two stars: 
   (I think it should be more)
This assignment was to create a genre themed or compilation album cover and playlist. I put together Down in the Mountains, a compilation of country/blues songs. The name (in case you’re confused) stems from the genre; “in the mountains” because its music you might expect to hear there and “down” because its bluesy and sad. I made a front cover and then I made a back cover for the playlist. Imagine them on a CD case. Both photos were taken my me.
“Tina Noir Valentine 2015,” by Talky Tina, on Flickr
Well, this is for Mr. Paul’s Noir Valentines Design Assignment 1615 assignment that he made that I made for him. You can read all of those noir words that I said up there in the card, and then you can look them up if you need to translate them into your regular words. Jim Groom (@jimgroom) and Mr. Paul (@phb256) will like the Twists, Slugs, and Roscoes: A Glossary of Hardboiled Slang.
Here is the full text:
Donât be a bunny, close your head and pin your diapers on. Dip the bill, drift and fade in your Flogger (and go climb up your thumb). The rumble is you may be lousy with the bees, but my cheaters say youâre a hinky hombre, and I made ya. No Oyster fruit from this peeper, savvy? Iâm swift and no weak sister bim. Take it on the beezer, itâs time for you to visit the clubhouse, or Iâll play you some chin music and set you up for the Big Sleep. But have a happy Valentine’s day all the same, bub!
Well, it is always fun to have a nice Valentine Card to send. Plus a Noir106 one.
—
http://assignments.ds106.us/assignments/ask-your-audience-theyre-smarter-than-you-think/Â Â Â (Three Stars)
This is a picture of the Rappahannock River in Fredericksburg. I have visited the river many times and it is one of my favorite spots to sit outside. I have always wondered about the history behind it though, so my question is, what is the historical significance of the Rappahannock River?
Uh oh, you’ve been asked for some I.D. and depending upon your circumstances, you may need to craft something together for your story character in a hurry. Â First, you’ll want to start with an example to use as a template within whatever your character exists. Â You may want a labor union card, passport, driver’s license, […]
Given everything that has happened, I thought it’d be best that I take the time to do this assignment on saying what I am thankful for in 10 seconds.
So here it goes..
After being suspended, I really had more time to think and appreciate what I had but messed up. Hopefully they will have mercy on me.
Thank you Kima
Carver.. Always my partner in crime
The final assignment I did for Rawls this week was “Tell Us About Your Future Life” (3 stars). I changed this one up a little bit, rather than being in a history book, it is more like a newspaper article from a couple of years in the future. I threw some different ideas around but I liked what I ended up doing the best. Here is my article:
“William Rawls, after retiring from the Baltimore Police Department in 2018, moved to a home in western Maryland with his boyfriend. He and his boyfriend are happy to be away from the city and the hustle and bustle of city life. âCity life was just wearing me down,â Rawls says in an interview, âI just wanted to get away from the only life I have known. It is a great change and I am looking forward to our future here.â Rawls and his boyfriend plan to get married in the near future.
Rawls is missing his co-workers from Baltimore PD, especially Jimmy McNulty, his favorite to pick on. However, it is nice to not have to deal with âthe bullsh!tâ that they put him through. He never did make it to Comm Stat, which was his goal from the beginning, but he now realizes that it was not a feasible goal due to his skin color. Rawls was able to get over that, though, and enjoy his remaining years in the department. He retired and there were many people at his retirement ceremony.
He and his boyfriend now run a horse farm where they provide therapeutic treatment for autistic children.”
This is “Postcards from the Past” for a writing assignment to further the story for my character this semester. My re-imagined Bubbles is a retired pole dancer who used to work at Orlando’s Gentleman’s club in Baltimore. Â She began working as a confidential informant for Kima Greggs, a detective on the Baltimore Police Department, and […]
Based off of a final project I had in Spanish class, this assignment I’ve created involves history and some form of artistic creativity–preferably writing, but I won’t limit you to just that medium!
Find an old archive: letter, postcard, photograph, memo, computer document, e-mail. Then, form a story surrounding the piece. Develop a general, basic narrative or back story and characters. It doesn’t have to be super long; it can be a haiku or a novella–your choice. Let the past inspire you!
My example is a postcard from World War I. It was discovered unsent and from an unknown author, and attached to the postcard was a small poppy, addressed to the soldier’s love. I wrote the following poem in Spanish about the card:
âLas amapolasâ
Las amapolas estĂĄn rojas
Como sus labios
Como sus mejillas después de te besaba
Por la primera vez
La hierba debajo de
Mi cuerpo
Tallos altos estrujados por mi peso
Me sienten la misma de su abrazo, de sus rumores en mi oreja
Suaves y apasionantes
(Las amapolas estĂĄn rojas como mi sangre)
Recuerdo la carta que te envié
Recuerdo las memorias que volvĂan
Corriendo con cada trazo de escritura
Tu sonrisa en la luz del sol
Tu mano en mĂa
El aire fresco y abundante con la primavera y la posibilidad
De una eternidad contigo
DĂas innumerables de trabajo
Cayendo en mi cama
Exhausto
DĂas de ahorro y no noches de diversiĂłn
Y el momento de orgulloso
En que yo finalmente tenĂa
El anillo de diamante en mis manos
La noche antes de mi despliegue
Cuando tĂș lloraba y le pegaba a mi pecho
ExigĂa una razĂłn por la que el paĂs y la honradez
Eran mĂĄs importantes de tĂș
(Nada es mĂĄs importante de tĂș)
Ahora
Como esta noche y su anillo de diamante
El cielo es tu mirada
Y las estrellas son tus ojos
La Tierra de Nadie estĂĄ finalmente vacĂa de gritos y gemidos.
Y estoy tan agradecido que la cosa final que yo voy a ver
Es tu cara
“The Poppies”
The poppies are red
Like your lips
Like your cheeks after I kissed you
For the first time
The grass beneath
My body
Tall stems crushed by my weight
They feel the same as your embrace, your whispers in my ear
Smooth and thrilling
(The poppies are red like my blood)
I remember the letter that I mailed you
I remember the memories that came
Running with each stroke of the pen
Your smile in the light of the sun
Your hand in mine
The air fresh and rich with spring and the possibility
Of an eternity with you
Countless days of work
Falling into my bed
Exhausted
Days of saving and no nights full of fun
And the moment of pride
When I finally had
That diamond ring in my hands
The night before my deployment
When you cried and beat my chest
Demanding a reason why country and honor
Were more important than you
(Nothing is more important than you)
Now
Like this night and your diamond ring
The sky is your gaze
And the stars are your eyes
No Man’s Land is finally empty of screams and moans.
And I am grateful that the last thing that I will see
Is your face.
For my second tutorial, I’m going to try something a bit out-of-the-ordinary. While most DS106-ers stick to working on technical aspects during their tutorials (bless Hope for this Mozilla Popcorn tutorial), I’m going to get a bit more creative and open-ended.
Intrigued–and also filled with mild trepidation–by the section titled “Fanfic Assignments” in the Assignment Bank, I was quite pleased to see a creative writing exercise that I often use myself listed in the project suggestions.
I love writing. I’ve had a poem published and attended workshops at the University of Virginia to hone my craft, and I recently finished and am sending around my novel to writing agents. To help myself flesh out characters and build worlds, I will often create a character profile.
Since I usually have the general plot of my story planned when I begin to scribble, my characters are created as ways to forward said plot. They’re tools, but, as any book-lover knows, tools aren’t fun to read about! To make the characters deeper, layered like actual human beings, I’ll go through and create back stories, fears, loves, interests, flaws, etc.
This is actually one of the most challenging parts of writing for me, because I prefer to let the words and ideas flow rather than spend a lot of time painstakingly thinking out details. Sometimes, though, working through details such as full names, dates, etc. for continuity is essential, and every writer should learn how to do this!
Therefore, my second tutorial will be giving everyone tips on how to create their own character and creatively write in general!
First things first…
(1) OKAY, WE GET IT. SOME PEOPLE DON’T LIKE WRITING.
If I had a dollar for every time I heard a peer or older adult say that they hate writing, English class, poems, [insert literary task here], I would probably have enough money to fund Alan’s vacation to Kansas.
Guess what? The world is amazing with all its differences. There are people who love writing, who win Nobel Prizes and move millions with their words, and then there are people who develop amazing math theorems that change science or learn ten languages and contribute to diplomatic cooperation. Point is: people have their likes and dislikes. Don’t shut out something before you’ve really tried it just because you had a bad first experience–like AP English.
(2) THERE ARE DIFFERENT TYPES OF WRITING.
The thing is, creative writing and literature studies such as those in AP English are quite different. I’m not the biggest fan of penning analytical essays about the motif of poison in Hamlet, but assign me a poem, and I’ll have a blast.
Creative writing AKA this ds106 assignment is meant to be fun. It isn’t timed. It isn’t graded. It’s a stretch of the imagination, and the only limits are the limits you place on yourself and your mind, so…
(3) RELAX.
Unlike science, history, or other intensely academic subjects, there are a lot of different writing styles (see: Faulkner and Hemingway), and not one of them is more correct than another. This leads to my next point…
Hemingway & Faulkner’s dogs.
(4) DON’T COMPARE.
Again, creative writing is for your own enjoyment as a creator, as an artist, as a human being with a soul and a brain and ideas! Don’t compare your prose or poetry or scripts or whatever with your favorite author, because no matter how much you try to hone your craft or copy their style, no two writers will be exactly alike, and guess what? That’s awesome–the more diversity, the better! Everyone has something to bring to the world with their words no matter the form, style, or skill level of the piece. Stand strong in that knowledge and let yourself be empowered rather than discouraged as you explore and sample all different kinds of writers, some of which you’ll enjoy more than others!
(5) FREE-WRITE AND DON’T SECOND GUESS.
Don’t make creative writing more difficult than it needs to be; don’t over think it! Just write! Write words, connections, descriptions, ideas, questions…see a particularly pretty butterfly one afternoon? Describe it! Hate the assignment you have for a different class? Complain about it. Just get into the practice of transcribing your thoughts and mental images into words on the page. Again, look to number 4: the words don’t have to be beautiful, excellent, perfect…they just have to be your words. You’ll be amazed how easy the practice of writing will become after you’ve practiced it once or twice.
Also, as you’re writing, don’t go back and edit! This will just distract you from the creative moment and flow. It will also discourage you. Don’t discard ideas; don’t judge ideas. Just let them come and write them down. Leave editing for later and live second-to-second as your hand moves across the page or keyboard.
(6) SET GOALS.
Try to write maybe 200 words a day. Then, up that limit to 500, 1000, etc. The words don’t have to be brilliant or short stories. They’re more like journal entries–again, practicing putting your thoughts into sentences and fragments.
(7) ONLY SHARE IF YOU’RE READY.
Don’t share if you don’t feel comfortable. This can really intimidate a writer. Realize that writing can just be an enjoyment and stress relief for you and you alone if that’s what you want it to be. You don’t have to submit your pieces to critics or even your best friend if you don’t want to!
(8) CONGRATULATE YOURSELF!
Any amount or type of writing takes bravery and dedication! If you complete a piece, no matter how short, that’s an artistic feat that some people rarely–or never–accomplish. Pat yourself on the back and re-read your words with pride.
QUESTIONS FOR CREATING CHARACTERS: SEE WHAT CHARACTERS THESE ANSWERS HELP YOU DEVELOP!
Are they similar to you in personality? Looks? Or are they completely opposite of you?
Are they extroverted or introverted?
What color is their hair? Their eyes?
What world do they live in? Is it our world, or is it a completely new, fantasy world?
Did they grow up with parents? With siblings?
Have they ever been in love?
Are they gifted in any way (this can be an everyday gift like intelligence or more magical like manipulation of the elements)?
Do they like animals? Are they more of a dog or cat person?
What’s their favorite food?
What’s their favorite school subject/thing to study?
What do they want to do as a career?
All right, now that I’ve given you my version of a basic writing tutorial/some basic writing tips, let’s start on this assignment. The original poster gave us very simple parameters, which is awesome. These are character basics and not super intimidating, so remember, HAVE FUN! Write down whatever ideas you have, however odd they may seem at first, and then edit them later before posting your final character description. Take as much time, reflection, and privacy as you need, and plan your writing accordingly (you don’t want to post the assignment late and lose points, for example).
MY CHARACTER: FINN
paragraph of back story & personality & place in their world:
At age 19, Finn is the younger of a set of fraternal twins. Due to his age and the ever present, oh-so-judgmental gaze of his twin sister, he consciously–and subconsciously!–embodies the little brother trope. He’s a bit obnoxious, over-eager, and immature, but he’s got the biggest, sweetest heart and will do anything for those he loves. Sacrifice isn’t an issue if the sacrifice helps someone he cares about, and his generosity knows no bounds. Despite his wild and at times careless demeanor, he is also highly intelligent; this surprises those he meets, and Finn is constantly squashing expectations. He his sister are very close, and both are studying to work with their father and mother in the city university’s robotics lab and department.
appearance:
Finn’s looks match his crazy personality. He sports a dark green mohawk with equally green eyes and a big, sparkling smile.
likes:
sleeping in, cookies, comedies, puppies, old record stores, tinkering with machinery, computer coding, sudoku, swimming, cargo pants
dislikes:
hipsters/generally pretentious people, high fashion/haute coture, smelly perfume, people teasing his sister, gerbils, scooters, slasher flicks
See–that wasn’t so bad! Make sure to go into any writing assignment with a positive outlook; this is supposed to be fun. Writing is an act of creation, and as humans, we are born to create. Whether it’s a science experiment or a novel, our brains are wired for invention.
Now, I leave you with one of my favorite quotes and wish you well on your writing journey!
Dead Poet’s Society
