Tuesday, February 24, 2015

The Plot Sickens: Free-write & Reflection

        Free-Write

       “It was Christmas Eve. Fog stuck to the tarmac at Lindbergh field.” as the county sheriff continued describing the sequence of events, each sentence seemed more and more apt to be written for a novel. “We lost all six souls aboard the flight,” while Richard Atkinson spoke, more and more heads began to turn slowly to the father who lost two loved ones.
       He was sitting there in a chair, just feet away from the podium where Atkinson was speaking. He was crying violently, trying to compose himself, but with no success. If a stranger were asked to guess what just happened, the idea that the man’s wife and newborn just died in a plane accident wouldn’t be farfetched.
       “I can’t imagine what he’s feeling right now,” said one lady sitting three rows behind him.
       “I called this press conference because as sheriff of this great county of Louisiana, it is my job to protect the public at large.” he then proceeded to glance at Mr. Asher, sitting there in the chair crying away. “And I wish to serve this county well. Today the designated NTSB crash investigators confirmed that the crash was the result of a deliberate action.”
       The room was filled - or rather emptied by gasps of air. The man crying had stopped. His eyes opened wide. He stormed out of the room.
       “Yup, yup, yup, I told you Frank, this would be too much for that poor Mr. Asher,” whispered Mrs. Ida into the ear of her husband of fifty years.
       He drove home. He went down into his basement. He scraped all the powder into the sink and washed it down the drain. He snatched the wires and cords and waited till night to throw them into the lake.

Reflection

      In "The Plot Sickens" by Fanny Howe, the author uses the culmination of her twenty-one year teaching career to explain a common trend among young writers today. When Howe gave her college students a similar prompt to the one Mr. Kefor gave his E block Creative Writing class, she found that the stories were usually violent and random. In fact, in the article she states, "“Of the 20 stories generated by this assignment, only 5 had endings that could qualify as “happy” – endings, that is, in which a problem was resolved. All the others concluded with extraordinary violence. Sometimes it was a psychological sort of violence, difficult to make out, a matter of alienation or bewilderment.”" I  feel as though my story deviates from the authors claim, in my story there are conflicts - a man has lost his wife and child and also that there was someone who deliberately acted upon the plane to make it crash. The conflict is somewhat resolved by the end of the short story where it is revealed that the man himself was the saboteur, however in no way is it a happy story. I do however agree that my story is violent, as there is a plane crash, and the ending is a sort of psychological violence, both inflicted on the reader and characters who believe the man's innocence, as stated by Howe. Another one of Howe's claims is that, “…it is the fact that violence enters the story without benefit of plot…”, on this point I feel again that my story deviates from these claims. Unlike arbitrarily adding violence, the violence in my story drives the plot to progress and give information to the reader without plainly saying it. The big point of the article is that in the stories of her students, "Randomness rules." and there is extreme senseless violence. While my story does have violence it isn't used all over the place - there are no ninjas that burst in while the press conference is happening. Another difference between Howe's classroom and Mr. Kefor's classroom was there was no mention of a word limit restraint in the article. If given the opportunity to expand upon our work then it wouldn't seem so nonsensical. Yet another claim by Howe is that it is the students subconscious making their stories the way they are - at first it was the "Establishment" which she explains is powerful affluent white men. She now claims it is the "Economy" - stressed with a capital letter e in order to realize that people can be made rich or poor in an instant on no grounds with no explanation. She claims that this use of arbitrary violence is attributed to the idea that what the "Economy" stands for, and is drilled into young students brains from an early age and influences their actions and decisions. While this is a very interesting idea, I'm not entirely sure if it's true. Either way, the ideas of the "Economy" cannot be found in my short story. All things considered, "The Plot Sickens" by Fanny Howe is a very interesting article, however I feel that my free-write product deviates from the claims made by the author.

Self Deprecation Essay

I’ll Think of a Title Later…

One of the most ridiculous things is that the underlying truth didn’t cement itself inside my head. Even now as I am typing I am procrastinating. Well, okay, definitely not to the horrible extent I did previously, but I am working on homework that isn’t due for another day or two while I have a big math test looming over me…

TUESDAY
“Welcome back class, I hope you had a good weekend! Today we are going to get introduced to your new project. It has two parts – a poster, presentation, and a writing section all on photosynthesis. It will be due…” as the teacher continues I think about my strategy for getting all this accomplished in the time given.
                "Oh. Okay.", I think to myself. I understand photosynthesis somewhat so I should be able to do this pretty well!

SATURDAY
It’s been a couple of days. I think about getting ahead, and how I should get started on the biology project, but I don’t really feel like it. Today was a long day, I’m tired.

SUNDAY
I should probably start that biology project I have to do. I take out all of my school things. I grab my poster. I turn on the computer. It’s been a long day and I don’t feel like working on this project right now either. I plug my headphones in and listen to music. Oh, I’ll only listen to a few songs, it shouldn’t hurt. I should probably check to see what happened today in the world. I go to the CNN homepage. I read a few stories. I go to the NPR homepage to see a different viewpoint on the stories. Next I check out USA Today.
                “Time for dinner!”
                I unplug my headphones, and go eat dinner…then I watch television…then I decide to stop working on homework for now.

MONDAY
“Okay class, you get half the period to work on your projects! Remember, it is due Thursday!”
Finally, I get time to work on this assignment! What should I start working on first? I have to make a diagram about the overall process and then another diagram about the two separate parts of the process. Next I have to write a lengthy paragraph for each diagram explaining how they connect and what they do. I open the biology textbook to the chapter on photosynthesis. How much space should I put for each part? I find a ruler. I space everything.
                “What did you say for question number twelve on the lab?” asks one of my group-members.
                “I talked about how the phenol red indicator’s lack of color change indicated that the carbon dioxide had left the solution, and how this meant that photosynthesis occurred.” I respond.
                “How come that means photosynthesis is occurring?”
                “Because the second stage of the process – light dependent reactions – the first part of which is carbon fixation where carbon is taken in by the plant and attached to RuBP to make 3-PGA.”
                “Oh! Okay! I think I understand. Thanks.”
                I begin outlining my first title: “Light Dependent Reactions”. My letters are inconsistent. I rewrite. I begin delving into the book to better understand the subject, which is essential to make a good diagram. The bell rings.

TUESDAY
     “How’s that biology project going Tristan?” asks my mother.
     “Oh, uh, not so good. I have a half a day tomorrow, I’ll have plenty of time to work on that project!”
     “You should try to work on it today too.”
     “Yeah I probably should.”
     I end up not having any time, and don’t even open my biology binder.

WEDNESDAY INTO THURSDAY
I arrive home at 11:30 am, and decide to watch some TV and eat lunch. I begin mulling over my options.
                “BARK!” an impatient command from my dog to walk him outside. I know that he is tired of being in the house so I walk him all along the perimeter of the property line. Even though I am on the edge of where we can go, he pushes further. He whimpers.
                “Sorry Sam!” I say.
                I settle down inside and it’s already 12:00 pm. I make myself a pizza.
                “ARE YOU READY TO PLAY MILLIONAIRE?!?!?!?” the booming voice of Cedric the Entertainer fills the room.
“Yup!” I respond.
                It’s already 1:00 pm, but I decide to finish watching a good movie that just started on TV! Why not? I still have like 8 hours till I have to go to swim practice. That’ll leave me with plenty of time!
                By the time I finish the movie, even the bad side of me which is allowing me to further procrastinate feels guilty. I start my homework at 2:00 pm.
                I plug my headphones in and start listening to music, because it has been so helpful to me before right? NOT. I continue with my usual news check.
                I work on all my other subjects of homework –algebra 2, world history, English, and the like. Putting all else before the dreaded biology project.
                Eventually my mother comes home. Then my father comes home. I decide to start the biology project.
                “Dinner time!”
                “Ok. I will probably not get this done,” I say out loud.
    “What? I couldn’t hear you!”
    “Nothing!”
 When I resume, I finish only one part of three. It is 7:00 pm and I have to get ready to go to swim practice.
                When I leave the Wheaton athletic center, I feel a huge gust of cold winter wind splash me in the face like a wave. It motivates me. I go home and it is 10:00 pm.
                I work quick and methodically. No, I actually don’t. I agonize over every letter, every line in my drawings. I want to do well on this project; it’s a big part of my grade. I erase and I rewrite. I erase and I rewrite.     
                I read the textbook. I write an explanation. I sketch a complimentary diagram. I read the book. I write. I sketch. I read my notes. I write. I sketch. Repeat, repeat, oh…and repeat.
I look at the clock. 11:30 pm is stamped in bright text on the computer. It’s ridiculous to think I have been home for twelve hours.
I work even more furious, but get bogged down as time passes. I had to get up early this morning, just like I will have to tomorrow for school.
“You shouldn’t stress over every little detail, go to sleep at a reasonable hour!” my mother says.
“Okay, but I want to do well!” I respond. I resume the long trek to finish the assignment.
“The left over G3P becomes sugars, and the electron carriers go back to the light dependent reactions to start the whole process over.” I write, finally finishing my biology project.
I stare at the clock: 1:06 am. Good morning world. I fall asleep, and cringe just a bit harder than normal when I hear that lovely noise.
“ERRHH ERRRRH ERRHHH”, this alarm is music to my ears.
I wake up five hours later and get ready for school. When I go into biology class I present my project and all goes well.
“Good job class! I was very impressed by your stellar work! Now that that is over, we are going to get started on our next project. This is exactly like your last one you did, except it is on cellular respiration, so it is more involved. It is due…”

"Oh. Okay.", I think to myself. As the teacher continues I think about my strategy for getting all this accomplished in the time given.