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Rumor vs. Fact and a Bit of Irony

Last night my friend, H and I took BART into San Francisco to hear an author and political commentator discuss his new book.  Every seat was filled.  Two hundred people?  It was great to see many people do continue to read and think, and care enough to show up.  H and I agreed we could have stayed all night listening to this well-thought man discuss history and politics, not just media babble. 

 When it was question and answer time, he talked about the importance of getting facts correct.  How refreshing!  I’m reminded of why I don’t like watching television news much anymore, since these days rumors and name-calling are often reported before information is verified.  Who gets a story first is more important than who gets a story right.

 Afterwards, we walked city streets to a restaurant.  On Market Street, the light our way, another couple and my friend began to walk.  But a red truck made a right turn into their path . . . and kept on coming. For a moment – – everyone paused.  But no, upon checking, we did have the right away, so even I stepped off the curb, but the red truck continued. I threw out a protective hand in front of H, who would be first in the truck’s path. 

 Finally, the man at the steering wheel stopped.  Guess he didn’t want her as a hood ornament.  The man next to me laughed as we cross the street. 

“What?” I asked him. 

“Did you see his bumper sticker?” he said.

I shook my head no.

“I brake for bikes. Share the road!” he said. 

Then we all smiled at the irony. 

Guess the driver didn’t mean pedestrians.

Writing Prompts:

1.  As you watch television, note when there is news (facts which can be verified) and rumors and opinions.   If a person resorts to name-calling, look beyond the labels and seek what is behind it.  Is the person in front of the camera an entertainer or a reporter?  What is the person’s credentials?  Reputation?  Can you check the facts?  Write a piece where you need to use research.  Back up your story or article with facts.  Make sure you keep your references.

2.  Look for bits of irony and general humor in your daily life.  Jot it down when you find it.  Even sad moments can have a bit of comedy in them. How else do we survive tragedy?  Write a personal narrative, poem or story where you can include a bit of both. 

3.  Watch a movie and identify the moments of humor and sadness and how close they come together.  How much facts are in the show?  Opinions?

4.  Attend an author talk.  What does the author do well?  Remember this when it’s time for you to do your book presentation!

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Recently a friend’s husband drove her to a meeting and returned home after fifteen minutes.  Switching on music,  he headed to the bedroom and stopped abruptly.  Their back window had been smashed; dresser drawers were strewn open, their contents spilling out.  Most of his wife’s jewelry was missing, except for a few pieces the burglars had dropped on the floor in their hasty retreat.

“I think he got home in the middle of it,” she said.  She was relieved they left her most valued sentimental necklace behind. 

Then there was the time my son was four and the floor beneath our feet began rolling.    “Earthquake!  Run!”  I yelled as I scooped up our terrier.  We flew past the swinging  light fixture and didn’t stop until we reached the middle of the cul-de-sac. 

We waited until birds chirped and squirrels chattered once again. After returning to discover overturned file cabinets, right where my son had been playing, I explained what could occur during an earthquake.  Later we discovered the extent of the Loma Prieta once we got back our electricity.  “Gee,” said Tofer, considering our house could have been demolished.  “I should have grabbed Herbie.”  (His favorite stuffed animal, which wasn’t an animal at all, but a car.)

During the disastrous Oakland fire of 1991, my friend’s sister and her family were evacuated.  She ran past her dresser, noticing a coffee mug, her jewelry box, and a photo album.  They didn’t stop running until they got to the base of their hill. That’s when she discovered she held the coffee mug in her hand. 

Writing Prompts:

1.   What was the first object that held important emotional meaning for you? Why?  How did you value it? Describe the item and show how you placed it in esteem. 

2.  Did your family have any treasured family heirlooms?  Write an essay about one’s significance.

3.  You have only a minute to grab one item to save from your home. What do you take and why? Describe it using your senses and emotions.

4.  In the writing project you are working on now, write about a meaningful object for your main character, a minor character, and even the antagonist.  Give background for each.  Why do they hold significant relevance?  Can any of them be a larger symbol?

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This Dog Shows Character!

Who did this?  The answer is obvious by the reaction of the characters involved.  
 
 
Writing Prompt:
1.  Using a character’s facial expression, action, thoughts and/or dialogue, show guilt or innocence in a story or poem.
2.  Choose a character you know in your life.  Show this person or animal’s character through action, details, and/or dialogue in a personal narrative. 
3.  Write a poem showing character.  Author Jane Yolen defines poetry as “compressed emotion.”  Take out any words that aren’t absolutely necessary.
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The Sun Magazine

The Sun

I picked up a copy of this magazine and didn’t put it down until I had finished the entire copy.  Have you read it?  Short stories, essays, interviews, poetry and letters all written with depth, humor, and insight.  They don’t want opinion pieces or academia.  The best thing is they purchase one-time rights, which means you can sell them something you may have sold before. 

One section is devoted to Readers Write, which asks “readers to address subjects on which they’re the only authorities.  Topics are intentionally broad in order to give room for expression.” 

 Upcoming Topics

Breaking the Rules       January 1      Deadline             

Bullies                                    February 1            

In The Dark                        March 1                                        

Honesty                                April 1                                              

Trying Again                     May 1                                                 

Writing Prompts: 

  1. Choose one of the topics above and write a personal experience piece on this theme. 
  2. Choose one of the topics above and write a short story.
  3. Choose one of the topics and write a poem. 

www.thesunmagazine.org

 

 

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This morning I learned a young acquaintance of ours ended his life this week.  Stunned, I stood in silence, images of the man and our dealings with him reeling through my thoughts like a movie.

Cheerful.  Giving.  Resourceful.   Three descriptions that come to mind when I think of him. 

As my neighbor  and I walked our morning trail, she said, “Don’t people realize the blues pass?”

“But depression isn’t just feeling down,” I said.  “It’s more all-encompassing.  I know because my uncle suffered it all of his life.”

Memories of his battle  floated to the present.  I knew he took pills which gave him side effects that weren’t pleasant.  So he got off the pills and would be all right for a while until he slid into the depths of misery again.

“And what about his mother?  Didn’t he think of her?  She had to find him,” said my neighbor of the young man’s suicide.

I nodded.  “But he wasn’t thinking about her, he was so inside his own pain and grief.” 

It’s another one of those what if stories.  What if you could have stopped him in time?  What if you hadn’t left? 

Modern medicine has come so far . . .  and yet it hasn’t. 

Writing Prompts:

1.  Writing can be cathartic.  Is there a memory you have been suppressing?  Writing about an emotional pain may bring relief.  Try it and see if it can help you.

2.  Write a poem, song, essay or story in honor of someone you know who has faced a battle – – either emotional or physical.  What do you admire about this person?  Why?

3.  Create a piece of art expressing a mood you are in right now.  You choose the form and style.

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California Writers Club Young Writers Contest – Personal Narrative Winners

2012 Winners                  Personal Narrative

 6th Grade

1st Place

Sanjeeve Ganga Raju

PineValley:  Robin White

A Change in My Life

2nd Place

Micalyn Struble

Dorris-Eaton:  Claudia Fredricksson

Warning: New School Ahead

3rd Place

Lauren Russell

Windemere Ranch:  Diana Kaplenko

Just One Step

7th Grade

1st Place

Eli O’Brien

Orinda:  Cecelia Kilmartin

OMPA

2nd Place

Olivia Fishlow

Orinda:  Cecelia Kilmartin

Without Her

3rd Place

Callyn Oshita

Gale Ranch:  Andrea Kopshever

Deadly Snack?

8th Grade

1st Place

Samira Maboudian

Orinda:  Lori Hardy

Podium Fright

2nd Place

Conner Roberts

Dorris-Eaton:   Deeni Schoenfeld

Unsung Courage

3rd Place

Max Yun

Dorris-Eaton:  Deeni Schoenfeld

An Individual of Inspiration

Short Story and Poetry Categories have not been announced yet.  I will post when they are.  Honorable Mentions are not listed here but will be mailed to students at a later date.  Congratulations to all the winners and everyone who entered.  What fabulous talent we have in young writers in Contra Costa County!

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Writing About Your Life . . . Will it Harm Others?

Are you interested in writing episodes of your life?  Working on a memoir?  Personal narratives? 

You must be willing to be honest.  What do you owe the other people in your life who will make appearances in your scenes? 

At the moment, I’m writing about how my life intersects with others.  As I read my aunt’s diary for research, one line changes everything. 

Do I include this in my story?  If I do, it alters perceptions. 

I pause.  It is true the people in my narrative have passed on.  But I do not want to cause hurt to anyone on this side or the other.

Yes, it is important to the storyline. 

But. 

We must choose our words carefully in our daily life and in our writing. 

Crash!  A dove has just flown into my office window.   The universe has sent me a message. 

Writing prompt:

Choose a moment from your life that has emotional meaning for you.  It can be funny or sad, small or large.  Write the scene using sensory description, dialogue, setting and your feelings.  Set it aside for a few days and then come back to it.  Can you recall any other details you may have left out that are important to the story?  Do you have a journal  you can check which may refresh your memory?  Anyone that was there who might provide insights to the moment in time?

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Mount Diablo Peace Center’s 2012 Art and Writing Contest

The 15th annual Contra Costa Middle and High School Art and Writing Challenge has been announced through Mount Diablo’s Peace Center.  The Topic:

The Occupy Movement is raising concerns about social inequality in our country.  From your perspective, are there improvements you would make and inequalities you would end within your school, community, and/or nation that would help you, your family, or others?  Describe. 

Interested students whose teachers are not participating may call the office at 925-935-7850 to receive an application.  Cash awards will be offered!

Students may address this issue through art, essay, or creative writing.  Selections will be announced in April, and awardees, their teachers, and families will be feted in May with a celebratory dinner, during which students will present their work. 

Many thanks to the George Miller Youth Fund and Ludell Deutscher for their generous donation to this project.  Anyone else who wishes to donate should please contact the office.

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How cold was it?

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” my husband sighs.  “You walked up hill both ways to school in snow drifts higher than you were.” 

Most of his growing up years were in sunny Los Angeles and Arizona so he has nothing to complain about. 

Did I mention when I walked in those snowdrifts, north-western howling winds attacked me, and I had an allergy which made my skin itch in the cold?

Do you hear the violins playing in the background yet?  It’s no wonder my husband rolls his eyes any time we get talk about the weather of our childhoods.  We both love heat, so he can’t pull the “how-hot-was-it” one on me, as the hotter the better for both of us.

Neither of us can understand how our son loves the cold and settled in a shivery area.  Not our genes, surely.  Perhaps it skipped a few generations.

But weather is a part of our lives so ingrained we don’t even realize it.  Sometimes we forget to include it in our writing.  Have you weaved it inside yours? 

Look out the window.   What is the weather like right now? 

Go outside.    Use all of your senses.   How do the elements feel?    Describe them to yourself.

Has the weather play an important part in your life?  Cause you pain, humor, or an unexpected event? 

1.  Use all of your senses to write about a specific type of weather in a poem or paragraph.

2.  Write about a weather memory.   Make sure your reader feels an emotion. 

3.  Watch the You-Tube video of cold-weather to inspire your writing! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=xkk7DX0l95A&Lid=12

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You are the boss of your book

This weekend I traveled by train to Fresno to sign books at the IBBY Conference at the Arne Nixon Center at CSUF and to visit friends in my old college town. 

On Sunday afternoon I took the train home and sat next to a college gal who was attending school at Stanislaus State.  I was reading a book, but  soon I became aware of a man who stood across from me and next to the stairs.

At first I thought he was talking on a cell phone.  No.  This was no cell phone chatter.

Then I hoped he was standing there in preparation for the next station which was Madera. Unfortunately, when the Madera people got off, he didn’t.

He was facing my seatmate and me and said, “*%#!  I TOLD you two to get off the train NOW. *%#!.”

I glanced and saw he held a green garbage bag but no suitcase. Then I turned to my seatmate who was wide-eyed and scared. “I’ll get the porter, ” I said.

“Good,” she whispered.

I placed my book on my seat.  Fortunately he didn’t sit there, but when I came back he was leaning toward her swearing more.  She exhaled when I sat down.  “Oh thank goodness,” she said. 

A moment later the train guy came (fortunately a big guy) and announced, “Merced is next.” Then he said to the man with problems, “Come with me.”

Both my seatmate and I sighed and relaxed. A few minutes later a kid about 13 or 14 started bouncing around, coming to the stairs and acting weird.  What was this kid on?

“GET BACK TO YOUR SEAT NOW!” I roared. “I AM THE MOM ON THIS TRAIN AND I HAVE HAD IT!”

The young man turned abruptly and went back to his seat.   Everyone in our area laughed.

Next time I shall wear a super-mom cape that says Don’t Mess with Me.

Writing Prompt: 

Where in your writing project do you really need to take control?  Writers must make decisions.  Be brave.  Take risks.  Go out on a limb.  Tell the truth!  Write your soul out.  You can always pull back later.  But you will be surprised.  After you’ve written the scary stuff, all of your difficult feelings, you may discover that is your richest writing ever.  You are the boss of your book.

http://www.arnenixoncenter.org/events/ibby_conference.shtml

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