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AGENDAPresentation: Terms

Discussion:

• In-class writing on Identity

• Personal Passing Experience

• Being Judged by Concrete Identifiers

Lecture: Writing Strategies for in-class essay #1:

• Basic Features of a Personal Narrative

In-Class Writing

• A Well-Told Story

• A Vivid Presentation of Places and People

• An Indication of the Event’s Significance

TERMS1. Bias: A preference or an inclination, especially one that

inhibits impartial judgment; an unfair act or policy stemming from prejudice.

2. Culture: Behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, language, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.

3. Difference: A characteristic that distinguishes one person from another or from an assumed norm, or the state of being distinguished by such characteristics. Social justice issues such as racism, classism, sexism, and heterosexism usually center on the negative perception of difference by the dominant group. Viewed positively, difference can be a catalyst for equity, recognition of interdependence, and a source of personal power.

4. Discrimination: Treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit; partiality or prejudice.

5. Diversity: The quality of being diverse; a respect in which things differ; variety.

6. Equality: The state or quality of treating everyone in an equal manner.

7. Ethnicity: A perception of being alike, a sense of peoplehood by virtue of sharing a common ancestry (real or fictitious), values, and behavior.

8. Fluid Identity: The concept that identity is not rigid but can and does change. This idea is often used in terms of gender, sexuality, and race, as well as other factors of identity. This concept is fundamentally contrary to binary systems. People who feel their identity is fluid often believe that rigid categories are oppressive and incapable of accurately describing their experience and identities.

9. Oppression: Arbitrary and cruel use of power; using severe or unjust force or authority. An unjust situation where, systematically and over a long period of time, one group denies another group access to the resources of society. Race, gender, class, sexuality, nation, age, ethnicity, disability status, and religion constitute major forms of oppression.

10. Passing: Historically, passing has been defined in terms of racial passing. It refers to a deception that allows a person to take advantage of certain roles or opportunities from which he or she might be barred in the absence of this posed identity. The most common racial passer, of course, was the African American who lacked those characteristics typical of his race. These mixed race people had physical appearances that allowed them to be perceived and treated as if they where white.

But passing is not limited to African Americans assuming white roles in society; it is not even limited to a racial basis. People pass in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons—from Blacks who pass for white, to Jews who pass as Gentiles, to gays who pass for straight, for women who pass for men—and the opposite of all of these. Reverse passing, though less prevalent, also exists in multiple forms.

DISCUSSIO

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How do we express our own identities? How much do we reveal about ourselves and when do we do so? How do we decide? What does society expect from us in terms of revealing who we are?

DISCUSSIO

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Write a paragraph or two describing a time when you were unfairly judged on concrete identity characteristics. ORWrite a paragraph or two describing a time when you passed as someone or something you were not. The passing can be either purposeful or inadvertent.

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#1: T

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• This essay exam will be at our next meeting. • You can use a one page outline from which to write. • You will have approximately 90 minutes• Bring paper, pens or pencils, and your outline

In a narrative essay of two to three pages, respond to one of the following prompts:

1. Tell about an experience when you were unfairly judged based on concrete identity characteristics.2. Tell about an experience when you passed as someone or something you were not. The passing can be either purposeful or inadvertent.

BASIC FEATURES OF A PERSONAL NARRATIVE:

•A Well-Told Story•A Vivid Presentation of Places and People•An Indication of the Event’s Significance

A WELL-TOLD STORY

Choose an interesting story• Shape it into an exciting or

memorable experience• Arouse curiosity, build

suspense, and conclude action with the climax

Begin at the beginning• Write an introduction that

sets the stage for your tale• Prepare your readers to

understand the significance of your event.

WHAT STORY WILL YOU TELL?

Where and when did it happen?

Make a quick narrative ladder:• Exposition (Setting)

• Rising action

• Climax

• Falling Action

• Resolution

DEVELOP YOUR STORY

Develop your story in the body paragraphs• Use action verbs and verbal

phrases (the –ing or to form of a verb: laughing, to laugh)•She drew the shades; I took my position; nudging her aside, I passed the crowd;

• Use temporal transitions to cue readers and move the narrative through time. • Just after; when; still; no longer; after a few days; for a week or so; before long; one afternoon

USE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES TO DESCRIBE

He chased Mikey and me around the yellow house and up a backyard path we knew by heart: under a low tree, up a bank, through a hedge, down some snowy steps, and across the grocery store’s delivery driveway.

THE GOAL: CREATE A VIVID PRESENTATION OF PLACES Recreate the time and place of the event

• Ground readers in specifics: • When? Christmas morning; one day in late fall, Saturday night• Where? At a 7-11 in San Jose, at my Aunt Helen’s Easter party, In

the back alley of a club in Sunnyvale

Name specific objects

• White, spherical snowball

• City clothes

• Translucent skin

• Dirty sidewalk

Use similes and metaphors to draw comparisons

• Simile: The car rumbled like an approaching storm.

• Metaphor: I wanted to slingshot myself into the future. (compares himself to a stone)

DESCRIBING THE PLACE

The shopping center was swarming with frantic last-minute shoppers like ourselves. We went first to the General Store, my favorite. It carried mostly knickknacks and other useless items which nobody needs but buys anyway. I was thirteen years old at the time, and things like buttons and calendars and posters would catch my fancy. This day was no different. The object of my desire was a 75-cent Snoopy button.

THE STRATEGY: LISTING KEY PLACES

Make a list of all the places where the event occurred, skipping some space after each entry on your list.

In the space after each entry on your list, make some notes describing each place. What do you see (except people for now)? What objects stand out? Are thy large or small, green or brown, square or oblong? What sounds do you hear? Do you detect any smells? Does any taste come to mind? Any textures?

THE GOAL: MAKE A VIVID PRESENTATION OF PEOPLE

Descriptive details of behaviors or actions• She stuck her hand in the bag and picked

up the poor, little dead squirrel.• He drew his hands through his long,

greasy hair

A bit of dialogue• “Poor dear,” she murmured• “Get out of my house,” he screamed

Detail the person’s appearance• A thin woman: all action• He wore dress clothes: a black suit and tie

DESCRIBING THE PEOPLE

It wasn’t until my father opened the door that I realized something terrifyingly life altering was about to be revealed. Always movie-star handsome, he looked older than I had remembered him, and his light green eyes had gone dull.

When I showed up, my father’s eyes were Caribbean clear, yet huge and eerily calm, though it was hard to see the rest of his face through all the white tape and the plastic tubing.

THE STRATEGY: RECALLING KEY PEOPLE

List the people who played more than a causal role in the event

Describe a key person: Write a brief description of a person other than yourself who played a major role in the event. Name and detail a few distinctive physical features or items of dress. Describe in a few phrases this person’s way of moving and gesturing

WRITING KEY SCENES IN DIALOGUE

Next thing I knew, he was talking about calling the police and having

me arrested and thrown in jail, as if he had just nabbed a professional

thief instead of a terrified kid. I couldn’t believe what he was saying.

“Jean, what’s going on?”

The sound of my sister’s voice eased the pressure a bit. She

always managed to get me out of trouble. She would come through

this time too.

“Excuse me. Are you a relative of this young girl?”

“Yes, I’m her sister. What’s the problem?”

“Well, I just caught her shoplifting and I’m afraid I’ll have to call the police.”

“What did she take?”

“This button.”

“A button? You are having a thirteen-year-old arrested for stealing a button?”

“I’m sorry, but she broke the law.”

THE STRATEGY CONTINUED: USE DIALOGUE TO CONVEY IMMEDIACY AND DRAMA

Reconstruct one important conversation

• Try to remember any especially memorable comments, any unusual choice of words, or any telling remarks that you made or were made to you.

• Try to partially re-create the conversation so that readers will be able to imagine what was going on and how your language and the other person’s language reveal who you were and your relationship.

THE GOAL: INDICATE THE EVENT’S SIGNIFICANCE

Show that the event was important• Dramatize the event so readers can understand

your feelings about it.

• Show scenes from your point of view so readers can identify with you.

Tell us that the event was important• Tell how you felt at the time of the experience

• Tell how you feel about it now, in reflection.

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Telling the story from your point of view:

As the officers led me through the mall, I sensed a hundred pairs of eyes staring at me. My face flushed and I broke out in a sweat. Now everyone knew I was a criminal. In their eyes I was a juvenile delinquent, and thank God the cops were getting me off the streets. The worst part was thinking my grandmother might be having the same thoughts. The humiliation at that moment was overwhelming. I felt like Hester Prynne being put on public display for everyone to ridicule.

Show and tell how you felt at the time:

I felt like a terrible human being. I would rather have stayed in jail than confront my mom right then. I dreaded each passing minute that brought our encounter closer.

THE STRATEGY: RECALL REMEMBERED FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS

• What were your expectations before the event?

• What was your first reaction to the event as it was happening and right after it ended?

• How did you show your feelings? What did you say?

• What did you want the people involved to think of you? Why did you care what they thought of you?

• What did you think of yourself at the time?

• How long did these initial feelings last?

• What were the immediate consequences of the event for you personally?

Pause now to reread what you have written. Then write another sentence or two about the event’s significance to you at the time it occurred.

THE STRATEGY CONTINUED: EXPLORE YOUR PRESENT PERSPECTIVE

• Looking back, how do you feel about this event? If you understand it differently now than you did then, what is the difference?

• What do your actions at the time of the event say about the kind of person you were then? How would you respond to the same event if it occurred today?

• Can looking at the event historically or culturally help explain what happened? For example, did you upset racial, gender, or religious expectations? Did you feel torn between identities or cultures? Did you feel out of place?

• Do you see now that there was a conflict underlying the event? For example, were you struggling with contradictory desires? Did you feel pressured by others? Were you desires and rights in conflict with someone else’s? Was the event about power or responsibility?

Pause to reflect on what you have written about your present perspective. Then write another sentence or two, commenting on the event’s significance as you look back on it

GOAL: FORMULATING A TENTATIVE THESIS

Readers do not expect you to begin your narrative essay with the kind of explicit thesis statement typical of argumentative or explanatory writing. If you do decide to tell readers explicitly why the event was meaningful or significant, you will most likely do so as you tell the story, by commenting on or evaluating what happened, instead of announcing the significance at the beginning. Keep in mind that you are not obliged to tell readers the significance, but you must show it through the way you tell the story.

NARRATIVE ESSAY THESIS EXAMPLE

“When the Walls Came Tumbling Down”

by Trey Ellis

A year before his death, my dad was forced to come out to me. I thought he was in Paris for a vacation. Instead, he was there for treatment with AZT, which in 1986 was experimental and not yet approved in the United States for people infected with the virus that causes AIDS.

STRATEGY: REVIEW THE EVENT’S SIGNIFICANCE

Write a few sentences that briefly summarize the event for the reader.

THE GOAL: WRITING A GOOD INTRODUCTION

The Strategy:Arouse readers’ curiosity• Begin with a surprising

announcement• Establish the setting and situation

Get readers to identify with you• Tell them a few things about yourself• Begin in the middle of the action or

with a funny or important dialogue

THE GOAL: WRITING A GOOD CONCLUSION

The Strategy:Conclude with reflections on the meaning of the

experience? (avoid tagging on a moral)

Should you be philosophical? Satirical? Self critical?

To underscore the event’s continuing significance, can you show that the conflict was never fully resolved?

Could you contrast your remembered and current feelings and thoughts?

Should you frame the essay by echoing something from the beginning to give readers a sense of closure?

FRAMING: INTRODUCTION

“Calling Home” by Jean Brandt

As we all piled into the car, I knew it was going to be a fabulous day. My grandmother was visiting for the holidays; and she and I, along with my older brother and sister, Louis and Susan, were setting off for a day of last-minute Christmas shopping. On the way to the mall, we sang Christmas carols, chattered, and laughed. With Christmas only two days away, we were caught up with holiday spirit. I felt light-headed and full of joy. I loved shopping— especially at Christmas.

FRAMING: CONCLUSION

Not a word was spoken as we walked to the car. Slowly, I sank

into the back seat anticipating the scolding. Expecting harsh tones,

I was relieved to hear almost the opposite from my father.

“I’m not going to punish you and I’ll tell you why. Although I

think what you did was wrong, I think what the police did was more

wrong. There’s no excuse for locking a thirteen-year-old behind bars. That doesn’t mean I condone what you did, but I think you’ve been punished enough already.”

As I looked from my father’s eyes to my mother’s, I knew this

ordeal was over. Although it would never be forgotten, the incident

was not mentioned again.

FRAMING

Framing is a narrative device that echoes the beginning in the ending. The reader will then think of the beginning while reading the ending.

In our example, Brandt begins her essay in the car on the way to the mall. She ends her story on the car ride back home; at this time, she reflects on the incident, adding some discussion of the significance of the event.

Take a few minutes to consider how you might begin and end your story using framing.

HOMEWORK

Post #3: Finish your in-class writing and post it

• Finish your in-class writing and post it: Basic Features: dialogue, description, anecdote, framing, outlining, significance

• Study the terms we discussed in class.

• Don’t forget that we have in-class essay #1 the next time we meet.