For Weds (11:45)

Hello all,

Today, we started the class with a little exercise about themes and planning for a new society. Our roles in planning this new society illustrate our views of our strengths and weaknesses. Building on this discussion, we shifted to exploring the "refusal of the call" and the "meeting with the mentor" stages of Vogler's journey.

Professor Lindsey led us through the refusal of the call and the meeting with the mentor. Prof. Lindsey highlighted the debate between the god/deity as god/deity vs the god as "disguised." Dahinana, Chad, and Anasstassia contributed to the discussion with both sides of the argument being presented and explored. Prof. Lindsey covered the notion of the hero and the refusal in relation to its self-will and determination. The question about the absence of a mentor was brought up in class, to which Chad and Hope commented on the interiority of mentors and the relation of the mentor to the writing process i.e. writers are mentors and writers need mentors. Rayna contributed the sense that when she was evaluating her peer's and her paper that she was looking for the mentor and the refusal in the stories. Hope mentioned the secret door and Prof Lindsey connected that with the desire to "know."

We shifted, following this discussion, to working on the computers and conducting some free writing to get ourselves ready for writing and research. We did some blind freewriting. We first:
1. listed themes and ideas in our project one
2. Listed questions about those themes and ideas
3. Attempted to answer some of the questions
4. provided a basic history, explanation, or definition from one of our answers.
5. Listed and explored who would support/believe vs. who would condemn/attack an area that we were exploring.
6. Listed and described ways that some of the elements for above appear in culture, history, or our environment.

This exercise encourages you to think and to explore ideas before focusing to intently on one area. Freewriting is the ultimate tool if you just don't know what to do! If you are blocked, or your ideas are simply too tangled up to put down in a list, freewriting is for you. If you have an idea in the back of your head but just can't quite pin it down, this is the technique that will pull that idea out. Freewriting is also a method for developing a small hint of an idea into a fully grown one. Freewriting is a little like fishing - you cast out with your pen, and then you let the ideas swim to you... but they won't come if you don't start fishing for them!

As we begin our research-based project, please use this exercise to help you generate some areas for inquiry. I would like you to bring 3-5 questions to class on weds. that you may use to initiate your project two research.

For Weds:

Read: Book II Kafka

Write: Conduct more free writes or start generating three to five questions for research

Do: Keep thinking about questions that you would like to answer by doing research.

Take care,

Kat