Writer's read with pens in their hands. Writers see missed opportunities. Writers tie up loose ends or leave them purposely untied. Writers challenge each other to grow. I came into this class knowing I would grow. The technology that had pissed me off in previous Dr. Kopp classes, Writer's Mind and Writing, Research and Technology, no longer scared me. I had already figured out how to embrace a MAC, although, I never needed it for this class- go figure. I had already had my moments of discounting how rhetorical the professor could be, so I knew I had this. What I didn't realize was the piece I was missing. I had developed processes in writing that were some of the best tools I could have. I had believed the way this class would help me was in giving me greater intertextual connections to specific work. |
What I didn't expect was that I would change the way I read, I mean really change the way I read. I never realized how much you could delve into a text and pull it apart to make your own inferential walk and create a unique experience. While I understood every woman in my book club noticed different things, I never realized we were reading for those different things. |
I had always believed we read the books that coexist within the time we most needed them. Serendipity chose the Color Purple to show up around the same time in my life when I noticed the racism in my small predominately white town. I never realized that I was reading for the things I was questioning in my life. |
The ways in which the words changed me
I saw how someone could conquer the thing that they feared. I saw that if someone means to hurt you, they will continue to try and hold you caught up in them, unless you cut the string. And the only way to cut that string is to realize you have everything to lose but know that the only way to be free is to grow a Demian for yourself. |
In Lolita I found I moved from thinking of a story mimetically to seeing possibilities unfold, I opened up tons of ideas to explore besides the standard victimization of girls: * What does it mean to love someone? * When are you mature? * How much should a writer give away? * Intent vs. Deed- which is more important? * Is it worse to break a life or a heart? * Can you ever undo a wrong? * Is objectification OK if the person never knows they have been objectified? |
I became really enthralled with how time, distance and perception could change how you read something. I hated Kafka, I wished this book never existed and now when I read it I found in it the greatest of understandings I could have needed. We must own our own free will and being "taken care of" is just another form of slavery. That in misplaced duties we are both owning another's needs and being owned by life. |
It seems really pompous to say how your own work can change you. Pompous moment aside, reading under the methods changed the book to give me a clearer idea of my intent within the message. Also the class helped change my perspective. I have to say the feedback I got from my group on this work helped me feel OK about it. I needed to hear from men that it was OK to write about Rape- I know that sounds silly, but I felt like I was demonizing men, and I needed to know that the average good guy wouldn't see it that way! Thanks to Bob and Josiah!!! |
Sapphire made me question the way in which I wanted to tell the story of rape in my own book. Had I gone far enough? Was hers too Far?
I think some of the coolest things happened for me while reading Vonnegut. I saw strings that could lead into my next project. I saw so many connections to the next novel I am writing and can't wait to make them. I loved his use of refrain. I loved the power in his words, I loved the humor, I often laughed wherever I was reading it or but my lip at ghastly images. Like translucent soap made of Jews. Ironic that someone would get clean the blood off the hands with the bones of the dead. There are just so many possibilities within a text this rich! |
Goodbye for now friends! Check out my Final Reflection here.
Happy Holidays to all and to all a good WRITE!
Happy Holidays to all and to all a good WRITE!