augadvancewriting

[augadvancewriting]

Outside Event and Extra Credit

I went to the Furrow Open Mic Night on Wednesday, December 12th. It was about fourteen people including myself that read their pieces. Most of them were longer form and the others were usually several poems read to fill the space. I actually really enjoyed it for the most part because it was interesting to hear other people’s work, especially because most of them I didn’t know and had no baseline for what they could do. The other cool aspect was getting to hear Ethiel and Mikayla do their pieces which I have heard before but it had a new layer of edits and presentation added to it. Ethiel did a particularly good job at I told him he had even more emotion and conviction than when he read it before. He really captivated the audience and everyone reacted properly and at key points. He was the only one out of all of them to actually get audible responses which I found to be quite impressive. Mikayla also did a good job and her frustration and emotion came out really well in her piece. She said she had been nervous afterward but honestly those nerves didn’t show through when she presented her piece. My other favorite was from a person not in our class and they had a story about siblings at a sleepover. It took a dramatic turn at the end where the older sister somehow lost three toes in her sleep. I don’t know what happens after because the person cut the story there but it was definitely an interesting cliffhanger. 

Those were all of my highlights of the event and while I enjoyed it overall, my attention span can be limited. I have always had a hard time focusing sometimes, It facilitates my procrastination and makes me feel easily bored. I’ve documented this before in a previous zine and this event was no different. While I enjoyed it my brain also got easily distracted by noises outside or even a slight shift someone made in their seats. However, despite my brain acting in this way, I don’t think it impeded my overall experience of the Open Mic.

Lastly, I did decide to read at the open mic and I’m actually really glad I did. I picked a Villanelle that I’m really proud of and that outside of an online class other people hadn’t read or heard before. I wanted to choose something different from our zine class because those had been read and picked apart a bunch. This meant I wanted something that was hardly seen and would be new and interesting to even my fellow classmates who have heard some of my works. I wasn’t really nervous which was surprising, however, I did go after Ethiel and since mine was a bit different tonally I did note that my piece was much less serious and well, fictional. My poem's topic was based on Jurassic Park which I have a very strong affinity for. In fact, in my first blog post last fall 2018 I wrote about how much I liked Jurassic Park. This kind of creates a full-circle feeling. Overall, even though mine was quick I enjoyed being able to present my piece and I felt pretty accomplished and happy that I went. 

Jurassic Park

By August Dunphy

 You never stopped to think if you should 1

Unlocked gates, Dire Straights

You only wanted to know if you could 1

 Loud echoes of scratching wood

Heart pumping terror, Blood Circulates

You never stopped to think if you should

 Just a footprint left where you stood

The creature lurks and waits

You only wanted to know if you could

 Running inside you have a plan, is it good?

A flare in hand, one for each of your teammates

You never stopped to think if you should

 Will the young kids make it out of childhood?

Disaster on an island, what more awaits?

You only wanted to know if you could

 Silence leads to triumph, and soon all will be understood

As a few creep away for havoc at a later date

You never stopped to think if you should

You only wanted to know if you could

1.Spielberg, Steven, director. Jurassic Park. Performance by Jeff Goldblum, Universal Pictures, 1993.

[augadvancewriting]

Week 14

I honestly wouldn’t say this for most classes but I think there is a good chance I’d make zines on my own time. They wouldn’t be for other people to see mainly just for me but the class has definitely introduced me to a new and interesting medium. The class overall was really enjoyable because I got to learn about zines which I hadn’t heard about it before. Also, I enjoyed the critique sessions because it was good to hear everyone’s opinions and is definitely more influential than just looking at my own piece and trying to edit. The people in the class and the teacher also helped make it enjoyable. I feel like I made some good connections in the class and always appreciated the teacher's instruction and critiques. I definitely had a rough start with getting into the class after the first day and having a rough draft due before I’d even had one class. Plus like class three I was super late cause, I’m dumb and forgot when class started. Afterward, though it improved a lot because I understood the structure of the class and also the simple fact of what time it started. 

Moving forward I’m hoping the critiques in this class and my other workshop class help me improve in my future classes. The main improvement I need and want to make is with passive voice. I’m sure I’ve done it in this entry quite a bit but eventually, that’ll change. 

My personal hopes don’t really have to directly with the class but I want to stop procrastinating my personal projects. This is specifically scripts I’ve not completed or ones I want to begin. Scripts are my favorite medium to write in and I often have a flood of ideas to write scripts but once I start writing it’s hard to continue. I’m a very cinematic person and enjoy going to the movies and often have movie scenes play in my mind when I listen to certain songs. 

Also, I want to keep doing different and non-traditional topics. For example, writing fan letters to celebrities that are dead, creating a villanelle about Jurassic Park, analyzing my friends and strangers. I want to keep using traditional forms and styles with interesting topics to help broaden my horizons and strengthen my skills as a writer. 

Finally, I want to keep up some of my connections with my classmates not only because of friendships but also because it would be helpful for workshopping my work when I’m not in a workshop class. I respect a lot of my classmates and like their work and them as people, plus I already know I can take their criticism. This means it would helpful and not sugar-coated. 

[augadvancewriting]

Zine 5 Ideas

I want to incorporate design and text in equal capacity for my final project. I really enjoy Hollywood and pop culture media and want to incorporate that since I’m given the freedoms this time to pick the overall topic and methods.

My idea is to have it all be about celebrities' deaths that can be connected to their involvement with fame. This could be anything from suicide, drug overdose, car accident and more. I want to make a grander statement about how fame can lead to one’s demise, timely and untimely. This will be the connecting theme that fame corrupts with a side theme that fame corrupts like a poison. 

I’ll have about eight celebrities with small four stanza poems about their deaths/demise. I will decorate each page with stains of purple, forest green and black to represent the poison seeping in. Each page will have more and more of this color until the last page is completely covered. Each page will be slightly tailored to the celebrity in question. Like burn marks for a Kurt Cobain since his last quote in his note mentioned burn out. Another example is a bullet hole page with red marks for John Lennon’s Assassination. I’m not deadset on these customizations as they might come across as insensitive. However, I am deadset on the inclusion of the three colors representing poison. 

An alternative look wise is to have the quotes/small poems in a t.v. set, vinyl, or whatever represents the celebrity. This I feel would work but lacks cohesion for an overall piece.

The celebrity list I have so far is:

Princess Diana

Kurt Cobain

John Lennon

Judy Garland

Amy Winehouse

Marilyn Monroe

JFK

James Dean

There might be more included or others swapped out in favor of better examples or cohesion.

Also, I’m thinking of including an overall narrative throughout the zine opposite of the small poems but haven't decided on what to include in it. I’ve thought about just using celebrities' pictures or perhaps juxtaposing highlights of fame with the deaths of celebrities. This is probably the biggest area so far were I need help on because I’m a bit stuck. 

I’m definitely open to criticism and ideas but I would like to keep the main concept of fame can corrupt and lead to one’s demise. 

[augadvancewriting]

Field Methods Thoughts

Overall, I was pretty comfortable with how I conducted my interview sessions for the fourth zine and the Urban Drift Observations. The interview sessions were the most comfortable because I was talking to my close friends who I’ve known for years. They were very open and willing to talk to me and answer some personal questions about themselves. I did also ask them if I could record because while it would’ve technically been legal for me not to ask, I personally don’t believe it’s right to record audio or anything else without all party's consent. The part of interviewing were it got possibly awkward and uncomfortable is when talking about personal struggles and weakness but even then it wasn’t that bad at all. This was because I did my best to listen thoughtfully and give them plenty of room and time to talk and explain themselves. I would like to note that Ariana did say she was hesitant at first but by the end had enjoyed the overall interview process. I think this was because I made it clear that while I needed to have the interview that they could still decide what was in it and how personal they wanted to get. I especially emphasized this on the more raw questions as they were bound to stir up emotions and uncomfortable feelings. I think this is where it helped that I was their friend because it meant that they were comfortable with me and that I had a personal connection and trust with them. 

Urban Drift went a similar way because while I was observing the environment around me it was usually descriptions of the setting or the friend I knew who had accompanied me on a little adventure. The parts were it did get uncomfortable where when I was overhearing two different conversations that had obvious tension to them. It was these moments that felt like I was hearing something I shouldn’t have been. This is more of a common thing in a public place where someone is in an argument with the person they are with and you have to be around them and hear the situation unfold. This didn’t make me feel unethical or sleazy just more of an observer of what’s bound to happen if you go out in public around people often enough.  However, none of the information I gathered from these overheard conversations was especially bad to have a written record of. Also when describing the people who had the conversations, I didn’t give super specific identifying factors where someone could track down these people. In addition, these were public spaces so I didn’t feel too uncomfortable with revealing these conversations because they happened where anyone could’ve heard them and both of them were not quiet whatsoever. Also, I took creative liberties at representing their conversations and didn’t have exact quotations. This helps with the identity issue because it doesn’t give you too many specifics. 

[augadvancewriting]

Interview Snippet/Analysis

The following is the ending minute or so of my interview with one of my close friends. It to me was the most surprising part of the interview so I wanted to discuss at length in a blog post because I don’t necessarily have room for it in my zine.

“Well if I’m not the best one in the class then I’m not the most talented”

“I didn’t say you were the most talented I said you were talented”

“Well yea but if you’re not the most talented then I can’t claim being talented as my ideal thing because there are people more talented”

“Well there's always people more talented though”

“Well with that attitude there is”

“But that doesn’t mean that you're not talented”

“Mmmmmm I pretty sure that’s what that means”

“Talent doesn’t mean one person has to have it.”

(About an eight-second pause)

“Mmmmmm I think it slims the pool quite a bit,”

 This was probably the most striking part of the interview with Mia because the majority of the time they were pretty straightforward answers with no need for elaboration. To be fair this is how she is and even after I was done recording she mentioned how she didn’t really view herself as having any “real” problems and that most of the stress went away pretty quickly. When she said this, I did point out the fact that she said she was stressed about tetanus for two weeks but wasn’t stressed about other things and I just found it to be a curious look into what she finds important. In fact, she even rationalized finding tetanus to be more stressful because despite modern technology it still has a high death rate of thirty percent. It was definitely a point of interest for me and something I’ll possibly elaborate more on in the actual zine itself.

Back to the idea of Talent, I found it shocking that someone I view as being incredibly talented when it comes to digital and paper art doesn’t consider themselves to be talented. This is despite the fact she’s sold pieces, been in multiple art shows, and got a five on her AP Art submission. I just particularly found it interesting that someone can view themselves in such an opposite way from what others view them. From her own words, she doesn’t feel as though she can call herself talented unless she’s on the top. This feels like such a high standard to put oneself on but to be fair to her it’s kind of working. She just got a digital art-themed job and has 3.9 G.P.A and is constantly recognized for her work. So while I might think it's absurd she doesn’t see herself as talented because someone else might be better, it might be working for her because she pushes herself further then she would if she was satisfied with her work, to begin with.

[augadvancewriting]

Eccentric People

She’s the person I connect with most because her quirky traits are a lot of my quirky traits aswell. She mixes up common known phrases often mashing up two to create a brand new meaning. Such as, Barking up the wrong bush, Close but no cigarette, or even between a rock and a harder place. These may make her sound uneducated but in fact, she’s the most educated person I know because she has a doctorate in optometry. 

Another predominant trait his her overexcitement at things this is more plainly displayed in incredibly loud shouts and screaming at football games or more oddly when trying to hand off some extra prune singles. She finds excitement in odd things and in obvious things but it’s the level of excitement that is like anyone else. 

Her humor is some of the best. Dark humor would be an accurate way to describe part of it but it can also be quite silly. When she got the tumor diagnosis it was because a symptom had led her to have a bad taste in her mouth. To rectify the taste she used a lot of gum and quite frequently (I believe it’s the main reason for her recent excitement for Costco). This heavy usage and its association led to her calling it tumor gum which she found hilarious despite the more depressing connections. 

She’s the person with the mixed up catchphrases, odd humor, and overexcitement but there is so much more to here that is hard to explain without an in-person meeting. With all of these interesting traits, it makes me appreciate her more and more because, despite the quirkiness and sometimes odd timing of any one of these listed traits, she’s still the best mom I could’ve asked for. 

I’ve written about her before but only in a specific scenario and not in detail about her character, but my friend Ariana is quite eccentric and amazing. 

She’s a loud boisterous short person so of course, we get along, mainly cause neither of us can shut up or control our volume. This fact becomes more ironic when you learn her long-held job is at a library, a stereotypical place for quiet. Along with her loud voice comes frequent burping. This isn’t because she’s crass and wants to show off, it’s just how she was made. Her digestive system acts up and shows it’s symptoms in frequent and characteristically loud burps. This has earned her the loving nickname of burping queen and she basically has a monopoly on the act if you ask anyone in our friend group. 

Besides the loudness, she has hardcore support for pop-punk and emo bands. This isn’t abnormal or eccentric on the surface as many girls our age also support these kinds of bands, the reason its eccentric quality is her level of appreciation and support. She follows bands, not in the direct mainstream has been too over a dozen shows in the last year all relating to the genre and goes on extended rants on a particular band, its members, their music or even a simple tweet that could really mean something else. I don’t think I’ve had one hangout or lunch with her that hasn’t involved her bringing up one of the bands she strongly supports. 

While she isn’t my mom she is still a person I love and care about a lot. She definitely doesn’t fit into a direct mold but the little quirks and odd parts about her are what made me want to be her friend in the first place. 

[augadvancewriting]

Notes of the Underground

Community and its sections have a similar argument that works well for Twitter and other related social media. Like zines you can connect with people you don’t know, could be anonymous and whom you might never meet. The loneliness again can connect to social media as many people want to use the different platforms to get away from that feeling of loneliness. However, to my knowledge, I don’t know how much access people in jail get in relation to social media. Another connection I made was between the people writing in about weather and writing in their zine creations for a mega-zine are kind of like Dear Abby writers and readers. This is in the vain of wanting to publicize your problems and get a response from another person you don’t truly know. 

I did find some issues with a couple of the statements and arguments made with the idea of punk definitions and what the author seemed to herald as good. For example, he talks about how some groups plagiarized famous authors back in the mid 1870′s and the way it’s discussed it almost sounds like he’s saying its a good thing and apart of the culture. Also, the whole gatekeeping thing he references when it comes to definitions of punk is also annoying because when anyone acts like they hold the keys to be apart of a group it inhibits others and creates an overall nastiness. 

That all being said the being purposefully “different” got old a couple times in the representation like when they showed a map labeling city and then called it not a map. This to me feels like such a basic way of being different and doesn’t really achieve anything at large. 

I liked what they talked about in the work section when it came to controlling and juxtaposing how they ran a zine work with how a publishing company is run. It’s quite honorable that even though you might seemingly be a higher up writer you still did tasks like applying page numbers or maybe even thread or staple a book. This also helps with them managing cost which means they don’t necessarily have to be greedy especially because a lot of them seem to care more about getting their work out there then they did about earning a buck or two. 

This, however, is different and ironic when it comes to zines because they both don’t want controlling environments but are also taking control and doing it in sort of a punk anti-establishment way. 

I think the focus on the idea of a slacker is important because it has a negative connotation and could easily be linked to the zine movement. This is because outsiders could think they are slacking by not going through the proper channels of publishing and are instead doing it on their own. This, of course, is the opposite of slacking as they are still doing hard work but that doesn’t mean people still won’t judge. 

Overall, The book itself is an interesting and informative way to look into the world of zines especially in a time period that I didn’t yet exist. While I do feel there are some areas of contention and stuff I disagree with, overall the book serves its informational purpose. 

[augadvancewriting]

Possible Additions Part 2

My Instagram is littered with mainly shirtless are partially dressed men because this is the most attention-grabbing aspect of toned and muscular gay men on the app. Sometimes the pointless captions get to me when it’s an ad for “HelloFresh”, a subscription dinner making service, accompanied by a shirtless blonde toned guy wearing only an apron. I just think, how on earth does this relate to the service itself and why would I find this person to be reliable. It’s the times I see these useless displays of attraction that I can tend to be annoyed enough to unfollow because no matter how many I do unfollow there is plenty of them still on my existing feed to scroll through. 

The caffeine in the latte is adding to my pre-existing intake of caffeine from the morning cup of joe and the energy drink that followed that later in the morning. This much caffeine could connect to a multitude of facets about myself. First, it could simply be that I'm a naturally tired person and seeing as I especially didn’t get a lot of sleep the previous night I thought I would offset it with the energy from these several drinks. Another reason could be that my body is so used to the intake of this addicting chemical that it needs me to supply it with more and more each day. The addictive properties are often talked about with coffee and energy drinks and while I’m aware of this it doesn't phase me. That is until I have a period of no caffeine for a day or two and my head punishes me with an excruciating headache that can only be calmed by a quick afternoon mocha. Another small reason is my collection of mugs which has reached about fourteen or fifteen total mugs, four of which were collected on my semi-recent Orlando trip. I can’t fully explain it but I really like mugs and how cute and different they can look. I especially like the themed ones that represent holidays or pop culture iconography. The last reason is the culture of coffee is so prevalent in modern media and especially with my own generation. The culture is large and has resulting memorabilia like shirts with awful puns, specialized mugs, pillows, stickers, and even enamel pins. While I do think I subscribe to this part of the culture I think an even more influential cultural connection is afoot here and that is gay culture. Now to non-gay men that may seem confusing but in the community coffee is a huge stereotype. The primary stereotype is that we like iced coffee at all times of the day and year. In addition to this stereotype it’s also tacked on for the reason we like to walk at a quickened pace. It’s the inter-community stereotype that helps drive my love for coffee and I’m oddly proud of that fact. 

[augadvancewriting]

Additional snippets to possibly Add for Zine 3

The second floor of the library is the most peaceful in the middle of the week and during a week that doesn’t include campus-wide exams. This means it’s busy but not overcrowded and I’m pretty good at finding a prime outlet spot while also being away from people. The area is populated by vacant shelves with orange laminated sheets that warn they are doing a relocation hence the empty shelves. Carpeting in the library is from either the 1980′s or 1890′s because it's an old fashioned blue-grey flattened piece covered in brown coffee stains and dirt from thousands of college students. Like most areas of campus, it could definitely use an update but maybe that’s the charm of the area itself. It’s a time capsule of a far gone period of time. 

Pictures of pumpkin picking with high school friends that they haven’t grown out of yet dot my Instagram. Along with a gay couple and their newly adopted child. Between the cute gay couples, and the remnants of high school relations lies a ton of Ad content whether it be celebrity sponsored diet supplements or highly targeted advertising that shows me sock ads literally only thirty seconds after I looked up Van’s Socks on Google.  

Murky brown lines have flowed down the side of the Prussian Blue colored cup only being stopped by the cardboard holder. The steam coming from the open lid had subsided and while the creamy brown liquid was still decently warm it definitely wouldn't  burn my tongue in an instant hot. 

This zine may have come forth through an investigation into seemingly mundane events of my life but it became increasingly introspective even in just writing the draft. I obviously am already quite aware of how distracted I can be and it comes up in my everyday life not just when doing homework assignments. Yet, I still learned something because I often joke about having undiagnosed ADHD but this assignment itself and writing about my easiness to be distracted made this joke feel even more real.  

[augadvancewriting]

Brevity

The first nonfiction flash fiction I read was titled “Snowbound”. The structure of it is in five different short paragraphs talking about what must be the time frame of under a year. It follows Natalie as she gets excepted into her dream school, prepares to go there and she adjusts into her college life. The form is simple prose blurbs that mainly thrust you into the middle of a situation which makes sense because you don’t want to have to set up each individual small paragraph. The meaning behind this piece could be very nuanced and have different meanings depending on how the reader views it. On the surface, it’s a story about a girl who comes from a lower-income family adjusting to her dream college. This, however, is just the surface and to truly understand her points you have to break that ice. Her story also deals with the racist and possibly fatphobic undertones her new peers have about her, this is shown through their shock that she is a smart student. What might seem like an off-handed comment to the speaker is really a deep jab into Natalie’s self-identity and psyche. In fact, it’s right after this overheard conversation that she begins to describe her outwards appearance in a negative way. The overall piece goes from optimistic to defeated rather quickly. The piece talks about low-income struggles, racist comments, and the transition into college in a very short amount of space. It does all of these well and creates a well rounded and dynamic piece of literature.  

The second piece is called “Still Life” and is divided up into three paragraphs. The first takes place in the present while the other two take place in a flashback sort of recollection of a memory. The story is about a sister recollecting her brother Dale when she is reminded of him when a waitress calls the same name. She talks about his low upkeep of not only his house but his health and life as well. The form is different from the last one as it isn’t numbered and is just simply three prose paragraphs telling a story. The meaning behind this piece is a lot about slowly watching someone you care about and love slip away from life itself. The author describes her brother Dale’s many health problems and mentions his deteriorating health both mentally and physically. She punctuates this with the fact that he doesn’t seem to always remember who she is. This is evident when she says “Dale is almost sure who I am.” This is a heartbreaking moment in the piece as we’ve already established the connection between the author and her main focus and to think that he can’t even remember his own sister sometimes has got to be painful in and of itself. The first paragraph seems to be filled with a happier side of how she remembers her brother. This makes the following two paragraphs feel like a 180 as I wouldn't have guessed how much Dale would’ve been deteriorating. She deals with something very personal in such a short piece and she crafts it in an artful way that feels very raw and truthful. 

The final one I read and possibly the strangest was “You Know.” This structure was in one continuous paragraph and often felt like a run-on sentence of consciousness. The plot isn’t super evident as I do believe this is supposed to show an author’s thought process in writing and their own personal tangents. The form is basically just a run-on involving a “K” sound in different phrases and words. This includes words with actual “K’s” in them as well as “C’s”, “Ch’s “ and “CC’s” that make a similar sound as the letter. I both dislike and like this entry and confusingly enough for basically the same reasons. I enjoy that it’s just an unleashing of one similar theme in one stream of words and phrases connected to each other loosely. However, because it’s just a long list of words and phrases means it’s not really a standard storyline like the other two entries I discussed and analyzed. This, however, does set it apart from being too similar to other stories and of the three will most likely be the one I would actually talk about with other people that aren’t in my class. 

[augadvancewriting]

Record Player

The case is covered in faux baby blue leather and when closed it looks much like a wider briefcase. On all of the corners, there is a black rubber protecting them in case of falls. The interior itself is primarily black including all the switches, dials and the turntable itself. The needle itself is held by a latch and can be released onto the vinyl by pushing a lever that causes the needle to fall and start playing the melodies of whatever track I’ve picked. This Record Player is my most important new item because it’s old fashion in concept and allows me to explore a genre or form that I’m not used to. 

Walt Disney World 2019 Snowglobe

The base of the snowglobe is covered in a silicone type rubber to help with easy rebound when or if it is dropped. The overall base is a standard deep Disney blue with slightly raised white lettering that says Walt Disney World. The actual snowglobe area has three parts two. The first is a plastic image of the iconic Cinderella Castle which serves as the middle ground of the snowglobe itself. The foreground is two plastic figures which are representations of Mickey and Minnie Mouse. The background is a primarily white screen with the year “2019″ in large font. Each letter of the year is in a different color and these four colors are the colors of the “snowflakes” in the globe. These snowflakes aren’t the traditional snowflake and are actually tiny mickey mouse heads. This snowglobe serves as a good decoration for right next to my bed and reminds me of my recent trip there. 

The Countess Pop Funko

The figure stands about six inches tall and is mostly a standard cartoonish looking blonde woman. The figure wears a floor-length red dress that has a slit up one leg and opens in a wide flourish. At the bottom, she wears heels which are a copy of the red on her dress. Her face has the standard filled in black circles that is a trademark for the Pop Funko company. Around the eyes are black lines put up into a wing with lengthy eyelashes. The face also has blonde eyebrows and her hair is in a wavy shoulder-length look. Her mouth is a similar red as her dress and she has a drop of red around her mouth. This red is blood as it represents the fact that the character is a vampiress. Her arms are somewhat crossed and one arm is pointed up to the sky. The one up to the sky is covered in a silver glove with sharp nails that are supposed to have a razor-like quality. The Character is called The Countess and is a staple of the fifth season of American Horror Story. The character is played by Lady Gaga and has her characteristic blonde hair.

Micellar Water

A clear bottle with black lettering and green text towards the top. Most of the lettering spells out its purposes and different functions such as it being a three in one cleaner for acne, makeup, and an overall cleanser. The lid is a transparent green flip-open lid. The primary purpose that I use is to take off any makeup experimenting or to clean the general grease and oil off of my face that has accumulated during the day.

Joanne Poster

Another item centered around my love and appreciation for Lady Gaga. Also, the third item to have a similar blue overall blue theme to it. The background is a fading sky blue that starts off as an opaque color and gets muddled towards the bottom. Lady Gaga herself is in the center showing off her side view and she looks slightly up, tilting her chin towards the stark sky blue color. On top of her head is a cowboy-style hat that is a pastel pink, commonly referred to as millennial pink. Her bleach blonde hair falls to the top of her chest which is the only thing covering her torso as it’s not apparent that she is wearing anything. Her back tattoo is showing on her upper shoulder but it's not apparent what that tattoo is. At the top in white lettering, it says, “LADY GAGA/ JOANNE”.

[augadvancewriting]

Lydia Davis

Her writing was actually super interesting to me, she has the kind of style of creativity that I enjoy. I had a lot of thought while reading her work, most of which were quite random or pop culture related, but I believe she would’ve enjoyed the randomness that her work inspired. I think the overall theme of disturbance worked really well in the collection itself however I do think the uncomfortable feeling of disturbance was stronger in some pieces then it was others. For example, “ The Strangers” had a very creepy vibe to it because it tells the story of a narrator who resides in their Grandmother’s home and they keep having mysterious guests who pop in and out at any given time and act strangely. This poem takes a relatively common human experience of having unannounced or suprises guest and morphs it into an Edgar Allen Poe like experience. Frankly, I was waiting for the moment the narrator was going to talk about the heart in the floorboards. A piece where there was less creepiness or disturbance was “Head, Heart”. This wasn’t a huge disturbance to me because it talks about how one’s heart can make them worry or feel sorrow and our mind is there to ease those feelings and let us feel more free and happy. This, however, happens over and over again which can seem unnerving but to me, it’s just a normal function of being an emotional human being rather than a part of like to be worried or scared about. Going back to the Edgar Allen Poe feel, I honestly think this collection of works reads a lot like a short story collection for Edgar Allen Poe. However, her pieces feel more palatable mainly because they relate to more modern-day scenarios that I as a reader are more familiar with than some of the situations Poe wrote about in his works. This sort of correlation makes sense because in many of his works Poe looked to “disturb” the reader because he himself felt that kind of feeling in his everyday life. 

I also enjoy how she uses the white space around her shorter and more haiku-like pieces because they feel more digestible and really make the reader focus on the message. This short form and freeing space also lends itself to be read multiple times instead of reading a dense couple of pages once and forgetting certain details. With the short ones you almost remember every word because there isn’t much to remember in the first place. 

Her voice is clear throughout the piece as she often feels like the narrator in all of the different settings. She uses a strong voice when it concerns imagery and how she wants to make the reader feel. Often times her voice is so poignant that the title itself can be just as important if not more important then the work itself. This is because the title is often the main meaning of the work the reader is about to read. 

Overall, I really liked reading her work as it had a lot of variety in the styles, length, and the fact that it was different than just reading your typical book.

[augadvancewriting]

Urban Drifting

1.

I said yes to a bag as I had to go to Walgreens still and didn’t want to carry everything in my arms. They joked that the real reason was because I didn’t want Walgreens to think I was stealing from them. I chuckled, “Yea, they would have drug store vinyls.”

“What would they even have as drug store vinyls?” he responded back.

“Probably Natasha Bedingfield.”

They laughed as we exited the store but I was a bit sad that our conversation had been cut short as they were very nice people, but alas you can’t just assume people want to talk and you don’t want to corner them into talking just because they can’t leave their own work. I’m sure the delight in the conversation had just gone “Unwritten.”

We made our way across the street ignoring the Do Not Cross sign. After getting safely across we entered Walgreens and I made a b-line for the counter.

 2.

“Well once Davis gets his shit together, he can start making decisions about what he wants.”

“He’s still going to argue with you about it.”

“Well man up and talk to him then, he’s your brother after all.”

 3.

Stop: 4223: FARWELL + OGDEN-FRANKLIN

Route: 30X

5204 – 8 MIN

 I flipped threw the plastic sheet covered vinyl covers looking for a hidden gem amongst the discounted New Arrivals. Majority of them were titles or artists I had never heard of before until I found a few that sort of rang a bell but didn’t have enough of a selection to garner excitement or the need to actually buy them.

 Stop: 4223: FARWELL + OGDEN-FRANKLIN

Route: 30X

5204 – 6 MIN

 The silence in the store had not yet been punctured by another track, which I could not help but find ironic in a store that exclusively sells music in different forms. Either way I continued with my search until my fingers flitted across Michael Jackson’s Thriller Album. Inspecting the back, I realized I knew at least five of the eight or nine songs on the record and since it was only about nine dollars itself it seemed like a worthy buy. Feeling happy with myself I held the record against my body with my elbow.

 Stop: 4223: FARWELL + OGDEN-FRANKLIN

Route: 30X

5204 – 3 MIN

 The guy behind me was rifling through clearance vinyls while there was still dead silence except for the crinkling of plastic. This made the situation all the more uncomfortable because we were so close together but both equally refusing to acknowledge that fact. Except this refusal was made all the harder by the fact that no music had been playing for almost ten minutes.

 Stop: 4223: FARWELL + OGDEN-FRANKLIN

Route: 30X

5204 – Approaching

 I looked towards the door expecting to see my friend walking in but still no entrance and even more continued silence.

 Stop: 4223: FARWELL + OGDEN-FRANKLIN

Route: 30X

5310 – 15 MIN

 The lateness was starting to become concerning as the bus she should’ve taken had arrived and passed the area. She also hadn’t opened any of my messages which added to my further stress about the situation.

[augadvancewriting]

Higher Education Recent Conflict

I just woke up at my normal alarm clock sounding at Eight-Thirty A.M. and laid in bed because I was tired and not ready to face the day just quite yet, because of this I rolled over and closed my eyes for a little bit more. My second alarm rang out again and sounded at Nine A.M., this was my true call to action and the final try to actually wake up and start the day. I groggily slumped out of bed, shutting my laptop that had been playing various youtube videos throughout the night as a way of white noise. I proceeded to pick out my outfit of the day and roughly opened the door to exit my bedroom. I threw my clothes on the bathroom floor and got into the shower. I fumbled with the knob trying to get that right feel of boiling hot but not skin peeling hot. After I thoroughly had doused my body in steaming hot water, I stepped out, dried off and quickly got dressed. After I fixed up my hair and put on deodorant I went into my room and laid down on my bed. I scrolled through my phone trying to kill the time I had left before I thought I had to leave. I even went over in my head the things I needed to get done and thought about my homework assignments and various chores I had to get done. It crossed my mind that I might have something to do for my creative writing workshop and while thinking through that it, it dawned on me like a thorn in my foot, I was late for class. I had a solid pit in my stomach because not only was I missing class and had missed a majority already but, I was missing an important class in and of itself. I had accumulated a large amount of stress all of a sudden and immediately was worried out of my mind. Grabbing my keys, wallet and backpack I rushed out of my room and ran towards the elevator because I had to get to class as soon as possible. I kept going through the pros and cons of missing class because I’d already missed over half of the class but in the end, I decided I needed to go because I need to show at least a little bit of effort. I also didn’t want to miss the information that our teacher told us was necessary to gain. I impatiently waited for the bus and debated whether or not it would be best to go on the campus shuttle or try my luck with the city bus. A couple minutes later the shuttle arrived and I scurried like a rat onto the shuttle and found my seat. The shuttle drive there was excruciating as I watched minute after minute of my class drain away and I felt greater and greater regret. Once the shuttle had dropped us off I booked it over to the classroom, letting the music blast in my ears and the crowds of people rush around me. Finally, I made it to class and gave my timid apologies and sat down and tried to catch up to my surrounding classmates. 

[augadvancewriting]

Immediate Action

My metal comprised laptop is damaged in multiple ways and includes mess after mess on not only the keyboard but the screen as well. The screen has smears of questionable Smutz and plenty of fingerprints, which comes with having a touchscreen. In the top left corner, the glass itself is cracked and the laminate under the glass has started to peel away and looks like a beneath the surface blister bubble. A very similar thing is happening in the bottom right corner where the screen has been pushed forward and the laminate bubbles and the metal surrounding the glass screen. The real mess comes when you see the keyboard. Stains galore which is ironic because my job for the last two years is literally being a janitor. The stains mainly result from the fact that I constantly eat while doing anything on my laptop. To the left of the track-pad, there are several water and coffee stains because it's my most convenient place to put a drink when I'm watching a video but not typing anything. My trackpad itself sticks and has tacky parts because I like doing some crafts and usually use references on my laptop and therefore the glue was dangerously close to my laptop. The keys themselves are littered with different grey and brown stains from a multitude of sources, so many that I can't even begin to try and remember where really any of them are from. I will say the most recent and really the only one I can remember is getting ketchup from a Burger King Whopper on the "S" and "W" keys. I've truly battered this piece of technology, but it's also because I use it so frequently and it's such an important and vital part of my everyday life. It functions fit into most aspects of my life including the most important parts like school work and my free time. I’m able to write this very blog post on it. I can read the numerous articles, readings and sometimes even textbooks that are all required for classes I’m taking. All the programs on it are vital for schoolwork such as Word, Excel, Canvas and even this website itself. Not only does this laptop encapsulate almost everything I need for school and homework, but I also use it for most of my free time. One of my favorite past times is watching videos, tv, and movies, all of which I can do on my laptop. Of the three forms of media, watching videos is my favorite and the one I do the most, mainly because YouTube itself has so many videos of varying lengths that will always catch my interest. Not only does my laptop have intriguing videos but it also has various internet games and even downloadable video games for me to play. I’m an easily distracted person and usually have to be doing something else while watching videos, so having games to play while I watch something makes it all the better. I think a laptop is important for a lot of people especially College Students, but for me, it’s especially important and vital because I use it for everything, and it’s truly stood against everything I’ve thrown at it.