I have great news! Over Thanksgiving break, I was fortunate enough to become Ethioipian Global Initiative’s Social Media Intern! I am so excited to be a part of this amazing organization. Ethiopian Global Organization was founded by Samuel Gebru, a junior at Concordia College. He is originally from Ethiopia, but grew up in Cambridge, MA. EGI’s mission statement is:
“To combine and capture the social and intellectual capital of students and professionals to further engineer the transformation of Ethiopia by engaging a new generation of socially responsible leaders. In partnership with leading public and private sector organizations, the Ethiopian Global Initiative aims to undertake and support sustainable developmental endeavors in Ethiopia. The Initiative also aims to promote the interests of Ethiopians globally by serving as a catalyst for community-based projects that promote civic engagement and economic prosperity.”
I will be posting and blogging from several different social media outlets, so keep your eyes open for more information about Ethiopian Global Initiative!
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
Teaching in Worcester
At the end of the Spring Semester last year, I made the decision to stay local around here in Worcester for my summer vacation. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to spend my time volunteering during those months as a GED teacher at the Worcester Youth Center.
The Worcester Youth Center is a facility where youth between the ages of 14 to 24 can get together after school and during the day to socialize. The Youth Center has aptly been described as a “safe haven,” a place where at-risk-youth can safely spend their time, as an alternative to hanging out on the streets. The Center has an eclectic list of free programs that teens can get involved in; everything from hip hop dance classes, to a rap recording study, to a hair salon, to afterschool programs, all run under the heavy influence of youth participation. I was lucky enough to join the GED program.
The GED test is composed of five different subject areas: Math, Science, Social Studies, English Reading, and English Writing. In our classroom, the two subjects that seemed to give the students the most trouble were the reading and writing portions of the test. On the surface, it seems to be a puzzling question. What is it about English that gives the students the most trouble out of all the subjects? Especially since, for many of my students, English happened to be their native language!
My answer? The cultural gap.
Here’s my question to the English department faculty: Do you know why people are jokin’ Jay-Z?
How many of you can say that you know what the word “jockin” means, or for that matter, what the entire phrase is a reference to?
Right away, my GED students would be able to tell you that people are “jockin Jay-Z because he got a Mercedes and you know about his ladies!”
Translation: People are jealous of the rapper Jay-Z because he has come into a lot of money and fame during the last few years, which impels them to spread rumors about him in an attempt to discredit him. Jay-Z’s ensuing rap song is an attempt to address these dissenters by going over their specific claims in detail and refuting each point.
Any of my Worcester students could tell you this!
Rap music is something they can connect with and understand on a fundamental level. And isn’t rap just a form of poetry? So if rap lyrics are understandable to them, then shouldn’t we be able to go through any other poem together and pull out the key elements as well?
One afternoon, a student and I spent quite a significant amount of time on trying to understand Emily Dickinson’s, “’Hope’ is the thing with feathers,” and by the end of it he was not nearly as close to understanding it as he was Jay-Z’s, “On to the Next One.” Why?
It’s not as if Emily Dickinson isn’t relevant to their lives! Her poem speaks brilliantly about hope always being present, ever enduring, and even more beautifully: hope never asks anything of you! Of course the students can understand that. Hope is specifically something important that I’ve seen a lot of my students cling to.
But why aren’t they able to pull that out while reading the poem? Why does a poem seem so daunting to them, whereas rap lyrics are so accessible?
Perhaps we need to start teaching poetry with Jay-Z:
Who is the speaker of the song and who is his specific audience? What is his tone and what words give you these clues? What is the overall message of the song? Symbolically, why does Jay-Z trade in his gold watch for a platinum Rolex?
Maybe we need to start with something that the students are the most familiar with. Rap culture is in their face every day! Perhaps if we start with something as relevant as this, they will be able to build up the skills they need to read a Dickinson poem. They will learn to pull out key words in poetry, learn to ask questions of the poem that they are reading, just as they already do with rap music.
If there’s one thing that I’ve learned from teaching in Worcester, it’s that teaching isn’t just a matter of getting your students on board with you. Rather, it’s more about getting on board with your students; meeting them at a level of their understanding first, on their terms. Then afterwards, once you’ve built up their own skills with something so familiar, we can move on to the unfamiliar. Start teaching by closing the culture gap.
The Worcester Youth Center is a facility where youth between the ages of 14 to 24 can get together after school and during the day to socialize. The Youth Center has aptly been described as a “safe haven,” a place where at-risk-youth can safely spend their time, as an alternative to hanging out on the streets. The Center has an eclectic list of free programs that teens can get involved in; everything from hip hop dance classes, to a rap recording study, to a hair salon, to afterschool programs, all run under the heavy influence of youth participation. I was lucky enough to join the GED program.
The GED test is composed of five different subject areas: Math, Science, Social Studies, English Reading, and English Writing. In our classroom, the two subjects that seemed to give the students the most trouble were the reading and writing portions of the test. On the surface, it seems to be a puzzling question. What is it about English that gives the students the most trouble out of all the subjects? Especially since, for many of my students, English happened to be their native language!
My answer? The cultural gap.
Here’s my question to the English department faculty: Do you know why people are jokin’ Jay-Z?
How many of you can say that you know what the word “jockin” means, or for that matter, what the entire phrase is a reference to?
Right away, my GED students would be able to tell you that people are “jockin Jay-Z because he got a Mercedes and you know about his ladies!”
Translation: People are jealous of the rapper Jay-Z because he has come into a lot of money and fame during the last few years, which impels them to spread rumors about him in an attempt to discredit him. Jay-Z’s ensuing rap song is an attempt to address these dissenters by going over their specific claims in detail and refuting each point.
Any of my Worcester students could tell you this!
Rap music is something they can connect with and understand on a fundamental level. And isn’t rap just a form of poetry? So if rap lyrics are understandable to them, then shouldn’t we be able to go through any other poem together and pull out the key elements as well?
One afternoon, a student and I spent quite a significant amount of time on trying to understand Emily Dickinson’s, “’Hope’ is the thing with feathers,” and by the end of it he was not nearly as close to understanding it as he was Jay-Z’s, “On to the Next One.” Why?
It’s not as if Emily Dickinson isn’t relevant to their lives! Her poem speaks brilliantly about hope always being present, ever enduring, and even more beautifully: hope never asks anything of you! Of course the students can understand that. Hope is specifically something important that I’ve seen a lot of my students cling to.
But why aren’t they able to pull that out while reading the poem? Why does a poem seem so daunting to them, whereas rap lyrics are so accessible?
Perhaps we need to start teaching poetry with Jay-Z:
Who is the speaker of the song and who is his specific audience? What is his tone and what words give you these clues? What is the overall message of the song? Symbolically, why does Jay-Z trade in his gold watch for a platinum Rolex?
Maybe we need to start with something that the students are the most familiar with. Rap culture is in their face every day! Perhaps if we start with something as relevant as this, they will be able to build up the skills they need to read a Dickinson poem. They will learn to pull out key words in poetry, learn to ask questions of the poem that they are reading, just as they already do with rap music.
If there’s one thing that I’ve learned from teaching in Worcester, it’s that teaching isn’t just a matter of getting your students on board with you. Rather, it’s more about getting on board with your students; meeting them at a level of their understanding first, on their terms. Then afterwards, once you’ve built up their own skills with something so familiar, we can move on to the unfamiliar. Start teaching by closing the culture gap.
Turkey and Family
As the below post suggests it’s that time of the year again. But my mind is not quite on finals yet. Maybe it should be. But it is far too preoccupied with the wonderful holiday that is barreling its way toward us. THANKSGIVING! My family loves Thanksgiving. We always say it’s the time you can concentrate of family and great food, without the stress of presentsof Christmas. While some of you might say 'I love buying gifts', in a family distributed over 5 continents it gets a bit much. We have lists of addresses that are always changing, lists of family that is always growing, lists of ages that are changing… all in all my family is just too big and far spread for presents to be an easy buy. But Thanksgiving, now that we do right!
With this wonderful week already here I am jumping from excitement about going home. And yes part of it is to get away from the cafeteria food. I mean come on! Not only do I get to eat home cooked meals, they are specialty dishes cultivated over generations that we only make at Thanksgiving. How much better does it get! And my family is at its best during this holiday. We are all ready to have fun, and are so in love with being together. As a Russian/Lithuanian/Colombian household we eat a lot, we drink a lot, and we party until dawn. This is the time when I hear stories about how all these amazing people came to America, how feuds were born and solved, and how miracles played a part in our family like no other. This is the time of year when I am so truly fully glad to come from the background I did!
This year Thanksgiving is special for a few more reasons. It’s our first without our beloved Grandma Mamute (Mamute means little mother in Lithuanian). She passed away last winter and it’s going to be a big loss at our table without her. She was the one who told my sister’s then fiancé, now husband, that we will know that he truly loves my sister when he has to change her diapers, she led the family song every year (oh yes we bust out the guitar and sing old soviet songs!), and was our own personal ray of sunshine. For me personally this Thanksgiving is also special because for the first time since I’ve moved to America in 2002 I will not be with my family for Christmas or New Years. So this holiday is my one shot at glory people!
Ok, ok enough about me. This post is supposed to be to remind you all how much we have to be Thankful for this year. Hurricane Irene didn’t destroy our College, the Snow storm of Halloween weekend didn’t dampen our spirits too much, our families are still around us, we’re almost done with another semester, and it’s late November but it’s not frigid cold outside yet! Find your own reasons to be thankful this time of year and cherish your time with the family. Finals are coming up, and as much as I don’t want to admit it we will need all the good vibes to survive those!
With this wonderful week already here I am jumping from excitement about going home. And yes part of it is to get away from the cafeteria food. I mean come on! Not only do I get to eat home cooked meals, they are specialty dishes cultivated over generations that we only make at Thanksgiving. How much better does it get! And my family is at its best during this holiday. We are all ready to have fun, and are so in love with being together. As a Russian/Lithuanian/Colombian household we eat a lot, we drink a lot, and we party until dawn. This is the time when I hear stories about how all these amazing people came to America, how feuds were born and solved, and how miracles played a part in our family like no other. This is the time of year when I am so truly fully glad to come from the background I did!
This year Thanksgiving is special for a few more reasons. It’s our first without our beloved Grandma Mamute (Mamute means little mother in Lithuanian). She passed away last winter and it’s going to be a big loss at our table without her. She was the one who told my sister’s then fiancé, now husband, that we will know that he truly loves my sister when he has to change her diapers, she led the family song every year (oh yes we bust out the guitar and sing old soviet songs!), and was our own personal ray of sunshine. For me personally this Thanksgiving is also special because for the first time since I’ve moved to America in 2002 I will not be with my family for Christmas or New Years. So this holiday is my one shot at glory people!
Ok, ok enough about me. This post is supposed to be to remind you all how much we have to be Thankful for this year. Hurricane Irene didn’t destroy our College, the Snow storm of Halloween weekend didn’t dampen our spirits too much, our families are still around us, we’re almost done with another semester, and it’s late November but it’s not frigid cold outside yet! Find your own reasons to be thankful this time of year and cherish your time with the family. Finals are coming up, and as much as I don’t want to admit it we will need all the good vibes to survive those!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
The Final Countdown
Yeah, they’re back. And not like the awesome new Backstreet Boys-New Kids on the Block kind of back. Like the flu you get every year that keeps on getting worse than the last one kind of back. And even though I know they are just around the corner, what am I doing instead of preparing for the week of sleepless nights? Watching Glee.
Now obviously I don’t recommend procrastination. All it results in is rushed papers that don’t always make sense, lack of sleep which leads to delirium, and food cravings at random times during the day. So I think I’ve come up with a few ideas to try and avoid procrastination:
1. DEACTIVATE YOUR NETFLIX ACCOUNT.
Seriously. Not joking. Get rid of it. Even though the allure of watching random TV shows and movies when you’re bored sounds fabulous, its not. Next thing you know, your ten page paper is due tomorrow and you’re sitting in front of your laptop watching yet another episode of Glee and eating Chinese take-out leftovers. It’s a slippery slope of MSG and Darren Criss.
2. MAKE OUTLINES. OF EVERYTHING.
Whether your exam is something you can do in your sleep or your worst nightmare, outline your answers. Literally, its like taking a paper written in Wingdings and putting it into Times New Roman. You can actually read it. When it comes down to exam time, you’ll know exactly what to write. And it’s a good way to study without actually wanting to gauge your eyes out with rusty spoons.
3. BACK AWAY FROM YOUR PHONE.
Yes, your shiny new iPhone4 is adorable, but it is also a huge distraction. Before you know it, instead of studying for that really important exam, you’ll be beating your Angry Birds high score. Turn your phone off (all the way off, not just on silent) and leave it in your bag AWAY from your desk or wherever you are studying.
4. FACEBOOK.
This is time when I realized how Mark Zuckerberg is a gazilionaire and how Facebook rules the world. It’s the college kids who would rather play Farmville or creep on Facebook friends that they haven’t talked to in three years than pay attention to schoolwork. Believe me, I’ve been there. And hours later I am still staring at my best friend’s pictures of her sweet sixteen party and my paper is growing dust. So for those of you lucky Mac users, SelfControl is probably the best thing since Facebook. Don’t just use it for a few hours; put it on the whole week. You don’t need to update your status every three hours or post random articles onto your friends’ walls. For us PC users, deactivate your account for the week. Its so easy, it’s dangerous.
Overall, finals can actually go pretty well. You can stay on topic, get good grades, and still manage to squeeze in a somewhat normal sleeping pattern. Unless Netflix decides to add a new show to their Watch Instantly list.
Now obviously I don’t recommend procrastination. All it results in is rushed papers that don’t always make sense, lack of sleep which leads to delirium, and food cravings at random times during the day. So I think I’ve come up with a few ideas to try and avoid procrastination:
1. DEACTIVATE YOUR NETFLIX ACCOUNT.
Seriously. Not joking. Get rid of it. Even though the allure of watching random TV shows and movies when you’re bored sounds fabulous, its not. Next thing you know, your ten page paper is due tomorrow and you’re sitting in front of your laptop watching yet another episode of Glee and eating Chinese take-out leftovers. It’s a slippery slope of MSG and Darren Criss.
2. MAKE OUTLINES. OF EVERYTHING.
Whether your exam is something you can do in your sleep or your worst nightmare, outline your answers. Literally, its like taking a paper written in Wingdings and putting it into Times New Roman. You can actually read it. When it comes down to exam time, you’ll know exactly what to write. And it’s a good way to study without actually wanting to gauge your eyes out with rusty spoons.
3. BACK AWAY FROM YOUR PHONE.
Yes, your shiny new iPhone4 is adorable, but it is also a huge distraction. Before you know it, instead of studying for that really important exam, you’ll be beating your Angry Birds high score. Turn your phone off (all the way off, not just on silent) and leave it in your bag AWAY from your desk or wherever you are studying.
4. FACEBOOK.
This is time when I realized how Mark Zuckerberg is a gazilionaire and how Facebook rules the world. It’s the college kids who would rather play Farmville or creep on Facebook friends that they haven’t talked to in three years than pay attention to schoolwork. Believe me, I’ve been there. And hours later I am still staring at my best friend’s pictures of her sweet sixteen party and my paper is growing dust. So for those of you lucky Mac users, SelfControl is probably the best thing since Facebook. Don’t just use it for a few hours; put it on the whole week. You don’t need to update your status every three hours or post random articles onto your friends’ walls. For us PC users, deactivate your account for the week. Its so easy, it’s dangerous.
Overall, finals can actually go pretty well. You can stay on topic, get good grades, and still manage to squeeze in a somewhat normal sleeping pattern. Unless Netflix decides to add a new show to their Watch Instantly list.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Dispelling Myths
This past Friday, I had my sister Natasha and my cousin Meredith (a senior and a junior in high school respectively) out to spend the night with me at Clark. Both of them are considering Clark in their college search process, my sister more seriously than my cousin. I think my cousin is mainly enamoured with the idea of being in college, not necessarily Clark in particular.
I showed them around my room. We then ate dinner in the caf. Meredith was so impressed with the food that she said she preferred it to her mother's cooking which I think earned her a couple of strange glances from some Clarkies. As we digested, I gave them the grand tour, showing them the gym, the Academic Commons, the Bistro, and red square. I also took them into Wright Hall, the biggest of the first-year residence halls. I wanted them to have an idea of what a first-year room/hall looked like in comparison to my rather spacious and atypical House Resident Adviser single. From there, the three of us walked down Park Ave. to YoWay, a self-serve frozen yogurt shop dangerously close to campus. They each filled their bowls to the brim and consumed more fro-yo than necessary. We wandered back to my house, and I decided to take them over to meet my friend Maisha who was on-duty in Blackstone. We did a few rounds with her, and they got to see me do a little bit of my RA job. Afterwards, we left Blackstone and spent the rest of the night chatting.
Being honest, they are a lot more proactive than I was in my college search process. I don't mean that I did not think about college and start looking into things as early as they did. What I am really referring to is visiting schools. I did not officially tour any of the schools to which I applied; I only visited one of them before receiving decision emails and letters. That is something that I do regret now, but I know I really could not have changed. (My family could not afford to take me to see schools.) Taking a tour or spending an over-night allows prospective students to get a little taste of what campus life is about and to sense the culture of a school; it additionally helps to dispel a few myths that prospectives have heard about college life. I will leave you with a few myths I hope that I helped to clear away for Natasha and Meredith.
I showed them around my room. We then ate dinner in the caf. Meredith was so impressed with the food that she said she preferred it to her mother's cooking which I think earned her a couple of strange glances from some Clarkies. As we digested, I gave them the grand tour, showing them the gym, the Academic Commons, the Bistro, and red square. I also took them into Wright Hall, the biggest of the first-year residence halls. I wanted them to have an idea of what a first-year room/hall looked like in comparison to my rather spacious and atypical House Resident Adviser single. From there, the three of us walked down Park Ave. to YoWay, a self-serve frozen yogurt shop dangerously close to campus. They each filled their bowls to the brim and consumed more fro-yo than necessary. We wandered back to my house, and I decided to take them over to meet my friend Maisha who was on-duty in Blackstone. We did a few rounds with her, and they got to see me do a little bit of my RA job. Afterwards, we left Blackstone and spent the rest of the night chatting.
Being honest, they are a lot more proactive than I was in my college search process. I don't mean that I did not think about college and start looking into things as early as they did. What I am really referring to is visiting schools. I did not officially tour any of the schools to which I applied; I only visited one of them before receiving decision emails and letters. That is something that I do regret now, but I know I really could not have changed. (My family could not afford to take me to see schools.) Taking a tour or spending an over-night allows prospective students to get a little taste of what campus life is about and to sense the culture of a school; it additionally helps to dispel a few myths that prospectives have heard about college life. I will leave you with a few myths I hope that I helped to clear away for Natasha and Meredith.
- College food is bad. It is normally pretty good, and it can be healthy if you make the right choices.
- The freshman fifteen... I will tell you right now that this is completely untrue. There are as many people who come to school and lose weight as who come to school and gain weight. I personally have lost 60 pounds since leaving high school and my habits at Clark are in part to thank for that. Again, it is all about making the right choices.
- My college roommate and I will be best friends. This seems to be a myth that comes from popular culture. Although some people do end up being best friends with their roommate, other people do not, and that is okay. I lucked out my first year, and I loved my first-year roommate. Not everyone does though, and that doesn't mean you are abnormal or strange if you don't end up being best buds with your roomie in college.
- Now that I am in college, I don't need to do anything except pass my classes. This one is worst of them all. Getting involved is an integral part of the college experience. Try a bit of everything, and stick with the activities you enjoy!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Ready...Set....Write
Yes, my fellow cohorts, that time of year is upon us once again. The time for staying up late whilst slamming your head against your keyboard, hoping that instantaneous yet rhythmic connection will help the words flow out of you and form themselves coherently upon the screen.
National Novel Writing Month has begun.
National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) is an internet based, non-profit organization, open internationally to anyone who’s willing to declare themselves an author for a month. From now until November 30 at 11:59:59 PM, you have the month to write a 50,000 word novel. To give you an idea of roughly how long that is, take a look at Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, or The Great Gatsby.
Nanowrimo is one of the most accessible writing contests. An author can choose any genre: from erotic fiction to psychological thriller to an eclectic series of short stories. The choice is entirely yours. Anyone who is able to attain a 50,000 word document by the end of the month is declared a winner.
The official project website is www.nanowrimo.org. The contest is entirely free, and there are no penalties if you don’t finish the 50,000 words by the end of the month. To sign up, just enter an email address and an account will be created for you. You can use the website to keep track of your writing progress by entering your official word count when you log in. At the end of the month, simply copy and paste your novel into their word-count machine to verify that you’ve completed the 50 thou and you will be declared a winner.
This will be my fourth year doing Nanowrimo and I’d love to offer you some advice that I’ve formulated over the years:
1. Find a coffee that truly speaks to you.
Nothing says, “Lauren, sit yourself down and get to typin,’” better than a large hazelnut coffee with no sugar and extra milk. Some days you will simply need that type of motivation. Find a caffeinated drink that will supply you with an encompassing, comforting taste while still maintaining an ever-uncompromising-get-stuff-done-attitude.
2. YOU ARE NOT JAMES JOYCE. Embrace it.
Chances are you will be writing a lot of crap within the next few weeks. And that is perfectly fine. You are not trying to write the hardest novel in the English language in a month. Do not delude yourself with images of grandeur.
3. YOU ARE NOT JAMES JOYCE. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use his style.
Stream of consciousness is one of the best writing techniques for upping your word count. Write down that interior monologue that plays like a record on the gramophone that is your mind. Even if your inner monologue is saying to you, “I hate writing. I rather do think it is time to give up this charade and get back to…,” write it down. I started my novel off this morning with just that.
And, if the mood should strike you, why not make up a word or two?
4. Don’t let your ego get in the way of your word count.
I frequently get the urge to delete everything I’ve written because I think of how embarrassing it would be if someone came across it. Don’t let your self-esteem get in the way of writing. This month is about creation, not nitpicking and editing. Create, don’t destroy….That’s next month.
5. Keep your eyes open for inspiration.
Nanowrimo is not just about writing. It’s about observing the world around you and choosing writing as a medium with which to express it. You are bound to run into hilarious characters and situations, especially on a college campus. Why not incorporate them into your story?
And finally, one last thing to keep in mind:
6. The Will to Power!
Nanowrimo is a choice you have made. No one is forcing you to give up a bunch of free time for a month to sit in front of a computer screen, slamming your fingers against a keyboard, and trying to string together some sort of narrative. In order to successfully win Nanowrimo, you’ve got to find a reason to write. And once you’ve found that reason, cling to it will all your might for that month. “Hmm, I’ve always wanted to try writing out that idea I’ve had,” is a perfect reason. Keep it at the forefront of your mind during this time.
Good luck fellow amateurs. May your month be both gregarious and bountiful!
National Novel Writing Month has begun.
National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) is an internet based, non-profit organization, open internationally to anyone who’s willing to declare themselves an author for a month. From now until November 30 at 11:59:59 PM, you have the month to write a 50,000 word novel. To give you an idea of roughly how long that is, take a look at Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, or The Great Gatsby.
Nanowrimo is one of the most accessible writing contests. An author can choose any genre: from erotic fiction to psychological thriller to an eclectic series of short stories. The choice is entirely yours. Anyone who is able to attain a 50,000 word document by the end of the month is declared a winner.
The official project website is www.nanowrimo.org. The contest is entirely free, and there are no penalties if you don’t finish the 50,000 words by the end of the month. To sign up, just enter an email address and an account will be created for you. You can use the website to keep track of your writing progress by entering your official word count when you log in. At the end of the month, simply copy and paste your novel into their word-count machine to verify that you’ve completed the 50 thou and you will be declared a winner.
This will be my fourth year doing Nanowrimo and I’d love to offer you some advice that I’ve formulated over the years:
1. Find a coffee that truly speaks to you.
Nothing says, “Lauren, sit yourself down and get to typin,’” better than a large hazelnut coffee with no sugar and extra milk. Some days you will simply need that type of motivation. Find a caffeinated drink that will supply you with an encompassing, comforting taste while still maintaining an ever-uncompromising-get-stuff-done-attitude.
2. YOU ARE NOT JAMES JOYCE. Embrace it.
Chances are you will be writing a lot of crap within the next few weeks. And that is perfectly fine. You are not trying to write the hardest novel in the English language in a month. Do not delude yourself with images of grandeur.
3. YOU ARE NOT JAMES JOYCE. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use his style.
Stream of consciousness is one of the best writing techniques for upping your word count. Write down that interior monologue that plays like a record on the gramophone that is your mind. Even if your inner monologue is saying to you, “I hate writing. I rather do think it is time to give up this charade and get back to…,” write it down. I started my novel off this morning with just that.
And, if the mood should strike you, why not make up a word or two?
4. Don’t let your ego get in the way of your word count.
I frequently get the urge to delete everything I’ve written because I think of how embarrassing it would be if someone came across it. Don’t let your self-esteem get in the way of writing. This month is about creation, not nitpicking and editing. Create, don’t destroy….That’s next month.
5. Keep your eyes open for inspiration.
Nanowrimo is not just about writing. It’s about observing the world around you and choosing writing as a medium with which to express it. You are bound to run into hilarious characters and situations, especially on a college campus. Why not incorporate them into your story?
And finally, one last thing to keep in mind:
6. The Will to Power!
Nanowrimo is a choice you have made. No one is forcing you to give up a bunch of free time for a month to sit in front of a computer screen, slamming your fingers against a keyboard, and trying to string together some sort of narrative. In order to successfully win Nanowrimo, you’ve got to find a reason to write. And once you’ve found that reason, cling to it will all your might for that month. “Hmm, I’ve always wanted to try writing out that idea I’ve had,” is a perfect reason. Keep it at the forefront of your mind during this time.
Good luck fellow amateurs. May your month be both gregarious and bountiful!
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
The Naming of Storms: Halloween 2011
So I’ve been thinking a lot recently, why do we name hurricanes but not other storms? In my opinion Irene deserved a name a lot less than the Halloween storm we just survived. Well, at least at Clark. I know that Irene wrecked havoc in other places of New England, but our own corner of the world didn’t get that hurt. But everyone knows her name. Yet a storm that permanently mutilated our campus goes anonymous? I don’t think so.
That’s why I’ve decided I want to name our Halloween weekend storm. We all know that the worst hurricanes are always female while the lesser ones are male. I never understood that, but I guess us girls can be pretty destructive when we want to be. For some reason though, I’ve always thought of snow storms as male. I’ve been trying to reach deep inside my mind and find some Freudian reason, but as far as I can tell there is none. This storm in particular seemed to me like a little boy who in anger broke the arms and legs off all of his action figures. All the broken tree branches (and whole trees) scattered around campus paints a picture of a room that was messed up in anger.
I decided that the name of this storm at least in my mind will have something to do with the holiday it disrupted. It will embody the fun, scary, energetic atmosphere that overtakes campus every year about this time. It will signify how the snow hushed campus and dampened our holiday spirit. My favorite traditions at Clark happen during Halloween. The first is Drag Ball. What can beat the whole campus getting exiting, going with the theme and supporting a great cause! I think this dance shows to be how open minded this campus can be, how fun so much more that all our political tabling and protests. It the college way to show your support, by coming out and having fun! OPEN has really created an event for the ages. My second favorite night is The Rocky Horror Picture show. I love dressing up and being part of the audience with my fellow students. Everyone has so much fun, and watching the Virgins get initiated into the traditions is priceless. Besides who doesn’t love doing the Time Warp?
I took myself on a bit of a favorite memory trail. Time to get back to the business of naming the storm and I think I found the perfect name. At least in my mind. Ok so you will all laugh. But anyways… meet Brutus Horrificus the Snow Storm of Halloween 2011. My reason is: He was brutal by taking away our holiday and he horrifically messed up our campus. I thought that the name sounded like a Halloween monster from one of those movies. So TADA! Brutus Horrificus you will not be forgotten, but don’t you worry you just gave us college students an excuse to dedicate a whole another weekend to Halloween to make up for your visit. As much as we love you please don’t come back!
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