Yay

Yay for the last group meeting on Tuesday...I wonder what everyone's project is going to be like? I'm still stumped, but I'm brainstorming...I only have one more weekend to pull it all together.

Hope everyone had a happy holiday!

Cristina

Warning: Grumpiness ahead (Or: a desperate cry for cheering-up help!)

Note to self: warn all Mills friends and acquaintances not to take Video I in the same semester they are writing their theses!!! Ridiculous classes that take hours and hours and hours of precious time getting frustrated with ridiculously complicated computer software are not good things to involve oneself in when one needs that precious time to WRITE. Especially when one has no plans whatsoever to do anything remotely related to that stupid video technology later in life. Stupid minor requirements...grrrr....

Okay...cool your jets, Kelsey...

I'm starting to get worried. I haven't worked on my thesis at all this week, and I still only have 20 pages. I did have reasoning behind that, to a certain extent, other than the fact that this stupid video class is owning my life... (1) I'm stalling a little bit until I get everyone's feedback on Tuesday (IF we even get to me on Tuesday, seeing as how I'm dead last, my own stupid fault), (2) I have every intention to do some hardcore writing while at home for thanksgiving, where I'll able to focus, and won't have access to that stupid video software and therefore won't have to worry about that. I don't doubt that the thesis will get done on time....I know it will, although I wish I still had a lot more time to work on it. But I'm really excited about what the next few weeks hold for us as a group...especially that party at Elmaz's!

And I can't wait to meet Brewster!!!!

So I guess at this point, since I'm too tired and frustrated to have anything very enlightening to say, I will throw out this question to you... What keeps you going when you get worn out, frustrated, fried, and totally unmotivated? How do you push through the fatigue and the stress and the just wanting to quit? When it just gets you down, how do you get back up?

Really....I want to know! Maybe I'll go make some cookies to cheer myself up...or watch an episode of NCIS before I do my econ homework (which is the other thing I'm hating right about now). Bleh...

Sorry guys...didn't mean for this to be such a gloom and doom blog post. I didn't know what I was going to write about this week, so I decided to just go at it blindly and see what would happen. And now we can all tell what a fantastic mood I'm in right now!

However, I'll be better by Tuesday, I promise! I love reading y'alls writing...that's what gets me going!

Reading

The reading was interesting. There were certainly a lot of different styles and different people with those different styles, and it was my first time doing anything like that, really, so it was an experience, to say the least.

On another note...

Don't you hate it when you're drinking hot tea, but it's not really hot at all and in fact it's so cooled down that it's actually quite cold, but you don't realize that before you drink it, and then you do drink it and it's disgusting so you spit it out and accidentally get it all over yourself?

Yeah, just happened to me.

CAN YOU GUYS BELIEVE OUR THESES ARE ALMOST OVER?!

Unbelievable.

Cristina

Soundtrack

-Not sure what our official assignment is for this week. There might have been one, but I can't remember. Well, I'm behind one so I thought I'd steal another group's blog idea for last week.

Now, I don't really listen to music while I work. I can't usually listen to music without dancing. I also am spacey enough without distraction. However, I am a huge music fan and it inspires me a lot. So here are some song that inspire me with ideas. At least for now.

"Green Onions" by Booker T. and the M.G.'s (This song inspired an entire story!)

"Reverie" and "Pagodes" by Claude Debussy

"Gnossienne No. 5" by Erik Satie

Talking Heads' album "Remain in Light" and also their album "True Stories"

R.E.M.'s album "Automatic for the People"

"Get up offa that thing" by James Brown

"Respect" by Otis Redding

"Jump in the Line" by Harry Belafonte

Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker

"Crying" Roy Orbidson

"Wouldn't it be nice" by The Beach Boys

"Everyday" by Buddy Holly

I've recently been obsessing over musicals like Oklahoma!, Top Hat, Singing in the Rain, and Wizard of Oz. Also over Bollywood musicals like Pakeezah, Om Shanti Om, Dilwale Duljania Le Jayenge, etc. I like songs that come with dances.

Everything by The Beatles

Pretty much everything composed by Arvo Pärt and everything by Radiohead

and Björk who was my first love!

Here's something else that inspires me:

my soundtrack...the UN narrowed down version. sorry El

the songs listed are songs that will be in the soundtracks. LOL. I plan on breaking my story into at least two books if not three. These songs would be the songs played in the film of these said books if I adapt them into movies. Some of the songs are ones I listened to while I wrote, but most of them remind me of scenes in my story (some of which I have submitted or am going to submit to the class this semester) or of characters in my story. If/when I narrow down the list it will be to have less/no repetition of musical artists.


Tom's Diner by Suzanna Vega & Art of Noise

Saga by Basement Jaxx feat. Santigold

Come Back When You Can by Barcelona

This Is Not The End by The Bravery

True Believer by Dragonette

I Just Died In Your Arms by Amerie

Stupid Grin by Dragonette

Runnin by The Pharcyde

I Get Crazy by Nikki Minaji

I Can Transform Ya by Chris Brown feat Swizz Beats and Lil WAyne

Creator by Santigold

Baddest Bitch by Nikki Minaji

Passing Me By by The Pharcyde

Morenamia by Miguel Bose feat Julieta Venegas

All The World by Fauxliage

Enjoy The Silence by Anberlin

Pony/ Love Save The Empty by Erin McCarley

That Girl/ I Drive Alone/ Fastlane by Esthero

Sunday Morning by No Doubt

Never Again by Kelly Clarkson

Cosmic Getaway by Electrasy

Com As You Were by The Bird and The Bee

My Own Worst Enemy by Lit

Aways Strapped by Birdman

No Hay Nadie Como Tu by Calle 13

Dont Look Back by Telepopmusik

Fantasy by Timbaland feat Money

Tell It To The Sky by Tracy Bonham

You Wouldn't Like Me/ I Wont Be Left by Tegan and Sara

Whether You Fall by Tracy Bonham

Naked by TRacy Bonham

Instantly Gratified by People In Planes

Copasetic by Local H

Ashes to Ashes by David Bowie

The Fear by Lily Allen

Burning by Whitest Boy Alive

In The Dark by Dj Tiesto

Hawaii by Meiko

Now I'm That Bitch by Livvi Franc

Girl And The Sea by The Presets

Ignorance by Paramore

When You're Gone by The Cranberries

Beauty In The Dark by Mads Langer

Fight Song by The Republic Tigers

Most Beautiful Plague by Say Anything

I Belong To You by Lenny Kravitz

Brightest Hour by The Submarines

Mouthwash by Kate Nash

Plastic Jungle by Mike Snow

Makeup Blog -What I see in a book...

Here's the blog I was supposed to write for last week, but didn't because I am a forgetful loser.

I like writing that teaches me how to write and also something I can relate to:

"In July my father went to take the waters and left me, with my mother and elder brother, a prey to the blinding white heat of the summer days. Dizzy with light, we dipped into the enormous book of holidays, its pages blazing with sunshine and scented with the sweet melting pulp of golden pears" (The Street of the Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz, 25.)

When I first read this it changed my life. It changed my writing. Nothing was ever the same again. That's Schulz's first paragraph of that story. Sucks you right in. He writes about color and smell like I could only dream of. I also like his writing because I feel like I can relate to him, both culturally and personally. He was a pale, bookish guy who kept to himself and he was a Polish Jew. I'm Jewish and my family is from that part of the world, so I feel like I really understand his cultural perspective. He unfortunately didn't get a chance to write much. While in a ghetto he was shot by a S.S. officer. Supposedly he was working on a manuscript called The Messiah, but it was lost.

Something that blows my mind, opens my doors:

e.e. cummings' "pity this busy monster manunkind" poem (look it up, it's great!)

When I first read this poem I was blown away. Both by the content and the writing, but especially the latter. e.e. cumming's taught me that it's okay to break the rules. He breaks the rules and does it WELL.

Something that shows truth:

Colors magazine, issue #20 Beijing you can see some of it here:

http://www.colorsmagazine.com/issues/70/index.php

This was another life-changing experience for me. All it is is photos of various people and things from Beijing and little monologues of the people in them. Reading it was like walking down the streets of Beijing and talking to whoever you ran into. The photography, the writing has influenced me so much! The first time I read it was two summers ago or so and I still pick it up and flip through it. Every time is like a new time. I strive for the same kind of realism in my writing.

Underground by Haruki Murakami

Murakami was interested in individual accounts of what happened during the Sarin Gas Attacks on the Tokyo subways in 1995. After an agonizing search, Murakami triumphed and was able to transcribe the first hand accounts of victims and even members Aum Shinrikyo cult. How Murakami writes the accounts is amazing. It is like true voice but in writing. I really admire this. I also admire how Murakami turns the sterile statistics of a newspaper into a tangible reality for the reader. I WANT to do that so badly. Also, it was a real challenge to get this done in the first place. Japan, as a whole, has a very unique behavior towards victims of disasters, etc. they usually keep to themselves and do not want to talk about it, sometimes they are even ostracized. So, yet again another complex cultural perspective that you don't see done so well that often.

Tokyo a certain style by Tsuzuki

I've already gone on and on about this one in class, but now you can actually look at it for yourselves:

http://books.google.com/books?id=wB8UKJuGw_gC&dq=tokyo+a+certain+style&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=-ecAS4WIPIHesgP5jvC9DA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=&f=false

It's not just the pictures for me (even though those are a huge part of it for me) I also love the brief yet extremely evocative little tidbits the photographer gives you about the person who lives in the apartment and about what's in the photograph. It's usually barely a sentence yet it is just so PERFECT! Gah!

Soundtrack

The unofficial soundtrack to my story thus far is as follows:

Jay Chou: Secret (entire album)

Kwon Bo Yong: My Wish

Paramore: Decode

Loveholic: Crazy

Cecil Brooks III: I'm a Fool to Want You

Dido: Thank You

Flyleaf: So I Thought

Meg & Dia: Roses

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus: Cat and Mouse

Sugizo: Synchronicity

30 Seconds to Mars: The Kill

These were the songs I listened to most while I was compiling my work. The beats helped me visualize actions and exchanges, and even helped bring out appropriate emotions for my characters while I was writing.

Thanks to the talented artists out there who inspired me!

Cristina

Holy Cannoli, I'm on time.

I'm not sure what the blog is supposed to be about this week so I'm just writing about whatever I want, which is to say, my thesis.

I think that it's definitely coming together in a way that no other collection of mine has done. Although I'm still having issues articulating the thread of my collection of work I think that it's there and that it will reveal itself to me as I continue to work on it. I feel like every poem is a step closer to the revelation of some grander meaning, like every piece rounds out the collection as a whole so that each part is a commentary on the whole.

At the moment I think the whole thing is best articulated as a collection of pieces that deal with perception, and specifically on moments in life (my life) that have shifted my point of view of the operations in the world.

I think that's the most concise way to put it. I've been talking to people outside of Mills and outside of academia about it and that's really the best way to explain it. However, I found that it's also useful to describe my influences, which I made up retroactively. Kind of. I think that Beth Lisick and Miranda July influenced my work because of the following two reasons:
1) I was reading/ went a reading of their work in the time that I was developing and writing my thesis

2) I think that the way that they deal with the day to day is really interesting. Mundane things become evocative. There are interesting and even twisted views of their lives that are hilarious, terrifying, and beautiful. I like that. I want to do that.

Bonus Reason) They're both from the Bay Area and I really like to rep that.

The major issue in my thesis at the moment is mainly: having the time to do it! and the conspicuous lack of sex. If I was doing a deconstructive criticism of this thesis I would say: Why is there no sex? Is she intentionally avoiding sex? The answer is Yes, I was.

I think the idea was that I could just create a piece of work about my shifting perspectives on the world without being bogged down by the topic of sex. I think that I succeeded to a point. I think that by leaving sex out, I also left out a bunch of relationship poetry without leaving out romance. I didn't want to write about relationships or emotional others because I didn't want to go on about it forever as I tend to do when I get on to that facet. In other words, I didn't want to get stuck on poems about how much I loved or hate my ex-boyfriend. Still, I think that I touch on romance in my work and I tried to do it in such a way that it was the kind of romance that is not specific to me.

I don't really know how to bring the sex in, but I think that it will work it's way in if I keep writing. We shall see.

when I read

I love twists. I like when I'm reading a fictional action novel and there's a romance amidst the blood and horror and endless list of supernatural creatures that amaze me. A FEW books I've been able to reread over and over again. stargirl by jerry spinelli, demon in my view by amelia atwater-rhodes, the alchemist by paulo coelho, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, the things they carried by tim o'brien, Kushiel's legacy, American Gods and Good Omens by Neil Gaiman, Hold Still by Nina LaCour, Confessions of a Teenage Vampire by Terry M. West and Steve Ellis . I like when I read a book and can tell that the author did research to back up his fictional claims. I love reading something that moves me by the way it is written as well as by what it is saying as I read it. I love pulling out quotes that move me while I read a novel, be the quote funny or serious. I love reading about characters that seem real, not in a physical sense but in personality. I like reading and believing that the conversations or how the conversations are carried out could actually happen and that a person or creature would actually act like that. I was just talking to a friend of mine about films I enjoy the most being the ones where the characters are most believable. I love reading a book and dreaming about it later, wishing my life could just be placed into the center of the story so that I can get a better view of what's going on and be a part of the plot. So ... I'm going to stop rambling and leave it at that. If I remember something more I'm sure I'll blog again ;)

Tell me something good

I spent most of my day on Saturday thinking about who is my favorite author. Just kidding I only spent about five minutes. What I decided was that I don't have a favorite author. However the qualifications, or rubric, that I was judging these people on pretty much determines what I thought was "good" writing.

Over the last few years I've really got into reading series books, and I think that's because I fall in love with style. I read a bunch of Salinger toward the end of high school and he beginning of college, I think this is because Salinger has a very distinct voice. You can always tell when you're reading Salinger, his lines direct your reading. When lines are long it's meant to emphasize the short lines. But I've already discussed Salinger, we know I'm a fan.

So, the next series I read and liked a whole lot was the His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman. Why did I like that? I think mostly because it took a very strange look at something I thought I knew very well, organized religion. The story was told from the point of view of a child which I don't usually like because kids tend to irritate me (I'm sorry but it's true). However, I think that the form fit it's function because I understood that I should be discovering the multi-verse with wonder and curiosity not strange twisted desire. If you have read the series the previous sentence made sense to you.

I guess mostly I think writing is good when I can see the mechanics of it working for the betterment of the piece. The form and the rhetoric come together in such a way that the craft and skill of the author are apparent but not so much that it's pretentious. The author is trying to tell me something about the life they experience, and make it sound awesome also.

Lupe Martinez

Looking Looking Looking...

What I look for in a good piece of writing are the same things that inspire me. I need intensity, adventure and a message that speaks to the greater good. I love stories that are on an epic scale because stories that are about someone making a huge difference or fighting to make the difference really speak to me. I like stories that have a much grander underlying story to them. When you read about a character who is faced with tremendous odds and responsibility are easy for me to get attached to and really root for.

I also like stores that have beautiful descriptions of the scene and setting. Oddly enough, that's what I'm currently struggling with the most in my novel to perfect. I really love reading about different places, expecially when the descriptions are vivid and visceral so you can completely imagine it in your head.

intersection of land and violenc

I don't think I ever read and set out to find something in that reading; I just read and allow myself to discover whats there and if it inspires me, then I read and reread like a banshee.

I keep re-reading Alan Paton's Cry the Beloved Country because he makes the land of South Africa into an achingly beautiful character that slowly erodes from page one. For me, the land is more important than anything else (without it, how can anything else be? even the interactions between people occur? and yes, the slander hippy applies to me), and I'm trying to learn how to write the land into a presence that isn't cheesy, especially as the story that I'm working on exists upon and within the earth.

For similar reasons, I've reread Blood Meridian twice, but the violence keeps me from rereading it again, though I keep turning back to Cormac MacCarthy (I read The Road eight times in two weeks and if I could tell you why, then I'd've begun this blog with that) to learn how to be ruthless with language and judicious with violence (with all my problems with Blood Meridian's violence, none of them are because its gratuitous: its the reality of the US-Mex border) because the subjects that I'm obsessed with are ultimately integrated with the land and defined by violence.

Take a Look, It's in a Book

Couldn't resist throwing in another pretty Catalina picture - this one's on the boat and that's the island way out there! Okay, done with my tangent now... on to the real point of this post!

When I was younger, some of my favorite books to read were those good ol' Nancy Drew mysteries, and there was one big reason why. Every book used the same technique to leave you dangling at the end of each chapter, on the edge of your seat in suspense, unable to put the book down because you have to find out if your heroes make it out alive. The chapters all end something like this:

* Nancy rounded the corner to find herself face to face with [insert name of bad guy], and he was pointing a gun straight at her head!

* They burst into the room and gasped in horror. Dr. Drew was gone!

* Nancy, Bess, and George bolted toward the exit, only to find that the door was locked. They were trapped!

Exclamation points and all, these last lines help the books accomplish what all good writing should: they make you want to keep reading. That's what I look for when I read: suspense. Not necessarily oh-my-gosh-the-bad-guy's-about-to-chop-my-head-off-what-will-I-do suspense, but the kind of suspense that comes from not knowing what's coming, and makes you desperate to get to the next page and see what happens. I don't so much enjoy books that are bogged down with back story or paragraphs-long chunks of a character's thought process. I like action and dialogue and adventure. I also like catchy beginnings - I've learned that every story should have a good 'hook' so you're drawn in immediately - and I don't have any good examples of this that come right to mind, but I love to open the book, read the first sentence, and go, "Whoa!" I also love books that can make me laugh, where the humor is woven into the narrative and the characters so it's not blatantly obvious that the writer's trying to make jokes.

How ironic is it that the things I like best in the books I read are the things I have the hardest time writing myself?

Other things I like in books: sensory detail, believable interactions between families and friends, characters who change for the better, beautiful settings, characters who help each other, clear, snappy language, well-crafted dialogue, descriptions of people, unique/quirky characters, rescues, reunions, epiphanies, dangerous missions, nail-biting climaxes, problem-solving, heroes and heroines, journeys, changes of heart, growing up, mending relationships, secrets, hidden pasts, quests, humor, joy, relief, writing that makes you feel as though you're right there in the story and you forget about everyone and everything around you, likable characters, animals, plot twists, happily ever afters.

Good Writing

A good piece of writing to me is something that captures my attention. I have read "good" pieces of literature that I find so, so, so boring. Though to the rest of the world thinks a book is a piece of art, it won't be in my library.

When I read, I look for well rounded characters. If the characters aren't dynamic or interesting enough, then the book is lost to me. I like to be able to fall in love with characters when I read, and when I can't do that, my interest wanes.

Also, if the author cannot coherently explain him/herself (i.e., the book is just too damn hard to read), the book is lost to me in that case, too. Basically, I just like to know what's going on.

The works that inspire me are works that have distinct narrative voices, works that tell a story in a comprehensible fashion, and works that have characters in whom I can become emotionally invested. It always helps when there's a scene or two to which I can relate (it makes the whole "emotional investment" aspect of reading that much stronger), but that's not always necessary.

Few books have made me cry, but those are the books that I treasure.

Cristina

A Thesis In Pictures

"Dana's" Condo (actually the condo my family always stays in, belonged to my grandparents
Avalon Harbor, with the Casino (no gambling involved)
All the condos on the hill overlooking the ocean - this is Dana's "neighborhood"
Front Street (the shops are all facing the ocean)
Best. Bookstore. Ever.
Corner Drugstore (the funny thing is, I'd forgotten that the drugstore and the bookstore were actually right next door to each other, which works nicely for my story!)

when you read, what do you look for in a piece of writing?

when you read, what do you look for in a piece of writing?

Fiction and non fiction

• Surprises. (plot twists, turns of phrase, slang, rhythms, jargon, cadence, dialogue, description. (Dawn Powell. Zora Neale Hurston. Penelope Fitzgerald. Peter De Vries. Edwige Danticat. Charlaine Harris.)
• Fluid grammar (Jamaica Kincaid. Tim Winton. Flannery O'Connor. Roberto Bolaño. )
• Or, if not fluid, distinctive. (Henry James. Hemingway.)
• Strong moods (The Long Goodbye. The Bell Jar. The Bible. Sula. Woman Warrior. The Ripley novels. Rebecca. Bubbeh. Jude The Obscure.)
• Beauty —wow, what does that mean, Gigi? Craft inextricable from mood, emotion and statement. Something mysterious, like the overtones generated by a perfectly pitched chorus. Something transcending the combined powers of author and reader.

Plays

(if it differs across genres, do tell)

• Revelation (ways the writer reveals info - plot or character info)
• Tension (Can't tell what's coming next. When it comes, you can't tell where it will lead)
• Pace
• Surprise

and what kind of writing inspires you.

Funny, witty, pessimistic, stylish, careful, crafty, splashy essays about clothing, couture, about odd things, like how Maria Callas lost her voice, and how this was interpreted or sold to the public. Cultural critique, I guess...

Novels no longer inspire me to write. They inspire me to obeisance.

Thread (or OMG catching up on blogs pt 2)

I think the overall thread of my thesis has to do with perception. That is, my perception of my place in the world and how far I’ve come since I left my family. When I say “how far I’ve come” I don’t really mean geographically but more how my world has shifted as I’ve taken on more and more responsibility. I guess it’s sort of like my transition into a adulthood, or what should be adult hood. The last collection of poetry I wrote had to do with my transition to a non-sexual child, to a teen losing her virginity, to romantic escapades as an adult, and really a lot of my work in the past has skirted around being in love and all that comes a long with that. I do sort of address romance in this collection but I have tried to stay away from that topic in this collection. The only work that is really overtly sexual is “Spawning” which isn’t really meant to be sexual. It’s mean to be gross. That is, gross in that there is no real emotion attached to spawning, it’s just physical pleasure, the body, etc; and not in a positive way.
My focus has been mostly on the thoughts in my head that I don’t really want to reveal to anyone, not even to myself. That is the things that I would be embarrassed to admit. One might say this is an airing of my flaws, but not my insecurities per-se. More like my arrogance, and the fact that I rush through things, my mistakes, all of the things that we would rather not talk about and forget. Furthermore, I’ve focused around my family more than I ever have before in my work. Although I have mentioned them in some work previous, before this year I really didn’t want to show any of that to the world. I’m not exactly sure I do now which makes the process of writing about them slow going, but I may just give them all fake names and say I made it all up no matter how similar to my life it may actually be.

Lupe Martinez

inspiration (omg catching up on blogs pt. 1)

What inspires me?

The thing that continues to inspire me is the city of Oakland and the community therein. Not specifically the Mills community but rather the city as a whole. It’s not like my writing focuses on Oakland as a main topic, or even my experiences specifically in Oakland, it’s more like what the city brings out in me. It’s the thoughts that come to me while walking down the street which I then need to write down immediately. Or it’s the smells and sounds that trigger memories of being a kid. I think that most of my work might be posturing, that is posing. Most of my poems are reflections on how far I’ve come from when I started becoming self aware. I think I try to show this in the small instances where I discuss children. Sometimes it’s me, and sometimes it’s me chilling with a little kid and trying to understand the world. That is, my world. Not the whole world, that would be crazy and impossible.
But I digress.
I think in this last year, more than any other year in my life, I have met a lot of people who have changed my view of things. Philosophically speaking, these people have influenced my very perception, not always in ways that they themselves were aware of. I think that’s what I want to capture, how people have changed me without their knowledge; the thoughts in my head that form there in the moment and also my reflection on it later when I take some space away from them. I think so far I have shown this the best in Fight the Good Fight because I put myself on the street with this guy and I am taking in the whole of my surroundings.

reading

HI everybody,
I am going to read some poetry in the bender room at 5:30 tomorrow. I know at the same time there is another really great author talking in Mills Hall. But if your around and you want to be supportive or wrangle my litle boy so he doesn' t pull me of stage that would rock. I figured if I am changing ny thesis to peotry it would be good to get some experience reading it for an audience and it will help give me incentive to gather my stuff to together. I noticed on the line up another classmate so support your friends or steal free food before class or both.
Suki

sorry for the lateness...not sure what the blog topic is suppose to be...I guess I shall WING IT ;)

First I hope everyone had a great END of October weekend.


Writing as a group again proved productive. I'm slowly weeding in the editing that was suggested to me while still coming up with more for my story. I thought I could keep writing and just do all of the editing when I was done, but if I let myself, I'll just keep writing and run out of time to do the editing sooo I figured I should work it in while I add more to my story. During our next group writing I think I'm going to have to force myself to do more editing than anything else. If I finish editing what I've already turned in to you all, then I can stress less about adding more.

Inspiration

Well, when I write creative non fiction my inspiration has just been life. Surprisingly it doesn't always start with my own, I will hear a person tell a story about thier life and it remind me of a story of my own. I also find that larger themes about culture, injustice in the world and mistreatment of groups, people or indivuals inspires me to write. I also like movies particularly documentary, and books get me inspired. I have been advised to change ny thesis to poetry. This idea is a little daunting becasue poetry just comes to me I like to pepole wathc for inspiration but i have never been a big planner and I have never thought of myself as a poet . So if anyone has any advise it would be much welcomed. Elmaz said what I was writing was just filled with rage. Don't get me wrong I trust Elmaz big time but I also don't think I am ready to let go of it completely. So I would also like to hear your opinion about what I ahd shared in class so far. I might have to put it away for now. But if it was all just rage then I would want to put it away indefinelty because i don't think the world needs anymore rage and I certainly don't want to be a person supplying that.Kathy since you are the most exerienced poet I know and I have mad rescpect for you I would really like to know what you do to put a body of poety together.
take care all i miss you.
SUki

??!

Well.

Happy Daylight Savings!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Samhain!

Happy...other end of October/beginning of November holidays!

Um,

Writing together was fun again. I got about 2.5 pages done, but I came in super late so that's alright. It's basically a scene, so it works, yay.

Rough drafts are due this Tuesday right? Good times.

(...We're supposed to post every week but I really don't know what to say this week...I tried anyway.)

No difficulties in writing, really, just working on revising what I already have and working my way to that 50 page point.

...So...

Looking forward to writing together again this Tuesday, and reading everyone's rough drafts.

See you then~

Cristina