For Friday (10:45)

Hello all,

Today, we began the class with an exercise that spoke of the hidden potentials we all hold. While the accuracy of the test is always suspect, I like that we are beginning to see some larger connections in ourselves.

We then crafted "1 Good Paragraph" concerning the ideas and experiences you had upon reading "A Good Man is Hard to Find." I will return your paragraphs on Friday. Paragraphs are very important units of writing, and we will be spending some time on how to craft "good" paragraphs. Please check out http://www2.actden.com/writ_Den/Tips/paragrap/index.htm for some more insight. Don't worry we will be working on aspects like this throughout the semester.

The story discussion was engaging. I really think that Alex P.'s point was profound and opened more doors of exploration. Stories are great places for us to explore our identities in relation to the actions and ideas presented in the text. However, we must also be aware that these fiction readings are also great opportunities for us to look at history, society, and other aspects, as these aspects are presented or critiqued in the readings. Discussions will be more fruitful once we have a bit more material to involve; however, I think you all are getting the hang of it.

Flannery O'Connor --Cool link about the story.

We then went "to the computers" and started generating some ideas about the first writing project, the "making sense" of an experience. Instead of just randomly selecting an idea from your past, we worked on conducting free writes in class so that we could explore areas that we normally wouldn't focus on. We turned the monitors around and just typed. I know that this was a hard exercise, as most of you want to "craft" a perfect sentence. However, this process allows us to "think outside the box."

For Friday:

Read-No readings for Friday

Write-work on selecting three areas from your free-writing (bring to class)
*These areas should reflect on an aspect of your life that you have achieved a certain sort of distance from i.e. something that has occurred that you have had the time to "make sense" of in your life.

Do-Bring your three selected areas to class

Take care, and thanks,

Prof. Kat