Extended Definition

Well, it's definitely not done, but here's the bulk.

In the pub that night, everyone raised their glasses, toasting the ghost of Anne Huxley. Some people murmured additional prayers, but most stared at their drinks or their hands. After a few moments, a man sitting in the corner laughed croakily.

“I can’t believe everyone’s so choked up about a nineteenth-century poet.”

 Heads turned in his direction, and most people shook their heads and started talking again. At a nearby table, some students nodded to the old man.

“What’s your name?”

“Dr. Milton Boyle. I’m a guest lecturer at the university.”

“Ah.” The first man moved his chair closer and put out a hand. “I’m Sam.”

Professor Boyle shook it. “Students?”

Around the table, a few smiled and nodded.

Leaning back in his chair, Sam asked, “So you don’t believe in ghosts?

“That, and this town’s obsession with Anne Huxley.”

One woman put down her drink. “She was an artist. A poet with such imagination.”

Professor Boyle snorted. “Artists imitate each other. When one commits suicide, another fills the spot.” Ignoring several frowns, he continued, “poverty and death- that’s what ‘such imagination’ gets you.”

Someone farther down the table said, “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.”

Professor Boyle Milton smiled pompously. “Quoting Einstein doesn’t impress me kid.”

“Look Professor,” Sam began, “Imagination is the key to invention, to progress. Even a scientist could see that.”

“Imagination is based on guesswork and dramatizing reality. It’s nonsensical distraction triggering nothing but laziness.

A few people rolled their eyes and turned away.

More firmly, Professor Boyle continued, “To imagine is to suppose, to form a silly notion of something without foundation. Science is logical. I work in the real world with measurable results. Meanwhile, enthusiastic university kids daydream about ghosts and the power of the imagination.”

Sam shook his head. “I don’t know about that sir. The imagination is like a sixth sense. It works with or without the other five senses to change perception-“

“Exactly!” Professor Boyle exclaimed, dragging his chair even closer, “It distorts reality when left uncontrolled.”

“I agree that uninhibited, imagination can distort,” interrupted the woman, “but it can clarify as well. By combining senses and memories and logic and the completely irrelevant, we have brilliant ideas. Everyone has a gut feeling, but can you exactly measure that?”

“It’s called indigestion,” he replied dully, rolling his eyes.

Sam put down his drink and began pulling on his coat. “I can see we’re getting nowhere. It was nice to meet you Professor.” At the door, he added, “and Anne Huxley didn’t commit suicide. She froze to death, nearly two hundred years ago tonight.”

Professor Boyle fluttered his hands and faked a terrified expression. Sam grinned and followed his friends down the street.

Minutes later, Professor Boyle left the pub and emerged into the cold December night. He turned off the main road and continued walking down the alleyway behind the market wall towards his hotel. After he passed the dumpsters, the streetlights flickered, dimmed, and went out.

“Frigid. Faulty wiring in this cold,” he mumbled to himself.

Continuing on, he turned another corner and peered through the falling snow towards the end of the alley where a group of garbage bags was piled up against the wall. Thinking the city garbage men in the morning would enjoy unfreezing that mess from the wall, he suddenly stopped. Most likely due to the snow falling, his old eyes, and drinks he’d had, it appeared like the pile had just moved.

“Silly,” he said, moving on but still keeping his eye on the wall.

Sorry it's not indented. The format wasn't working. Oh, and sorry for ruining the end, but yeah, he dies either because of terror, or something else...

It's far from fantastic, but please let me know what you think. I'm figuring you can figure out what the word was. Hint-hint: Imagination. The real ending will make it clearer.

Youth and Other Topics from Junot Diaz

During the luncheon with Junot Díaz and his reading later that evening, I took copious notes. A couple friends laughed at this, actually. Nevertheless, I recorded some interesting quotes from the discussion.

Regarding male authors writing from the female point of view of a woman, he said that men struggle with “breaking out of the point of view of seeing women as ghosts.” Boys have to work incredibly hard to get that “privilege” out of their heads. I’ve noticed that some male authors create unrealistic women in their work, but I never viewed it as a sense of “privilege.” Of course, it’s probably unconscious; men don’t generally twist their morals and perspectives to see women differently, but it is an issue. Díaz said that he thinks women don’t necessarily have an easier time writing from the male point of view, but they usually do it better.

Just like in Oscar and Lola’s fictional lives, cancer played a part in Díaz’s life as well. When he was eleven years old, his thirteen-year old brother struggled with a serious form of cancer. Díaz said that cancer changes a person’s family and his or her childhood, and it was easy to see that although he may downplay it in discussion, watching his brother fight cancer had a serious effect on him. Of course, it would have an effect on anybody.

Lastly, Díaz kept calling us all “young people.” He said he was impressed with us and our questions, and he emphasized his strong belief that “youth is an incredible time.” So many people say this, but he said it a different way than I’ve heard before: “being young is really bad preparation for getting old.” Maybe this is a pessimistic outlook on life, but I believe him.

We anticipate wrinkles and osteoporosis, but we have no idea what that really feels like. With age and experience, we see everything differently and are shocked at the realization that the world is just like everyone said it was, but now we’re those people: those “old” people we naively thought we’d never become.

That may seem depressing and numbing, but there’s so much good to come of age like having the knowledge and experience to write like Díaz. It took him years to write The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, but it was worth it because it affects people, “young” people included. Isn’t that why we write? Díaz urged us not to write for money or awards or any of that, and I agree. Sure, money is darn helpful, but real writing makes the reader think and affects change even at the most minute level.

Running a marathon wouldn’t be the smartest idea when I’m eighty-years old, but eighty freakin’ years result in a lot of experience for writing or whatnot; moreover, that is something to look forward to. Also, this thought makes the transition out of youth less terrifying. I’ll definitely enjoy being young, although I won’t think I did it correctly when I’m old, but we can’t dread every day to come because we get closer to the back pain and the No,-I-don’t-need-to-see-your-driver’s-license age. Life at any year is an advantage, so let’s look forward to it. Heck, I’m so excited for when I save money at the movies with a senior-ticket or play pranks and blame teenagers for it. How awesome!

Part 1 from Díaz

By beginning the first part of the novel with Oscar’s love life as a seven-year old, Díaz sets romance, and Oscar’s related lack of luck in that area, as a major theme. We also see the beginning of Oscar’s obsession with everything science fiction, which continues through the novel too. On every page, Díaz incorporates Spanish phrases to emphasize the Dominican culture of the main characters. Because I’ve studied Spanish, I understand most of these added bits, but it would be very confusing and irritating to read the book without that understanding.

I’ve really enjoyed this book, but the beginning of Part 1 did not prepare me at all for the rest of the novel.  For some reason, I didn’t read the back of the book, so I didn’t realize Oscar was an overweight Dominican teenager for most of it. That being so, I read the bit about him having two girlfriends and immediately jumped to conclusions, expecting the novel to be about Oscar as a “player”. Clearly, the opposite occurred and I should read the backs of books more often.

The Walcott Poem

   Díaz incorporated Walcott's poem in his novel because it has a similar effect on readers. It uses harsh phrases like "dog rotting" and "slums of empire was paradise." Additionally, it deals with the speaker having a cultural identity crisis, and this is a major theme in the novel as a whole. Walcott uses a frank, straightforward tone to share the thoughts of the speaker, Shabine, who represents the mixed cultural heritage of his people in general. Moreover, Díaz uses his characters to reflect his own cultural identity.
   By putting it at the beginning of the novel, Díaz introduces these themes to sort of prepares the reader for an emotionally tough story.

Room for Improvement

I get wordy (Hey! It only took me three words to say that).  Knowing this already, I cut out a lot of adverbs and modifiers before I finished the rough draft of my memoir. From the feedback I received, it clearly helped clean up my paragraphs and clarify my message. Moreover, I carefully chose the words I did include. Instead of saying "fell into a chaotic nightmare," I said "erupted..." (this was an awesome suggestion from a peer reviewer). Even with few words, the language can shape the story. Thankfully, now I know what works, so thank you! Hopefully, I'll continue to exclude the fluff- until it's necessary, at least.

In addition to my love of elaborate description, I often take on too general of a subject; I want to do too much in too little space, and it ends up being a mess. This results from my indecisiveness and wishy-washy tendencies toward writing assignments. I get all excited about writing something, but with too many ideas in my head, I shut down and everything automatically goes into a blender. Then, my rough draft slides onto the table all chunky and sad. I must force myself to pick a topic, stick with it, and write it down. The time for chunky, sad blender papers has passed, and I'm on my way to overcoming this obstacle so I can run into another one.

The Importance of this Editorial Topic

When many people are thinking about serious topics like disease and education for their editorials, I must appear a bit shallow or mocking for choosing on "the dangers of laptops." However, I did think this through, and I will explain.

I looked through various websites by means of a basic google search on ideas such as multi-tasking, education, and the recent winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Then, I expanded on my data sources and searched through online newspapers like the Globe and Mail and the Telegraph. Although the articles were interesting and relevant, I couldn't get excited about them, or at least not the way I should to write about them. That's why I twisted my goal for this editorial.

While I don't have the adequate knowledge or passion to talk about the ongoing efforts in post-flood Pakistan or about the intricate mess that Michigan has made out of its education system, I am passionate about improving my ability to deliver information to readers so that they are entertained but informed. Parking is a relevant topic on our campus, but it's not interesting. Mario Vargas Llosa recently won the Nobel Prize in Literature, but I doubt that would interest many OU students.

The topic of laptops literally burning people's legs is funny, but the OU community can relate it to their lives. If it's not serious enough, I can change it, but I'm really enjoying the research process. Experiencing burns from a laptop shouldn't be funny, but if a person is spending five hours per day chatting on Facebook or playing World of Warcraft without moving their computer off of their quadriceps, we have a right to poke fun at them.

Feedback on Using Language

Considering the fact that I only put up my conclusion, I’m pretty happy with the feedback I received. I definitely kept those comments in mind when I edited the last paragraph and the paper as a whole. One of my issues was wordiness, and in hopes of avoiding it, I really cut down on descriptive words for my first draft. After what my group members said and the feedback online, I felt better about adding more adjectives and modifiers. In addition, I wanted to keep the language somewhat simple, but that means really looking at the words I’m using- especially the verbs.

For example, my introduction includes a sentence about the girls’ locker room falling into chaos. To make it more powerful, my group member suggested using “exploded” or “erupted” instead of “fell”. It’s that type of close inspection that’s exhausting but ultimately better for my memoir. So, thank you to those who gave me suggestions; it really helped me examine the language I was using and why I was using it.

Writing Schedule

           King says that most writers work on a schedule. They set time aside each day or week to devote their entire attention to their words. For me, this is difficult with my busy schedule, but I know King’s right. Every person has obligations whether self-inflicted or not, and it’s just silly to think that only I struggle with time management. Luckily, I already know at what time of day I am most productive: morning, just like King.

            It has taken me a few years to figure this out, and night classes and dorm life certainly don’t help, but I am now aware of my golden writing time; I merely have to drag myself over to my desk to do it. By bringing up the concept of a concrete writing schedule, I feel as though King has exposed one of my major weaknesses: making excuses because no one can possibly know how busy I am. However, if I don’t stop piling on the excuses, I will never make any progress. Like King says, your muse will not know where to find you unless you have some sort of schedule. I appreciate the way he puts this because it sounds as if I’m sharing the pressure to write with a lazy guy with wings who’s wandering around waiting for me to stop procrastinating. Well, Mr. Lazy-guy-with-wings, it’s only a tentative schedule right now, but you can find me at my desk most mornings before class. I’ll be waiting.

           King gives very good advice, especially to a reader who has never received anything less than generic writing suggestions from websites, and I'll keep his comments in mind while I write. Again, Mr. Lazy-guy-with-wings, that's EVERY morning. You can thank Stephen King for putting my rear in gear.

Memoir Ideas Again

I'm not quite sure if we were supposed to list our memoir ideas on our personal blog or the community one, so I'm doing both. I'll delete whichever one is wrong once I figure it out.

The trials of being a six-year old perfectionist at the community Halloween party. Boo.

10 days spent with Mr. Espanosa in England during which he was always searching desperately for the loo. A specific instance comes to mind...

I know these are a bit vague, but I can write on them- hopefully.

It's Called STYLE

It really is amazing that more than ninety years have passed and we still follow most of the guidelines Strunk outlined in The Elements of Style. Some rules have changed slightly like the use of commas in a series of three or more terms or the correct way to write “to-morrow” with a hyphen, but these are the same guidelines I’ve learned throughout my education. In terms of basic writing, the English language has not altered too much. Of course, our verbal approach to English is always changing as a result of technology and shifts in pop culture, but that’s inevitable.

In terms of content, it’s interesting that Strunk urges writers to always keep their sentences simple. For example, he says that “vigorous writing is concise.” Clearly, he was a fan of minimalism. However, wordiness sometimes depends on your audience. Some readers appreciate more imagery or personality in what they’re reading even if it’s a scholarly article. Other readers want straightforward information without extra words or opinions.

Strunk does say that his guidelines are “intended for use in English courses,” so hopefully, no one takes them too seriously while writing outside the classroom. This book is a useful reference, but writers should be innovative with sentence structure, take advantage of how English has changed, and show personality to keep a reader’s attention. The book may be The Elements of Style, but style is unique to every individual, and the word has changed a bit in the last ninety years. Writing should be allowed to change too.

Dear Writing, you're terrifying.

Writing is always on my mind. Whether I’m formulating new ideas, freaking out about the writing I’m not doing, or enjoying the rare yet ever-emotionally-exhausting epiphany, I am always thinking about it. Still, my constant obsessing over writing doesn’t usually help me put a syllable on paper. That’s the real challenge- to stop procrastinating and actually be productive. Most of the time, I become frustrated and assume that laziness or ignorance is what keeps me from writing. Maybe I’m just not meant to write. Whatever it is, I know I am not the first person to experience disappointment or indecisiveness, and I certainly won’t be the last. C.S. Lewis wrote, “We read to know we are not alone,” and Annie Dillard’s article is by far the most helpful text I’ve read to help me understand this concept.

Dillard says to “write as if you were dying” and write as if your audience consisted “solely of terminal patients.” This advice is intimidating because it makes time seem heavier and more powerful than usual. I wonder how I could ever convey a message so moving that it affects the heart of a terminal patient. I cannot possibly know enough of anything after the limited experience I’ve had in this world. Upon this realization, all I can think to do is run and run fast.

However, after a minor emotional meltdown and a major amount of chocolate, I’m calm enough to observe that if Annie Dillard is presenting this advice, she must know the feeling and has undoubtedly had her share of meltdowns just like anyone else. If she has experienced this exact sensation of panic and survived it unscathed and ultimately successful, I might have a slight chance at creating something useful to the world too.

Writing is intimidating, and I’d be insane if I weren’t terrified. Nevertheless, it is such a comfort to think that the individuals whom I admire and envy hit the same mental walls of frustration and exhaustion that I thought I was facing alone. Those writers still find inspiration and overcome worse obstacles than I could imagine, and they produce masterpieces.

At the beginning of a new semester, we all need a little inspiration. Annie Dillard’s article has totally kicked me out of my pity-party and motivated me to actually put my pen to my paper and write. I’ll probably never create a masterpiece or inspire a new generation of readers, but my thoughts could be useful to the world in some small way. For now, I’m just content that I’m putting them on paper because I know I’m heading in the right direction.