Muckelbauer further shows that there is not that much difference between “imitation and invention” (Muckelbauer 5)

Going on to the function of imitation in previous times, Muckelbauer explains that it was used to help students to write with “...the stylistic excellence of earlier writers” (Muckelbauer 10). He then goes into the qualities that were looked for in a model to imitate and the origins of literary theory in comparison to imitation. In order to decide what to imitate, a lot of questions came into play including the imitators personal and academic interests and capabilities. If these things are not taken into consideration the “...student's abilities to evaluate correctly” (Muckelbauer 12) is injured.

He supports his point by taking us through the three different movements of imitation. Through the first movement, “imitation of the same” Muckelbauer shows that imitation helps students to unconsciously imitate the style of the model in their own writing thereby, in a sense, becoming the model. He then touches on the second movement; through the explanation of “imitation of difference” Muckelbauer shows that, unlike “imitation of the same”, it allows for variation. This is usually a result of imitating many and varied authors. And finally, he touches upon imitation as inspiration (Muckelbauer 25). He says that inspiration shows that imitation of the same and imitation of difference do not really have such closed boundaries against each other and instead blur when imitation comes into play.

One aspect that I thought was interesting, because I touched on it in my Paper 2 draft, is the question of where the “self” goes when imitation comes into play. Muckelbauer explains that, to some, imitation is an act of “...losing oneself in response to a model” (Muckelbauer 27).

In the end, Muckelbauer shows that the line between variation and imitation is blurred when it comes to inspiration. He also shows that imitation has been useful in times past to improve student's writing styles by imitating other authors. These models must be picked out carefully to prevent students from only imitating the surface and getting nothing out of the exercise.

Victoria Wilson

Oct 26, 2008

Allen

Summary of: “Arts of the Contact Zone”

In “Arts of the Contact Zone” Mary Louise Pratt begins her essay by talking about all her son has learned from baseball card collecting. She goes from the most obvious things like the pronounciation of the players' names to more subtle teachings like “the meaning of comodified labor” (Pratt 1). After this discussion she makes the seemingly unrelated jump to the enormous letter “The First New Cronicle and Good Government” which was written by an Andean man named Felipe Guamen Poma de Ayala. The letter, written to Phillip III, was an extensive bilingual piece of literature which took aspects of Spanish history, beliefs and culture and integrated the Andean's within. Pratt uses the example of Guamen's piece to explain her beliefs on things she calls contact zones about which she says “I use this term to refer to social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with eachother” (Pratt 2). In order to describe Guamens text Pratt explians “Guaman Poma's New Chronicle is an instance of what I have proposed to call an autoethnographic text, by which I mean a text in which people undertake to describe themselves in ways that engage with representations others have made of them” (Pratt 3). By this description and her statements following I take this to mean that she regards Guamans piece as reactionary and in response to cultural differences. Guaman uses the contact zone to write his piece. Pratt also goes back to her son and uses the example of one of his class assignments to illustrate that reactionary aspect. In the case of her son he got the gold star of acceptance without his piece truly being acknowlaged as “...the attempt to be critical or contestatory, to paradoy the structures of autohority” (Pratt 7). Pratt also brings up anoter text, similar to Guamen's but with ideas that were more acceptable and accessable. This shows that things written in the contact zone are diverse and vary in acceptance by the other culture(s) involved.

Pratt moves from Guaman's piece to the subject of a type of classroom, one that existed within the contact zone. The pieces read in the class were reacted to in a number of various ways and the class was described by Pratt when she stated “No one was excluded, and no one was safe” (Pratt 7).

From the way Crowley describes the retoric of the ancients I gather that it was far different then the way it is viewed now. One way this is shown is the way arguement was viewed. Crowley says "In ancient times, people used rehetoric to make decisions, resolve disputes, and to meditate public discussion for important issues" (1). Throughout the peice is shown that the ancient's use of rhetorics ment more to people than it does now. To them rhetoric was used to solve, not only philosophical issues, but issues that affected the people as a whole. Also, the people of that time were trained in rhetoric. This enabled usefull discussion rather than allowing the arguement to be reduced to something that was not benificial.

Crowley uses a true example involving Sheryl Crow and Laurie David who arged over global warming with Karl Rove. In this interaction several things come into play. One of them shows the cultural differences between the ancients and Americans today. I liked this example because it portrayed the fact that many people today do not wish to discuss/argue about "sensitive" topics. Rove was described as responding in anger and he described David and Crow and insulting.

One thing that Crowley points to as a reason for the evoloution or rhetoric is a belief that became perevalant in the seventeenth century. This belief is based on the importance of opinion and the "...modern association ofacts with science, and opinion with everything else..." (19).

All in all, rhetoric today is quite different from the rhetoric used by the ancients. Rhetoric used by the ancients was more socially interactive rather than entertaining. It was helpful to the community as a whole. Rhetoric today is used for entertainment purposed, and when its not it is responded to in more violent ways resulting in unproductive shouting matches. Nor is rhetoric as useful in todays society. People's views of politicians immeaditly cause the viewing public to look on what is being said with mistrust.

Victoria Wilson

November 18, 2008

Allen

I set out to write my first book when I was in sixth grade. Since then my writing has changed quite a bit and have been influenced by many things.

Christmas Break: Sixth Grade

I moved slowly around the bed approaching the book sitting on the night stand with a critically raised eyebrow. I had hastily thrown it into my suitcase at the last minute. I would have just thrown it in my closet never to be seen again but it had been given to me by one of my best friends. I had told her repeatedly that I was not interested in fantasy. I had explained to the point of annoyance that I thought fantasy was silly and that I didn’t see the point. Despite this, she had given me the first Harry Potter book as an early Christmas present. I was in Florida visiting my mother and grandmother over Christmas break. My mom had moved and I knew no one in this new neighborhood. Besides this, I was not the most social person and meeting new people was more hassle than it was worth. Eying the book suspiciously I picked it up and examined the cover. There was this cartoony looking drawing of a funny looking kid who was flying around on a broom. Seriously. I would have put it right back down but I had promised Tina I would read it, and tell her what I thought. Sighing I lowered myself onto the floor next to the bed and flipped to the first page.

I was hooked. To this day I don't regret reading that book. Not only did it open me to an entirely new aspect of literature that I had previously overlooked but it made me want to write books myself. I could not understand how a book was written but I thought I would give it a try anyway. I understood that the writers that I read were once children and figured if they could write books so could I. However, I was not so very confident in my own writing ability so I suggested to Tina that we write a book together. Having only read one book under the umbrella term of fantasy I suggested we write a book set in a school for magic. Of course we took great pains to ensure that the characters and concepts were nothing like that of Harry Potter. The story focused on three female characters set in alternate dimension medieval times. We would each write a portion and the other would look over it and put it into the story. I was absolutely obsessed with writing and slowly I was able to grasp some sort of methodology for writing by examining books by published authors and asking questions of my teachers. I carried on in this way until one of my class assignments changed how I would view writing forever.

In one of my classes we were assigned to write a story about Alaskan natives. We were told to make them as historically correct as possible and we were also asked to incorporate specific aspects of class discussion into the story. Finally, here was my chance to prove that I was a Writer. I wrote a story about a little girl that got lost and how she eventually made it back to her family. I thought the story was brilliant and could already envision the praise I would receive for it. I did not really follow the directions given, took many liberties and ignored the tie in to class discussion. I felt that these things would detract from the value of my story and I believed that the “goodness” of my story would make up for any lack of direction following. This was not the case. My teacher wrote on my hard work with a red pen, a large red D engraved over the top of the page, right above my title. At the bottom, as if in apology, she wrote that my story was quite interesting but that I did not follow the assignment properly. Tears streamed down my face as I walked the two blocks from the school to the house of the lady I was living with at the time, a friend of my Aunt Julie's who insisted I call her Aunt Bee. Aunt Bee asked why I was crying and when I was finally able to choke out an answer and thrust my crumpled paper in her direction she smiled at me, a little condescending and a little sad.--The last part of the sentence may sound a little better if you made it a separate sentence. Like you could end it at when you gave her the paper then end the sentence and start it with: She smiled at me.... It was then, though I could not put a name on it at the time, that I learned about the different types of writing. I knew that there were different genres, after all we had just learned what the word genre meant and our home room teacher had put up a colorful poster with the names of the most common genres of creative writing. I knew about Mystery and Romance, Fiction and Non-Fiction. After this particular encounter with writing I was forced to create a new genre, School Writing. I began to understand that writing had limitations and rules placed upon it in an academic setting. Even when a teacher said something like “be creative” what they really meant was “be creative in this box that I have placed around you”. I began to realize that if I wanted to be creative in school I would have to follow the rules. I also began to see the rules in the books I was reading. These books had rules pertaining to their structure, but it was not the structure that interested me it was the story. I think that this part would have a more powerful effect if you made "It was the story" a separate sentence or put a comma before it or something like that. After getting that D, however, I was forced to understand that it was important to know the rules.

Not willing to give up writing but preferring praise over scorn, I began to search for ways to write better. I continued to examine other author's works as well as ask for any willing persons opinion. I would watch their faces closely as they read because many people, for fear of hurting my feelings, would not be as honest as I wanted them to be. Their facial expressions while they were reading and I would watch their countenance when they told me how good my writing was. These things were what really told me what they thought of my writing. Beyond this, I was able to gain an insight into human nature as well as body language. Incorporating these things into my writing was also a pivotal point in my writing career because the characters that I created became more and more fleshed out until finally I was able to create differentiation. Previously, I had modeled my characters after myself. Having little understanding of other people, I was not really capable of creating a whole new person separate from myself. At least I was unable to until I really began to study the people around me.

In the end, I'd have to say that the most pivotal thing to effect my writing was the opening of my mind to various genres and when I began to understand how writing fit into both society and in an academic setting. Slowly, as I got older, I began to understand other people more and more. This understanding enabled me to create more three dimensional characters that became their own people rather than slightly refined copies of myself. Sixth grade was defiantly a time of learning and change in which my writing, or at least my perception of writing, changed drastically. Not only was it during this time that I began to write, I also experienced my first criticism. This also enabled me to see the rules both grammatical and academic that were placed on a piece of writing. I didn't look too deep into any of these things, nor did I put these newly formed concepts into words. While I barely acknowledged these things on the surface, they stayed with me and were important aspects that influenced my writing from then until now.

]]> http://sanriah.edublogs.org/2008/12/05/paper-3-draft-1-with-editing/feed/ 0 http://sanriah.edublogs.org/2008/12/05/paper-3-final-version/ http://sanriah.edublogs.org/2008/12/05/paper-3-final-version/#comments Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:48:44 +0000 victoria http://sanriah.edublogs.org/?p=12

Victoria Wilson

November 18, 2008

Allen

I set out to write my first book when I was in sixth grade. Since then my writing has changed quite a bit and has been influenced by many things. Various events happen in everyone’s lives and these events alter you in some way. Life in general influences a person’s writing because life influences the person. The most pivotal part in my life that made a difference in my writing was when I was in sixth grade and I began to write for the first time. During this time I lived with friends of my relatives or one of my relatives. Being in this new place and new environment allowed me to learn many things about people and writing that I had been oblivious to before. For instance, it was in sixth grade that it first entered my head to begin writing in the first place. Before sixth grade I had always enjoyed reading but writing a book myself was a foreign concept. Also during this time I began to observe the people around me more closely. While asking for other peoples opinion I would watch them closely so that I would know what they really thought. In this way I was able to improve upon what I had written. It was also during sixth grade that I got my first criticism as a writer which changed, not only my views on the books that I read but enabled me to see the place of rules in writing.

Christmas Break: Sixth Grade

I moved slowly around the bed, approaching the book sitting on the night stand with a critically raised eyebrow. I had hastily thrown it into my suitcase at the last minute thinking that I might become desperately board enough to read it. I would have just thrown it in my closet never to be seen again but it had been given to me by one of my best friends. I had told her repeatedly that I was not interested in fantasy. I had explained to the point of annoyance that I thought the genre of fantasy was silly and that I didn’t see the point. Despite this, she had given me the first Harry Potter book as an early Christmas present. I was in Florida visiting my mother and grandmother over Christmas break. My mom had moved and I knew no one in this new neighborhood. Besides this, I was not the most social person and meeting new people was more hassle than it was worth. Eying the book suspiciously I picked it up and examined the cover. There was this cartoony looking drawing of a funny looking kid who was flying around on a broom. Seriously? I would have put it right back down but I had promised Tina I would read it, and tell her what I thought. Plus, It wasn't like I had anything better to do. Sighing I lowered myself onto the floor next to the bed and flipped to the first page.

I was hooked. To this day I don't regret reading that book. Not only did it open me to an entirely new aspect of literature that I had previously overlooked but it made me want to write books myself. I could not understand how a book was written but I thought I would give it a try anyway. I felt a need to produce piece of literature on par with those that I read. At first I considered it an impossibly daunting task but soon my wish to write overshadowed this feeling. I understood that the writers that I read were once children and figured if they could write books so could I. However, I was not so very confident in my own writing ability so I suggested to Tina that we write a book together. Having only read one book under the umbrella term of fantasy I suggested we write a book set in a school for magic. Tina was afraid that we could be sued for plagiarism so we tried to make our story as distinct from Harry Potter as possible. Of course we took great pains to ensure that the characters and concepts were nothing like that of Harry Potter. The story focused on three female characters and was set in alternate dimension medieval times. We would each write a portion and the other would look over it and put it into the story. I was absolutely obsessed with writing and slowly I was able to grasp some sort of methodology for writing by examining books by published authors and asking questions of my teachers. I would look at other books to see how to insert dialog into a story. More importantly I thought that it would be impossible and boring to explain every detail if every second of every day for the character. I looked at other works to see how the time flowed and the transition between scenes. I also searched out ways to make my character more real, though for a time I had to make my character go through natural disasters, robbery, death of loved ones, and basically all manners of painful things in lieu of a three dimensional character. I carried on in this way until one of my class assignments changed how I would view writing forever.

Sixth Grade: History Class

Sitting at the computer I stared grumpily at the blank screen thinking that we were going to be assigned another boring assignment which I would not be able to finish because I had never been taught to use a keyboard (hooray education in Florida where I was too busy watching middle scholars throw desks at teachers – and the teacher's subsequent emotional breakdown, to learn anything). The teacher hustled the rest of my class into the computer room and waited until they were all set to announce our next assignment.

“Today we are going to write a story about Alaskan natives. It’s OK if you don't think your story is any good, the important part is incorporating the three key concepts that we have been discussing so far...” She went on but I had heard all I needed to know. I immediately knew what I wanted to write about. Already I could see the story in my head. A little girl being swept down river, the frantic search, the fear, gathering together the will to survive. It was epic. My fingers flew at the keys (despite my horrible typing skills) and I was disappointed when she called an end to the class period. We worked on the assignment for a whole week and when it was done I decided that it was one of the best things I had written yet. Finally, here was my chance to prove that I was a Writer. I thought the story was brilliant and could already envision the praise I would receive for it. I did not really follow the directions given, took many liberties and ignored the tie in to class discussion. I felt that these things would detract from the value of my story and I believed that the “goodness” of my story would make up for any lack of direction following. This was not the case. My teacher wrote on my hard work, a large red D engraved over the top of the page, right above my title. At the bottom, as if in apology, she wrote that my story was quite interesting but that I did not follow the assignment properly. Tears streamed down my face as I walked the two blocks from the school to the house of the lady I was living with at the time, a friend of my Aunt Julie's who insisted I call her Aunt Bee. Aunt Bee asked why I was crying and when I was finally able to choke out an answer and thrust my crumpled paper in her direction. She smiled at me, a little condescending and a little sad. It was then, though I could not put a name on it at the time, that I learned about the different types of writing. I knew that there were different genera, after all we had just learned what the word genre meant and our home room teacher had put up a colorful poster with the names of the most common genera of writing. I knew about Mystery and Romance, Fiction and Non-Fiction. After this particular encounter with writing I was forced to create a new genre, School Writing. I began to understand that writing had limitations and rules placed upon it in an academic setting. Even when a teacher said something like “be creative” what they really meant was “be creative in this box that I have placed around you”. I began to realize that if I wanted to be creative in school I would have to follow the rules. I also began to see the rules in the books I was reading as well. These books had rules pertaining to their structure, but it was not the structure that interested me, it was the story. After getting that D, however, I was forced to understand that it was important to know the rules.

Not willing to give up writing but preferring praise over scorn, I began to search for ways to write more effectively. I continued to examine other author's works as well as ask for any willing person's opinion. I would watch their faces closely as they read because many people, for fear of hurting my feelings, would not be as honest as I wanted them to be. Noticing the changes in body language and tone helped me to add more human characteristics to the characters in my writing. These things were what really told me what they thought of my writing. Beyond this, I was able to gain an insight into human nature as well as body language. Incorporating these things into my writing was also a pivotal point in my writing career because the characters that I created became more and more fleshed out until finally I was able to create differentiation. Previously, I had modeled my characters after myself. Having little understanding of other people I was not really capable of creating a whole new person separate from myself. At least I was unable to until I really began to study the people around me.

In the end, I'd have to say that the most pivotal thing to effect my writing was the opening of my mind to various genera and when I began to understand how writing fit into both society and in an academic setting. Slowly, as I got older, I began to understand other people more and more. This understanding enabled me to create more three dimensional characters that became their own people rather than slightly refined copies of myself. Sixth grade was definitely a time of learning and change in which my writing or at least my perception of writing changed drastically. Not only was it during this time that I began to write, I also experienced my first criticism. This also enabled me to see the rules both grammatical and academic that were placed on a piece of writing. I didn't look too deep into any of these things, nor did I put these newly formed concepts into words. While I barely acknowledged these things on the surface, they stayed with me and were important aspects that influenced my writing from then until now.

Victoria Wilson

November 18, 2008

Allen

I set out to write my first book when I was in sixth grade. Since then my writing has changed quite a bit and has been influenced by many things. Various events happen in everyones lives and these events alter you in some way. Life in general influences a persons writing because life influences the person. The most pivotal part in my life that made a difference in my writing was when I was in sixth grade and I began to write for the first time. During this time I lived with friends of my relatives or one of my relatives. Being in this new place and new environment allowed me to learn many things about people and writing that I had been oblivious to before. For instance, it was in sixth grade that it first entered my head to begin writing in the first place. Before sixth grade I had always enjoyed reading but writing a book myself was a foreign concept. Also during this time I began to observe the people around me more closely. While asking for other peoples opinion I would watch them closely so that I would know what they really thought. In this way I was able to improve upon what I had written. It was also during sixth grade that I got my first criticism as a writer which changed, not only my views on the books that I read but enabled me to see the place of rules in writing.

Christmas Break: Sixth Grade

I moved slowly around the bed approaching the book sitting on the night stand with a critically raised eyebrow. I had hastily thrown it into my suitcase at the last minute. I would have just thrown it in my closet never to be seen again but it had been given to me by one of my best friends. I had told her repeatedly that I was not interested in fantasy. I had explained to the point of annoyance that I thought fantasy was silly and that I didn’t see the point. Despite this, she had given me the first Harry Potter book as an early Christmas present. I was in Florida visiting my mother and grandmother over Christmas break. My mom had moved and I knew no one in this new neighborhood. Besides this, I was not the most social person and meeting new people was more hassle than it was worth. Eying the book suspiciously I picked it up and examined the cover. There was this cartoony looking drawing of a funny looking kid who was flying around on a broom. Seriously? I would have put it right back down but I had promised Tina I would read it, and tell her what I thought. Sighing I lowered myself onto the floor next to the bed and flipped to the first page.

I was hooked. To this day I don't regret reading that book. Not only did it open me to an entirely new aspect of literature that I had previously overlooked but it made me want to write books myself. I could not understand how a book was written but I thought I would give it a try anyway. I understood that the writers that I read were once children and figured if they could write books so could I. However, I was not so very confident in my own writing ability so I suggested to Tina that we write a book together. Having only read one book under the umbrella term of fantasy I suggested we write a book set in a school for magic. Of course we took great pains to ensure that the characters and concepts were nothing like that of Harry Potter. The story focused on three female characters and was set in alternate dimension medieval times. We would each write a portion and the other would look over it and put it into the story. I was absolutely obsessed with writing and slowly I was able to grasp some sort of methodology for writing by examining books by published authors and asking questions of my teachers. I carried on in this way until one of my class assignments changed how I would view writing forever.

Sixth Grade: History Class

Sitting at the computer I stared grumpily at the blank screen. The teacher hustled the rest of my class into the computer room and waited until they were all set to announce our next assignment.

“Today we are going to write a story about Alaskan natives. Its OK if you don't think your story is any good, the important part is incorporating the three key concepts that we have been discussing so far...” She went on but I had heard all I needed to know. I immediately knew what I wanted to write about. Already I could see the story in my head. A little girl being swept down river, the frantic search, the fear, gathering together the will to survive. It was epic. My fingers flew at the keys (despite my horrible typing skills) and I was disappointed when she called an end to the class period. We worked on the assignment for a whole week and when it was done I decided that it was one of the best things I had written yet. Finally, here was my chance to prove that I was a Writer. I thought the story was brilliant and could already envision the praise I would receive for it. I did not really follow the directions given, took many liberties and ignored the tie in to class discussion. I felt that these things would detract from the value of my story and I believed that the “goodness” of my story would make up for any lack of direction following. This was not the case. My teacher wrote on my hard work, a large red D engraved over the top of the page, right above my title. At the bottom, as if in apology, she wrote that my story was quite interesting but that I did not follow the assignment properly. Tears streamed down my face as I walked the two blocks from the school to the house of the lady I was living with at the time, a friend of my Aunt Julie's who insisted I call her Aunt Bee. Aunt Bee asked why I was crying and when I was finally able to choke out an answer and thrust my crumpled paper in her direction. She smiled at me, a little condescending and a little sad. It was then, though I could not put a name on it at the time, that I learned about the different types of writing. I knew that there were different generas, after all we had just learned what the word genre meant and our home room teacher had put up a colorful poster with the names of the most common generas of writing. I knew about Mystery and Romance, Fiction and Non-Fiction. After this particular encounter with writing I was forced to create a new genre, School Writing. I began to understand that writing had limitations and rules placed upon it in an academic setting. Even when a teacher said something like “be creative” what they really meant was “be creative in this box that I have placed around you”. I began to realize that if I wanted to be creative in school I would have to follow the rules. I also began to see the rules in the books I was reading as well. These books had rules pertaining to their structure, but it was not the structure that interested me, it was the story. After getting that D, however, I was forced to understand that it was important to know the rules.

Not willing to give up writing but preferring praise over scorn, I began to search for ways to write more effectively. I continued to examine other author's works as well as ask for any willing person's opinion. I would watch their faces closely as they read because many people, for fear of hurting my feelings, would not be as honest as I wanted them to be. Noticing the changes in body language and tone helped me to add more human characteristics to the characters in my writing. These things were what really told me what they thought of my writing. Beyond this, I was able to gain an insight into human nature as well as body language. Incorporating these things into my writing was also a pivotal point in my writing career because the characters that I created became more and more fleshed out until finally I was able to create differentiation. Previously, I had modeled my characters after myself. Having little understanding of other people I was not really capable of creating a whole new person separate from myself. At least I was unable to until I really began to study the people around me.

In the end, I'd have to say that the most pivotal thing to effect my writing was the opening of my mind to various generas and when I began to understand how writing fit into both society and in an academic setting. Slowly, as I got older, I began to understand other people more and more. This understanding enabled me to create more three dimensional characters that became their own people rather than slightly refined copies of myself. Sixth grade was definitely a time of learning and change in which my writing or at least my perception of writing changed drastically. Not only was it during this time that I began to write, I also experienced my first criticism. This also enabled me to see the rules both grammatical and academic that were placed on a piece of writing. I didn't look too deep into any of these things, nor did I put these newly formed concepts into words. While I barely acknowledged these things on the surface, they stayed with me and were important aspects that influenced my writing from then until now.

]]> http://sanriah.edublogs.org/2008/12/01/paper-3-draft/feed/ 0 http://sanriah.edublogs.org/2008/10/17/paper-2-draft2/ http://sanriah.edublogs.org/2008/10/17/paper-2-draft2/#comments Fri, 17 Oct 2008 08:13:30 +0000 victoria http://sanriah.edublogs.org/?p=9 <!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } -->

Victoria Wilson

October 17, 2008

Allen

Imitation, What is It Good For?

When we first began talking about the uses of imitation in class I immediately scoffed. How would I truly be able to use my own voice? Quickly I remembered the origins of my writing experiences. I had always enjoyed reading but I had no idea how books became books. I could hardly get my head around the fact that another human being had managed to write something so intricate. To capture emotion and conversation into words on a page was an idea I was perpetually drawn to; the thing was, I had no idea of where to start. My first self conscious pieces of writing were plain and without the personality and structure of the novels that I enjoyed reading. Because of this, I began to study these novels and then to imitate them. Soon I began to change them to my liking, all the while getting a feel for the sentence structure that my teachers had tried to pound into my head but never could.

Before being introduced to academic writing I don't think that I ever even thought about voice or style and what that really meant. Now when I consider questions like “is voice style or content?” I wonder which idea I believe to be reality. In one of my classes we are currently tackling a literary theory called Russian Formalism. The Formalists wanted to study literature in a more scientific manner than the other theories did at the time. One of the things they addressed was the idea that images in poetry. They said that images were reused by poet after poet almost unchanged, what made the poem unique was the form of the poem and the style of the poem. Voice, therefore, is style rather than content. I agree with this particular idea for many reasons. I would not be the writer I am today, though I could improve, if I had not sat myself down and started imitating established authors' works. When I began messing with the way the sentences were written, what words were used, I saw that while the content stayed relatively the same the style was completely different then the original authors. For me, this is what voice is. To show this I imitated the passage on love from Frankfurt.

“ According to Spinoza, when Joy comes from outside sources, rather than from within, those outside sources become something treasured, depended on and even loved. To Spinoza, love is a reaction to the things that provide a person with the feeling of joy. This is seen as something that cannot be helped because people want to love the object that, to them, represents joy. People strive to exist as themselves, joy helps them to accomplish this goal which is why they love what causes them joy. Personally, I agree that Spinoza has the right idea. The focus on the individual is apparent this idea because it focuses on the love people feel for things that will cause them to “find themselves” or find out “who they really are”. Spinoza also explains that people tend to preserve the things they love. Because these thing bring them joy these things become loved. A persons life and acquisition of insight into himself are sometimes dependent solely on external sources of joy. People also, according to Spinoza, work hard at protecting the things they love and that bring them joy to ensure their continual joy” (Imitation of Page 44- 46).

While doing this imitation I found it difficult to not add my own take on Spinoza's ideas as presented by Frankfurt. I did, however, feel like I garnered a better understating of Frankfurt's piece. While I messed with the style, changing words and rearranging sentences how I wanted them, the content remained (mostly I hope) the same. I found this exercise helpful in finally pinpointing the idea of voice and seeing how imitation plays a huge part in the training of new writers. My writing style became distinctive from Frankfurt's style while the content was the parallel. All in all, I still feel the same about voice as I did in the beginning of the essay, though that isn't to say that content should be entirely disregarded.

September 21, 2008

Allen

My creative writing teacher was an ex-criminal defense lawyer named Mark. When I walked into his classroom I expected a class based on the technical aspects of writing. Instead of stifling my creativity he helped rejuvenate my writing and to this day some of my best poems and novels came from that class. After reading Elbow and Bartholomae’s arguments on the teacher’s role in classrooms and the ownership of writing as well as the place of the reader I look back on Mark’s classroom and wonder why it worked so well for me and many of my peers.

Mark began class with something akin to a free write. He would give us a prompt, the word red or the subject of fear, and we would write something on that prompt. We didn’t have to write on the prompt it was just for people who needed a jumping off point. I personally found it helpful and was amazed at how different my writing on “fear” was from my classmates’. The writing could be the beginning of a story, an essay on..., or a poem. How it ended up was how it ended up. He did not follow the guidelines for Elbow’s free write but looking back I see the parallels. Elbow had strict rules for his free write. For one, if a free write was going to happen in Elbow's classroom he would express that no revision was to be made. Also, if you couldn’t think of anything to write you could just write "I can’t think of anything to write" over and over again to get the thought process going. In Mark's classroom we were given no such instructions. While he did explain Elbow's method we were not required to use it. Our times varied and I for one preferred to think carefully about my writing. The addition of "nonsense words" would be irritating to me, and a waste of time. The use of revision, I felt, only lead my writing to a higher quality. I found this practice to be extremely helpful. People are influenced by things that happen to them. If I had slept through my alarm and my hair was a mess that day then I wouldn’t be thinking about writing I’d be thinking about my hair, or how hungry I was, or tired. What I wouldn’t be thinking of was writing. Any writing that I produced would happen with an effort. Doing this at the beginning of class helped to focus my brain on writing. In the end, Mark's version of the free write and Elbow's reached the same end with slightly different methods.

After this we would read some writings from authors. We would read peer’s pieces but we would also read classic texts and modern authors of various genre’s. Students that were in bands would sometimes bring in music from that band or artists would bring in paintings and we would talk about them or write about them. This was a different type of prompt entirely. We weren’t writing about whatever popped in our heads first. We were able to, instead, write on something outside of ourselves. This helped us to place our own writings against those of established authors as well as the works of our peers. It also helped to expand our writing skills. There were some people in that class for an easy “A” but they left it with at least some appreciation for writing.

The class was very open to discussion and students were encouraged to share their pieces. In high school I had social anxiety and I could not bring myself to read my pieces out loud. When a student wished to submit a piece of writing for class discussion they would wait after class and speak to Mark. If you asked him to, he would read your piece, anonymously submitted, to the class and the class would talk about it. This in a sense took the author out of the equation. The writing almost then became the property of the classroom. In this setting I was able to listen to the compliments and critiques of my writing based solely on the quality of my writing, not influenced by my classmates’ perception of me. This brings up one of the things that Elbow and Bartholomae have been arguing about, ownership of the writing. In this case I, the author, took myself out of the equation and gave the writing over to my classmate's interpretation. While I don't claim to know who is right in this argument, I do know that this worked for me in a classroom setting.

What strikes me about Mark’s classroom is that it seems largely influenced by Elbow’s teachings, however Mark stayed the authority in the classroom the entire time. We students knew that he was the teacher and we were the students, that isn’t to say he never learned anything from us. A lot of the time he would do the assignments with us and read his own work aloud. He would lead the class discussions and while the class was very diplomatic, he was the authority. Even though it was a creative writing class there were guidelines and goals set by the teacher. Also, a certain amount of time was set aside for the specifics of writing, the grammar and mechanics of it. We also had several discussions on the use of voice in academic writing. He would tell us that just because we were writing for an academic audience, it did not mean that audience did not wish to be entertained. A belief that I have found helpful in many aspects of my college experience from “College Research Paper” to “Creative Writing: Poetry”. Even if a teacher is waxing “anti-voice” or “don’t add your opinion” I still find a way to make the writing entertaining, adding personality without opinion or the use of “I”. I also find this nets me a better grade.

In conclusion, I think that it is necessary for a teacher to be the authority in a classroom. Someone has to set the guidelines, be the motivation. Also, students are not like migratory birds with a route already engraved into their heads at birth. There needs to be a knowledgeable someone there to guide. As a student and future teacher I find it necessary to conclude that a teachers role in a classroom is to facilitate a classroom that is conducive to writing both academic and creative writing because students will encounter both in the academic world with or without an English major. This being said I still believe that a classroom should be an open area that allows students to write in the ways in which they wish to write. Mark’s loose writing prompt at the beginning of class allowed for this to come in to play. Exposing us to other writings and art forms enabled us to get a feel for the place our writing might have in the world, and his emphasis on voice as well as grammar and structure helped to prepare students like myself for writing in an academic community and for self. I guess this is an argument for balance in the classroom. Balance between the academic and the creative. After all, why cant we all just get along?