Savannah's Literary Moments

My world awareness [Reading Literature Privately]
When I was in Junior High I found the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, and although it was a relatively easy read the content in it was so harsh and new to my young mind. Rape was something that I had vaguely heard about but this book really opened my eyes to the reality and the horrifying experiences that so many young women in our culture face and have to learn to cope with.

Heartbreak poems [Literary Coping]
I've always used poetry as a way to journal and deal with my emotions since I was a child, but this last year at BYU after a particularly difficult breakup I wrote a poem to my ex. I never showed it to him or even anyone close to me, but it was my outlet that I poured my emotions into. It was harsh, it was sad, and it was real. Even reading it now brings back a flood of those emotions because I clearly can feel the meaning behind each line.

A mother's love [Memorization of Literature]
For as long as I can remember my mom has always been reading the book Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, and the lines, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be" are ingrained in my brain. They're not particularly complex lines, but I hold them dear to my heart and the memories I associate with them. It's so tender for me to see my older siblings starting the same tradition of reading to their young children, and it's something I plan to continue in my family.

Spoken word's changing lives [Literature Performed]
Every Spring, my high school would have selected students perform spoken words for the school  that they had written and memorized in our creative writing class. As a junior I was sitting in the huge auditorium, and this semi-"popular" boy got up and began preforming this beautifully written poem. Woven through the metaphors and literary devices he expressed his sadness of how he could never tell his dad he was gay, for fear of physical and emotional harm. My heart was absolutely broken, and it really increased my love and respect for those of the LGBT community. It also inspired me to sign up for the class my senior year and work hard enough so that I too could perform a meaningful piece in front of the school.

Nicholas Spark's has my heart [Literary Travel]
My senior trip my mom and I traveled to Savannah, Georgia because of my ridiculous desire to visit the city that shared my name. While travelling throughout the south however, I could not stop thinking of various Nicholas Spark's novels and thinking that he could have been writing of the exact places I was standing in when he wove his love stories throughout the South. Because of this, I started reading the novels during our spare time on that trip and I felt so much closer to the characters and their romances. Needless to say, I now want to fall in love in the South and have a Nicholas Spark's love story.

Same country, a different language [ Foreign Literary Experience]
Although technically the same language, when I read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, I felt like as I journeyed through the adventures of Lily and Rosaleen with them, I was experiencing a completely different culture than I was used to as a white girl from the Pacific Northwest. Their different dialect was just the first step in me understanding the history and culture of the South in the 1960's.

Kayla's Literary Moments

My Mother’s Childhood [Discussing Literature]

Educated by Tara Westbrook is one of the most insightful and eye-opening books I have read. Upon finishing it, I recommended the book to my mother. As we discussed the book together, she expressed how similar her own childhood was to Tara’s. She felt as though she had read a story about her own childhood and how she managed to escape that oppression. I realized how much my mother had overcome, as she doesn’t talk much about her situation growing up. It brought us closer together. 

Me in 100 Words [Creatively Composing] 

One of my English professors encouraged me to introduce myself to the class by way of a written piece containing 100 words. I realized that the thing that made me who I am was my hometown and rural upbringing. The beginning reads: “I’m a desert child. Born under a blistering late afternoon sun in July, raised on a lake that turns to melted gold under pink skies. My childhood was spent wandering barefoot through sagebrush, always keeping a watchful eye for rattlesnakes.” I felt a connection to my childhood while composing this short piece. 

Connecting With My Ancestors [Literary within Musical Experience] 

I often play a rendition of “Land of our Dreams” on the piano and sing it to my grandfather, who finds comfort and peace each time he requests I play it for him. The lyrics are a lullaby a mother sings to her child as they escape to America at the same time my family’s ancestors did. The song has deep meaning to my family. “May your sleep be as sweet as the wind on the waves / blowing gently toward far happier days. May each breath be a promise to help you believe / we’re off to the land of our dreams.”

Understanding The Glass Castle [Cinematic Literary Experience] 

My favorite book is The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. Recently, it was turned into a movie. The movie helped me to deepen my understanding of the family situation Jeanette endured and brought to life scenes I had difficulty picturing in my head from the book alone. 

Christmas Gifts [Literary Letters] 

My younger sister is serving a mission in Taiwan and this was her first Christmas away from home. For her Christmas present, I painted a series of Christ figures with different poems I had written for her as messages of encouragement, hope, and love. We FaceTimed on Christmas Eve to watch her open her presents. My gift of poems and art made both her and I cry. It was a special moment for my family.  

A trip to Amsterdam [Literary Travel] 

My mother and I share a favorite book, The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. We are traveling to Holland in March in order to visit her house that hid Jews during WWII. I am excited to see how visiting the place where the story is set will further connect me to the novel.

Hannah's Academic Writing Self-Assessment

Last semester I took English 310 and at the end of the semester wrote an enthymeme that explored the effects of writing poetry on those seeking to overcome unwanted pornography habits.  I felt as I prepared the paper that I really grew in my ability to analyze. Instead of simply stating facts or opinions, I was able to explain the effects, underlaying factors and the 'why' behind the main points of my argument. This analysis was on a much deeper level than I had yet to experience in my writing, and I believe this was because of the lessons I had learned in my class. I had learned how to break apart the whole of my enthymeme into the many different pieces, and then explain how they fit back together in synthesis. One weakness that I have struggled with, and especially in this paper, is transition of ideas. I feel that I often have many thoughts I want to include in my paper but struggle putting them all together in a simple and comprehensible way.

James' Literary Moments

A Gospel Allegory (Religious Literary Experience): While reading The Lord of the Rings, I stumbled across a song sung by the character Samwise Gamgee. The song is titled “In Western Lands Beneath the Sun,” if you want to look it up. While reading the last stanza, I made a connection between the story and the Gospel of Jesus Christ that gave me a new way of looking at things.

The Worth of a Life (Reading Literature Privately): The ending of The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson gave me a new way of looking at fiction. In the book, a character offers a priceless, powerful weapon to his enemy in exchange for the lives of a group of “worthless” slaves. This powerful moment has taught me to rethink fantasy’s tendency to glorify violence and to rethink “heroism.”

A Terrifying Glimpse (Sublime Literary Experience): While reading Mr. Monster by Dan Wells, I was almost forced to put down the book; though in the end I didn’t have the strength to put it down. The reason? Seeing into the dark side of the protagonist of the book gave me a terrifying glimpse into my own dark side. A glimpse that I did not want to see.

Literary Moments: A Personal Inventory (Assignment)

We write better about literature when we tap into the wellsprings of literary experiences that have engaged us personally. Before my students commit to subjects of literary analysis or expression, I want them to go through a reflective process in which they curate a set of literary moments that have stuck with them, for whatever reason.

Select from among the following prompts to produce an annotated list of about six items, each of which should have an annotation of about 25-75 words relating that experience in brief. If possible, use a quotation from that literary work in question. Title each entry and put in brackets, following the title, the type of literary moment (that is, which of the following prompts you used). See the examples at the bottom.

You are only half done once you've posted. Be sure that you read and respond to at least three of your peers' posts. Tell them which of their moments you'd like to hear more about, or the ones that relate to your own. Help each other get excited about possibilities for writing more.

Alyssa's Academic Writing Self-Assessment

It is extremely typical of me to begin an academic paper (or any paragraph within that paper) with one sentence, erase it, write another, erase it, and then write another, only to hit the backspace an inordinate amount of times in frustration. Even though I do very well in planning out my essays and noting down which quotes from sources will go in which paragraph and how each point of my argument will connect with the next, I struggle with starting to put the words on the page. At certain times (like a couple nights before the due date) inspiration will strike, and words will flow from me like water from a fountain. But then, of course, editing that deluge becomes something of a secondary priority. For example, the final paper in my English 291 class required me to do some research on a piece of medieval literature and then analyze the text through a formal lens. This paper boasted an incredibly detailed outline with gorgeous notes next to each quotation and citation. But it took me at least three days to come up with the sentences that would build something more solid from the framework for the paper.

Maddi's Academic Writing Self-Assessment

In my academic writing, I tend to approach it as one would a recipe-- I take all of my ingredients (thesis statement, evidence, reasoning, etc.) and put it together to make a paper. Because of this my papers tend to be more organized than my creative writing, however, it also can lend to problems of losing my voice and style as I write. In my Persuasive Writing class last semester we wrote a 10 page research paper on how the way we eat affects our mental health, and collecting evidence and reasoning with it seemed to come a little easier to me, however the editing process took up a lot of my time because the way I had written the paper had become quite dull. In an effort to hit all the check marks I had lost my passion of the topic I was discussing!