Week 9 Prompts

1. As we discuss Ceremony, we continue to talk about stories. In Ceremony, Silko implies that stories are very powerful. Once a story is "let loose on the world," it cannot be put away. She implies that bad stories (witchery) cause violence, and that the only way to remedy a bad story is with a good story or another version of the story. Thinking beyond the novel, how do you make sense of this claim? Can stories cause violence or create peace?  Explain. 

2.(recycled) If you could conduct an interview with any of the writers we have encountered this quarter, who would you interview? Why? What would you ask him or her?

3. (recycled) Write about your reaction to Janice Gould's visit. What surprised you about her readings or about our conversation?

4. DIY. As always, feel free to write a response to your own prompt or to bring up a previous prompt.

Week 8 prompts

1. As we discuss Ceremony, we have been discussing Tayo's character and perspective. To dig further in to character and perspective, try out one of the following prompts:
A) Analyze perspective and character: how would you categorize the type of narration in this text? Describe the narrative style. How does it affect the novel? How would Tayo's story be different if it were told from a different point of view.
B) Attempt to write a key scene from the novel from another character's point of view.

2. If you could conduct an interview with any of the writers we have encountered this quarter, who would you interview? Why? What would you ask him or her?

3. Write about your reaction to Janice Gould's visit. What surprised you about her readings or about our conversation?

4. DIY. As always, feel free to write a response to your own prompt or to bring up a previous prompt.

Week 7 Prompts

1) In "Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective," Leslie Marmon Silko claims that instead of moving "from point A to point B to point C," Pueblo expression "resembles something like a spiderweb–with many little threads radiating from the center." What would it mean for a story to progress like a spiderweb? Explore this idea by responding to one of the following prompts:

• Does this description resemble any type of expression that you are familiar with? Describe a form of expression or form of storytelling that you think embodies a spiderweb style. 
• Re-tell a story familiar to your experience in spiderweb style. Briefly discuss what it was like to try to write in that style.

2) Thinking about Fiction (recycled from week 6): What Makes a Story? Supposedly, Ernest Hemingway once wrote a short story in six words. “For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn.” Do you think this constitutes a story? Discuss.
Then, try your hand at writing some 6-word stories. Post at least 2 of them. For inspiration, check out this link to results from a similar exercise by a dozen or so famous horror and science fiction writers in Wired magazine: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/sixwords.html

3) DIY. Do it yourself. Make your own prompt about this week's readings. What speaks to you? What do you think about Ceremony so far? 

Week 6 Prompts: Thinking about Place and Fiction.

1) After re-reading "Man Made of Words," I've been thinking a lot about place. Momaday gives us all a prompt:  

Once in his life a man ought to concentrate his mind upon the remembered earth, I believe. He ought to give himself up to a particular landscape in his experience, to look at it from as many angles as he can, to wonder about it, to dwell upon it. He ought to imagine that he touches it with his hands at every season and listens to the sounds that are made upon it. He ought to imagine the creatures tha are there and all the faintest motions in the wind. He ought to recollect the glare of noon and all the colors of the dawn and dusk.

Try to take Momaday's advice, in full or in part. Write about a place that you know well. Try to describe it at every season.

2) Thinking about Fiction: What Makes a Story? Supposedly, Ernest Hemingway once wrote a short story in six words. “For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn.” Do you think this constitutes a story? Discuss.

Then, try your hand at writing some 6-word stories. Post at least 2 of them. For inspiration, check out this link to results from a similar exercise by a dozen or so famous horror and science fiction writers in Wired magazine: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/sixwords.html

3) DIY. Do it yourself. Make your own prompt about this week's readings. What speaks to you?

Week 5 prompts: more poetry!

Option 1: Self-representation in Photography

Portraits of Native subjects by non-Native artists have often been posed to confirm or enact stereotypes. Take a moment to look at some of the images in RedWorks’ Studio’s series “Concrete Indians” by Anishinaabe photographer Nadya Kwandibens.

Red Works Studio: Concrete Indians 

The artist explains that the portraits are “an exploration of Indigenous collective identity.” As a result of the series, she writes, “Native people from across Turtle Island have been submitting their ideas regarding what it means to be urbanized and how living in urban centers strengthens or weakens or (or both) one’s own cultural identity.” With the photographer, the subjects chose how they wanted to be dressed and where they wanted to be photographed. Browse these photos. Find one that you think is particularly striking or interesting. How does the image strike you? What questions does it raise? What does the image express about the subject? How does the portrait confront or defy stereotypes?

Option 2: Reflecting on Images in Writing and Beyond

When has an image—a work of art, a photo, a scene in a film, or an image that you saw in real life–made you stop what you were doing or taken you to another place? In a paragraph or two, describe your experience of viewing that image as clearly as possible, paying careful attention to the words you use and the images you create. Try to carry your readers along with you; try to make readers see what you saw. Then, reflect on whether you found it difficult to capture experience in words. Links to images are useful, but not necessary.

OR

Post or link to an image that you think tells a story or evokes an emotion. Write a paragraph or two explaining what that image says to you. Is it possible to represent abstract concepts visually? When do images communicate more effectively than words?

OR

Post an image or link to an image that you think represents or complements one of the poems that we have read as a class. Explain why you chose that image and how you think it relates to the poem. 

Option 3: As always, feel free to write your own response.

Week 4 Prompts: Poetry!

Prompt #1: Paraphrasing Poetry 

 Choose a short poem rich in figurative language. Attempt to capture the meaning of the poem by paraphrasing it. Rewrite each line in your own words. Eliminate every figure of speech. Ignore rhythm and rhyme from the original. Simply attempt to explain the poem as a whole in your own words. Then, in a paragraph, comment on your result. How difficult did you find the process? How well do you think you succeeded in capturing the meaning of the poem?  In conclusion, summarize what your revision tells you about the nature of the poem or of poetry in general. 

Prompt #2: Poetry in Performance 

There's a fine line between poetry and music. Often, there's no line at all. Some of the best poetry is meant to be performed, to be read for an audience. Check out this video of Joy Harjo performing "I Give You Back" Link to Video on HBO's poetry program "Def Poetry Jam." Comment on the video. How does her performance of the poem change your interpretation of the poem? How does it change your experience of the poem? 

Prompt #3: DIY  

As always, feel free to write your own response to poetry in general or to any of the texts that we're reading for this week. If there's any poem that you have found particularly striking, explore it and comment on it in your post.

Week 3 Blog Prompts

Students may choose any of these prompts for the week 3 blog. Write your responses as new blog posts on your group blog (link is to the right).

1) In most of our readings from the first two weeks, we are attempting to use literature to understand the lives and perspectives of people from the past. In the case of the Popol Vuh, we are attempting to understand the very distant past. To what extent do you think these texts can give us an understanding of what was most important to these people? To what extent do you think we can understand them, particularly in the case of the ancient Mayan people?

2) At the beginning of the film “Cracking the Maya Code,” the narrator poses a question: "Imagine explorers arriving to find our cities deserted. All of our books have perished in some unknown catastrophe. All that is left to speak for us are the written words we have carved in stone. The travelers could not make sense of our script. But if they could would the comprehend who we were?"

Consider this scenario with respect to the carved stones that appear in our society today—the Vietnam Memorial, Mt. Rushmore, the Lincoln memorial, artwork on campus, etc. Imagine that only a small handful of important books had survived, hidden away alongside these carved stones. How would our monuments and books speak for us? If they could understand our writing system, would future explorers be able to understand who we were? 

3) Write your own response to any of the text we have read so far this quarter.