Family tales

Today Tempe library had a workshop .

Following from their site:

How to get started writing about family members, events, and places

Family History Series

Duane Roen will discuss the family experiences that offer rich material for writing and will share strategies for beginning the process, including an easy hands-on activity that will get participants writing about a memorable family member, place, or event (so please bring paper and pen or laptop). Participants will respond in writing to a series of questions designed to generate concrete details about family stories. After recording these details, participants will be invited to share their writing with the group. In turn, the group will be encouraged to offer constructive feedback that will help writers develop their writing further. This is the first in a series of three writing workshops focusing on journaling and personal and family history. Each workshop has a different focus. You may participate in one, two, or all three. There is no charge for this program.

Duane Roen is Professor of English at Arizona State University, where he serves as Assistant Vice Provost for University Academic Success, as well as Head of Interdisciplinary and Liberal Studies in the School of Letters and Sciences. He also coordinates the Project for Writing and Recording Family History (http://sls.asu.edu/humanities/familyhistory/). Throughout his professional life, Duane has taught students how to write more effectively—how to tailor their messages for specific audiences and for specific purposes. He has published nine books, and he has authored more than 250 articles, chapters, and conference presentations. 

I was in tears. Well I was in tears in a birthing class too. It was an interesting format of writing down and then sharing your work with the rest. I saw how family stories are similar in some ways - displacement and different in other - sometimes you are leaving your best friend off and sometimes you are the one left behind.

Writing down, I realised that my first memory has me and my sister. Some curried favour with repetition. I realised why my grandma was my favourite person, may be because I was with her during KG.

Old norms

RSVP. While this beast has a variation 'regrets only'. Why not be more accomodating and say 'accepts only' need to reply. Why cant the norm get modern and take it easy on those who havent learnt the power of saying 'no'.
Besides if it all started in the King's time - Wasnt there enough food? And did the subjects ever refuse?

Missing the big picture

With all the colorful birds and butterflies around, I didnt realise that the bunny in 'I am bunny' is actually enjoying all the seasons. Like this picture where a same motif is presented in different formats. Hint: Food/pig. 

Things to do before buying a home

You would read The Wall Street Journal: Complete Homeowners Guidebook by David Crook, if you didnt want to buy a house. Reminds me of a quandary I had about who to talk to single or married about not marrying. 

Lack of support aside, it is good to wash the veils off your eyes on some generally accepted things floating around new home buyers talk - deductions on the interest, Imputed rent, is buy or rent the right question.

What is Amortization? Thats a good place to start if you are thinking of buying a home.
I didnt know that Fairway was a golf related term. I have once been to apartments by that name close to a golf course.
Cachet

Best American poetry 2012

Long poem.
While reading 'wax' by Paisley Rekdal , I was curious about how such long poems are written. inspiration and time - 8 months went into that poem. To pull off a poem with such simple title.

The Gods - A theater experience

As a new mom
I went with my infant
to a reading by Michael Ondaatje


My daughter dropped a toy giraffee
A fellow reader pointed it to me


While I was waiting
the assistant offered to stow
away the stroller
"Theres no room inside"

While the gallery was filling up
I excused ourselves when
she started crying
"Theres a directors room"
No one will hear her cry.
You can still attend the reading

In the Directors room.
Dark and lonely.
Quiet.
I couldnt get the volume up.
Does the director only see?

We reached home one sock less

God is there because we know we can be better.

A dream

She was eager to please me
I was happy
wanted to please her too
Friend became a lover

google books

Proper Noun

Nancy Willard

Tall man in a small place. Do the plants miss the gardener, I wonder of the plants that I am watering for my husband. My sister tells me of an acquaintance who watered their plants - cardamom in their absence with used milk packets dripping water. The poet asks the gardener :

" or are you the pupil

they your examiners"

With teachers too I wonder who is the pupil. With the task of helping the child, they are the examined.

Tree House

A very still life

Walking with glass. Recently at a Pulla Reddy sweet shop, I walked to a tiered display of sweets and banged into the glass.

In Legend of the tangerine, the poet says 'never hurry a tangerine'. Tangerines may be off the hook but the raw green bananas better hurry up.

At the foundry. The poet finds improbable things found only by artifacts. Once she finds them, her ambitions want to overcome the frozen state of the metal and behave like the life of our world - animated, whole and mobile. Her fascination with the magic is reflected in poems like The mirror, Flying Carpet.

Losing compass and Deer in winter - Weather and deer.
Hummock
Foamflower

Poetry exercise
1. The Mirror. Begin with a noun and let a famous quote about be the springboard. Many poems in this book have a clear beginning. Noun or Proper Noun.
2. Some things should never be written down. A title in the book. What are those according to you?
3. Elementals. 'Put on my cap of air..... Put on my shoes of fire...' like the gifts given to Perseus.

All things DFW

Federer both flesh and not

Fictional futures and conspicuously young

Other DFW works

The nature of fun - On writing

Period poetry

What the poets of this century might not be on this time. Poets of previous century can write of us imagining science fiction, or of the next century as historical fiction.

When I read that the book has poems on Titanic, I can see how news articles might have led people to imagine about it.

The coming urban century.

Rocky point

If someone can interest you in rocks like the layers of a cake, then its a geologist who will let you feel the thrill of his findings as he joins the dots. He gets us conversant in using stratigraphy of looking at the layer changes in the rocks.
The story under Rome is no less riveting than the many on/of it.
Now a geologist is not going to leave you without rubbing off a thing or two about his subject - potassium argon dating. Other than this method, geologists have also used fossils and microfossils.
Can you believe that Earth's magnetic field is reversing from time to time? Not once or twice, if you look at the changes of magnetic polarity, it looks like a bar code. You can study these things if you become a paleomagnetist.
Lie water cycle, there's a rock cycle with sedimentary on the surface rocks are bedded deep into earth to become metamorphic rocks which later emerge as volcanic rocks. Then part of the water cycle erodes these rocks to form sedimentary rocks.

Dec 18, 2009

Clash of the natures

Madame X by William Logan

Pale blossoms, chipped like tea cups in The War, The War

The placid tuna, hacked into agate slabs in The eels of the lagoon

Words

VEX, hex, SMASH, smooch by Constance Hale

In an American Airlines inflight magazine article, when I came across 'luckily', I felt how our sense of gratefulness never comes across the page. It has become like the overused just.

A vocabulary list is included in DFW's 'Both Flesh and Not'.