REFLECTING


        Sheer panic was what came over me when I was told I would be creating my own website for this class.  I could have been told I was required to write a twenty page research paper on Quantum Physics that was to be posted on my own website by week two of the semester, and my cause for panic would still have been the website.  Perhaps I’m being overdramatic, but my first blog post can provide some explanation.  The post was titled “Thoughts on Writing, Research, and Technology,” and the first sentence under the subheading “Technology” stated: “I grew up during a time when the Atari 2600 was the most advanced form of technology at my fingertips.”  If you’re not familiar with this video console, refer to the picture below and you will understand where I’m coming from.

Though if you refer back to that first blog post, you will learn that I’m a bit apprehensive when it comes to technology; I fight it in the beginning, but I eventually learn to embrace it, and that’s exactly what happened with my website. 

        When I was first introduced to Weebly, I had some difficulty.  I was adding unnecessary tabs, taking away needed ones, and typing blog posts only to have them mysteriously disappear.  It was frustrating, but I wasn’t giving up.  It didn’t take long before I became comfortable with posting assignments and making changes to the website, and I discovered I liked it.  A website offered me a new approach to writing; one that allowed me to be creative, while also using several different genres.  Recently, I posted a piece from my class, “The Writer’s Mind.”  This assignment required me to answer a question using a multi-genre approach.  I felt this assignment gave me another opportunity to use my website to develop a more creative and non-traditional approach to writing. Had this option not been available to me, I don’t know that my story would have the same impact.  Moreover, using a website to submit work is an excellent way for our cohort to learn more about each other as individuals and as writers.  In my opinion, the design layout, writing styles, and topics we choose say a lot about who we are.  For me, it is a way to share my stories with family and friends as I sometimes look to them for inspiration or feedback.

        In creating this website, it was important that it accurately represented who I am.  Naturally, I wanted to reveal a little bit about who I was personally, which is why I added a Twitter feed to my blog page.  More importantly, I chose this particular design for its subtlety; the reader won’t be distracted by bright colors and/or pictures, and will focus on the work.  This design is also a reflection of who I am personally- simple and focused.  Furthermore, my website was created for a class, which meant I wanted it to communicate who I was as a student.  Although I may complain at times, I’m serious about my education and I take pride in my work.  For me, this website is something I would consider using in the future when interviewing or in my classroom as examples of various approaches to writing; therefore, I treat it with the same regard as I would a professional resume.

                                                    


Twitterive

       The Twitterive project was a challenge; but it was a challenge I’m glad I got to meet.  As I previously mentioned, new technology scares me.  Just as I started becoming comfortable with the mechanics of the website, I was presented with writing a multi-modal narrative in which I developed my story through tweets and twitpics.  I didn’t know the first thing about uploading pictures to Twitter; I was barely use to tweeting in 140 characters or less, but I’m a determined woman and I knew I would figure it out, just as I did with other forms of technology.  

        Once the technology aspect of this project was mastered, I had to turn my focus to my story.  I knew almost immediately that I was going to write about Knight Park in Collingswood, New Jersey, as it is a place of many great memories for me.  I spent a good part of my early childhood and teenage years visiting, playing, walking through, and hanging out in this park and there is so much I never noticed.  It was if I was looking at the park under a microscope and discovering all of its hidden imperfections and treasures.  I found a dedication to Michael Landon, initials carved in an old Sycamore tree, two war memorials, and a sign that had been spray painted, instead of replaced, to indicate changes in parking. Twitter gave me the opportunity to look at the park in a new light. 

       As I tweeted, I felt that I was both connecting and disconnecting from a place that held so many memories for me.  Through my observations, I rediscovered some of the beautiful things about the park, like the trees, the rose bushes, and the sense of community; however, as I tweeted about its less appealing parts, like rotted wooden signs, dying trees, and small shot sized bottles of alcohol in the lake, I found myself questioning why I loved this park so much.  The answer was easy.  I romanticized the park for years and now that I’m older I saw it differently.  I have no doubt there have always been some less than attractive aspects to this park.  I just wasn’t looking at it so closely. 

       Tweeting about a specific place taught me how to dig deep to uncover a story that lies beneath the surface.  In some ways, I felt as though it was my first time in that park.  I, admittedly, was over the park, the tweets, and the twitpics by the end of this process.  The well had run dry.  I found myself looking over and over my tweets and I had no more memories to share or beautiful words to string together.  I had to regroup before I continued writing my story.

       My idea to write a story set in two different periods came out of nowhere.  Originally, I thought I would create a story from childhood memories in the park.  Then, the idea to write about two lovers living in the early 1900s came to mind as I tweeted about the Victorian style homes that surround the park.  As I was walking through the park one day thinking about this new idea, I started to wonder what my relationship would be like if I lived during that seemingly simpler, more romantic time.  That day, I sat down at my desk and began to incorporate a modern day piece to my Twitterive.  I feel one of the strengths of this piece is that I was able to effectively show the relationship and personalities of the characters, while weaving in details about the park.  My personal connection to the park enabled me to create a story that-judging by the comments on my blog- left readers wanting more.  Nevertheless, a story often has its weaknesses, at least to the writer.  For me, the modern day portion of my Twitterive could have been further developed.  I made a few revisions that pleased me in the end, but given more time, I would add more to the story that better explained Liz’s relationship with Ed.

ORAL HISTORY

       One Sunday evening in Mid-October, I asked my mom if she had any stories from her childhood she wanted to share.  I, admittedly, didn’t expect her to tell me anything I felt compelled to write about; I always considered my mom’s side of the family to be rather boring when compared with my dad and stepdad’s family.  Surprisingly, she began to describe a vivid memory she had as a child.  She told me her mother sat down with her and her siblings to explain everything their oldest brother, Frank, had been enduring as a result of a near fatal accident.  My mom and I both fought back tears as she recalled the evening she was told her big brother not only suffered from physical pain, but also emotional pain.  I decided that night the story my mom unselfishly shared was going to be the focus of my Oral History project.

       When I began the interview process, I expected to learn about the pain my Uncle Frank endured as a result of his accident; what I didn’t expect was the effect it had on my mom, Mary, and the stories that would emerge in the process.  Throughout my life, I’ve heard numerous stories about my uncle.  I knew that he had a wonderful sense of humor and a kind heart, but I never knew he possessed such strength.   These interviews gave me an opportunity to learn things about my mom and my Uncle Frank that I may have otherwise never known.  I discovered that my Uncle Frank showed no resentment about his accident, he teased my mom mercilessly, they were protective of each other, and at four years old she put all selfishness aside to give her big brother her silver dollar for his 13th birthday- a gift he kept until the day he died.  Because talking about Frank’s accident brings up so much emotion, we rarely talk about it; however, as we discussed it for the purpose of this assignment, I felt fortunate to have learned about the kindness and compassion my mom held even as a child and the happiness Frank experienced regardless of his misfortune.   

       As I mentioned before, it is very difficult for my mom to talk about her brother Frank.  I knew these interviews would bring up memories that would be painful, so I asked my mom if she was sure this was something she wanted to do.  There were times when we both became upset, but we also shared some laughs.  If there was something that was too hard to talk about, I would go on to the next question and then re-visit that question later. 

        Overall, I’m pleased with the final product of “Big Brother.”  Prior to revising this piece, I felt something was missing.  I felt that it needed more details; however, the painful memories that surround this topic sometimes left my mom at a loss for words and I was hesitant to pry for more.  Furthermore, with this being a non-fictional piece, I was limited in the way I could “show” the reader the scenario.  I decided that when revising “Big Brother,” it would make more sense to break the piece into vignettes, rather than present it as a straight narrative.  This, along with the personal note added to the end of the piece, made me feel better about the finished product and, in my opinion, made the piece stronger. 




COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH PROJECT

       The Collaborative Research Project feels like a whirlwind; never have I put together a research project so quickly.  Fortunately, it was decided fairly easily that the nutritional value of school lunches would be the focus of this Collaborative Research Project, and it would be presented as a documentary.  I worked with my peers, Rebecca Gillis and Amanda Hinksi, to examine the most important aspects of this topic, such as nutritional guidelines provided by the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), and the nutritional value of school lunches and its affect on children’s health and behavior. 

       We met at Starbucks one Sunday afternoon and began researching school lunches and government guidelines.  Since Rebecca is the most tech savvy, it was agreed by all that she would handle the most important (and most difficult) piece to the documentary, the production; Amanda and I decided we would divide up the research between us.  After five hours and nearly fifteen pages of bulleted facts, statistics, studies, and government reports, I felt I had enough information to forward to Amanda so she could begin the script.  Within a few days the script was done, and we recorded our parts for the final product.  Meanwhile, I worked on the abstract and the annotated bibliography, and one week later Rebecca posted our 12 minute 16 second documentary titled Mystery Meat.  Of course, it couldn’t be that easy. 

       The night before we were to present the documentary, I received two text messages, a phone call, and a Facebook message from Rebecca indicating a sense of urgency.  When I called her back, she answered with a stressed out “hello.”  I asked her what was wrong and she said the documentary was finished, but it was awful.  She asked that I watch it and call her right back.  I carefully watched the finished product and examined it for coherence, fluidity, and, of course, and mistakes.  When our documentary Mystery Meat had ended, I was pleased.  I promptly called Rebecca back and told her she was worried over nothing; she did a great job.  I thought the finished product was very well done, considering we are Elementary Ed/Writing Arts majors and not aspiring to be producers for Dreamworks.  We agreed that the only apparent inconsistency was our voices; Amanda and I spoke more softly, which required Rebecca to adjust the sound on our voices and the background music.  Since we strive for perfection, it was decided Rebecca would re-record the talking parts using her voice only.

       The re-recording made a difference in the consistency of the product.  Our voices could have been distracting to the viewers and they may have experienced difficulty concentrating on the content of the documentary had we decided to leave it unchanged.  It seemed as though our voices were the only distraction, however, as I watched the documentary in its entirety with the class, I found several other distractions.  Though I loved that we could get a point across by combining images and music with statistics versus words only, I felt we should have added some breaks with both throughout.  The music playing throughout the documentary was chosen to communicate how the seriousness of this topic is often downplayed, and the images were appropriate and went well with the dialogue; however, in retrospect, I think we could have used less.   

        The Food Industry proved to be an excellent topic for a research based project.  Although some of the information concerning our food industry is disturbing, researching the nutritional value of school lunches was extremely informative and is a topic that I will continue to track.  Overall, I enjoyed working on this project.  My only dislike is that I would have appreciated more time to work on it.  If we were given more time, then we could have recorded behind the scenes footage of the cafeteria and preparation area in the school in which we had class observations, and included interviews from moms of school age children.    Admittedly, I was a bit apprehensive in the beginning to do a documentary in such a short amount of time, but I’m glad that I had the opportunity to something so completely different than I had done in the past; it gave me a new learning experience, and allowed my group more flexibility and creativity. 

New Opportunities…

       In addition to my informative learning experiences with the Twitterive, Oral History, and Collaborative Research Project, I was able to take advantage of the new technology in which I was introduced.  It was suggested in class that we go somewhere we’ve never been before and tweet about it.  I decided I was going to walk over the Ben Franklin Bridge. 

       For years, I rode the PATCO high speedline from New Jersey to Pennsylvania to get to work, and as the train crossed the bridge I would often look out of the dirty tinted window and think to myself- I wonder how long it would take me to walk over the bridge or it would probably be cool to watch the New Year’s Eve fireworks from the walkway of the bridge.  I decided not to wait for New Year’s Eve, since this was the perfect opportunity to realize my thoughts.  It took about an hour or so to walk the length of the bridge.  As I walked, I took my time to stop and observe my surroundings.  I was amazed at the cleanliness of the bridge; I found virtually zero graffiti and there were trash bags placed approximately every 50 feet.  I discovered the bridge that I pay little attention to as I drive over, has some really beautiful architecture.  What’s more, I found beauty in looking at the state I often hear referred to as “Dirty Jersey.”  The most important part of this experience is that I tweeted and took twitpics the entire time I walked; I met and conquered yet another technology challenge with ease.   I’m glad I was given this opportunity to try something new, not only with regard to writing and technology, but also in my own life.  I feel a sense of accomplishment as the semester comes to a close.