Words • Writing

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So much to write about. So little time.

These are some things that make me want to learn, explore, question, write more.

Anthropology

Many of the beliefs we grow up with are often socially constructed, not physical realities. Those in power often create distinctions and differences, which can lead to value judgments, which can lead to prejudice and oppression – real or perceived, acknowledged or not. These issues are of great importance in our modern global world, as well as in our own neighborhoods. We’re faced with the need to acknowledge and respect our differences, even as we find ways to acknowledge, respect, and embrace our similarities. Read more »

Fiction

I was the kid who always had my nose stuck in a book. In a class on American short stories, I discovered, and rediscovered, a rich wealth of authors and narratives, from Ambrose Bierce’s, Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, to Eudora Welty’s, A Worn Path, to The Rocking Horse Winner by D.H. Lawrence, to Tim Obrien’s, The Things They Carried. Read more »

Film & Narratives

Through explorations in anthropology, history, and geography, I looked the role narratives and stories in films play in influencing the relationship between people and their environment throughout different cultures and times. I considered how narratives affect our identities as well as how they can be affected by the culture and technology of the day, and I delved into how narratives themselves can have an impact on our overall culture. Read more »

History

History is fascinating to me. Although I lived through the decade of the 1960s, I was young enough that I wasn’t a real participant in many of the significant issues of the day, from the Civil Rights and growing women’s movements to the protests against, or support for, the war in Vietnam. Still, I remember being aware of the great changes happening in our country. When I took a class focusing on the 1960s, I had a chance to explore in great detail a decade that had such an great impact on our world. Read more »

Journalism

We all read the newspapers, or at least we used to! But, no matter what the source these days, we all have experience with reading articles that are written to inform and educate us, and that hopefully do so in a direct, factual, and unbiased way. There are also “feature” stories that we read for pleasure, as well as possible new discoveries. In a class taught by a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist, we were asked to start with the “who, what, where, why, and how” of a story and make it as clear, concise, and compelling as possible. Read more »

Screenwriting

Writing a screenplay is different than any other writing you’ll do. You have to keep “show, not tell” always at the top of your mind, because your ultimate goal is to create a visual story that plays out on film, not on paper. We can’t “see” thoughts onscreen, so we have to transmit thought and emotions through action. Although I thought it would be easier to adapt a short screenplay from an existing story rather than creating one from scratch, this dilemma of “show, not tell,” made it very apparent that what works great on the page takes effort to translate vividly to film. Read more »