Monday, September 14, 2009

Fugitive Pieces Writing Assignment

A major writing assignment for this Marking Period is a short story utilizing some of the techniques you are exploring while reading Anne Michael's Fugitive Pieces.

Let's call this assignment "The Story in Fragments":

1. Your short story should be at least 5 pages long, double spaced, 12 point standard font.
2. Traditionally, it should have a central character (protagonist) dealing with some sort of conflict (self vs. self, self vs. other, self vs. society, self vs. nature, etc.).
3. Nontraditionally, the story should exhibit some of the storytelling devices we have been exploring: stream-of-consciousness, memory, poetic prose, flashback, flash forwards, nonlinear structure, excerpts from history, descriptive verbal photographs of people and places, songs, poems, etc.
4. Along the way, be prepared to share drafts and discuss your story with members of the class.

Due date: Week of Oct. 6 (for peer review)


HMWK: Read "Vertical Time" chapter for Wednesday






Labels: Writing Assignments
Monday, September 15, 2008
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/canpoetry/michaels/poet.gif
Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces
Posted by ContempWritersSOTA at 5:01 PM 0 comments
October 2008 Home
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11 comments:

  1. By Molly, Nahoma, Kadisha and Lauren

    The Institute is a well-known and long-established centre for research into both polar regions. It is part of the University of Cambridge and is a sub-department of the Department of Geography.

    A Seder plate has six different food items on it and each is a symbol for a piece of the Passover story.
    The Zohar is widely considered the most important work of Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism. It is a mystical commentary on the Torah (the five books of Moses), written in medieval Aramaic.
    The Rosetta Stone is a multilingual stele, stele 3 in the series for Ptolemy III, IV, V that allowed linguists to begin the process of hieroglyph decipherment.
    Titus Lucretius Carus was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the epic philosophical poem on Epicureanism De rerum natura, translated into English as On the Nature of Things or "On the Nature of the Universe".
    Paraselena- The effect at the South Pole which makes it look like there are three moons.
    A Brocken spectre , also called Brocken bow or mountain spectre is the apparently enormous and magnified shadow of an observer, cast upon the upper surfaces of clouds opposite the sun.
    Mount Skopos- A mountain on the Greek island of Zakynthos
    Cholent a traditional Jewish stew simmered overnight, for 12 hours or more, and eaten for lunch on the Sabbath. Cholent was developed over the centuries to conform with Jewish religious laws that prohibit cooking on the Sabbath. The pot is brought to boil on Friday before the Sabbath begins, and kept on a blech or hotplate, or placed in a slow oven or electric slow cooker until the following day.
    Haroseth-A traditional Passover food made with dates, apples, wine, walnuts. It represents the mortar used to put the bricks together when they were slaves in Egypt.
    The Venus of Willendorf, also known as the Woman of Willendorf, is an 4 3/8 inches high statuette of a female figure estimated to have been made between 24,000 BC – 22,000 BC.
    The Beardmore Glacier in Antarctica is one of the largest glaciers in the world, with a length exceeding 160 km (100 mi).

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  2. Miller & Rachel

    1. The Rosetta Stone is an Ancient Egyptian artifact which was instrumental in advancing modern understanding of hieroglyphic writing.

    2. Willendorf venus: http://www.megalithic.co.uk/a558/a312/gallery/Art/Willendorf.JPG

    3. http://www.edwardawilson.com/pics/497th.jpg

    4. http://img.holiday-in-athens.com/islands-photos/zakynthos/zakynthos2.jpg

    5. A Brocken spectre also called Brocken bow or mountain spectre is the apparently enormous and magnified shadow of an observer, cast upon the upper surfaces of clouds opposite the sun.

    6. http://www.travel-to-zakynthos.com/places_images/8.jpg

    7. http://images.absoluteastronomy.com/images/encyclopediaimages/g/ga/galaxidi_harbor_dsc06344.jpg

    8. http://www.sunisle.co.uk/images/locations/zante/agio-dionysios-mount-skopos.jpg

    9. http://www.alykes.com/images/villages/Pigadakia-xl.jpg

    10. Barbary pirates - Muslim pirates along the coast of North Africa from 16th until 19th centuries. http://www.edwardawilson.com/pics/497th.jpg

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  3. Zakynthos: The Island is named after Zakynthos, the son of a legendary Arcadian chief Dardanus. The name, like all similar names ending in -nthos, is pre-Mycenaean or Pelasgian in origin. Zakynthos has a thriving tourism industry.

    The Brocken Spectre: The Brocken Spectre appears when a low sun is behind a climber who is looking downwards into mist from a ridge or peak. The "spectre" is the shadowy figure - the glow and rings are of course a glory centered directly opposite the sun at the antisolar point.

    Mount Ossa: highest peak in Tasmania, Australia, rising to 5,305 feet (1,617 m), in the central highlands. At the northern end of the rugged Ducane Range, Mount Ossa, along with several other peaks surpassing 5,000 feet, lies within Cradle Mountain–Lake St. Clair National Park. Its slopes are deeply gouged by glacial corries (cirques). The name, with the adjacent Mounts Pelion and Achilles, is taken from Greek mythology.

    Dionysios Solomos

    Pedacious Doiscorides

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  4. Spencer / Jack

    Biskupin
    Rosetta Stone
    Terra-Nova Expedition
    James Masedfield
    Venus of Willendorf
    Pennines
    Scott Expedition
    Solomus
    Odessa
    Beardmore Glacier

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  5. 1.) Scott Polar Research Institute

    The Scott Polar Research Institute holds a unique collection of artifacts, journals, paintings, photographs, clothing equipment, maps, and other materials illustrating polar exploration and polar science.
    2.) Paraselena at McMurdo Sound

    3.) Edward Wilson


    4.) Amundsen

    4.) Alfred Tennyson


    5.) Zudeccha
    The jewish ghetto

    6.)Corfu

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  6. Spirit Torque-
    A vital principle or animating force within living beings. The Holy Spirit. A supernatural being, as: An angel or a demon. The part of a human associated with the mind, will, and feelings.

    Anastasimi Mass-
    A Greek Word

    Paleontology-
    Study of prehistoric life

    Dachau-
    Dachau is a district in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by (from the south and clockwise) the districts of Fürstenfeldbruck

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  7. Zakynthos-the third largest of the Ionian Islands, covers an area of 410 km2 (158 sq mi) and its coastline is roughly 123 km (76 mi) in length.
    Rosetta Stone-The stone is a Ptolemaic era stele with carved text made up of three translations of a single passage
    Edward Wilson-is an American biologist, researcher
    Jews of Corfu- Most northerly of the Ionian Islands. The native Jews of Corfu fall into three distinct divisions of different origin (Greek, Spanish, and Apulian.
    Paraselena- http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&safe=strict&q=paraselena&um=1&ie=UTF
    Spectre of the Brocken- s the apparently enormous and magnified shadow of an observer, cast upon the upper surfaces of clouds opposite the sun.
    Dioscorides-was an ancient Greek physician, pharmacologist and botanist from Anazarbus, Cilicia, Asia Minor, who practised in ancient Rome during the time of Nero
    Theophrastus- a Greek native of Eressos in Lesbos,[1] was the successor of Aristotle in the Peripatetic school.
    Cape Gerakas- Gerakas beach is one of the most beautiful of the island. It is also the breeding ground for the caretta-caretta turtles so it is well regulated with observation posts and restricted access.
    Venice and Constantinople- Venice's long link with Constantinople is evident in the mosaics, in the Byzantine style, for which the islands of the lagoon are famous.

    Shana Harris

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  8. hey Ms. Gamzon i'm affro allur3 but i changed it lol

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  9. I remember the kitchen. My grandmother was always cooking, preparing and freezing the pans and pans of leftover’s because she always over cooked. I remember the smells of lasagna and coconut squares when I walked into the house and the big hug she would always give me, no matter how busy she was. A towel sat on the counter, left there from constant drying of her wrinkled hands.

    I remember sitting around the campfire, dinner left on the picnic table with the tomato, sliced and almost completely devoured. Only a few pieces remain left on the sticky juices of the heart of the fruit. The deepest embers of the fire burn bright and I could only stare for a few seconds before my eyes hurt and I closed my eyes to see the same color behind my eyelids.

    I remember the way the music captivated me, the sunrise from center stage and the animals coming down the isles around me, singing together to wake up the show and take me into Africa with them for song and dance and the celebration of the Lion King.

    I remember my fifth grade teacher; the way he was always joking but then was suddenly serious like it had gone too far and the way he was always dancing around the classroom saying something about “top heavy” to explain the math assignment. I remember stealing is overhead markers just because I could and the big sunburn on his head that he brought back with him from vacation.

    I remember eating pizza on our back patio just a few months ago. Not any pizza mind you, but kosher pizza we had gotten special for a friend. We fiddled with the new umbrella until we got it to block the glare from the evening sun. She didn’t want to try the sugar snap peas because they don’t have those in Israel. My parents were there too, and all of my siblings. The kosher pizza really wasn’t that bad.

    I remember the bear and the waterfalls and the rain. We hiked for hours in search of the end of the path. My dad carried my sister in the child backpack. He said he could feel her shivering through all the layers of soaked sweatshirts and a complete lack of raincoats. I don’t think I have ever been wetter in my entire life. Even when I finally got to take a shower that night, I still felt dry compared to that hike.

    Fresh lasagna
    Warm vanilla
    Pine
    Campfire smoke
    Cut grass
    Fresh lavender
    Lilac
    Salt water
    Stale air
    Coffee

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  10. Memory Thing

    I remember my grandmother, her gravestone looming in the distance, gray and overbearing. The need to feel something and yet feeling nothing at all. Unclipped grass that grew around her headstone where the lawnmower couldn’t reach, shrouding her name, and my mothers hand, large and warm, cupping my own.
    I remember the cherry tomatoes that we grew in the lawn on the side of the house, and running outside to pick them for dinner as the sun set, sending crimson light throughout the sky. I remember the stray cats that used come into our backyard, and the one that bit my sister, the blood dripping onto the chipping paint on our back porch.
    I remember cars rushing by, their music blaring and our house shaking from the depth of the bass. I remember my father’s voice as he read Harry Potter out loud in our bed, and nudging him awake as his snores filled the room.
    I remember my first grade teacher, Nancy. Her hair was the curliest I had ever seen, it stuck out straight from her head, although she kept it short. She was skinny, and had big brown eyes. He voice was low and calming, different than what you would think given her appearance. She always wore earth tones, dark brown to light, the occasional black and not much else. They were always big on her, dwarfing her already small frame.
    I don’t remember anything about that meal except the television across our driveway. Our neighbors were watching some sort of TV show, and that was a treat fro us. The adults were in the dining room, and my sister, a couple of our friends and I in the kitchen. We sat in silence, watching TV as if it were on mute, as if the world normally had no sound at all.
    I remember it was raining when I was biking home one day from swim practice in the morning. I was absolutely pouring, and I was going up a hill. It could have been the worst moment ever. Instead I just started laughing to myself, out loud, in the pouring rain, with cars rushing by.
    Fresh basil
    Peppermint gum
    Freshly cut grass
    An old book
    Cold air
    Wood smoke

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  11. A very awesome blog post. We are really grateful for your blog post. You will find a lot of approaches after visiting your post. Assignment Answer

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