Day 8: Writing for Performance
Naming the poetry chapbook, Discussion of Projects, Dramatic Scenes, Readers Theater, Guerilla Theater
* 15 minutes free write/rewrite on any piece
* 5 minutes to discuss names for the poetry chapbook that Bor is working on the layout
* Discuss the writing aspect of final projects
* Dramatic Scenes – 15 minutes to rehearse, then show to class and discuss the lines, characters and conflict
Definitions of Readers Theater
Readers’ theatre is a style of theatre in which the actors do not memorize their lines. Rather, they either go through their blocking holding scripts and reading off their lines, or else sit/stand together on a stage and read through the script together. In Reader's theatre, actors use vocal expression to help the audience understand the story rather than visual storytelling such as sets, costumes, and intricate blocking.
The performance of a literary work by an individual or group, wherein the text is read expressively, but not fully staged and acted out.
Examples of readers theater: Cask of Amontillado; The Last Drop; The Illiad.
Cask of Amontillado
The Last Drop
The Illiad
Guerilla Theater:
Noun 1. guerrilla theater - dramatization of a social issue; enacted outside in a park or on the street
Guerrilla theatre, or Guerrilla Performance, is a style of street theatre popularized in the mid-late 1960s, usually political in nature. Guerrilla (Spanish for "little war") describes the act of spontaneous, surprise performances in unlikely public spaces to an unsuspecting audience. .
Examples of guerilla theater:
Time Stands Still at Grand Central Station
Theater on the Subway
The Yes Men
IMPROVE NOW - GRAND CENTRAL STATION
YES MEN
IRAN PROTEST
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Monday, 16 August 2010
Class #7 - Monologues, Review, and Projects
Performance Advocacy: Day 7
Monologues, Review, and projects.
15 minutes to free write about projects and the writing to be included in this project. Where does it come from? Do you still need to write it? What does it look like? A collage? A poem? A monologue? A dramatic scene?
• Monologues
Perform and discuss monologues in class.
Review:
FORMS: Parody, List, Found poems; Reader Theatre, Collage, Dramatic Scene.
Tools: Imagery (five senses), character, setting, plot, conflict, dialogue.
Things to remember about writing:
1) Keep it simple
2) Always use imagery
3) Tell a story
4) Use figurative language when possible
5) Repetition for effect
6) Add addition performers for effect
7) Begin and end at the same place
8) Be passionate about whatever you write
Things to remember about plot: six parts
1) Exposition – this is the set-up before the conflict. It introduces the audience to the setting and the characters.
2) Inciting event – the event that begins the conflict
3) Rising Action – a series of complications in the conflict
4) Climax – the height of the action or conflict
5) Falling Action – the action after the climax that leads towards a resolution
6) Resolution – how the conflict is resolved
Things to remember about dialogue:
1) It should jump off of each other. Never answer directly.
2) There should be conflict in each line. Characters speak for a reason. They want something for the other characters.
3) People are naturally lazy when they speak. Keep this in mind when writing dialogue. People don’t always talk in complete sentences.
4) Subtext – what is being said underneath the line
5) Only say what is necessary. Every word should further the plot along.
Monologues, Review, and projects.
15 minutes to free write about projects and the writing to be included in this project. Where does it come from? Do you still need to write it? What does it look like? A collage? A poem? A monologue? A dramatic scene?
• Monologues
Perform and discuss monologues in class.
Review:
FORMS: Parody, List, Found poems; Reader Theatre, Collage, Dramatic Scene.
Tools: Imagery (five senses), character, setting, plot, conflict, dialogue.
Things to remember about writing:
1) Keep it simple
2) Always use imagery
3) Tell a story
4) Use figurative language when possible
5) Repetition for effect
6) Add addition performers for effect
7) Begin and end at the same place
8) Be passionate about whatever you write
Things to remember about plot: six parts
1) Exposition – this is the set-up before the conflict. It introduces the audience to the setting and the characters.
2) Inciting event – the event that begins the conflict
3) Rising Action – a series of complications in the conflict
4) Climax – the height of the action or conflict
5) Falling Action – the action after the climax that leads towards a resolution
6) Resolution – how the conflict is resolved
Things to remember about dialogue:
1) It should jump off of each other. Never answer directly.
2) There should be conflict in each line. Characters speak for a reason. They want something for the other characters.
3) People are naturally lazy when they speak. Keep this in mind when writing dialogue. People don’t always talk in complete sentences.
4) Subtext – what is being said underneath the line
5) Only say what is necessary. Every word should further the plot along.
Thursday, 12 August 2010
Dramatic Monologues, Dramatic Scenes, PSA
DAY 6: Dramatic Monologues, Dramatic Scenes, PSA
• Discuss monologues
• Spend 15 minutes rewriting monologues but think about these things:
1) Know the character – who is the character, what does the character want in the monologue, where is the character, who is the character addressing. What are the characters attitudes toward life? How does the character relate to other people?
2) Outline the story
3) Tell the story – there’s got to be a story (remember the personal stories that everyone told: a monologue needs the same sort of thing)
4) KEEP IT SIMPLE
5) Use Imagery (remember you are creating an experience for the audience to experience – in order to do this you need to evolve the five senses)
6) Have the character address someone. Have the character talk to someone – there should be some tension here.
7) Remember conflict – conflict –conflict.
We will perform these monologues on Monday. I want you to email them to me so I can give you feedback and sit down one-one with you about them.
Review: What makes good dialogue? What makes good dramatic structure?
• Creating Scenes
• Break up into groups of 3/4 , give students a situation and have them role play the situation. Then after everyone has taken a turn write down the script.
• 20 minutes to role-play. 20 minutes to write down script.
• Present scenes to class.
SCENE SUGGESTIONS FOR GROUPS:
1) Setting: Football (soccer) or Hockey game
A father and son outing after the mother has just passed away. The son confronts the father about some aspect of their pass.
2) Two musicians stuck in an apartment elevator. One is thinking about robbing/murdering an old lady who lives nearby because artist need to live and create and the woman is rather old.
3) A man and a woman in the kitchen. The man has been laid off and is tried of looking for work. The woman is tired of his moping around the house and wants something more from him.
4) A homeless person on the street confronts what appears to be a rich man over and over again about money and society.
• PSA Scripts
• (website examples)
OUTLINE on HOW TO WRITE A PSA:
1) Address the problem immediately
2) List the essential information (facts, statistics, data)
3) Encourage your audience to take action
4) Tell them who to contact and how
Write this outline before you do anything else to the script. Some of you are trying to make your PSA too complicated.
KEEP IT SIMPLE!!!
THE IMPORTANT THING IS THE MESSAGE.
Final 20 minutes: Time to write/rewrite and show PSAs to KENT
How to write a PSA from ehow
Video: How to write a monologue
An article on writing monologues
• Discuss monologues
• Spend 15 minutes rewriting monologues but think about these things:
1) Know the character – who is the character, what does the character want in the monologue, where is the character, who is the character addressing. What are the characters attitudes toward life? How does the character relate to other people?
2) Outline the story
3) Tell the story – there’s got to be a story (remember the personal stories that everyone told: a monologue needs the same sort of thing)
4) KEEP IT SIMPLE
5) Use Imagery (remember you are creating an experience for the audience to experience – in order to do this you need to evolve the five senses)
6) Have the character address someone. Have the character talk to someone – there should be some tension here.
7) Remember conflict – conflict –conflict.
We will perform these monologues on Monday. I want you to email them to me so I can give you feedback and sit down one-one with you about them.
Review: What makes good dialogue? What makes good dramatic structure?
• Creating Scenes
• Break up into groups of 3/4 , give students a situation and have them role play the situation. Then after everyone has taken a turn write down the script.
• 20 minutes to role-play. 20 minutes to write down script.
• Present scenes to class.
SCENE SUGGESTIONS FOR GROUPS:
1) Setting: Football (soccer) or Hockey game
A father and son outing after the mother has just passed away. The son confronts the father about some aspect of their pass.
2) Two musicians stuck in an apartment elevator. One is thinking about robbing/murdering an old lady who lives nearby because artist need to live and create and the woman is rather old.
3) A man and a woman in the kitchen. The man has been laid off and is tried of looking for work. The woman is tired of his moping around the house and wants something more from him.
4) A homeless person on the street confronts what appears to be a rich man over and over again about money and society.
• PSA Scripts
• (website examples)
OUTLINE on HOW TO WRITE A PSA:
1) Address the problem immediately
2) List the essential information (facts, statistics, data)
3) Encourage your audience to take action
4) Tell them who to contact and how
Write this outline before you do anything else to the script. Some of you are trying to make your PSA too complicated.
KEEP IT SIMPLE!!!
THE IMPORTANT THING IS THE MESSAGE.
Final 20 minutes: Time to write/rewrite and show PSAs to KENT
How to write a PSA from ehow
Video: How to write a monologue
An article on writing monologues
Dramatic Structure and Dialogue
Drama was considered a genre of poetry by the ancient Greeks. Aristotle offered drama as a general term to describe forms of poetry that were acted. The Roman writer Horace stated that the purpose of drama was to either delight (comedy) or instruct (tragedy).
Drama is about imperfections we don’t always like morally good people.
“Cut quarrels out of literature and you will have little history, drama or fiction left” (Robert Lynd).
“Drama is life with the dull bits cut out” (Hitchcock).
Great drama is about conflict. Every scene, every line of dialogue must move the conflict along.
So what is conflict? The clash of opposing forces. These forces can be other people, nature, society, our own selves, fate or God.
So what does a successful drama need?
Conflict, characters, setting, dramatic structure and good dialogue.
Characters: you need a least one (dramatic monologue). Your character should be someone with magnitude, or importance. Some common person who stands for all of us. He needs to be a person who faces some sort of conflict. The setting/plot should reflect the time in which you live.
If we’re talking about environment (this is just an example), it could be a story about a person who lives in a place where there is no clean water and this person’s mother is dying from disease associated with drinking polluted water.
So what’s the conflict here?
What must the main character overcome? How will they overcome it? Or will they overcome it? Is there a solution?
DISCUSSION OF “NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN”
Dramatic Structure: Exposition, inciting event, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution
EXPOSITION: Introduction to the setting and characters. It is usually the first 10-15 minutes of a play or movie.
INCITING EVENT: Where the problem/conflict starts.
RISING ACTION: The esculation of the problem – the complications that arise while the main character tries to solve the conflict.
CLIMAX: The height of the action, problem.
FALLING ACTION/RESOLUTION: The action after the climax that leads to a resolve of the conflix.
Dialogue: characters need to have a goal every time they speak. They want to get something from the other character(s). There must be conflict in the dialogue.
“You dialogue shouldn’t be –what’s called—to much on the nose. Your character shouldn’t be saying exactly what they’re thinking.” --Marcy Kahan
“Characters shouldn’t actually answer each other’s lines, they should jump off each others lines onto something else, or turn corners or surprise people. This will also create movements.”
Discuss dialogue from NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
Dialogue should have subtext – or larger meaning beyond the words (this meaning can come out with non-verbal communication: body language, tone of voice, etc.)
SIX LINES – dialogue/acting game. Purpose of this game is to develop characters and dialogue.
Remaining Time: WRITE A MONOLOGUE from a character who is associated with some form of Social Advocacy.
Drama is about imperfections we don’t always like morally good people.
“Cut quarrels out of literature and you will have little history, drama or fiction left” (Robert Lynd).
“Drama is life with the dull bits cut out” (Hitchcock).
Great drama is about conflict. Every scene, every line of dialogue must move the conflict along.
So what is conflict? The clash of opposing forces. These forces can be other people, nature, society, our own selves, fate or God.
So what does a successful drama need?
Conflict, characters, setting, dramatic structure and good dialogue.
Characters: you need a least one (dramatic monologue). Your character should be someone with magnitude, or importance. Some common person who stands for all of us. He needs to be a person who faces some sort of conflict. The setting/plot should reflect the time in which you live.
If we’re talking about environment (this is just an example), it could be a story about a person who lives in a place where there is no clean water and this person’s mother is dying from disease associated with drinking polluted water.
So what’s the conflict here?
What must the main character overcome? How will they overcome it? Or will they overcome it? Is there a solution?
DISCUSSION OF “NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN”
Dramatic Structure: Exposition, inciting event, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution
EXPOSITION: Introduction to the setting and characters. It is usually the first 10-15 minutes of a play or movie.
INCITING EVENT: Where the problem/conflict starts.
RISING ACTION: The esculation of the problem – the complications that arise while the main character tries to solve the conflict.
CLIMAX: The height of the action, problem.
FALLING ACTION/RESOLUTION: The action after the climax that leads to a resolve of the conflix.
Dialogue: characters need to have a goal every time they speak. They want to get something from the other character(s). There must be conflict in the dialogue.
“You dialogue shouldn’t be –what’s called—to much on the nose. Your character shouldn’t be saying exactly what they’re thinking.” --Marcy Kahan
“Characters shouldn’t actually answer each other’s lines, they should jump off each others lines onto something else, or turn corners or surprise people. This will also create movements.”
Discuss dialogue from NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
Dialogue should have subtext – or larger meaning beyond the words (this meaning can come out with non-verbal communication: body language, tone of voice, etc.)
SIX LINES – dialogue/acting game. Purpose of this game is to develop characters and dialogue.
Remaining Time: WRITE A MONOLOGUE from a character who is associated with some form of Social Advocacy.
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
Day 4: Forms of Drama
Here is the overview of what we did in class:
Performance Advocacy: DAY 4
Forms of DRAMA
1) Tell personal stories. This stories should be told as if you talking to a group at an after dinner party. They should be personal and direct, told without scripts.
2) Share and explain FOUND poems.
Email: Name Poem rewrite; Found Poem; This Is Just to Say poem.
Look at various forms of drama or examples of performance:
A) Duo
B) Duet (Interpretation)
C) Oration
D) Readers Theatre (look at the script “Goodbye Polar Bears”)
Here are some links to help you write drama and dialogue:
Tips for Writing Drama
How to write dramatic dialogue
BBC writing tips
AN EXAMPLE OF A READERS THEATRE script:
Title: Goodbye Polar Bears
1 – The Most Extensive, least spoiled, and most un-spoilable of the gardens of the [North American] Continent are the vast tundras of Alaska. In summer they extend smooth, even, undulating, continuous beds of flowers...that [extend] to the shores of the Arctic Ocean; and in winter sheets of snowflowers make all the country shine, one mass of white radiance like a star.
2 – John Muir 1901
3 – Alaska
4 – Meaning in Aleut “The Great Land” or “the Main Land”
5 – or That Which the Sea Breaks against
2 - Alayeksa
3 – Alaksa
4– The Last Frontier
1 – Seward's Icebox
5 – Seward's Follie
All - Land of the Midnight Sun
1 – Or Land of the Midday Moon
2 – Depending on the Season
All - Refuge
1 – The state of being protected as from danger of hardship
All - Refuge
3 – A place that provides protection or shelter
All -Refuge
4- A Haven
All – Refugee
5- One who flees, usually to another country, especially from invasion, oppression, or persecution
1- Until we can change our habits we can’t expect to save an inch of this earth
2- Until we can change
3- Change our habits
4- habits we can’t expect
5- expect to save
ALL - Beat - Sigh
ALL - We are a wasteful people
[The Last Wolf by Mary TallMountain]
1 - The last wolf hurried toward me
2-4 through the ruined city
1 - and I heard his baying echoes
3-5 down the steep smashed warrens
2-4 of Montgomery Street and past
3-5 the ruby-crowned highrises
2-4 left standing
1 - their lighted elevators useless
[Caribou Story by Faith Gemmill]
4 – As I was growing up in Vashraii K'oo, I never thought that our way of life could be threatened or could be lost.
2 – I thought that our way of life would always be what it was...
5 – Surly we would live on in our traditional way as was intended since the beginning of time
4 – I took it for granted every time we were out on the land and I was able to experience the enjoyment of eating caribou meat, watching the grandmothers to create clothing for us to wear, learning the skills of dying meat, listening to elder as they explained the importance of our traditional teachings and my own traditional language.
3- We are people who rely heavily on the porcupine caribou heard
4 – Our creation story tells of time when there was only animals, the animals became people. When that happened Gwich'in came from the caribou. There was an agreement between the two that still stands. The Gwich'in retain a piece of the caribou heart and the Caribou retain a piece of the Gwich'in heart. We are one. What ever befalls the caribou will befall the Gwich'in.
1 – In 1988, the Gwich'in people became aware of the threat to our culture and way of life.
2 – The oil industry was trying to gain access of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
4- The Gwich'in people could not allow oil and gas development in the birthplace of the Caribou.
3 – Whatever befalls the Caribou
4 – This is not a political fight it is a spiritual fight.
All ( Succession following first line after 5)
Passing the flicking red and green
of traffic signals
baying his way eastward
in the mystery of his wild loping gait
2-4 closer the sounds in the deadly night
through clutter and rubble of quiet blocks
1 - I hear his voice ascending the hill
3-5 and at last his low whine as he came
floor by empty floor to the room
1 - where I sat
2-4 in my narrow bed looking west, waiting
1- I heard him snuffle at the door and
All - I watched
3 – If Textbooks told the history of America the Way they tell American Indian History
5 – Marco Polo Discovered America in 1776
2 – Two Days after Benjamin Franklin was Elected president
4 – One Year after the South won the Civil war
1 – And Five Years after Alaska became the first state of the Union
3 – ANWR Facts On File!
[Shelby Begins to Sing “The Mighty Quinn, turning back and forth as the pros and cons are being said]
1 - Only 8% of ANWR would be considered for exploration
4 - Oil Reserves are Spread out in different areas. Therefore oil companies would have to spread out over the entire 1.5 Million acres.
2 - U.S. Federal revenues would be enhanced by billions of dollars
5 - Those billions of dollars would likely trickle into the already 2.6 trillion dollars the U.S. Government spends on its domestic and foreign military spending.
1 - Up to Seven hundred thousand jobs would be created
4 - The National Resources Defense Council estimates that by increasing vehicle fuel efficiency by 40 miles per gallon over the next decade would save the U.S. 6.5 times more oil than ANWR can produce and create 1.3 million jobs in the process.
2 - The importation of oil is to costly
5 - ANWR would produce 3.3% of daily consumption of oil in America. Meaning that the U.S would still be largely dependent on foreign oil
1 - There would be no negative impact on animals
4 - There is a spill a day at Prudhoe and The Pipeline has an average of 409 spill annually – Oil is toxic to plants. [Aside as a whisper] Animals eat plants!
2 - 75% of Alaskans support drilling in ANWR, including every governor of the last 25 years (and three of the last four presidents)
5 - Oil comprises 80% of the States revenue and it is a state with the highest unemployment rate in the U.S. Considering Maslos Hierarchy of needs, feeding oneself, clothing oneself, and housing oneself comes before all other thoughts of humanitarian or environmental costs. Yes, Alaskans in poverty want jobs.
2-4 He trotted across the
All - floor
3-5 - he laid his long gray
All - muzzle
2-4 on the spare white
All - spread
3-5 and his
All - eyes
3-5 burned
All - yellow
2-4 his small dotted
All - eyebrows
2-4 quivered
1 - Yes, I said.
ALL - I know what they have done.
[Hell No, Of Course Not, but... by Wendell Berry]
1- The Arctic Wildlife Refuge is under threat right now because policy may go wrong,
[2,4,5 Sing Quyana song]
3 – Because of greed and ignorance in high places, because corporations have no conscious
1-3 all that is true
3 – but a lot more is true than that.
1 – The refuge is under threat because we have no energy policy
3 – No agricultural policy
1 – and no forestry policy
3 – that is not keyed to consumption
1 – rather than conservation
3 – why do we not have better policies?
1-3 because there is no organized public demand
Performance Advocacy: DAY 4
Forms of DRAMA
1) Tell personal stories. This stories should be told as if you talking to a group at an after dinner party. They should be personal and direct, told without scripts.
2) Share and explain FOUND poems.
Email: Name Poem rewrite; Found Poem; This Is Just to Say poem.
Look at various forms of drama or examples of performance:
A) Duo
B) Duet (Interpretation)
C) Oration
D) Readers Theatre (look at the script “Goodbye Polar Bears”)
Here are some links to help you write drama and dialogue:
Tips for Writing Drama
How to write dramatic dialogue
BBC writing tips
AN EXAMPLE OF A READERS THEATRE script:
Title: Goodbye Polar Bears
1 – The Most Extensive, least spoiled, and most un-spoilable of the gardens of the [North American] Continent are the vast tundras of Alaska. In summer they extend smooth, even, undulating, continuous beds of flowers...that [extend] to the shores of the Arctic Ocean; and in winter sheets of snowflowers make all the country shine, one mass of white radiance like a star.
2 – John Muir 1901
3 – Alaska
4 – Meaning in Aleut “The Great Land” or “the Main Land”
5 – or That Which the Sea Breaks against
2 - Alayeksa
3 – Alaksa
4– The Last Frontier
1 – Seward's Icebox
5 – Seward's Follie
All - Land of the Midnight Sun
1 – Or Land of the Midday Moon
2 – Depending on the Season
All - Refuge
1 – The state of being protected as from danger of hardship
All - Refuge
3 – A place that provides protection or shelter
All -Refuge
4- A Haven
All – Refugee
5- One who flees, usually to another country, especially from invasion, oppression, or persecution
1- Until we can change our habits we can’t expect to save an inch of this earth
2- Until we can change
3- Change our habits
4- habits we can’t expect
5- expect to save
ALL - Beat - Sigh
ALL - We are a wasteful people
[The Last Wolf by Mary TallMountain]
1 - The last wolf hurried toward me
2-4 through the ruined city
1 - and I heard his baying echoes
3-5 down the steep smashed warrens
2-4 of Montgomery Street and past
3-5 the ruby-crowned highrises
2-4 left standing
1 - their lighted elevators useless
[Caribou Story by Faith Gemmill]
4 – As I was growing up in Vashraii K'oo, I never thought that our way of life could be threatened or could be lost.
2 – I thought that our way of life would always be what it was...
5 – Surly we would live on in our traditional way as was intended since the beginning of time
4 – I took it for granted every time we were out on the land and I was able to experience the enjoyment of eating caribou meat, watching the grandmothers to create clothing for us to wear, learning the skills of dying meat, listening to elder as they explained the importance of our traditional teachings and my own traditional language.
3- We are people who rely heavily on the porcupine caribou heard
4 – Our creation story tells of time when there was only animals, the animals became people. When that happened Gwich'in came from the caribou. There was an agreement between the two that still stands. The Gwich'in retain a piece of the caribou heart and the Caribou retain a piece of the Gwich'in heart. We are one. What ever befalls the caribou will befall the Gwich'in.
1 – In 1988, the Gwich'in people became aware of the threat to our culture and way of life.
2 – The oil industry was trying to gain access of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
4- The Gwich'in people could not allow oil and gas development in the birthplace of the Caribou.
3 – Whatever befalls the Caribou
4 – This is not a political fight it is a spiritual fight.
All ( Succession following first line after 5)
Passing the flicking red and green
of traffic signals
baying his way eastward
in the mystery of his wild loping gait
2-4 closer the sounds in the deadly night
through clutter and rubble of quiet blocks
1 - I hear his voice ascending the hill
3-5 and at last his low whine as he came
floor by empty floor to the room
1 - where I sat
2-4 in my narrow bed looking west, waiting
1- I heard him snuffle at the door and
All - I watched
3 – If Textbooks told the history of America the Way they tell American Indian History
5 – Marco Polo Discovered America in 1776
2 – Two Days after Benjamin Franklin was Elected president
4 – One Year after the South won the Civil war
1 – And Five Years after Alaska became the first state of the Union
3 – ANWR Facts On File!
[Shelby Begins to Sing “The Mighty Quinn, turning back and forth as the pros and cons are being said]
1 - Only 8% of ANWR would be considered for exploration
4 - Oil Reserves are Spread out in different areas. Therefore oil companies would have to spread out over the entire 1.5 Million acres.
2 - U.S. Federal revenues would be enhanced by billions of dollars
5 - Those billions of dollars would likely trickle into the already 2.6 trillion dollars the U.S. Government spends on its domestic and foreign military spending.
1 - Up to Seven hundred thousand jobs would be created
4 - The National Resources Defense Council estimates that by increasing vehicle fuel efficiency by 40 miles per gallon over the next decade would save the U.S. 6.5 times more oil than ANWR can produce and create 1.3 million jobs in the process.
2 - The importation of oil is to costly
5 - ANWR would produce 3.3% of daily consumption of oil in America. Meaning that the U.S would still be largely dependent on foreign oil
1 - There would be no negative impact on animals
4 - There is a spill a day at Prudhoe and The Pipeline has an average of 409 spill annually – Oil is toxic to plants. [Aside as a whisper] Animals eat plants!
2 - 75% of Alaskans support drilling in ANWR, including every governor of the last 25 years (and three of the last four presidents)
5 - Oil comprises 80% of the States revenue and it is a state with the highest unemployment rate in the U.S. Considering Maslos Hierarchy of needs, feeding oneself, clothing oneself, and housing oneself comes before all other thoughts of humanitarian or environmental costs. Yes, Alaskans in poverty want jobs.
2-4 He trotted across the
All - floor
3-5 - he laid his long gray
All - muzzle
2-4 on the spare white
All - spread
3-5 and his
All - eyes
3-5 burned
All - yellow
2-4 his small dotted
All - eyebrows
2-4 quivered
1 - Yes, I said.
ALL - I know what they have done.
[Hell No, Of Course Not, but... by Wendell Berry]
1- The Arctic Wildlife Refuge is under threat right now because policy may go wrong,
[2,4,5 Sing Quyana song]
3 – Because of greed and ignorance in high places, because corporations have no conscious
1-3 all that is true
3 – but a lot more is true than that.
1 – The refuge is under threat because we have no energy policy
3 – No agricultural policy
1 – and no forestry policy
3 – that is not keyed to consumption
1 – rather than conservation
3 – why do we not have better policies?
1-3 because there is no organized public demand
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Parody, Found Poetry, Dramatic Monologues, Protest
PERSONAL STORIES, PARODIES, FOUND POETRY, DRAMATIC MONOLOGUES
In-class writing today focused on personal stories, Fitzgerald “That which’s makes a good story”, conflict, and having a hook.
We will deliver these stories in class tomorrow. This exercise is teaches you how to tell a simple story, directly and honestly. The story is also an example of a monologue.
PARODY: A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule.
Examples of parodies using William Carlos Williams:
THE RED WHEELBARROW
SO MUCH DEPENDS
UPON
A RED WHEEL
BARROW
GLAZED WITH RAIN
WATER
BESIDES THE WHITE
CHICKENS
PARODY:
SO MUCH DEPENDS
UPON
A GREEN GARBAGE
TRUCK
GLAZED WITH ACID
RAIN
BESIDE THE GOLDEN
ARCHES
THIS IS JUST TO SAY
I have eaten
The plums
That were in
The icebox
And which
You were probably
Saving
For breakfast
Forgive me
They were delicious
So sweet
And so cold
PARODY:
THIS IS JUST TO SAY
I maced
Your mother’s dress
Hanging in the closet
The one you were saving
To wear to your
Wedding
Forgive me
But you’re such
A consumer
And I know
You can always
Buy a new one.
Protest Poem by Mickey Wilson
This is just to say
I have ignighted
the oil fields
that were hidden
underground
those ones
that were going to
fuel your cars
your technology
forgive me
but it smoked
and shimmered nicely
and i didnt give a shit
about the future.
Protest Poem by Shola
This is just to say
My dear Fiancée
I sold all our new cars
In other to reduce the effect we have on global warming
I know you are probably smiling reading this
Forgive me
But wait I got good news
I bought us a new BMX, not a BMW.
Why use parody: The form already exists. People might recognize it. People parody national anthems or works with meanings associated to the things that they’re protesting against.
I played “This is Just to Say” examples from THIS AMERICAN LIFE
Writing exercise – spend 10 minutes writing a “This is just to say” parody.
FOUND POETRY:
Found poems take existing texts and refashion them, reorder them, and present them as poems. The literary equivalent of a collage, found poetry is often made from newspaper articles, street signs, graffiti, speeches, letters, or even other poems.
A pure found poem consists exclusively of outside texts: the words of the poem remain as they were found, with few additions or omissions. Decisions of form, such as where to break a line, are left to the poet.
a poem consisting of words found in a nonpoetic context (as a product label) and usually broken into lines that convey a verse rhythm
Here is a good sight on how to write a found poem
A dramatic monologue is a type of poem, developed during the Victorian period, in which a character in fiction or in history delivers a speech explaining his or her feelings, actions, or motives. The monologue is usually directed toward a silent audience, with the speaker's words influenced by a critical situation. An example of a dramatic monologue exists in My Last Duchess by Robert Browning, when a duke speaks to an emissary of his cruelty. Another example is the modernist poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot and also, in a more contemporary way, "The Captain of the 1964 Top of the Form Team" by Carol Ann Duffy, and "Lady Lazarus" by Sylvia Plath.
Examples of dramatic monologues:
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
dramatic monologues for women
more dramatic monologues
POETS AGAINST THE WAR - A sight for poems that protested the Iraqi War.
In-class writing today focused on personal stories, Fitzgerald “That which’s makes a good story”, conflict, and having a hook.
We will deliver these stories in class tomorrow. This exercise is teaches you how to tell a simple story, directly and honestly. The story is also an example of a monologue.
PARODY: A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule.
Examples of parodies using William Carlos Williams:
THE RED WHEELBARROW
SO MUCH DEPENDS
UPON
A RED WHEEL
BARROW
GLAZED WITH RAIN
WATER
BESIDES THE WHITE
CHICKENS
PARODY:
SO MUCH DEPENDS
UPON
A GREEN GARBAGE
TRUCK
GLAZED WITH ACID
RAIN
BESIDE THE GOLDEN
ARCHES
THIS IS JUST TO SAY
I have eaten
The plums
That were in
The icebox
And which
You were probably
Saving
For breakfast
Forgive me
They were delicious
So sweet
And so cold
PARODY:
THIS IS JUST TO SAY
I maced
Your mother’s dress
Hanging in the closet
The one you were saving
To wear to your
Wedding
Forgive me
But you’re such
A consumer
And I know
You can always
Buy a new one.
Protest Poem by Mickey Wilson
This is just to say
I have ignighted
the oil fields
that were hidden
underground
those ones
that were going to
fuel your cars
your technology
forgive me
but it smoked
and shimmered nicely
and i didnt give a shit
about the future.
Protest Poem by Shola
This is just to say
My dear Fiancée
I sold all our new cars
In other to reduce the effect we have on global warming
I know you are probably smiling reading this
Forgive me
But wait I got good news
I bought us a new BMX, not a BMW.
Why use parody: The form already exists. People might recognize it. People parody national anthems or works with meanings associated to the things that they’re protesting against.
I played “This is Just to Say” examples from THIS AMERICAN LIFE
Writing exercise – spend 10 minutes writing a “This is just to say” parody.
FOUND POETRY:
Found poems take existing texts and refashion them, reorder them, and present them as poems. The literary equivalent of a collage, found poetry is often made from newspaper articles, street signs, graffiti, speeches, letters, or even other poems.
A pure found poem consists exclusively of outside texts: the words of the poem remain as they were found, with few additions or omissions. Decisions of form, such as where to break a line, are left to the poet.
a poem consisting of words found in a nonpoetic context (as a product label) and usually broken into lines that convey a verse rhythm
Here is a good sight on how to write a found poem
A dramatic monologue is a type of poem, developed during the Victorian period, in which a character in fiction or in history delivers a speech explaining his or her feelings, actions, or motives. The monologue is usually directed toward a silent audience, with the speaker's words influenced by a critical situation. An example of a dramatic monologue exists in My Last Duchess by Robert Browning, when a duke speaks to an emissary of his cruelty. Another example is the modernist poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot and also, in a more contemporary way, "The Captain of the 1964 Top of the Form Team" by Carol Ann Duffy, and "Lady Lazarus" by Sylvia Plath.
Examples of dramatic monologues:
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
dramatic monologues for women
more dramatic monologues
POETS AGAINST THE WAR - A sight for poems that protested the Iraqi War.
Monday, 9 August 2010
Day 2: Name Collaborations, Protest Poems, What Makes A Good Story?
1) NAME COLLABORATIONS
So in class we read name poems and then in groups of 3 -4 we combined these poems in a cut-up method and with repetition.
This exercise reinforced the following: 1) IMAGERY and 2) KEEP IT SIMPLE
It also taught the use of repetition as a refrain, revision as play and gave students practice in a group performance. The videos of these pieces will be put up on the website soon.
NAME COLLABORATION EXERCISE
Break students into groups of three. In these groups students will rearrange and combine their poems. So – the three poems will become 1 poem. Note while rearranging no student should have more then three lines from their own poem in a row. I want you to cut the poems and put them back together (note: this is a form idea of William S. Burroughs). Also, I want you the think about lines (at least three) that you can repeat during the poem. This will act as a refrain.
Students will then present poems to class – each student reading it.
2) What Makes A Good Story?
a) CONFLICT
b) HOOK
c) INTERESTING CHARACTERS (characters who are human)
d) What makes a good story are those things that most people do not want to talk about (F. Scott Fitzgerald). Choose to explore deeper/darker themes. Not everyday life.
e) THEMES (not morales or lessons) - Allow the listener to live the piece. Don't hit them over the head with some moral statement.
f) Begin and End at the Same Place
3) PROTEST POEMS (I'll try and post the poems students picked out soon).
For more on protest poetry please check out the following slide shows by Martha LaBere:
Introduction to Protest Poetry
Protest Poems Selected Examples
Protest lyrics and songs
Diana di Prima
4) How to Write A Protest Poem (from Taylor Mali's piece of the same name)
Strategies for effective performance poems:
1. Have a hook
2. Use a song (and stop in the middle)
3. Say the unexpected
4. Contrast and juxapose images that are new or exciting
5. Make fun of politicians
6. Use repetition
7. Say the ending three times for effect
8. Add an extra poet for effect
9. Use Irony
So in class we read name poems and then in groups of 3 -4 we combined these poems in a cut-up method and with repetition.
This exercise reinforced the following: 1) IMAGERY and 2) KEEP IT SIMPLE
It also taught the use of repetition as a refrain, revision as play and gave students practice in a group performance. The videos of these pieces will be put up on the website soon.
NAME COLLABORATION EXERCISE
Break students into groups of three. In these groups students will rearrange and combine their poems. So – the three poems will become 1 poem. Note while rearranging no student should have more then three lines from their own poem in a row. I want you to cut the poems and put them back together (note: this is a form idea of William S. Burroughs). Also, I want you the think about lines (at least three) that you can repeat during the poem. This will act as a refrain.
Students will then present poems to class – each student reading it.
2) What Makes A Good Story?
a) CONFLICT
b) HOOK
c) INTERESTING CHARACTERS (characters who are human)
d) What makes a good story are those things that most people do not want to talk about (F. Scott Fitzgerald). Choose to explore deeper/darker themes. Not everyday life.
e) THEMES (not morales or lessons) - Allow the listener to live the piece. Don't hit them over the head with some moral statement.
f) Begin and End at the Same Place
3) PROTEST POEMS (I'll try and post the poems students picked out soon).
For more on protest poetry please check out the following slide shows by Martha LaBere:
Introduction to Protest Poetry
Protest Poems Selected Examples
Protest lyrics and songs
Diana di Prima
4) How to Write A Protest Poem (from Taylor Mali's piece of the same name)
Strategies for effective performance poems:
1. Have a hook
2. Use a song (and stop in the middle)
3. Say the unexpected
4. Contrast and juxapose images that are new or exciting
5. Make fun of politicians
6. Use repetition
7. Say the ending three times for effect
8. Add an extra poet for effect
9. Use Irony
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