Week 7 Assignments

Writing Assignment

Choose One:
1) Imagine a moment where a character is speechless or at a loss for words. Write a scene of at least one page that expresses that moment.

2) Take the writing exercise from class and continue from there. What other experience, conclusion or idea does the story lead you to? Or maybe an experience or image leads to a memory. Make sure the relationship between the two isn’t too explicit. Take leaps! This could take the form or a story, poem, or one-act play.

3) Write a monologue that weaves together an artistic experience and larger historical or personal context, as Spalding Gray did in Swimming to Cambodia. You might respond to a painting or play you viewed, or something you wrote or performed in yourself. Try to explore the deeper and broader resonances of your experience.


Read for Next Week
Anna in the Tropics, Nilo Cruz

IN THE COURSE READER
Lightness, Italo Calvino from Six Memos for the Next Millennium
The Bucket Rider, Franz Kafka
The Colonel, Carolyn Forche


Blog
1. Post an entry about any one of the readings this week. This may be a critical or creative piece of about 200-300 words. This may be a critical or creative piece of about 200-300 words and must follow the blog response guidelines. It MUST respond to your chosen reading in some way, either by identifying and discussing craft elements, themes, or techniques or by using those elements in a creative response.

2. Post comments on at least three other entries. Remember, this is not a place for critiquing each other’s work. Instead, identify something from the piece that strikes or interests you, ask a neutral question about the work, or suggest ways the author could deepen or expand it.