Week 5

The writer spends time gathering impressions, making observations, collecting detail–over an hour, a day, a week, months, years –perhaps a lifetime. The writer must find or "invent" an angle on the subject of his focus to make its interest or significance apparent in the course of the essay or report. Whether the focus is on an individual, a place, or an event, the writer must have an idea that makes the selection, emphasis, and organization of details revealing. The writer's task is to characterize the subject and the thinking behind that characterization.

The places we have lived or traveled, those that sustain us in the here and now, and those that intrude on our imagination, the real and imagined landscapes of our lives, these are our subject today. What is it like to be . . . here . . . or there? What can we see? hear? touch? smell? taste? Where are we? Mansion, mall, boulevard, barnyard, bar? Is this a place where kids play in the street and dogs bark excitedly? Do folks here sit on the porch, or do they live behind privacy gates? Or what then? You might describe your home or a place where you feel at home. And how does it compare to other homes, other places? What makes it distinct precisely? What gives it character? What kinds of life, what kinds of people and things and activities does one find here? What's the local hangout like, or your favorite beach spot? What is the one place you cannot pass without slowing down to look, and why? What place(s) would you miss most or least, remember with the greatest fondness or the least? Describe one or another of the place features of South Florida. Read some of the local history literature available on the web, in the library or bookstore. There is no place without some history–cultural and civic, geological and natural–and stories of honored people and celebrated events. In South Florida, there are scores of interesting businesses and services provided, from restaurants and yoga studios to head shops and tattoo parlors, etc. What has the natural environment to offer? For those interested in the outdoors and geological features of landform and water course, plants, trees, animals, etc., the natural world is an excellent and always timely focus.

Some paragraph examples follow here:

In Europe, Florida is known as Orlando. For many decades, she's been touted as "Vacationland." But the last winter here was cold and wet and many vacationers vowed they would not return, never return, for Florida had become too "unreliable" as a destination. If the sky's not blue and the sun don't shine, what's the point of coming down after all? –Joy Williams, "Florida"

What you have envisioned of Alaska is true: The vast and craggy mountains, retaining their snow cover year round; the wildlife–bears, moose, snowshoe hares–even city dwellers encounter on occasion; the long, bright nights of summer followed by the eternal twilit winter. And the cold. Growing up in this place, I read all the works of Jack London, and I remember my amazed recognition of his landscapes–their heavy great silence, their ruthless temperatures, the leaden fog they made of one's breath. These were not the total of my experience, but they were London's most clearly drawn images, and at nine years old I was astonished by his accuracy, his devastating clarity of perception. – Natalie Kusz, "Fire in the Valley"

St. Louis possesses a set of charms that make it a city far more worthwhile to see than, say, Kansas City or Milwaukee or Cincinnati. The most compelling man-made landmark in the United States is the St. Louis Gateway Arch, a startling engineering feat, finished in 1965 after seven years of construction. It stands at 632 feet from base to apex. It is, perhaps, as a spectacle the great American rune, an ineffable symbol of the enigma of the great American adventure, the linchpin of East and West that defines what the Middle West is. –Gerald Early, "St. Louis"

A New York snow turns to slush in the rain, and every pedestrian navigates to find some footing, as a river opens at each crossing. They watch a pioneer test the snow, to see if it is good for footing or has a false crust. I see a beautiful young woman in a mouton coat and elegant reddish-brown, ringletted hairdo hesitate at the corner, then plunge in with her black leather shoes, like ballet slippers, resigned to getting wet. A old black woman seems to be remembering country skills as she attempts a crossing. –Phillip Lopate, "Manhattan, Floating World"

Writing Assignment (#5): Writing about place means bringing to a reader's mind the particular aspects that define the essence of your subject place or setting, and the stories, collective and personal, that serve to define it. We stand on whatever ground, sit on beach or barstool with some view before us and people and conversation all around us (or not), stroll streets and walkways–some particular, some not–swim in this pool or climb that tree, eat these mangos, smell these jasmine blossoms, marvel at the moon, swelter in the heat and the dust and the grime, shiver in the ice of the air-conditioned, or luxuriate in the balmy, sub-tropical night air.

In 500 words, conjure a precise and compelling portrait of a place you know well here in South Florida. You might compare or contrast it with other places, real or imagined, to make the characterization distinct; provide some historical or geographical context, or stories that illustrate the significance and importance of the place. Find a news tie-in or special interest slant, whether it be of kite-surfing or gardening or film festivals. Try to put some area and/or activity of interest here on the map for readers.

Underline your thesis idea if it is stated, or type it out at the bottom of the page if it is implicit (clearly suggested but nowhere actually stated). Title the essay. Double space the lines and tab indent for each paragraph–introductory, body, and concluding.

Week 10

Then it was as if suddenly I saw the secret beauty of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in the eyes of the Divine. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed. . . . I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other. –Thomas Merton

Welcome to class. As you know, the final exam, a 500 word, multi--paragraph essay is scheduled for this week. Any students who miss class this week must make certain to come next week to make up the essay exam, or contact me to discuss some other accommodation. Next week also offers all who take the exam today a chance to retake it, if necessary.

I'm confident all can pass this exam. If you have been applying yourself throughout the quarter, you have done by now at least half a dozen formal assignments, and numerous practice and free-write exercises. We have practiced the form of the paragraph and multi-paragraph essay each week, along with basic sentence structures. We have reviewed the use of standard punctuation and grammar. We have modeled the primary modes of presenting information and organizing a paragraph or an essay–description, narration, illustration, and argument. We have discussed and practiced the necessity of having a thesis idea–the point that unifies and gives direction to the essay, the one central thing you want your essay to express. And we have practiced building paragraphs organized around a single clear topic idea, each paragraph serving, if part of a larger essay, to advance the thesis idea in one or another supporting way.

We can spend the first hour of class on review, and in preparing a checklist for the editing process to follow as you review your final draft. Thus will you have time to compose and a format to edit for the major errors that occur in grammar and punctuation.

The essay topics will be given in handout before the exam begins.

Note: Use of the Internet is not allowed during the exam.

See you in class, then.

Week 9

Good day to you all. Today our class meets at the Art Museum of Ft. Lauderdale to attend the special event exhibit of Norman Rockwell's work. Assignments due should be brought to the museum, where I will collect them. You will have the whole class to view the exhibit, take careful, complete notes, and form your conclusions as to the interest and merit of his work. The essay/review of the show is due week 10 in class. We we will also take the final exam, an essay composition, week 10 in class; it is to be an essay written spontaneously in response to a topic drawn from a set I will distribute that day. Week 11 is reserved for makeups and revisions.

I hope to see you in the lobby of the museum at 1:30 Friday. See below the trip information and assignment specifics given in handout form at our last class meeting.

Field Trip Information and Assignment Description

Instructor: Nancy Doyle

Contact: 954-732-6644

Course: ENC1101 Sec. Fridays 1-4

Location and Date: Museum of Art Ft. Lauderdale;Week 9: December 4, 2009, from 1:30 to 4:00 p.m.The Norman Rockwell Exhibit. Class will not meet at school, but at the museum.

Cost: $12:50 with student I.D. (group rate); $15 otherwise.

Parking: City Park Garage: From I-95, take the Broward Boulevard exit east to SE 1st Avenue. Take SE 1st Avenue south, approximately one and a half blocks. The entrance to the garage will be on the east (left) side, across the street from the Broward County Main Library. There is an additional entrance on SE 2nd Street. Parking is $1 per hour, paid in advance at centralized meters. Metered street parking is also available on the surrounding streets and at other nearby garages.

Address:
MUSEUM OF ART | FORT LAUDERDALE
One East Las Olas Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, FL 33301. 
954-525-5500
 Website

*Map and directions attached.

Assignment: Write 500-700 words recording your first-person (eye-witness) observations and impressions of the work of Norman Rockwell on exhibit. Identify specific works by title and date and describe the subject matter, medium, size, and so on; discuss the import of the work, what it describes or means, its story content, and the artist’s particular rendering of his subject. Ask yourself, what has the artist attempted to say about this subject? What feelings or attitudes does the composition evoke, and what specific elements or design choices (i.e. use of colors, shapes, light and dark, tonal contrast, textures) produce them? Information accompanying the exhibit pieces or that you yourself research may be integrated in the form of brief direct quotation or summary. Each of the example art pieces included in the essay should support the central idea or thesis of the essay. Description and commentary regarding the museum space, the presentation in general, and the activity in the museum on the day of your visit, may also be included as you describe the event. Provide a clear introduction and thesis, multiple body paragraphs, and a conclusion that underscores the thesis idea. Paper due week 10.

*Alternate Assignment: An essay exploring the work of a major artist, using at least three secondary sources (as well as primary sources—the works on view, if available).

Assignment Objectives: To provide opportunity for constructing an essay built from primary source material, i.e. firsthand observations of an important artist’s work; and from secondary source material in the form of supporting literature and/or documentary work accompanying the exhibit. In addition, students will engage with others in the group in an environment that offers intellectual and aesthetic stimulation and acquaintance with an important local resource, the museum itself.

Norman Rockwell (1894 – 1978) painted the best of America, creating indelible images of the lives, hopes and dreams of American in the 20th century. Expertly weaving both narrative and painterly images, he was consummate visual storyteller with a finely honed sense of what made an image successful in the new, rapidly changing era of mass media. Rockwell’s unique artistic legacy, established during 65 years of painting, offers a personal chronicle of 20th century life and aspirations that has both reflected and profoundly influenced American perceptions and ideals.

American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell traces the evolution of Rockwell’s art and iconography throughout his career – from carefully choreographed reflections on childhood innocence in such paintings as Day in the Life of a Little Girl (1952) to powerful, consciousness-raising images for Look magazine in the 1960s documenting the traumatic realities of desegregation in the South. Rockwell’s artistic contributions and the impact of his images on American popular culture is explored within the context of his life and times through in-depth exhibition commentary and a decade-by-decade installation of forty-two original artworks and a complete set of 323 archival Saturday Evening Post cover tear sheets, which span forty-seven years.

Week 7

Good afternoon. I hope you are doing well. Today we will review the short research essay, the nature of arguments, and the conventions of integrating outside sources. You should have a fairly solid draft of this essay by the end of the period. It will be due week 9. Next week is a holiday. The following week we will be meeting at the Art Museum of Ft. Lauderdale to review the Norman Rockwell exhibit. You should sign a release form today in class, if you plan to attend.

The goal of argument, most often, is to convince others that they should change their minds about some issue. Barack Obama has been trying to convince Congress and the American people that health care reform is in the best interests of citizens and the nation. In his speeches on the issue he compares numbers, best estimates of current and future costs under the current system, to the savings and proposed benefits of reform measures; he cites examples of citizens neglected or underserved by the current system and the kinds of coverage that will be available after reform. He argues that reform, for a number of sound reasons, economic and ethical, is necessary to the health of the nation. To “win” he must convince others by providing reasons so compelling they agree with his position.

Yet another goal of argument is to decide or explore rather than to convince others of the rightness of a position. Before making an informed decision or taking a position, we need an adequate acquaintance with a subject or issue and the various perspectives in which it can be seen. Writing that presents information and perspectives to help people to understand an issue, without presuming to have answers, or any easy ones, is another goal of argument. Looking at the facts, asking questions, comparing perspectives, the writer prepares us to see the dimensions of a given problem or issue.

Thus, the thesis of the essay should be an arguable claim, one that tries to convince readers of something or perhaps do something, or explore a topic so that readers are in a position to make an informed decision. The thesis should address an issue that has no ready or absolute answer, not one readily verified by resort to factual report, but one that readers might realistically take different perspectives on.

Argument or fact?

*Water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit.

* Van Gogh’s work is that of a madman.

* Plastic bags are polluting the seas.

*Consumers must reduce their carbon footprint.

*The average temperature of the earth has risen over the last century.

*Glaciers are melting at a rate unprecedented in modern times.

Build your essay around an arguable claim. Support it with reference to your readings, first-person experience, a factual basis and logical analysis. Consider the following thesis: The use of plastics worldwide must come under closer scrutiny and regulation.

Readers now want to know why, and how the issue affects them and, indeed, if there is something they might do to help resolve the issue. Your sources provide background information, demonstrate your knowledge of the topic, provide authoritative support and perspective, and show the range of perspectives possible, in fairness to differing opinions.

Select material for quotation on the following bases:

1) 1 the wording is particularly memorable, to the point, and not easily paraphrased

2) it expresses an author’s or expert’s direct opinion that you want to emphasize

3) it provides example of the range of perspective

4) it provides a constrssting or opposing view

Format quotations in the following manner:

Brief quotations of no more than four lines should be worked into the text within the usual margins from left to right, and enclosed by quotation marks. Use a signal phrase or tagline to introduce them, followed by a colon or comma. Longer passages should be set off in block format, indented and aligned 10 spaces from the left margin, with no quotation marks but those that may be internal to the passage itself.

Example from “An Ocean of Plastic”:

Kitt Doucette describes the threat of plastic to all marine life, and perhaps human life, too: “Even small organisms like jellyfish, lanternfish and zooplankton have started to ingest tiny bits of plastic. These species, the very foundation of the oceanic food web, are becoming saturated with plastic, which may be passed further up the food chain.” The fish we eat may contain the residues of these ingested plastic particles, and pose clear health risks. He explains, citing also the authority of a leading marine biologist:

[. . .] the chemical toxins concentrated in the [plastic] waste lodge themselves in the animals’ fatty tissues, accumulating at ever increasing levels the higher you go up the food chain. It isn’t clear yet if these chemicals are reaching humans, but PCB’s and DDT are know to disrupt reproduction in marine mammals. In human they have been linked to liver damage, skin lesions, and cancer. “The possibility of more and more creatures ingesting plastics that contain concentrated pollutants is real and quite disturbing,” says Richard Thompson, a British marine biologist who has been studying microplastics for 20 years.

Use brackets around any material you add for the sake of clarity or any change to the original necessary, such as a verb tense or use of a pronoun, or ellipsis punctuation to abbreviate the length of the passage. The source title, be it an article title in a magazine or newspaper or that of a website from which you have borrowed material, should be identified at the outset or your introduction and use of the material. The year or date of such information should be recent , or otherwise noted.

*MLA citations and works cited will not be necessary for this assignment.

Week 6

Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species -- man -- acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world.

–Rachel Carson

Good afternoon, good afternoon. Hope you all have been well since last we met.

Today's classwork continues with a focus on using sources to generate essay ideas and perspectives. There are two basic kinds of sources used in conducting research, primary and secondary. Primary sources are defined as those whose information comes firsthand to the writer or researcher, such as original experiments you conduct, field notes and observations you make, interviews, eyewitness accounts, and works of art or artifacts you examine and evaluate, including photographs and films, sound recordings and historical documents (letters, diaries, records of all sorts, speeches, etc.). Secondary sources are the descriptions, interpretations, and research work and conclusions others have done on a given subject of inquiry, be it a work of art or an artist, natural phenomena such as hurricanes or volcanos, human biology, cancer, etc. Reports, reviews, biographies, encyclopedia articles, and news reports, among others, fall in this category. Often research projects involve use of both kinds of sources, primary and secondary.

Research is basic to many of our daily activities and decisions. We want to see a movie, a good movie, so we read the reviews of recent releases and make a decision one way or another. We want to buy a new car, computer, whatever, and so we gather information about the products available, learn their relative merits as compared to others in their class, then test run them, try them firsthand before we commit ourselves to a purchase. Your purpose in research is ordinarily defined by your interest in a subject. In college writing, the central goal of research is to develop and show a clear understanding of a particular subject. Perhaps you are asked to explain a problem, and to illustrate measures being taken to address the problem; at last, you find yourself arguing a position or advocating a certain course of action. Having made a thorough review of the most timely, authoritative literature on your subject, you are, presumably, an expert, and in a position to advance a position or claim and support it with reference to your various sources.

As a class we'll look at a topic of global interest–ocean pollution– specifically, the effects of plastic pollution in the oceans. The essay research assignment, should you choose this topic and not another, involves summary description of the problem, its causes and effects, the measures being taken to assess and address the problem by those working in the field, and/or a line of inquiry and development to be determined by you. Your audience will be your classmates and all those who might justifiably find the subject important. You will look at a number of print and online sources, including photo and film sources, and draw from these the information to make a considered claim about the threats that plastic pollution poses to the health of the ocean environment, marine life, and even, potentially, human life. You must develop your own slant. You may also use primary research. Living in south Florida, you have ready access to the ocean and its tributary waters and can thus view firsthand possible evidence of the problem you will be reading about; you might then report your findings in the essay, if only to show awareness at the local level of the extent of plastic pollution.

This research assignment will require a 350- word summary overview of one published article and a summary description or overview of other sources available in print and/or on the web (assignment #6); as well, it requires an essay response, of at least 750 words, with sources documented in MLA format, to the threat posed by plastic pollution of the world's oceans (#7). Should you choose to research a different subject for essay #7, as you may, you will still be responsible for today's summary work on plastic pollution. The final essay should contain a minimum of three secondary sources, show a thorough understanding of at least one of the problems associated with ocean pollution, the ramifications or complications posed by the problem, and the measures being undertaken in response, with specific citations of source material. The conventions of documentation will be discussed and illustrated in class next week. The paper will be due week 9.

Directions for assignment #6: To begin, read the article "An Ocean of Plastic," by Kitt Doucette (Rolling Stone, October 2009 ). In 350-400 words, summarize the findings reported in the article, identifying key points, observations, descriptions, facts, concerns and questions raised in the article. Briefly describe several of the photo illustrations, too. Include several textual passages in direct quotation to substantiate your summary claims. Then, working with another classmate, identify references within the article– to important individuals, organizations, places, key terms– that may serve as additional source material. Websites and additional published articles and links may be found by googling the topic keywords. Google these keywords. Share this research work, and share your findings. Explore what each new source has to offer, even if you have only time for a cursory look or textual scan. Individually, each of you must compile a brief summary of Internet sites where additional information, news, and published articles on the topic may be found, describing those that seem of particular research value, and why (for a minimum of four). Include this summary report with that of the article.

Week 4

Good Afternoon! I hope the past week has been a good one for you all. You left last week with an essay assigned about an individual whose life and personality make for interesting reading. Today we'll read several of these essays to see the kinds of people you've brought for us all to meet (if only in print).

Presumably, each of you focused on someone who is an exemplar of some character or type. To be an exemplar, the word is a noun, is to be a model or example, or an ideal model. This is just to say your subject serves, in part, as a living illustration of certain ideas. Where am I going with this? To another of the modes or means of developing and organizing your essay material, that of illustration or exemplification–providing examples to support a point or assertion or clarify a position. You've used all along, in tandem with description and narration and others such as comparison and contrast. Examples may be presented in lists or itemized or a single one developed at length (the extended example). To remember: an illustration is a specific instance or case, an event, story, artifact, word or thing, picture, chart, map, etc. Some examples here follow:

While viruses and bacteria cause most of the common diseases suffered by people who live in the developed world, protozoa are the major cause of disease in undeveloped tropical zones. Of these diseases, the most widespread are malaria, amoebic dysentery, and African sleeping sickness.

The idea that art does not exist among the lower animals is a primitive notion. A perfect illustration of art in the animal kingdom is the art of the amazing bower birds of Australia. These birds decorate their bowers with shells, colored glass, and shining objects. Some paint their walls with fruit pulp, wet powdered charcoal, or paste of chewed up grass mixed with saliva. One kind of bird even makes a paintbrush from a wad of bark to apply the paint.

–both examples above taken from Readings for Writers, 11th ed.

There was always a touch of seediness and sadness to pay phones, and a sense of transience. Drug dealers made calls from them, and shady types who did not want their whereabouts known, and otherwise respectable people planning assignations, and people too poor to have phones of their own. In the movies, any character who used a pay phone was either in trouble or contemplating a crime. Pay phones came with their own special atmospherics and even accessories sometimes–the predictable bad smells and graffiti, of course, as well as cigarette butts, soda cans, scattered pamphlets from the Jehovah's Witnesses, and single bottles of beer (empty) still in their individual, street-legal paper bags. Mostly, pay phones evoked the mundane: "Honey, I'm jut leaving. I'll be there soon." But you could tell that a lot of undifferentiated humanity had flowed through these places, and that in the muteness of each pay phone's little space, wild emotion had howled.

–Ian Frazier, "Dearly Disconnected"

Considerations of what makes for good English or bad English are to an uncomfortably large extent matters of prejudice and conditioning. Until the eighteenth century it was correct to say "you was" if you were referring to one person. It sounds odd today, but the logic is impeccable. Was is a singular verb and were a plural one. Why should you take a plural verb when the sense is clearly singular? The answer–surprise, surprise–is that Robert Lowth [author of A Short Introduction to English Grammar (1762)] didn't like it. "I'm hurrying, are I not?" is hopelessly ungrammatical, but "I'm hurrying, aren't I?"–merely a contraction of the same words–is perfect English. Many is almost always a plural (as in "Many people were there"), but not when it is followed by a, as in "Many a man was there." There's no inherent reason why these things should be so. They are not defensible in terms of grammar. They are because they are.

–Bill Bryson, The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way

I believe I have omitted mentioning that, in my first voyage from Boston, being becalmed off Block island, our people set about catching cod, and hauled up a great many. Hitherto I had stuck to my resolution of not eating animal food, and on this occasion I considered, with my master Tryon [author Thomas Tryon], the taking of every fish as a kind of unprovoked murder, since none of them had, or ever could do us any injury that might justify the slaughter. All this seemed very reasonable. But I had formerly been a great lover of fish and, when this came hot out of the frying pan, it smelled admirably well. I balanced some time between principle and inclination, till I recollected that, when the fish were opened, I saw smaller fish taken out of their stomachs; then thought I, "if you eat one another, I don't see why we mayn't eat you." So I dined upon cod very heartily, and continued to eat with other people, returning only now and occasionally to a vegetable diet. So convenient it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enable one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to.

–Ben Franklin, 1791

Essay#4 will require you come up with a topic that invites illustration. As as a class we'll brainstorm possibilities today. The essay should support a clear thesis idea and be arranged in multi-paragraph form (three to six or more paragraphs). It should be titled, double-spaced, and a well edited 500 words or so in length. It will be due next week, week 5.

Topic Suggestions:

• The role of music (or whatever art you want to name) in your life, supported by reference to specific influential musicians and particular works.
• President Barack Obama's record of achievement thus far as president, with reference to what has gotten done under his leadership, and perhaps what hasn't.
• The best of Ft. Lauderdale (or whatever city), with reference to specific places of interest, however you care to define "interest."
• Rules to Live By, with reference to the benefits gained and troubles avoided.
• What We do For Love, with reference to personal experience and observation.
• Breakthroughs in science or technology (or What's New?) or any field of endeavor you want to address, personal or public, with examples to illustrate.
• Life Is Strange (or tough), with references to all that seems to make such statement true.

Writing a summary: Handouts and discussion of sample text and summary conventions. Draft in 200 words of the article "A Waste-Free Life," by Alexandra Wolfe.

Verb Tense Use: Exercises 3 and 4. at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/exercises/2/22/51

Week 3

Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.

–Helen Keller

Good day! How was your weekend? Mine picked up with the wind on Saturday. Cool, windy weather after the long hot summers of south Florida makes me feel more alive and face-to-face with exciting, mysterious forces that come from far places; I practically see wind sweeping down from the northern latitudes, across vast expanses of prairie and high plains and forested mountains and hills and icy waters and through all the cities and towns and isolated outposts of human habitation, shaking everything up in a deliciously bracing way. Imagine all that the wind has touched before it lifts your hair or rustles the grass and leaves all around.

So I went for a long walk, to take the air, opening the windows and doors of my being as I did so. I walked a paved path, with others passing by at intervals, some on foot, some on bicycles, and I wondered at the journey we all take, that other journey, you know, that leads to a distant country, and that is filled with strange twists and turns, enough to bewilder us at times. I thought of a film I recently watched called Pan's Labyrinth (2006), directed by Guillermo del Toro. It is a beautiful film, a modern fairy tale about a young girl's struggle to make sense of multiple changes and certain threats and dangers. She discovers seemingly magical sources of power that take the form, in part, of fantastic creatures that live in a spooky, labyrinthine netherworld. There she is told she is the heiress to an ancient title, a Princess, in fact, and given certain tasks to "prove" herself fit. She must learn to trust herself throughout, for things are not simply what they seem, and her survival, and that of others, depends upon her knowing what is what, and thus making the right call.

The twists and turns and dark corners and curves of the labyrinth are a symbol of the human unconscious, a cryptic "force" whose messengers can guide us on our life's path; though we must rightly interpret and wisely use this force, for it can be dangerous. Pan is an ancient nature God, associated with fertility and spring, with shepherds and their flocks, and is often depicted playing a pipe. As I walked, I listened to the wind, felt it on my skin, and the solid ground under my feet. And though it is but fall, here in south Florida I heard in the wind the sound of Pan's piping.

That's my weekend story. Tell yours! (free write)

Stories–narratives–we tell them endlessly. They are built into the fabric of our lives. Our very lives are the stories we tell about them. The meaning we make of existence comes clear in the stories we tell each other, and each is one of the untold gazillions accumulating over time. Each has a point or a purpose. Each involves events, actions, a conflict set in motion, consequences, perhaps the underlying motives and feelings of those involved, the lessons and insights gained through the experiences recounted.

A hundred thousand people were killed by the atomic bomb, and these six were among the survivors. They still wonder why they lived when so many others died. Each of them counts many small items of chance or volition–a step taken in time, a decision to go indoors, catching one streetcar instead of the next–that spared him. And now each knows that in the act of survival he lived a dozen lives and saw more death than he ever thought he would see. At the time, none of them knew anything.

John Hersey, Hiroshima

We imagine the action that took place in the event referenced above, but the writer does not show us the exploding bomb, the fire and smoke and devastation all around. The wails of the living, and the dying.

Narration does more than suggest, it shows action:

When I pulled the trigger I did not hear the bang or feel the kick–one never does when a shot goes home–but I heard the devilish roar of glee that went up from the crowd. In that instant, in too short a time, one would have thought, even for the bullet to go there, a mysterious, terrible change had come over the elephant. He neither stirred nor fell, but every line of his body had altered. He looked suddenly sticken, shrunken, immensely old, as though the frightful impact of the bullet had paralyzed him without knocking him down. At last, after what seemed a long time–it might have been five seconds, I dare say–he sagged flabbily to his knees. His mouth slobbered. An enormous senility seemed to have settled upon him. One could have imagined him thousands of years old. I fired again into the same spot. At the second shot he did not collapse but climbed with desperate slowness to his feet and stood weakly upright, with legs sagging and head drooping. I fired a third time. That was the shot that did for him. You could see the agony of it jolt his whole body and knock the last remnant of strength from his legs. But in falling he seemed for a moment to rise, for as his hind legs collapsed beneath him he seemed to tower upward like a huge rock toppling, his trunk reaching skywards like a tree. He trumpeted, for the first and only time. And then down he came, his belly towards me, with a crash that seemed to shake the ground even where I lay.

George Orwell, "Shooting an Elephant"

Notice how Orwell works the elements of sight, sound, movement in space, and deep feeling into the account, revealing only at the last line he has been lying down, firing up at the huge animal whose final collapse reverberates in our imagination.

Most of our stories are of events not so unusual; they are of events more homely, domestic, ordinary. These events are no less potentially interesting and dramatic. An important strategy is to narrow your account down to the one or several key events and not to swamp the telling by including too much or anything that does not work to make your dramatic purpose clear, flowing, and forcefully delivered. Dialogue used sparingly may heighten the sense of immediacy and reality. It should reflect real conversation, minus whatever does not move the action forward or reveal character. Simple words and short sentences work best.

Writing autobiographical essays or memoirs we begin to think more concretely about the kind or type of a person we see in ourselves. Likewise, in writing about others we may "typecast" or categorize as a way of framing the individual or personality we are attempting to describe. The individual is more than any single type but for the sake of managing our material we often simplify. Here is Theophrastus, an ancient Greek philosopher, on "The Faultfinder":

Faultfinding is being unreasonably critical of your portion in life. For example, a friend sends over a serving of the main dinner course with his compliments: the faultfinder is the kind who says to the messenger, "You can go tell your master I said that he didn't want me to have a taste of his soup and third-rate wine–that's why he wouldn't give me a dinner invitation." And even while his mistress is kissing him he will complain, "I wonder if you really love me the way you say you do." He gets angry with the weather, too, not because it rained but because it didn't rain soon enough.

If he comes on a wallet in the street, his comment is "Always this–never a real find!" Let him get a slave at bargain prices, moreover, after begging and pleading, and what does he say but "I really wonder if the fellow can be in sound shape, seeing that he was so cheap." Or supposing somebody announces: "You've got a baby boy!" He meets this good news with: "You might as well have told me half my estate's down the drain–that's what it really means." [. . . .] And when friends have raised a loan to help him out and one of them asks him, "Aren't you pleased?" his answer is "How can I be, when I have to pay everybody back and then act grateful besides?"

The following website publishes the 30 types Theophrastus wrote of:

http://www.eudaemonist.com/biblion/characters

Character Traits/Personality Types (according to the astrologers)

Aries: + assertive energetic courageous ardent

- Aggressive angry egotistical impulsive

Taurus: +conservative reliable steadfast patient deliberate

- greedy stodgy possessive obstinate

Gemini : + intellectual versatile communicative alert

- nervous undependable impatient unable to concentrate

Cancer: + protective domestic emotional patriotic

-oversensitive oblique crabby moody acquisitive

Leo: + creative vital commanding expansive regal

- pleasure seeking conceited domineering lazy

Virgo: + practical modest analytical unassuming

- reticent overdiscriminating aloof overcritical

Libra: + harmonious affable diplomatic balanced thoughtful

-indecisive vapid discontented

Scorpio: + intense passionate penetrating genuine

- blunt cruel lustful vindictive

Sagittarius: + expansive free enthusiastic profound

- reckless outspoken excessive boisterous

Capricorn: + cautious ambitious serious stable orderly

- cold limited miserly fearful

Aquarius: + instructive inventive aspiring changeable unconventional

- revolutionary detached cool rebellious

Pisces: + intuitive inspired sensitive intangible

-vague oversentimental confused self-pitying

Real people are of course not pure types; they are complex individuals but the type is a way of framing a study of the personality. You might begin with a list of what a person is–mother, grandmother, retired doctor, Sunday painter, etcetera, and then narrow the focus to the activities and character traits most on display. Show the person in his or her usual surrounds or ones that reveal something of the person; show how he moves, how he speaks, gestures, dresses, and so on. Show her heart, her values and ideals and how they manifest in her life's work and activity. Get the perspective of others, too. How do others respond or feel about this person? Examples will illustrate, anecdotal stories, personal description.

Assignment #3: Write a profile or portrait of someone you know well and whose personality will be interesting to readers. Illustrate the portrait with graphic details: actions, words, appearances, contrasts, and so on.

A complex sentence has one independent (stand alone) clause (one subject-verb combo) and at least one dependent (can't stand alone except as a fragment) clause. Short examples follow here:

Because he could not be reached by phone, I drove to his house, anxious to see him.

Jimmi walked to work after he crashed his bike.

Unless you give me another chance, we can go no further.

John is a man who loves women more than anything in life.

Bring me the book that you have been hiding.

I cooked and cleaned as the storm raged on.

A compound-complex sentence has at least two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause:

Jimmi hated to be seen as weak, so he kept his mouth closed while the others freely confessed to backsliding.

If you are to write effectively, your sentences must be clear; words are wasted otherwise.

After the sun dropped below the horizon, and as the moon began her ascent, we set up camp, eager for a chance to relax and eat and talk; each of us was possessed by the sense of great adventures to come.