I don't think I really change myself for much. When I do change I like it to be for a particular or specific reason. When it comes to writing narratives or anything remotely first person in any way whatsoever, I only like it to sound as though I were talking to the person. Why do I like writing like that? Because if I were to read an essay out loud I want it to have the same flow, the same meaning, the same meter as if it will when someone reads it later. Why do I want it to sound like that? Because I want whoever reads it to feel as though I am speaking to them, even if they are not part of that 'intended audience,' which coincidentally, I like to think is a load of bull when it comes to narratives, stories, poems, or anything else that you write from yourself (as opposed to researched things).
Why should it matter to me, the writer, who reads my work? If my story is true, logical, and truly universal, even if people cannot relate to it, they will be able to comprehend or understand it. Also, if (omnipotent benevolent being willing) I like to write because I enjoy writing about what I'm writing, should I care at all who reads it? I'm writing about a concert I went to. I had fun. My friends had fun. It was an amazing night. No racial slurs were slung. Nobody was killed. Why should I care who reads it and what they think about how they wrote it? If everyone wrote and sounded like I did it would never be fun to pick up a novel again, ever. Authors' unique voices are why I do or do not keep reading their work. Hence why I keep coming back to and re-reading Ray Bradbury. Skip through the actual stories and characters, just look at how he writes. It sure doesn't hurt that he writes about things I find fascinating, but how he writes it is what gives his books a special place on my bookshelf.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Blog Response Numero Two
I have always considered myself a horrible story teller, and often find myself on the end of 'cool story bro' comments but that is besides the point. I love telling, listening to, and writing stories, whether they are recounting something that happened just a few minutes ago or something original and made up entirely. I would also like to say that usually when I tell a true story it does not solve or fix any situation that may have arisen. The one exception to this case is when there is nothing at all to fix and nothing needs to be broken where the only thing anyone needs is a bit of distraction such as a legend or a fairy tale because they are, in fact, that bored. All you need is a bit of creative spark and anything can (potentially) create itself.
Creativity and thinking outside the box has always come relatively easy for me, although vocalizing, enunciating, and explicitly saying what is on my mind has not been as easy. This is where I bring up my example of story telling. One night while hanging out with my friend Victoria we were so drastically bored I was on the verge of leaving for no other reason than I could have more fun on my own. However, being the patient and generous soul that I am, I offer to instead take turns sharing stories, real or made up, to pass time and just have some fun. I even offered to go first (wow, I am generous, aren't I?). Instead of being boring and sharing something true I decided to make up a story about a rabbit lost in a desert that couldn't get any traction on the sand or hide from the desert foxes without any trees or bushes. Eventually the rabbit realizes that the only way he will be able to survive is if he plants grass and then burrows underground to hide from the hawks circling overhead. He does both of these things (if the rabbit is in the desert why cant he plant seeds and do other things too?) and becomes a meerkat. The only thing better than knowing the real myths and stories is making them up yourself. We kept this up for a few hours until I was too hungry to think about anything other than food and we ordered pizza. You just have to keep talking.
Creativity and thinking outside the box has always come relatively easy for me, although vocalizing, enunciating, and explicitly saying what is on my mind has not been as easy. This is where I bring up my example of story telling. One night while hanging out with my friend Victoria we were so drastically bored I was on the verge of leaving for no other reason than I could have more fun on my own. However, being the patient and generous soul that I am, I offer to instead take turns sharing stories, real or made up, to pass time and just have some fun. I even offered to go first (wow, I am generous, aren't I?). Instead of being boring and sharing something true I decided to make up a story about a rabbit lost in a desert that couldn't get any traction on the sand or hide from the desert foxes without any trees or bushes. Eventually the rabbit realizes that the only way he will be able to survive is if he plants grass and then burrows underground to hide from the hawks circling overhead. He does both of these things (if the rabbit is in the desert why cant he plant seeds and do other things too?) and becomes a meerkat. The only thing better than knowing the real myths and stories is making them up yourself. We kept this up for a few hours until I was too hungry to think about anything other than food and we ordered pizza. You just have to keep talking.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Blog Response #1
Probably the most significant experience dealing with writing for me is my senior year presentation for my high school. This experience was particularly unique and significant in that I was allowed to write and present on any subject as long as I could write on it for 9-10 pages and defend whatever thesis we devised for 25-30 minutes in front of our teacher, our class, and whoever else showed up for the presentation. I do not intend on lying or even bending the truth in my first post, I did not do ANYTHING on this project from September - November of senior year. Thanksgiving break rolled around and I came down with pneumonia and swine flu (so much for being able to eat on Thanksgiving), thus baring me from working over break. With Thanksgiving break behind me it left until December 21st to finish researching, write a paper, and prepare a presentation worthy of a passing grade in order to be eligible for graduation in May (no sweat then).
Oh boy. December. Three weeks to do a project that (some of) my classmates have been working on for three months. I had this. By the 14th I was no closer than I was than the 1st, still catching up from the load of work I was unable to do by my bedridden self over break. Then it hit me. I enjoyed my topic. I had ensured in September to pick a topic I knew, and even saying 'knew' is an understatement, a topic i lived. I wouldn't just know more than anyone else in the class, I would know more than any of them could ask for. So I wrote. I wrote for one evening alone, and watched page after page of information, statistics, and personal anecdotes scroll up my computer monitor. Then it was over... well, almost over. All I had left was a presentation, a presentation that counted for 65% of the grade. But that's the easy part, talking is easy, where few people expect your words to be immaculately chosen and you can change it up on the fly.
Oh boy. December. Three weeks to do a project that (some of) my classmates have been working on for three months. I had this. By the 14th I was no closer than I was than the 1st, still catching up from the load of work I was unable to do by my bedridden self over break. Then it hit me. I enjoyed my topic. I had ensured in September to pick a topic I knew, and even saying 'knew' is an understatement, a topic i lived. I wouldn't just know more than anyone else in the class, I would know more than any of them could ask for. So I wrote. I wrote for one evening alone, and watched page after page of information, statistics, and personal anecdotes scroll up my computer monitor. Then it was over... well, almost over. All I had left was a presentation, a presentation that counted for 65% of the grade. But that's the easy part, talking is easy, where few people expect your words to be immaculately chosen and you can change it up on the fly.
Mark Vido- A Summary.
Hey everyone, I'm Mark and I suppose by now you have figured out that I am enrolled in the 007 section (cause you know we definitely are all secret agents at heart) of English 015 for this spring semester. I'm from outside of Philadelphia like many people apparently unlike many people I do not enjoy blogging or social networking very much at all. That being said, this is all very awkward, writing about myself to an unknown audience, assuming of course that anyone actually reads this, and I wonder why we simply cannot do a more conventional method of submitting assignments. As for interests I enjoy long walks in the woods, video games, piano, guitar, badminton and javelin.
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