Category: LIL420

“These characters who are not fundamentally good should also be rendered with multiple facets. Bad guys aren’t bad every single second of the day. Sometimes, they’re just hanging out eating their take-out Chinese food, or waiting in line with their car at the carwash, or even doing something kindly, like helping an old lady pick up apples that have fallen from her grocery bag” (Gorham’s Writing Fiction)

Not 100% sure how I’m supposed to analyze my sources since most of them are not countering or forwarding specific topics but more so provide guidance for writing or are actual short stories. Gorham Writing Fiction takes a different approach to creating and developing characters. Most guidance books tend to teach you about focusing on a sole character’s key traits, which is super important, but Gorham wants you to take a pros and cons approach. In order to create a strong character, you need consistency. Unlike Gorham, I suggest that you start with the key traits of the character first. Focus on the overall character traits, keep your character consistent throughout the story. Making a rough draft first and putting your character in key scenarios to see how they would deal with the issue or setting. Once you have your character developed, you need to figure out whether they are a main character or a side character. After that decision has been made, then you can introduce the technique from Gorham’s Writing Fiction. You also need to ensure that those traits are introduced in a timely manner, and they align to what they normally stand for. They shouldn’t be so out of pocket, so when you introduce new character traits like helping an old lady pick up apples for a bad guy character, you need to make sure that he still holds a grudge about it. Or at least ensure that the soft essence has an explanation as it would be a sharp contrast to his overall harsh demeanor. 

I met with career services today in order to review my resume and find out the changes required to enter the workforce. I learned that my resume is very wrong! Which is okay, because that is what I needed. I haven’t learned about resumes since my senior year of high school. Donna gave me several key materials in order to revise my resume into something that is more mature and targeted towards my goals. These resources will allow me to write a well rounded and professional resume. I also want to schedule a follow up meeting with Donna once my resume has been rewritten to ensure that I took her advice in the right or proper direction. Donna was extrememly helpful and kind to me for this process.

Democracy and citizenship are a huge part of our country. It is dependent on being well rounded individuals in every aspect of life. In order to understand democracy and citizenship, the liberal arts and humanities have to play a role. Nussbaum states, “In other words, the roles of the arts in schools and colleges is twofold. They cultivate capacities for play and empathy in a general way, and they address cultural blind spots” (108). Nussbaum also mentioned that children at a young age will be able to understand school lessons better when arts are involved. The example that was given was learning about Rosa Parks simply through a textbook versus learning through a textbook and then performing a play. It reminded me of my elementary school days where we would cultivate plays for Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr, Abraham Lincoln, and so on. I remember these historical events vividly and I think I owe it to the aspect of arts, imagination, and creativity in that process. This is very similar to the citizenship course at UNE. You are required to meet every other week, read several articles about an impending topic, and provide your own current events article to discuss. That’s a great aspect because it engages the students to be open and discuss with each other. However, the most important aspect of the citizenship class is actually performing citizenship. I did not fully understand the point of the class until I began my volunteer hours and actually began performing the act. It shows how the two topics relate. Nussbaum also mentioned “narrative imagination” in the beginning of the chapter (95). It is important to understand that people come from all different walks of life and being able to put yourself in the heart of volunteering, the heart of the community, or the heart of the humanities can help make well rounded citizens for our communities. It is the act of doing and putting yourself out there to understand. Sciences teach you the rights and the wrongs but they don’t dive into the possibilities of being both right and wrong like mentioned in previous classes. Citizenship and the humanities teach you both and provide students with narrative imagination.

Our world today values STEM programs and majors at a different level than they do with humanities. It is clear in budgeting within colleges, pressures put on importance in high school, and the way that humanities are discussed between everyday individuals. When I think of instrumental value, I think of money. Money can be used to purchase things and it’s value is heavy. Money is huge when it comes to how the world works. When it comes to the humanities, it has instrumental value. For example, Brody says, “To address the larger challenge, teachers of ethics and humanities in medical settings have to be more articulate in addressing how the dysfunctional US healthcare system has been shaped by the ideology of economism, and what this external environment does to efforts to teach ethics and professionalism to students and residents” (4). People value a healthcare system that works properly, so if humanitarian and ethical ideologies are introduced, then humanities creates an instrumental value for others. If students have this further knowledge, then they also have an instrumental value for the humanities. I am not sure if humanities has an instrumental value for myself at this point in my life, but I would say that it has intrinsic value for me. Intrinsic value, to me, can best be described as happiness. It does not provide a physical value that has an endpoint. When I learn about the humanities it creates a value within myself and benefits me. It gives me “ah-ha” moments and I feel like I am learning key factors for my life. But I didn’t always feel this way. It is similar to Clune’s statement, “The first year literature student doesn’t begin my class with a capacity to judge literature equivalent to mine” (5). I think most professors forget about that ideology. Sometimes you have to ease into literary analysis and start with easier pieces. I can confidently say that the work I was doing my first year at college is very different from the work I can dissect now. I guess confidence could also be an intrinsic value of humanities as well. 

Scarry focuses on the concept of beauty throughout this piece. It’s not just beauty in the sense of the physical world, but the creative, philosophical, and emotional side of the world as well. While I was reading, I was jotting down notes and quotes that stuck out to me. One specific quote in general is one I keep circling back to. Scarry says, “It may be useful to record the error, or the revision, in as much detail as possible because I want to make claims here about the way an error presents itself to mind, and the accuracy of what I say needs alternative instances to be tested again” (pg. 11). I immediately thought of my own revision for my final project. Scarry continues to dive into what perception can do in either overcrediting or undercrediting. When I think about my original project, I was extremely proud of what I created, but looking back at it now, I can see all my “errors” or modes of construction that need improvement. This raised the question “Is there beauty in error or does error create opportunities for more beauty?” For me personally, I think it is a cycle. With my own project I see several errors that I could transform to make beautiful or at least expand upon. At the same time, I think that those errors create an innocence of beauty that I did not appreciate when I originally wrote my piece. It is similar to Scarry referring to palm trees and how she didn’t recognize or acknowledge the beauty behind them originally. That’s how I feel with my first draft of my old assignment. I was extremely harsh and now I can look at it in a different light. This would be an example of my old self forwarding these pages to my now self. I can now revise and deep dive into the next steps necessary. When it comes to the Mourning Picture, I think Scarry is saying that beauty is everywhere. It may be a form of imitation, but people’s perceptions make it their own. Therefore, it would not be a form of copying, but making something original out of the perception of beauty when others see something for the first time. 

“We can ‘read’ a canvas, notice metaphors, symbols, even spatial or color ‘rhymes’ within it. Conversely we can ‘look at’ a poem, observe its shape on the page, discuss its ‘imagery’ amd ‘texture’” (Moramarco 25).

This quote immediately stood out to me, especially because of our humanities conversations we have been having in class. It shows how the humanities are an intricate part of each other and how interpretations or being both right and wrong play into the art and English world. There is not an either/or but a both/and with art and poetry. They may be different topics of learning or creativity, but they can be read the same way. It exposes how versatile interpretation and understanding truly is. 

“Out of my head, half-bursting,/ still filling, the dream condenses– /shadows, crystals, ceilings, meadows, globes of dew” (Rich 13-15).

This direct quote from one of the versions of the poem stuck out to me after reading Speculations. It shares such a sharp contrast with the rest of the poem that holds angst and sadness, yet this line has a different aura about it. However, it still correlates to the image in a way. It might not be the exact words from the painting, but it can be interpreted in a similar way that the painting is trying to portray. 

When combining both of these quotes and ideas, you can see how painting and poetry correlate and interplay with each other. We can look at Rich’s poem aside from the painting and digest it differently which is similar to if we look at Elmer’s painting without the poem. However, when added together they create a different and unique value compared to each creative work on its own. 

Does poetry and art have the same effect on their own or would they be more powerful together? Is this a version of imitation why or why not? Should poetry and art be taught together in one class, what would be the benefits behind a class that connected the two different forms of creativity?

My first initial project that comes to mind is my artist book from my first ever creative writing class at UNE. It is one of my most memorable, most important, and a project that I also would like the opportunity to revise. I think I have learned so much about the writing process and the writing world since that first class. It would be really neat to see where my new found inspiration and techniques would advance my writing as well as my creativity. When I first completed I felt like I could have done more, but now I see several factors I could rework. I don’t think it was at the maturity level that I hoped it was going to be at, so that is one of the projects that immediately comes to mind. 

The second project that comes to mind is another artist book that I created last semester. I love artists’ books and I want to deep dive into them. It was a very important project to me, but I felt like I fell through the cracks compared to my initial thought process. I think that if I pushed myself more than it could have been way more refined. I think if I started the project earlier and finished mapping out a set plan then I would have created a better outcome. 

The third project that comes to my mind would be a short story that I wrote last year. It was an extremely emotional piece, well the final submission of it was, and my professor helped me focus that pain into a short story. I want to uncover that side of myself because I was not entirely proud of my completed work. I think that if I pushed myself further, especially again after the writing techniques and process I have learned, then I could compose an even better story with a strong message. However, I don’t think it is entirely something I am ready to broadcast to the world in a presentation, but I would consider it. 

Part One: Humanities are crucial to study and learn in higher education levels. In the introduction of The Value of Humanities, by Helen Small, she draws upon five critical defenses for the studying of humanities. There are several defenses that are similar to During and Bod from last week, but the one that sticks out the most is the defense of “intrinsic value” (6). The humanities matter because they create different personal values for the reader or student and the study of the humanities itself. My biggest argument point for this ideology is that a world with just natural and social science is a world lacking in value. The humanities play important roles in everyday life and career paths. Similar to last week’s statement, once an answer is made in science there is no further expansion. The correct answer is finalized. However, with the humanities, there is never an end to an explanation. It is a buildable foundation that benefits the students and the world. I think that I gain the knowledge of a world that is ever expanding. If we sit here and disregard life from a philosophical view, then we are simply organisms, and there would be nothing more to education. I gain the knowledge of culture, the growth of history, and that what I learn brings me joy. I do not have that same connection with natural and social sciences. When it comes to professional settings, the humanities prepare people for conversations, interactions, and how to add value to a conversation. Humanities provide a broader perspective for the world we live in and interact with each day. 
Part Two: I love editing. I have a preference towards editing creative materials versus thesis papers, but I love it as much as I love creating a story. My favorite part is editing other people’s works. It creates a group of ideas, bouncing off each other, and soon helping the original writer down an old path or create them a new one. If I could create any job, I would want it to be just that. Editing. Of course it would be more of an “at home”, send me your information, I look over the work, and then set up a time to meet. Once I am done with that person’s edits I would move on to the next. However, in contrast to today’s publishing world, I would not give up on a writer. I would continue to meet, to build, and to create with them, even if it was something as small as journal entries like this. The main purpose of this job would be to create, give feedback, and build something amazing. It would be to push people to make something they are proud of and create a community for them to come back to as well. This job would call upon several writing courses that I have taken over the years. English would play a huge part in terms of grammar and basic plot rules, but my writing workshops would play into the community and feedback aspect.

Part One: Humanities is an umbrella term used to describe a subset of studies. However, there is not an easy and definitive way to define them. For me, humanities is like a huge filing cabinet full of documents. These documents are not math problems that have only a right answer and they are not science problems that can be solved using a hypothesis. Humanities test the boundaries of human knowledge and create new limits. One of the key quotes from During that help with this ideology is, “The humanities work as an archive which continually throws up ‘monuments’ – works worthy of commentary- but no less continually demotes them”. Classes taught within the humanities division are left open to interpretation. Two people can have differing answers, yet they are both correct with their findings. That is unlike the STEM programs where an exactly correct answer needs to be provided at all times. Bod says, “In English, humanities can refer both to the study of the products of the human mind and to these products themselves” (4). This would be similar to During’s explanation of what exactly humanities study. However, once again it is not a clear cut answer. The only thing that muddies my understanding of humanities is the division between nations. Do different countries and cultures have a varying definition of humanities? Both articles touched on the topic, but it is still unclear to me. Perhaps America’s definition of humanities could differ from other countries because of our history in America. 
Part Two: The humanities cannot be defined. They are a subset of differing topics to understand human knowledge of the mind and the value behind it. Humanities is reliant on interpretation and does not have one clear answer for questions or essays. The foundation for humanities is history but it’s about pushing the boundaries between science and the supernatural. During states, “Their [humanities] will to interpret meets the requirements of truthfulness nonetheless because, in the humanities, the difference between one interpretation and another is not that one is true and the other is false but that both are true…” There is no definitive way to describe or explain humanities in one specific genre, but instead focus on its expandability through interpretation and knowledge.