Information Plan Prompt

ENGL 1302 Writing Project #3
Spring 2009, Myers

Information Plan: An initial planning tool intended to help organize the writing process that can be adjusted as you actually write. The more detail you have, the more likely your project will prove to be well-designed.

At the first group meeting, group members present their backgrounds and what they are most interested in doing for this project, genres they might be interested in producing, and texts they might like to discuss.

At the end of that meeting, the team writes an information plan identifying

ü Each person's background
ü Each person’s desired roles in the writing project (with accompanying detailed description of role responsiblities)
ü A brief description of the group's writing expertise
ü Division of reading assignments to be completed by next week
ü Schedule of meetings and drafting plan for next two weeks
ü Rubric for grading group members
ü Any questions, problems, or bright ideas that emerge.

One person should act as recorder for the group during your discussion and take notes for the information plan. The information plan should be typed, double-spaced, include 1-inch margins, and be written in 12-point Times New Roman font. This information plan must be submitted to Dr. Myers by 5:00 Friday, April 3. Every member of the group should retain a copy for their own records.

Every group member should read and sign the informal progress report before it is turned in to the teacher.

Informal Progress Report Prompt

In case you meet with your group and forget your informal progress report prompt, here is a copy of the assignment.

ENGL 1302 Writing Project #3
Spring 2009, Myers
Informal Progress Report

Students are strongly encouraged to hold group meetings on the TWU campus. The library offers meeting rooms students can reserve for course projects.

Due Dates April 4
April 13
April 20

The informal progress report should be in the form of a weekly memo that tells me about the progress on your writing project. Use a standard memo format (this can be found on any Microsoft Word program), but consider designing your own group logo or style for the memo.

The progress reports should contain the following information:

ü Who attended the meeting and who missed it and why. Was the absence excused?
ü Date, time, and location of meeting
ü List of agenda action items: What you needed to discuss at the meeting
ü What was decided about your action items
ü What needs to be done before your meeting next week and who’s in charge of what
ü Update of drafting schedule
ü Any questions or concerns you have that you need Dr. Myers to address

The informal progress report should be signed by every group member before submission.

Where the Wild Things Are Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--N9klJXbjQ

Concerns Beyond Just Where the Wild Things Are

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/arts/design/10sendak.html

"In Praise of Texas" by Luci Tapahonso

So many times I've rushed into airports frazzled,

my hair everywhere as I lugged bags along,

my face flushed from hurrying,

and my breathing loud and raspy.

But I will never be seen like that in Texas.

Because George Strait lives in Texas.

A friend saw him once at Gate 29 of Dallas-Fort Worth.

He is so nice, she said, and to prove it,

she handed me a picture.

George Strait had his arm around her. He was smiling.

I struggled so to share her happiness.

Though that was years ago, I believe that unending faith

precedes glittering possibilities.

I believe that the world is basically good,

and so I am certain that one day

I will just happen to run in to George Strait in Texas.

Maybe he'll be buying the Dallas Morning News at a Circle K.

Maybe as I'm having a salad, he'll walk into the same cafe,

like an ordinary person, and order a medium Diet Coke.

Each time I am in Texas,

my hair shines radiant,

I won't allow dark thoughts to mar my face even for an instant,

my hat has been steamed and re-shaped,

my clothes are smooth and coordinated,

and I am never rushed.

Once as we dined alongside the Riverwalk in San Antonio,

my husband smiled at me and said, "You sure are pretty."

"Thanks honey," I said, "but do you really mean it,

or are you just saying that?"

"I really mean it," he said.

I removed my sunglasses and searched his face

in the evening light,

but I couldn't tell if he really meant it.

In any case, I glanced around very discreetly to see

if anyone else (maybe a country western singer)

shared his sentiment. Just in case, I reminded

myself to sit up straight.

No way.

You'll never see me looking frazzled

or the least bit scuzzy in Texas.

Whether we drive through Dalhart, visit Fort Worth

for a few days, take in a Rangers game,

or whether I have a brief layover at Houston-Hobby,

I believe that one has to be prepared

for whatever Texas has to offer.

Sometimes as the plane glides over that vast, plain state,

above scattered herds of horses, I can see the luster

sparkling off their broad backs like intense hope and I am 

reassured that dreams can blossom without any urging on our part.

Where the Wild Things Are- MOVIE!!

So I thought that it was pretty interesting that they are actually making a movie out of the book! And the trailer was released four days ago and the internet world is already a buzz. I looked through some of the blogs and information that was posted and found out that Forest Whitaker is going to be in the movie. That explains that random interview we found last class where he was talking about the movie and "Max's" character. Even though the trailer has already been released the film won't be out until sometime in October from what I can gather but it is directed by the same man that directed "Being John Malkovich." I do think it is interesting though that this book was written in 1963 and is still widely spread enough for there to be a movie made out it some forty years later.

Questions for Analyzing Picture Books

1. What story do the pictures tell without the words?
2. What reader’s knowledge does the book assume?
3. What do you notice most about the illustration style?
4. What emotional response does the book call forth?
5. What attitude does the book call forth towards the characters?
6. Do the words and pictures flow together or is there a tension or contradiction between them?
7. What do pictures reveal that words don’t, and vice versa?
8. More generally, what’s the relationship like between words and pictures in this book

Where the Wild Things Are

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4680590

Whitney Baker

For my outside article for our writing project 2, I chose the article “A Place for the Dead and the Living” by Jim Lo Scalzo. This article talks about the cycle of death and rebirth in Hinduism. This cycle is called Samsara. Moksha is the ending of the continuous reincarnation cycle. Perhaps one of the holiest places in the religion of Hinduism is the city of Varanasi. People come to Varanasi to spend their last moments in life. In this city, lies the Ganges River, where people come to “pray, wash away their sins,… die” (Lo Scalzo). Achieving Moksha is the Hindu’s goal, they do not want to be reborn. Death and rebirth are very sacred events in life. For some, rebirth could be a positive, but to others, like the Hindu, it is not. With so many different religions, some people believe in reincarnation, and others do not. Some think that life is a one time thing; you only get one shot. These people live their lives to the extreme and have very little regrets. Others do believe that you are born again to a different life after death. To me, it seems that those who do believe in reincarnation, are not satisfied with the way they are/have lived their lives.

Luci Tapahonso Discussion Questions

“In Praise of Texas”
In this poem, praise of Texas and the hope of seeing George Strait are both real and a metaphor. What might Tapahonso be talking about in this poem?


“Conversations at the Gila River Arts Center”
Where does Tapahonso’s first conversation with the medicine man take place? Why stress this setting?
Where does her last conversation take place? Who does she talk to and what does she talk about?
What does she mean by suggesting that “some memories and stories [are] too powerful for things as new as concrete and asphalt to destroy” (26)?


“Blue Horses Rush In”
What do the horses symbolize in this poem? What does the narrator connect them to?

Writing Project #2 Reflective Memo

Hi everyone: If you did not receive the prompt for the second reflective memo (WP #2), here it is.

English 1302 Reflective Essay #2
Myers

This assignment serves two purposes. First, it asks you (the writer) to be critical and reflective of your own work. Second, it serves as an argument for how you would like the reader (your instructor) to read and respond to your narrative.

Your reflection should be word-processed, double-spaced, and written in 12-point Times New Roman font. I am your audience.

Once you have finished answering the questions in each section, save your document, print out a copy, and place the memo on the top of your second writing project.

Section One (45 points)
This section asks you to demonstrate your understanding of key concepts we have discussed in class thus far this semester and how those concepts play out in your own narratives (the concepts I would like you to address for this writing project are identified below, questions 1-5). For each concept, you must follow three steps:

a. Define the concept (you may use the book or our semester outcomes handout to do so but the definition should be in your own words).

b. Point the reader to a specific place in your narrative where the concept is evident.

c. Explain why the example you point to is such a good illustration of the concept.

Rhetorical Context (hint: look at your rubric)
Audience
Analysis
Research
Revision

Section Two
This section asks you to reflect upon more general aspects of your essay and the writing process. Simply answer the questions in complete sentences.

How is an exploratory essay different from the genres you have written in before? What do you think about this particular genre?
Why did you pick the outside source you used? How do you think it contributed to your essay?
Evaluate your peer review group. How (and where in your essay) did your partner(s) help you? How could your peer review partner do a better job reviewing your essay (specifically)?
Tell me one interesting thing you learned while working on this writing project.
If given one more week to work on the essay, how would it change?

Reflective Memo Rubric (27 points)
Section One (3 points/question) 15 points
Section Two (2 points/question) 10 points
Grammar and Mechanics 2 points

The Year of Magical Thinking Discussion Questions

1. Didion spends quite a bit of time throughout the chapter describing her life with her husband--what their home looks like, their dinners together, how they work, etc. Why do you think she includes these small details while discussion his death?

2. What do you think Didion means when she says, "This was the beginning of my year of magical thinking" (33).

3. Even while describing the events leading to John's death, Didion spends time looking for the right words (i.e., "V-fibbing" page 12) and giving us snippets of poetry (page 19 and 32), notes (page 20), and research (page 21). Why might she include this information (seemingly unrelated to the story of grief she is telling?).

4. On page 27, Didion says, "My father was dead, my mother was dead...but I would still get up in the morning and send out the laundry...Grief is different. Grief has no distance. Grief comes in waves, paroxysms, sudden apprehensions that weaken the knees and blind the eyes and obliterate the daliness of life" (27). What do you think she sees as the difference between the two feelings she is describing? How would you characterize the first? And, do you belief the difference is that great?

Introduction and Body Paragraph Workshop, WP #2

a. What is the central question the paper explores?

b. What does the introduction do to draw the audience in to their essay topic?

c. As an audience member, what do you expect to see as the essay unfolds?

d. What is the first text the paper discusses?

e. How effectively has the author summarized the text? Is the summary length appropriate for the intended audience? Why?

f. Has the author not only summarized the source but spent a significant amount of time discussing how the text helps provide an answer to the central question?

g. How does the text being discussed connect to the central question? As a reader, how easily are you able to identify the link?

h. Does the author use quotes in their first two paragraphs? If so, do they follow the four steps for effective quoting? (Introduce, Quote, Cite, and Explain). If not, where should they use quotations to help support their textual analysis?

i. What do you think the introduction and first body paragraph do best?

j. What do you think the author needs to work on here?

Death and Rebirth (brainstorm)

Life changing events can trigger the rebirth or the death of an individual. In many ways as people grow they die and are reborn. As they move from childhood, to adolescence, and as people move onto adulthood they are reborn into the world as new people. I know as a child my experiences in my life killed parts of me and changed me forever. I was never the same after certain events. I guess you could say that I was reborn into a newer person but not necessarily a better one. Sometimes though I was changed for the better and I was glade to see that part of me die off. People have told me before that I have an old spirit. I really don't know what to think of that. They say that I act like an old man. I have never really acted my age. I feel sometimes like I have been placed in the wrong time period. I know it sounds funny but I have missed my era. I think I should have been born in the forty's.

Question. Have you ever seen somebody for the first time and thought that you knew them? Do you think that you knew them from a past life or is it that they just looked familiar?

Death and Rebirth

Death and rebirth are concepts that can easily be misinterpreted because people simply just see these two ideas differently. Death is usually seen as the end of someone’s life while death could represent someone who is going through a drastic change in their lives. Rebirth can simply be seen as someone being reborn and/or be seen as someone changing and becoming a new person or having a better understanding of something you did not appreciate. Death and rebirth work off each other because without death there could be no rebirth and to be blunt, death is inevitable in life. When I was about fifteen I never wanted to watch old movies especially from the early twenties and so forth, because I always thought they would suck because they were made so long ago. Then one day my mom made me watch some old television shows which included one of my favorites “I Love Lucy”. After watching “I Love Lucy” it became my favorite show and I ended up buying the whole series. After watching the show I began giving old movies and different TV shows the benefit of the doubt because they had the possibility of being good. It changed me in a good way, giving me a new insight on old TV shows and movies. You can say that my old views died and new views were reborn into me.

Death and Rebirth

With every life there is birth and death. It is what keeps the world going. Old age and death is the natural process that every living thing must go through. The fear of death is very common. Life is a privilege that should be cherished to its full intent. Death, in my opinion, is not the end of life, but the end of the body your soul possessed. Your spirit still remains, and searches for a new beginning, or a rebirth. Life does not end, it simply goes on to a variety of new forms. Death should not be feared because it leads to rebirth. People are still concerned about what happens to life after death. The question still remains because there is no way of proving or knowing what happens until you actually die. Birth is the most cherished gift a human can receive. It gives you the opportunity to have life. Death, however, is the end of life. It cannot be avoided by any mortal. After death, there comes rebirth. It is a chance to start fresh at the beginning and live once more. Death and rebirth is a constant cycle that never stops. It may seem as though they are completely different themes, but overall they work together. 

Focus: Relationship between Death&Rebirth

Because death/rebirth is such a universal theme, I decided to utilize this post to discuss my thoughts on the relationship between the concepts.
When a theme is presented in two parts usually it will include conflicting points or opposites. (Ex: Light/Dark
Power/Powerlessness)
Often these ideas act as opposing forces with are in a constant battle with one another, but from the way I see it, the themes of death and rebirth seem to work together in efforts to keep up with the natural flow of life. Although death is portrayed mostly as something to be feared and respected because of its inevitability,death provides the way for rebirth to occur. These concepts work together in a system, which death remains as an independent variable and rebirth depends on death to set the path for that which will be raised again. Death can happen without help from rebirth, but rebirth is nothing without death's legacy set before it. Rebirth is interesting because it is almost like a fresh start, where the burdens of life suddenly go away and are replaced with better habits, ideas, and entire thought processes which will carry us through times that will be rough. Death is not something that can be hidden from or shunned, so through our short amount of time here we should seek rebirth to reform ourselves into the best that we can be. These themes are not opposites, but instead they work together to create a larger picture beyond a story that has both death and rebirth.

Death/ Rebirth

The past two reading assignments in our class were definitely my favorite ("The Red Convertible" and "No Denials from Him" ) I guess both stories made me realize how many "deaths and rebirths" we all go through in our lifetime. Or at least the ones that I've been through in mind. In "The Red Convertible" the older brother had one experience that changed him drastically for the rest of his life, this reminds me of the first time I ever went backpacking. I was with my camp and we had to be separated on the backpacking voyage into two groups; boys and girls. Everyone that was on the trip had been apart of the camp with me since summer before eight grade (this trip was summer before sophmore year in high school). So we were all pretty familiar with each other - this definitely did not mean that we liked eachother at all. So there you had it, I was stuck in this group of catty girls for like a two week period outdoors! I didn't think that I was going to make it, but it took that extreme situation of constant hiking and being out of my "natural element" for me to learn so much about myself. Many of the life lessons and mottos that I carry with me now came from that one experience. It is definitely not as intense as fighting in the Vietnam war but that summer I experienced a rebirth.
"No Denials from Him" is an incredible short story, usually when I like short stories I want them to be longer but this story worked nicely and I was able to relate to it on so many different levels. On a personal level the first person I was ever "in love with" cheated on me, I know that betrayal is not the same as that of someone you've promised to spend the rest of your life with but either way it hurts. After going through something like that, I definitely felt like no one understood what I was going through and I turned to music, just like the lady in the story (I'm not sure if the lady within the story is Lucy Tapahonso or not). But, to wrap this up, when I was cheated on I felt like a part of me died as morbid as that is, that is exactly how I felt at that moment in my life. So, I completely understand every aspect of "No Denails from Him" because it mirrors my life so closely. I still consider music such a huge part of my life today because of all that it did for me when I went through this "dark" period - it showed me that I wasn't the only person that had ever felt that kind of deep pain and that I wasn't as "alone" as I thought I was.

I believe that the element of death and rebirth is an important one for just about any sports movie. Death and rebirth are both very prominent factors in Ping Pong the movie. Peco is a high school student that wants nothing more than to be the greatest ping pong player in history. He is a very emotional player and when he loses to an old rival in a tournament he puts up his paddle. This is not a death in the sense of a human being dying, but it is an emotional and personal death. Peco walks around pointlessly after his defeat and he sees his entire life as a failure. When there is going to be a inter high school tournament Peco decides to compete. He soon realizes that he is out of shape and out of practice. He then has a rebirth as he ounce again has something to live for. Another character that experiences death and rebirth is Dragan. He is the best high school player in Japan. He views himself as the absolute best and any failure is seen as unacceptable. He loses to Peco this causes an emotional death as well as a death of his belief in his own superiority. There is also an almost instantaneous rebirth of his emotional life though because he realizes that Peco is the better player. Another Character that comes to experience rebirth is Smile. He never truly experiences death but he experiences an emotional rebirth when he succeeds at beating many players that were much better than him. Then he realizes the ultimate form of rebirth and is completely at peace with himself when he loses to Peco.

"No Denials From Him"

Amanda Moten - Joshua Raymond - Chance Friend

Summary:

Publish Post

Luci Tapahonso's "No Denails from Him" is a short story about a woman's spiritual fight to live after so much of her has died. As the story begins the wife has a vivid dream about her husband being unfaithful, this dream is so terrifying it "push[es] her to the floor." Even though it is only a dream she knew at that movement that her marriage was over and that her husband was going to leave her, "she needed no proof, no denials from him." As her marriage ended she stopped living her life and thus died in some sense. Her life became a constant blur of "school, work, [and] paying bills...." while she became consumed by the feelings of anger she repressed. Her depression deepened as she started to feel as if his leaving was her fault, when these feelings compiled with the stress of teaching and raising kids life in general became too much for her to handle. At this point she began to listen to music everywhere and all the time, she even "slept with the radio on low" so that when she woke up she could pretend that she was not alone. It was the songs about peole, that had felt the lonelines that consumed her, that allowed her to actually affirm that she was not alone. And that she was not the first to experience that type of heartbreak. These musicians put "music to the pain" she thought was her death and music to the new life that "he" gave her.


Thesis:

In "No Denails from Him: Luci Tapahonso uses the reoccuring themes of nature and music to show that often people believe they've died when in reality life has just begun.

Death/Rebirth:

The wife in the story experiences a spiritual and emotional death after her husband leaves her and their kids for the affections of another woman. Her "death" was within her depression and not being herself, but she finds new life through music and songs about people being lonely. the feeling she got from knowing other people had gone through what she had experience, that feel from the music was her rebirth!

Eric, Whitney, and the other guy (sorry forgot your name)

1. "Blue Horses Rush In" by Luci Tapahonso is about the birth of a little girl. It talks about the family and where she came from. The poem is a very descriptive piece about her ancestors and how they will watch over her.

2. The theme of death and rebirth in this poem is very bitter sweet. It seems that Chamisa was a well respected leader in her past life and she had some sort of tragic death. As the “wind outside swirls in small leaves and branches in the dark”, the horses she lead in her past life hurry to meet her at her rebirth.

Conversations at the Gila River Arts Center

By
Meghan , Josh, Lance and Sudipta

Conversations at the Gila River Arts Center

a) Argumentative Thesis
A major symbol in the poem is the basket weaving because this tradition is an important skill that is being passed down from generation to genration.

b) Death/Rebirth
The theme of death and rebirth is illustrated most vividly in "Conversations at the Gila River Arts Center" with the importance of prayers to the Hohokamki people. The people "cast [their] prayers seven generations ahead" in hopes that their decendants may be prosperous, which is a way to take care of them even after they are dead.(Tapahonso 26) The literal death of ancestors is mirrored by their rebirth in the form of the new generations who choose to keep old traditions alive and continue to cast their prayers for the generations that will follow in hopes for prosperity for their children as well.

c) Summary
A medicine man starts off by telling a story to his friend over breakfast about a gentleman whom he was talking to about the sacred mountain south of Phoenix. The gentleman wants to climb it because he hears that it is dangerous, but is warned not to by the medicine man. The gentleman climbs it, but comes back to a café a couple days later in crouches. As breakfast comes the medicine mans friend talks about how Indian stories told to one another demonstrate the same tradition and beliefs, even if the stories are told differently. The medicine man’s daughter walks in with a group of women who are willing to learn the traditional ways of basket weaving and shows them how and when the grass for the baskets should be harvested. The medicine mans friend walks out and drives to a nearby store which is selling traditional tamales, frybread, jewelry, and beadwork and mingles with the merchants. After mingling for awhile he drives back to Phoenix and passes an excavated area where the Hohokamki village used to stand. Sitting there for awhile he comes to a conclusion that the stories that Indians share will always be passed down from generation to generation and will never be forgotten.

Louise Erdrich: http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Bios/entries/erdrich_louise.html

This page is hosted by the website Voices from the Gap: Women Artists and Writers of Color, an International Website. On this site you will find biography and criticism, a selected bibliography, links, and non-English materials.

"The Red Convertible"

Below you will find a list of important/significant quotations from Erdrich's short story. Why is each particular quotation significant? How does it contribute to the argument Erdrich develops?

A: "My own talent was I could always make money. I had a touch for it, unusual in a Chippewa."

B: There it was, parked large as life. Really as if it was alive. I thought of the word repose, because the car wasn't simply stopped, parked, or whatever. That car reposed, calm and gleaming, a FOR SALE sign in its left front window. Then, before we had thought it over at all, the car belonged to us and our pockets were empty. We had just enough money for gas back home.

C. "Hop on in," says Henry. So she climbs in between us.
"We'll take you home," I says. "Where do you live?"
"Chicken" she says.
"Where the hell's that?" I ask her?
"Alaska."
"Okay," says Henry, and we drive.

D: We liked to tease him that they really wanted him for his Indian nose. He had a nose big and sharp as a hatchet, like the nose on Red Tomahawk, the Indian who killed Sitting Bull, whose profile is on signs all along the North Dakota highways.

E: Once I was sitting in the room watching TV with Henry and I heard his teeth click at something. I looked over, and he'd bitten through his lip. Blood was running down his chin. I tell you right then I wanted to smash that tube to pieces. I went over to it but Henry must have known what I was up to.

F. "That car's a classic! But you went and ran the piss right out of it, Lyman, and you know it don't deserve that. I kept that car in A-one shape. You don't remember. You're too young. But when I left, that car was running like a watch. Now I don't even know if I can get it to start again, let alone get it anywhere near its old condition."

G. "I walk back to the car, turn on the high beams, and drive it up the bank. I put it in first gear and then I take my foot off the clutch. I get out, close the door, and watch it plow softly into the water. The headlights reach in as they go down, searching, still lighted even after the water swirls over the back end. I wait. The wires short out. It is all finally dark. And then there is only water, the sound of it going and running and going and running and running."