Entry Two: School Lunches

In Chapter Five of "Bird by Bird," Ann Lamott describes how to build a vivid world off the simple concept of "school lunches." She even offers up her own examples of the myriad directions in which such a topic can go. In order to get you ready to write descriptive and sensory detail for your memoir paper, I'd like you to give your best shot at writing a "School Lunch" piece. This is essentially a free writing exercise -- your story doesn't need to have a plot, just try to be as descriptive and creative as possible, whether you are writing about the tribes of a lunch room or the monochromatic color palette of the food options on display. Feel free to include dialogue, scenes, characters -- whatever appears in your mind as you write. Make sure you write at least 500 words.

Due by class Wednesday, August 31

Paper One: Personal Narrative (or Memoir)

Purpose

Recall, retell, and analyze a significant experience in your life. Carefully choose a sequence of events that 1) supports a specific thesis and 2) helps you fulfill your rhetorical purpose regarding a specific audience.

Invention

Keep in mind as you brainstorm/draft:

--Scope: You cannot explain your entire high school experience or history as a baseball player in one brief essay. Choose one particular memory as a starting point.

--You will want to be especially strategic in deciding which features of the experience (which details, characters, settings, and dialogue) you want to emphasize and which ones you should ignore if you are to achieve your desired purpose. 

--You may want to conduct some naturalistic research (e.g., interviewing a friend or family member about a specific memory, observing a particular environment, etc.). This research will allow you to understand a moment from someone else’s perspective or look more closely at a space or behavior.

--You should have a purpose in mind as you write your own memoir: to argue a point, to create a mood (maybe entertain), to instruct, inform, explain, or to provide cultural or philosophical commentary, blame, praise, and so forth.

--Your memoir should be tailored for a specific audience—think about who could learn something from your experience.

Expectations

A successful personal narrative will:

1.     Focus on a significant experience;

2.     Use ample sensory details;

3.     Include dialogue that reveals information about your characters;

4.     Employ transitions that will help your reader follow your narrative and/or logic;

5.     Showcase a personal narrative voice (e.g., use a variety of sentence patterns and lengths, don’t sound like you come from the bureau of statistics, and so on); and

6.     Provide reflection and analysis in order to help your audience understand the significance of the experience.

Length: 3-4 pages (double-spaced)

Rough Draft Due: September 12, 2011

Final Assignment Portfolio Due: September 19, 2011