An Open Mind and Enthusiasm

Favorite Posts:

1.     Looking Back- December 11

2.     An Ode to Teenage Anxiety- December 11

3.     Stealing is Believing- November 30

4.     Give it Up for Maud Newton!- December 11

As children growing up, we are constantly told, “Honesty is the best policy”. Our teachers, parents, siblings and counselors all stressed the importance of telling the truth and the consequences of lying to others. However, what everyone left out was how important it is to be true to oneself. Yeah, you hear that saying every once in a while, but rarely are you ever sat down and given a lesson on its importance and the consequences that come along with being fake. Ignoring how you feel and not being genuine with your emotions usually lead to many more serious and long- term consequences than telling a white lie to a friend. 

In this blog post I explore the different meanings and usages of truth and honesty, or as I like to say, “keeping it real”. In particular, I consider authentic and honest writing. I want to know what exactly that entails, how to achieve it, and how it affects the audience.

I chose these four posts because I feel like they really illustrate how I am investigating what makes writing real and honest. Not only am I discussing what it means to be genuine in your writing and how it helps you succeed, but I am also trying to apply what I am learning to my own writing. I realized that humor, and sometimes ranting, and really speaking up for you opinion while writing is what engages and draws in the audience. I selected these posts because I feel that they are engaging by not only portraying those qualities of writing but they are designed in an intriguing manner with entertaining visuals aids as well.

“Give it Up for Maud Newton!” is a casual, easy post with a very eye-catching picture and funny caption. I give my frank opinion on what made that blog so great, and tried to apply my own two-cents to my blog.

 “Looking Back” might just be my favorite post because of all of the different aspects added to it. The funny picture, highlighted words, quotes, and ending bold picture all make it exciting to read.

“An Ode to Teenage Anxiety” begins with a unique music video, flowing right into a creative, humorous, and personal passage, and closing with helpful tips from an outside source.

“Stealing is Believing” is a free-write one that has no particular prompt. This is where I really applied the advice I had gathered from my exploration and just wrote what I felt. Ranting on about art has never felt so great for me, and like I say in “Looking Back”, I really just didn’t hold back.

At the end of the day I recognize how much I really loved blogging. I invite you to explore my blog with enthusiasm and an open mind!

Looking Back

In school, I am always asked by an instructor to create a piece of work, turn it in, have he or she grade and criticize the work, and then the work is returned to me. Unfortunately, ninety-five percent of the time this is where the journey of the work ends. Put in a file and stored away, I never see the work again, and it sits there in the darkness of the file cabinet, unfinished. Unfinished you ask? Well, yes. In my opinion, this process of developing a work is missing a vital piece of the puzzle. A work is never truly complete until another individual or the maker themselves critique it and that constructive criticism is taken into consideration for corrections to be made. Once those are applied a whole new, and re-energized draft should come out of it. This procedure can be repeated over and over again until one is truly satisfied with their work. How often we forget this step of inquisition and investigation that is so essential in creation. 

"I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter." ~ James Michener

"To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing." ~ Elbert Hubbard

Yet on any given day there is that five percent chance that the teacher will actually ask you to look at your work and consider what you have done. Take a step back and really look at it. When I did this with my blog, I not only found new meaning in the value of blogging, but also I learned a lot about myself. 

First off, I have really come to appreciate blogging. In all honesty at the beginning of the semester when we were told that we were to make blogs of our own I was nervous and thought that the idea was foreign and silly. Yet now, after weeks of blogging I realize how much it can teach you about yourself. I learned that I have a pretty opinionated voice. I don’t show it much while speaking in person, yet when I sit down to type my blog, the ranting just flows and I can’t help but let my beliefs and attitude run wild. I have found a lot of freedom in blogging. A sense of ease and comfort, knowing that what I write can be judged by millions but no matter what it is neither right or wrong. There is no correct answer to my writing. It is simply my thoughts and ideas on a certain subject. I find it freeing also because sometimes, thoughts and concepts are not fully realized until said out loud or in this case typed on paper. I might have an idea in my head but it is not until I start writing about it that I full understand what I was trying to say. Blogging is a way of understanding oneself better. It is basically just a public diary or journal.

Writing this blog also opened my eyes to new aspects of writing. So often I zone in the structure of my papers and essays. A lot of the time I forget what is really important in creating something worthwhile, and that to me is writing something that engages the audience. It is as simple as that. Doing this blog showed me how audience engagement can be acquired many ways, but especially through humor, a clear voice, and above all, honesty. Honesty, in my opinion, is really key to good writing. I found that I don’t like reading anything that is forced or positioned. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how many big words you put in your essay that make it impressive. Instead, if you really want to blow the audience away, give them your honest, true opinion and don’t hold back. 

These concepts do not just apply to blogging. They really do apply to academic writing as well. While it is important to be eloquent and to articulate your thoughts in a well-expressed manner, being honest and true to what you are writing about can make or break even a hard-fact research paper. At the end of the day, if you want to succeed in writing, being true to yourself allows you to be true to your audience, and lets face it, who really wants to be lied to?    

Always Better the Second Time Around

When I first read the article “Mind vs. Machine”, I had just gotten home from a serious dance convention. I showed up to the convention at 8 o’clock am and did not stop moving until 8 o’clock pm. Needless to say I was beyond exhausted, my body broken down, and all I wanted was sleep. However, I had just gotten off the phone with a fellow incoming Michigan Wolverine who convinced me that I had to get my essay in that night because she heard from a friend that they moved the deadline earlier. In a panic I ran to my desk and began furiously typing away. With all of the stress that I felt in getting the essay in on time, I completely overlooked the article and honestly just read it to read it.

Now, six months later, I realize the greatness of this article. Sitting down and re-reading it in a more relaxed manner, I really let myself enjoy it. Christian has a wonderful sense of humor, which makes the article easy to read. In fact, I found the article extremely interesting and spent some time afterwards looking up the different computer programs that the judges thought were real like Eliza and Catherine.

The second time around reading it, I notice how Christian draws in his reader by turning what could very easily be a boring article into an intriguing story. Right off the bat he gives the audience a setting and picture, allowing for a narrative to develop. Slowly he delivers the necessary statistics and information but he does it in a very casual way, like he is threading it in throughout the story. The use of setting and the way he lets the reader into his train of thought make it into a narrative instead of a research paper. The use of dialogue also adds to the story-like aspect of it. He puts the reader in his shoes, allowing for a fresh perspective, taking the audience through the whole process and using his train of thought and analysis to be where he delivers the vital information and background that build this article.  

An Ode to Teenage Anxiety

Anxiety is like a little monster you can’t get rid of, that just follows you around wherever you go, lurking in the corners, waiting to attack. Anxiety and I have had quite a rough past. Way back when in the good ole’ days of middle school, I lived a blissful, anxiety-free life. Yet the moment freshmen year high school hit I first encountered anxiety and I couldn’t get rid of it since!  Every day stress consumed my life and anxiety littered my mind with ideas and expectations that were necessary to meet. Juggling school, dance, student senate, ambassador's club, art club, and my social life became impossible. Not only did I partake in many rigorous activities, I of course had to excel at each and every one of them. If I fell short of the mark I obviously wouldn't be accepted into a reputable college and the rest of my life would be ruined, done, and destroyed with no hope of a successful future.

To me, it all comes down to this immense pressure to succeed, to be the best, to be better than the rest. The idea of competition, though, is really complex because it is both good and bad. I am all for being competitive. I love the drive to strive for more, but when does it become an issue? When did this harmless competition turn into unimaginable stress? See, in my opinion, society has created this ideal that every teenager needs to meet a certain standard in order to be considered worthy, successful, or impressive. In order to obtain these qualities you must be a genius, top of your class, or the number one varsity athlete, which we all know is just unrealistic. I know so many kids these days who take on so many activities, and end up miserable, drowning in their work. 

I think that anxiety has always existed, but recently it has risen to seriously unhealthy levels. The cause? Everything from 911, terrorism, collegiate competition, you name it. Yet again, I think that at the root of it all is the competition to be the best. When can we stop worrying about everyone else and focus on what makes us happy? Why is that never stressed? Why don’t parents push their kids to keep on exploring new fields until they find something that they are truly passionate about?

That is where the difference comes in. If everyone strived to excel at what makes him or her happy, I think anxiety would significantly decrease. However, I recognize that I could say this all day, every day, and nothing would change. All that I know is that when it comes down to the wire, what matters most is harnessing in and controlling your anxiety instead of letting it control you. 

Here are a few tips Tara Miller's article "100 Natural Ways to Overcome Anxiety":

Stress Reduction

1. Let go of control. Learn to accept that some things are beyond your ability to control. Once this expectation is gone, you will likely discover a reduction of your stress.
2. Do one thing at a time. Slow down and stop multitasking. Doing one thing at a time will reduce stress and allow you to perform each task more efficiently.
3. Learn to say "no". Turning away what you don’t have time to do will free you from obligations that will end up hanging over your head.
4. Emotions. Keep in touch with your emotions. Pretending you don’t have feelings of anger, sadness, or loneliness will just push these feeling down until they come back out in negative ways.
5. Let go of anger. Don’t hold on to anger or grudges. Instead, learn how to let go so you can focus on more positive things.
6. Identify stressors. Realize what makes you feel stressed and do something to change them. If watching the news makes you stressed, turn it off. If driving in traffic raises your blood pressure, then find ways to change or delay driving so you aren’t in traffic.
7. Learn time management techniques. Organizing your time and energy will help you complete tasks more efficiently and clear the way for less stress in your life.
8. Make time for yourself. Making sure you carve out some time for yourself every day will not only give you time to do something you enjoy, but will help you relax as well.
9. Journal. Identify stressors or just get out those negative feelings you may not want to tell other people with a private journal.
10. Find your sense of humor. Learning to laugh at life and finding the joy every day will go a long way to reducing stress.

Give it up for MAUD NEWTON!

**Before reading post first check out MAUD NEWTON'S blog post here** http://maudnewton.com/blog/

After riffling through the list of 10 blogs that Mark Sarvas recommended and evaluating each one, I think Maud Newton deserves to be named the best (or at least in my opinion). The reason why I chose this one as opposed to the other nine wonderful blogs was because I felt very comfortable reading it.  To me, the ease of reading a blog is a highly important aspect that is often overlooked. I found that while most of the other blogs were engaging and impressive, it took a lot of effort and energy to focus and zone in on the context of the blog. Using big words and having a perfectly edited blog is not always the most impressive.

The Maud Newton blog stood out to me because of its fluidity and humor. It felt like I was listening to an old friend talk to me, instead of being lectured on a book that I have never read like Mark Athitakis’ American Fiction Notes blog. That one I found interesting but I had absolutely no clue what he was saying because I had never read those books! Thus, my attention was lost after the four sentences of each post.  The Mumpsimus blog has that sense of comfort and relaxedness too, but what it lacks is Maud Newton’s witty humor. The ranting quality makes it honest, and funny in a subtle way.

C'mon...you know you want to

What keeps me reading the blog is also its randomness. I felt as though I were reading Snapple bottle caps with all of the random topics and information thrown in there. It is actually interesting and sparks curiosity or teaches me something I had never known. It is almost as though there are no boundaries for the blog and yet somewhere it remains contained and fluid. However, while it is random information, it is the opinion given about those subjects that counts. The opinion and perspective creates a strong voice and once that is established I think that any blog can be successful.

The actual layout and design of Maud Newton sparks a lot of intrigue as well. The title, which looks made out of cutout letters from newspapers and magazines, grabs the attention right away. The simple color scheme of red, white, and black creates just enough flare to avoid boredom without overdoing it. The plain background makes it easy to read the text. All of the posts are organized to the far left while side information, “remainders” and “on twitter”, fall to the right and are divided by thin, subtle lines. The use of visual aid like pictures and videos keeps the audience engaged but doesn’t take away from the text. All in all, I give this blog a big gold star! I can honestly say that I truly enjoyed reading it and I know that I will be revisiting it again soon.

Just Do It.

Joyce Carol Oates couldn’t have said it better. “Write your heart out”. Those four words have influenced me immensely. So plainly put they communicate exactly what I need to do: let go and just write. Although articulated in a very different way, Annie Lamont pointed this out as well in her article “Shitty First Drafts”. She talks about how you just need to write a draft where no judgments are made, where you let your mind roll and jot down what you really want to say. By allowing yourself to write your heart out without the pressure of being “right” or “well-written” you create real and natural writing. 

I love how Joyce Carol Oates put it because she adds a sense of passion and purpose to the idea. She makes more than just writing what is on your mind, but rather writing what you care about, what you want to share with the world, and writing it with passion and intensity instead of complacency. To me, that is a priceless piece of advice that more young writers need to realize and understand in order to succeed in the wild world of writing.  

Stealing is Believing

        Thank you Jim Jarmusch for articulating such a critical message to the world. Anyone who has experienced the pressure of creating knows that feeling of, "I need to be original. My work has to be new, shocking, and surprise people. I have to stand out." Most of the time that leads to nowhere. Especially for me, I feel that when I sense that stress to do something that nobody has ever done before, I end up focusing more on that then getting inspired and actually creating something worthwhile. Inspiration is what it is all about. People create artwork for a reason, and if you just pass it by and say well that has been done before I can't use it, then you are making that artwork meaningless and losing its sole purpose. Life is so beautiful because everyone sees the world in a different light, and the more you see life through others eyes, the more you understand and know. 

     
       I sometimes wish everyone would open their eyes and really see what lies before them. If time stopped, would this be more realistic? Would people stop and take the hour to watch a foreign film that spikes an new interest, an unfamiliar feeling? Yet, saying this and pointing fingers is easy. I know that I should be taking my own advice. Step out from the narrow blinders of my perspective and really see the world, take in what others have crafted and use it, keep it alive, and let it take you somewhere you never thought you could go. 

Let's Be Honest for Once

Honesty is the best policy and if anyone knows that, it’s Baxter. He really just says it how it is and I really appreciate that, especially in a world like today when everyone feels so fake. The way he spoke about wisdom shocked me at first. I felt that he was only being negative and pessimistic and it was just him venting and ranting on about something to make himself feel better. Yet as I kept on reading, I started agreeing with him. What I realized is that unlike everyone else in the world he isn’t doing what he is doing for the sake of society, but rather just for himself. He isn’t following the rules or guidelines of appropriateness so that he doesn’t offend anyone. Instead he just speaking about the way he sees it. And that honesty is what made the biggest impact on me in his article, “Full of It”. One of my favorite parts is right at the beginning when he says , “My trouble is that I don’t really believe in most wisdom: not in this letter to you, not my own wisdom, not anybody’s. As you must know by now, most “wisdom” is not wisdom. It’s pernicious attitudinizing bullshit.” He is pretty much just calling everyone out on being phony. I got a little lost in what he saying as he spoke about being a fiction writer, but then I got it when he spoke about being an early writer, and discussed kind of how naïve and excited and blinded young writers are. That is how I felt as an early dancer as well, and I think it applies to all art and rather all life. Yet, it is necessary in order to really kick off your passion, making all of those mistakes in the fog of your hunger. All in all, Baxter’s article was really interesting and honest, and I appreciated what he had to say.

Just, Wow

 

I sat at my computer watching this painting unfold, completely entranced by this man's work. I hope you all appreciate it as much as I did!

Encouraging advice for my writer's block

If I had a couple of 3X5s taped around my desk to get me motivated and help me write, this is what they would say:

"For me, writing is exploration; and most of the time, 
I'm surprised where the journey takes me."


-Jack Dann

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."
 

-Albert Einstein


"Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader. 
Not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon."


-E.L. Doctorow

Open your eyes

Raymond Carver's article, "Principles of a story", sparked a lot of fresh thoughts for me, opening my eyes to new ways of approaching writing. For me, writing has always been structural and planned out, kind of like building a house. From the beginning I was taught that there was one way to write well and this was the formula and that was that. In his article though, Carver completely dispels this way of thinking and technique of writing. The way he explained how everyone has a completely distinct voice that should be focused and drawn upon instead of masked behind the voice of a “great writer”.  After reading a famous or wonderful story, I often find myself thinking about how I should write more like them. Yet, that is completely backward. Instead, I should recognize their powerful voices and then go searching for my personal voice and really own it. As Carver says, “It is the writer’s particular and unmistakable signature on everything he writes. It is his world and no other. This is one of the things that distinguishes one writer from another. Not talent. There’s plenty of that around.” 

This world that he points out also resonated with me. I just love how he talks about a writer having his or her own world. It just seems to be an endless source of imagination, hope, wonder, and full of possibilities. Just thinking about this got me excited! Yet, with so many opportunities ahead, it still is important be treat the work that you are focused on with great care. Carver discusses how he admires this way of approaching writing. He likes to look think about the idea that at the end of the day there are only words on the page left to go off of, and it is important to appreciate and acknowledge that. I think that this article really ignited a lot of ideas about how I am going to reconstruct the way I write, and I am thrilled to explore the new possibilities ahead of me!

True life: I am now a college writer

Dear My Young Writer Self,

I just thought that I would share a little advice with you about the horrific world of writing that awaits you in college! (Kidding, it really is not that terrible once you get the hang of it). First off, it is dire to understand that college writing is a whole other ball game. What I have picked up on is that college professors really want you to explore a specific topic and down into the very depths and finite details of the topic. They want you to pick it apart until there really is not anything else left. This may seem brutal right now, but once you get a good idea really rolling, it’s hard to stop. That would actually be my first advice to you. Just keep writing. I’ve recently noticed that this is one of my biggest strengths. I have the uncanny ability to just ramble on and on about one particular topic for hours on end. High school did not prepare you for this, but in college, doing a “sloppy copy” or horrible rough draft is utterly necessary for you to get at the topic you want to explore. So, do not be afraid to do that. 


Also, know that unfortunately most of you papers will be written in the wee hours of the night (or early morning on most occasions). Everyone will warn you from this, tell you how miserable and horrific of a process it becomes. While these folks are correct, know that sometimes the juices flow at the random hours of the night. Don’t stop yourself from going on a good rant of typing if you suddenly have a brilliant idea at 3am. The bottom line is to just go with your gut, and let it take you to places you have never been. That is the fun in college writing.

Sincerely,

Your Older- and oh so wiser- Self


P.S. Just in case you were wondering...this is what you will look like after a rough night of writing

Essay Ideas

For my comparative analysis, I have been thinking about comparing Ruth from Housekeeping  and Jenny from the short story "Lawns". At first these characters don't seem like they have anything it common at all. I mean,  Jenny comes across as your average college girl before we find out about her horrific past, while Ruth is much younger, living in a secluded, poor, and dark town during the 40's or early 50's (the exact time period is unclear). However, when you get past that and just strip the characters down and look at what is really there, you seem some similarities. 


Both Ruthie and Jenny have had traumatizing experiences in the past. They had no one to look up to or confide in their whole lives. In a way their parents abandoned them both. Even though Jenny parents never physically abandoned her, they neglected her and did not fill their roles as parents. With no one to look up to they had no idea what they were supposed to grow into, how they should behave, what is right and wrong. After Jenny experienced her father raping her, she was taught that it was okay to take advantage of people. Ruthie was taught it is okay to desert your family after her mom committed suicide, leaving her daughters under the care of her mother, and her aunts uprooted and never looked back. 


Having a strong upbringing is extremely important in the development of a child’s identity, and for these two characters, the lack of parental example and general neglect led to a corrupt identity. Due to the trauma of their past and the insecurities they face, both characters latch themselves on to another person in order to cope with their identity crisis. It is not until they separate from these people that they realize and understand their true identity. This is what I am currently exploring and want to delve more into: the relationships that formed and the dependency that they created in order to survive 

First Impressions

What shocked me the most about the movie was the use of color. I originally anticipated dark, gloomy scenery and setting, yet in the movie everything is a bit more vibrant. The house was decorated and painted in lighter shades and the town did not have as melancholy of a tone as I got from the book. For some reason I expected an almost black and white film or very little color at all. While the setting, clothing, and furniture are not loud or prominent in any way, I still feel like the whole nature of Fingerbone was not nearly as dark as I think it should have been. In general the movie feels a lot warmer than the book. When I read the novel it felt devoid of any true happy feeling, passion, and pleasure. Yet the characters in the movie are kind of lively. Especially Sylvie. Her bright demeanor brings more comfort to Ruthie and Lucille’s life whereas in the book she brought coldness with her instead. 


The movie trailer portrays my point well and depicts the liveliness that I feel the novel didn't have. You can access it here: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3953983769/

Parting Ways

           Alex and I were inseparable from the day that we met. Living just around the corner from me, we had play-dates about every day. I would jog over to her house or her to mine. We were born into our relationship. Our parents became friends when my older sister, Amanda, and Alex’s older brother, Taylor, started hanging out. Together, Alex and I created a fantasy world of imagination and wonder. She understood my creative energy, even as a young child. We wrote plays, rolled in the grass, played dress up, house, Barbie’s, and laughed till our sides hurt.

When it came to school though, we were complete strangers. Her shy personality made making friends and keeping up socially very difficult. I, on the other hand, found it quite natural. Gradually we moved into distinctive groups of girls, and away from one another while in school. However, this did not have a huge impact on our close relationship outside of class. Instead of getting upset, we kind of accepted this divergence, not mad or upset that we made other friends. We still shared so much, and our past sealed our bond through this separation. On the weekends, we would eat lunch at each other’s house and horse around just like the old days.

It wasn’t until 5^th grade that everything really began to change. I vividly remember the day that she told me she was going to transfer to a private school in the neighboring district. This shouldn’t have come as a surprise to me. Alex always struggled in school, needing more personal attention and a slower pace. She never seemed too involved in her group friends, always a bit disconnected from the others. Nothing really kept her at the school anymore. We took different courses, hardly saw one another during the school day, and never played together during recess or lunch. Yet I was shocked. Looking back I remember being hurt. It was not so much that I would no longer share a school with her any more, but more so that I had a weird sense everything was changing.

I was right. Slowly, as she settled into her new school life, we began to see one another less and less. Every time we were supposed to meet up, one of us would cancel because of a sudden conflict. Our lives were traveling down individual paths that no longer connected along the way. Once in a while we would chat on the phone, but even that seemed awkward and foreign, like speaking to someone from a completely different planet. While it hurt us both, we let it happen. It was inevitable.

Response to Ending of Housekeeping

        When I read the end of Housekeeping, I felt as if everything finally settled in its place with all of the pieces falling in line.  Throughout the entire book Ruth narrated with a sense of tension and dismay. However, in the final few chapters, her narrating feels completely different. There is a freedom and honesty to it, versus the rest of the story where conflict and suppression dominate the mood. The fact that a freedom and comfort were established for me in the ending of the book is actually kind of ironic because in the end, everything kind of goes awry. Yet maybe that is the reason for the freedom. Near the end, Ruth began to split from Lucille and found herself resonating more and more with Sylvie, the transient. She remains stuck in between Lucille’s reality and Sylvie’s dream world until Lucille leaves them. After that, she finally escapes and fully submits herself to Sylvie’s ways. In the very last chapters, Sylvie and Ruth completely let go and set the house on fire. This seems crazy and terrifying and would usually mean that the characters reached a point of insanity. For Sylvie and Ruth though, it brings closure and comfort. I loved this concept and felt Robinson fully concluded the book, and left the reader satisfied.

         In my opinion, everything clicked in the last few pages. Ruth suddenly comes out and says, “All this is fact. Fact explains nothing.” She realizes that for her, reality is not necessarily what is real for her. For everyone else, the traditional lifestyle fits and works, but for Ruth and Sylvie their life is steady when they are transient. She refers to herself and Sylvie as being, “not travelers.” To anyone else, they were travellers who had no home, and just spent their life wandering with no constant. However, Ruth and Sylvie found constancy and comfort in travelling. For them, it wasn’t even travelling. In their eyes they were living their life. This is what they were supposed to do. The concept was difficult to wrap my mind around at first, but I feel that I have better understanding now. I comprehend that all of the negatives at the end show what is really happening. It is as if what isn’t going on says more about reality than what is. Ruth dug past the surface of life and really found a new approach. I appreciated this, and respected her and Sylvie because they were true to themselves. They easily could have fallen into tradition and lived their lives in agony. But they broke free from what the rest of their relatives never could.