Welcome to blog number 5, this week we were asked to refer back to the Wizard of Oz and think about a moment in my life that allowed me to travel into my heart. Each Wizard of Oz videos, If I only had a brain, heart or Nerve, Meeting the Wizard, and You've always had the Power gave me the inspiration to give a little bit of a lead way to where my narrative will be heading. Enjoy ! How does your narrative allow you to travel into your brain (mind) then and now?
My narrative allowed me to travel into my mind because when I was starting to write I thought about the loss that really hit me and it also allowed to really think about how I was feeling that very when I found out that I lost someone that was very close to me. It also allowed me to really dig into my mind and think about where my mind was before this all happened. What shapes our sense of identity: Life events or the stories we tell ourselves about life events? Life events we tell ourselves can change over and over again because after it happens, the life event is a memory that lasts forever in a way that no one else would understand unless it was written down in a journal. Our identity is shaped from the life event. Thinking about self identity, watching the Wizard of Oz videos it made me thing about what Dorthy's identity truly was. How does your narrative enable you to re-examine the power (agency) you have in authoring your life-story? My narrative enabled me to re - examine the power for me to authorize my life story because it allowed me to open up my feelings and express how this event in my life truly changed my life in a way. It changed my life in a way that is hard to explain but my life story is still going on and this event did change my life forever. How does your narrative meet the nerve (high-stakes) element of meaningful storytelling? I believe that my narrative meets the nerve element of meaningful story telling because when wring this piece it allowed me to go into my heart and mind to find a meaningful life event that impacted my life. IT wasn't easy to realize that meaningful storytelling will allow you to write about the meaningful relationship you had with someone in you life that is now gone because of a decision that they have made. How does your narrative allow you to travel into your heart (emotions) then and now? My narrative has allowed me to travel back into my heart then and now because when the life event of a death of my best friend happened i was emotionally drained the day I found out. Now that its been 7 years after I still remember that very day but not as much detail as I did before because after thinking about it after a certain amount of time you just want to think about the happy times that you had with the person and not the day of them being gone.
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In class this past week, we looked at a piece of writing known as Hills Like White Elephants (Ernest Hemingway). This story helped us explore how to show emotion and how to add dialog in our writing. Showing emotion and showing dialog in a story will help your audience feel what you were feeling.
It was a lovely weekend when I was having a rough time in school. I had no idea why until I realized it had something to do with the loss of a very special person in my life. Last year was the hardest year for me because in my English class we were reading Macbeth and it had a lot of killings involved which made me uncomfortable. I went home one day after school and was upset. My parents were concerned because I refused to talk to them about what was going on. I wanted nothing to do with anything involving my family. This is where the story began… One day in school last year, I went to my first period class and I was starting to tear up. I asked to go to the office because I just knew it was going to be hard for me. I knew we were reading Macbeth as a class and we were at the part of the story where the murders started to happen. When I went to the office they asked me what happened. I said “ Something is triggering my tears. Also, I can’t figure out what is going on. I need support to figure out what is bothering me.” My guidance counselor took me into her office and sat down with me and said “ Please tell me what’s going on, people are worried , are you okay ?” I said in reply “ No, I think it has something to do with a death in my family and its triggering tears in my English class.” I was an emotional wreck and people thought I faked it. I would never fake my emotions, I show my emotions all the time because that is the person I am. The office took what I said into consideration and they called my parents. I didn’t think I needed that kind of attention. Yes, things were bothering me but that didn’t and won’t stop me from doing the things I love. I haven’t had a perfect day in my life ever since I lost my uncle through a horrible thing called suicide. I had a conversation with my parents about everything that happened. It was really difficult for me. I took the time to talk to people, but they just didn’t really understand what was going on in my head. My emotions were shown all the time and this is something that will never go away. Losing someone that you love is the hardest pain ever. When my parents heard about this, they reached out to me and asked my questions to verify what the guidance office had told them about me and why I was upset. That night when I went home, I was drained and all I wanted to do was just have time alone and write down my thoughts because I thought it would help me in the long run. When I went up to my room, I grabbed my copybook and a pen , then I began to write down how I was feeling. I felt a little bit better after but not 100%. A few days later , I was working on homework in my room and my dad said to me “Hey Lyss, come down stairs for a second.” I walked down the steps and I saw my aunt in the living room and I started to cry. I had no idea what was going on. I walked down the steps completely and I looked at everyone that was there. My dad and my aunt were standing in the living room and it looked like they were about to say something to me. I stopped at the bottom of the steps and my dad said “come sit down next to me. Your aunt has a gift for you.” I thought it was something bad but it turned out to be a bear. This wasn’t just a bear, this was a bear that was made from my uncle’s favorite flannel shirts. This was something they wanted me to have so that I had him with me everywhere I went. At this point, yes, it does help in some ways but it is not something that will ever be the same. I was very emotional when he was handed to me. This bear goes everywhere I go. I don’t care if it’s with me at school. It helps me get through a heck of a lot and I am so happy that my family has stepped in to help me. When I fondle my diploma, I feel excited because I know I finished the second chapter of my life which was high school. Nothing will ever make me more happy than knowing I made it through high school without any damage. High school was the moment of my life where I didn’t know where i was going to end up after four years of unknown mystery, the mystery was found at the end when I was handed this amazing thing called my diploma. The feeling of happiness and completeness was running through my blood. Finishing up something I thought was going to fail at but I passed with great grades.
When I first held my diploma I felt like I hit a life goal that I never thought would of happened. Graduation day was one of the best days of my life. Seeing the ones that helped me through my high school career for one last time was sad but I always remember that they are always around no matter what happens. My diploma represents all the hard work I put into my education so that I could be where I am today. When I look back on the day of Graduation, I start to feel all the emotions in the world. I was feeling nervous because I was sitting in a large gym at Neumann University with everyone’s family looking down at all of us and I thought something was going to go wrong. I was also feeling happy because it was an exciting day being with my family and my classmates for one last time before heading off to college. When the ceremony began,I started to feel my blood rushing rapidly through my body when I was walking up the side of the gym to the back to begin walking with my classmates one last time. My high school graduation was a day to remember. Everything in my life was where I wanted it to be. Feeling happy to complete four years of fun times but also finishing high school ahead in my path of my next chapter. It was a hot summer day and I was getting ready to head out west for the week. I was so excited to bring my journal with me so I can write about my journey out west. Planning this for awhile and I can’t wait to see where my writing will take me. I arrived in Arizona late and I started to head to the Grand Canyon to spend the week. Getting off the plane was a very hot one, there was no humidity but it was over 100 degrees when I arrived.
The next day I started walking around the canyon trying to find a spot to look out at the Canyon and just start writing. When I started walking the path towards the Canyon and I came across three authors on the path; Mary Karr, Don Murray , and Ann Lamott. I had no idea I was going to run into these three awesome people at the Grand Canyon. The four of us continued to walk up the path and just started introducing one another and got to know one another. I found a rock and I sat down, I started asking about their writing process and what they did to begin writing. Mary Karr said “Just picking up a pen makes you part of a tradition of writers that dates thousands of years back.” I was in all when she said that. I didn’t know picking up a pen would have history behind it. Mary was speaking about what writing means to her and what her writing process was. The other thing Mary said was “writing is painful.” When she said this she was stating that writing is a difficult task. It is hard to find a topic to write about, the best thing to do is to just start writing and see where it takes you. The last thing Mary said to me was “ Rewriting on the page is safer than revision in, say, painting, where you can paint past a good place and wreck a canvas.” I do believe in what she means by this because nothing is easy just like painting and writing. While I was writing my notes from my talk with Mary Karr. I began to talk to Don Murray. Don was asking me about my writing process and what I did to start my writing pieces. I told him my process and he asked me about prewriting. He said that “Prewriting is everything that takes place before the first draft. Prewriting usually takes about 85 percent of the writer’s time.” To me, prewriting is the most important part of my process. Don was sitting next to me and was looking over my shoulder at my journal. He looked at what I was doing then he looked up at me for a moment. His face was shocked on what I was able to do. I was writing about the scene that was in front of me and the one thing he said to me was to remember the stages of writing in which he said “ The writing process itself can be divided into three stages: prewriting, writing, and rewriting.” I have noticed that Don is focused on making sure I know the three stages and was asking me if I do follow these steps. We have had a great talk while looking out at the beautiful Grand Canyon. After finishing up my conversation with Don , I started talking to Ann Lamott. Ann was very happy to talk to me about my writing. She had a cold water in her hand and was very happy. Ann and I first talked about what she calls shitty first drafts. She told me something that I think was very meaningful, this is what she said to me “Now, practically even better news than that of short assignments is the idea of shitty first drafts. All good writers write them.” I believe that I should always have a bad draft because when I write , I write what is going on in my head. Ann then was asking me what I did to get started on my writing and I told her I just turn to a clean page and just start writing. After talking to these three wonderful authors, I now feel like I know more about my writing process and what I can do better make my writing stronger. Don , Mary and Ann all had something unique to say about the writing process which is cool because I got to hear their point of view on how they go about their process. Welcome to my first of many blogs I will be posting on my website. My first assignment was to answer a series of questions known as the Proust questionnaire that was developed my a man by the name of Micheal Proust. Please check out the link to read more about the Proust Questionnaire. 1.What is your idea of perfect happiness? My idea of perfect happiness is having happy and positive things in my life. Perfect happiness is something you make happen in your life. This isn’t something that is given to me it’s more that I found it. There are many people that are suffering from this and they are working very hard to find their perfect happiness. 2.What is your greatest fear? My greatest fear is losing the people in my life that I love the most because without them I wouldn’t be where I am today. 3.What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? The trait I most deplore is picky because I am very picky with many things in my life. For example , I am a picky eater I don’t eat most things but that’s because I am a healthy eater. 4.What is the trait you most deplore in others? The trait that I deplore in others is rude. I do not like rude people because if people act like that I will not talk to them. 5.Which living person do you most admire? The person I most admire is someone that loves what she is studying and is very passionate in what she wants to be when she is out of school. This young lady’s name is Kelly. Kelly loves animals and is currently studying to become a vet. I have never seen her without an animal in her hands. 6.What is your greatest extravagance? My greatest extravagance is my laptop because without it I wouldn’t be able to see my school work. Enlarging has made my life so much easier with being able to make things bigger. 7.What is your current state of mind? My current state of mind is positivity. I know my path of study and I love what I am studying. I am never going to give up studying about children because this is the path I will always stay on. 8.What do you consider the most overrated virtue? N/A 9.On what occasion do you lie? N/A 10.What do you most dislike about your appearance? The one thing I dislike about my appearance is my height. I wish I could be a little bit taller. 11.Which living person do you most despise? I do not despise any living person that I know. I feel like despising someone is hurtful and mean. 12.What is the quality you most like in a man? The quality I most like in a man is honesty because honesty is hard to find in a guy. 13.What is the quality you most like in a woman? The quality I most like in a woman is trust. I don’t like non trusting female friends. 14.Which words or phrases do you most overuse? The words I overuse are; ok , yea, what , and whatever. 15.What or who is the greatest love of your life? The greatest love of my life is the guy I am currently dating who’s name is Tyler. This isn’t something I share but honestly I am sure he is the one I am going to have for the rest of my life. 16.When and where were you happiest? The time I was the happiest was meeting Tyler for the first time. I met him with a friend of mine in the Springfield Chick - Fil- A which was the best day of my life. 17.Which talent would you most like to have? N/A 18.If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? There is nothing I want to change about myself because I know I am beautiful just the way I am. 19.What do you consider your greatest achievement? I would say my greatest achievement was when I played softball and I got my team to the championship, so we didn’t win but it was worth pitching all season. 20.If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? If I died and came back I would want to be a monkey because monkeys eat bananas and I love bananas. 21.Where would you most like to live? I would most like to live in California with my west coast family because my cousin Amber and I are very close and I wish I was living out there with her. 22.What is your most treasured possession? My most treasured possession would be old family pictures of my family that past away. I Have pictures of people who I never met that I wish I could meet. 23.What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? N/A 24.What is your favorite occupation? My favorite occupation is teaching. I love teaching and interacting with younger kids. 25.What is your most marked characteristic? My most marked characteristic would be helpful because I am always helping others out when it’s needed. 26.What do you most value in your friends? The one thing that I value in my friends is that they are always there for me no matter what happens. 27.Who are your favorite writers? I am going to be honest I like a variety of writers, I don’t have favorites. 28.Who is your hero of fiction? My hero of fiction would be Katniss Everdeen because she is strong and brave. 29.Which historical figure do you most identify with? I would say I identify with Amelia Earheart because she wasn’t afraid to try new things and when she did try something new, she didn’t give up on it. 30.Who are your heroes in real life? My heroes in my life would be my grandmothers and my mom because when I need help, they are always there no matter what. 31.What are your favorite names? My favorite names are; Julie , Ashley , and Michelle. 32.What is it that you most dislike? N/A 33.What is your greatest regret? My greatest regret would be dating a guy younger than me because it was more work for me to explain something that they didn’t understand. 34.How would you like to die? I would want to die a happy and painless death because even though death is sad, dying happy is better than dying in pain. 35.What is your motto? My motto is if you love what you do then stick with it and learn more about it. |
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Alyssa BoppellOpen the book and begin to read the unknown chapters you may not of known before. Life is one big adventure. Please read about my adventures and achievements I have done so far n my life. Remember this is only the beginning. Enjoy ! Archives
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