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life is cheap and death comes easy; except for some.. the last words

Reading Response #13

Repetition. I remember very well those many years ago in grade school where the non-rule quoted in chapter 4 of Steering the Craft, “never use the same word twice in one paragraph” was drilled over my head over and over. I’m sure most of the time my repetitions did sound awkward but I’m sure other times they made a point. I know you have to know the rules before you break them and all that jazz, but sometimes old habits die hard.

As far as structural repetition goes, I really haven’t had much of a chance to utilize it yet since I’ve been unable to form a lengthy (or complete) enough short story to do so. I do enjoy catching the structural repetitions in the novels I read and would definitely enjoy trying my hand at it. While I haven’t done the exercises suggested in our reading, I believe they will be useful when the time comes to make my attempt at replicating the device.

Reading Response #12

The topics of sentence length and syntax covered in chapter 3 of Steering the Craft are some of the stronger points I feel I possess in my writing( research papers that is). Though I still rarely use a semicolon and sometimes overuse my commas, I enjoy setting a rhythm between complex and simple sentences. Paradoxically, my writing is usually help up by a lack of being able to go back and edit my rough work. It is very difficult for me to tear the parts that are worth saving out of my free writes and reincorporating them into a new piece. It just doesn’t feel organic for me and most of the time appears clunky and roughly put together. Maybe this will grow easier with time, or maybe I’m not cut out to write.

Random Impulse- To a Presentation

Here is my class assignment from Monday when we were fortunate enough to spend class outside in the beautiful weather. Seems pretty hokey to me, but it is all I have for now.


The black madonna struts with an air of authority across the intersection of concrete walkways checkered with grassy knolls that are populated by students grateful to be in the sunlight. Clutched in her powerful hands is a paper( a lengthy research one probably). I imagine the paper to be about the social constructs of modern black women in a university setting of an urban area (that is something to the effect of what we talked about the one and only time we met).

Her stern countenance oozes with a concoction of hubris and fear. She is set on changing the world, her lot in life, and the lot of the people she loves. The presentation I am sure she is about to give is the first, of many, steps for her. I can see the words of some long gone relative, her grandmother maybe, bouncing across her mind along with the outline and finer details of her speech. Those last words from Mawmaw so many years ago are imprinted on her psyche. The wound has healed, but there is power in pain. As she reaches the threshold of the building, she pauses for just a moment and her hand rests on the handle of the door. The moment was so brief that I could not make a guess at her thoughts. She simply continued moving forward.

Junkyard- Week 9

Ran across this quote from philosopher/psychiatrist Jacques Lacan while researching for a paper in a different class. It offers an intresting play on Descartes' idea of cogito ergo sum. Anyways, something fun to think about.

I think where I am not, therefore I am where I do not think.

Junkyard- Week 9

Wow, doing most of my work before Sunday? Strange times we are living in. Anyways, Here are some quotes from the film Masked and Anonymous(which was actually produced in 2003, not 2002 like I implied in my previous post). Most of these quotes are put on a bit heavily through quips and not with the flow of the story, but I think that was their point. These are all by the character Jack Fate(Bob Dylan). Dylan also helped write the movie, which is probably why his character got all the cool stuff to say. Anyways some neat existential(and nihilistic existential) stuff here so enjoy if you enjoy the sort!

--I was always a singer and maybe no more then that. Sometimes it's not enough to know the meaning of things, sometimes we have to know what things don't mean as well. Like what does it mean to not know what the person you love is capable of? Things fall apart, especially all the neat order of rules and laws. The way we look at the world is the way we really are. See it from a fair garden and everything looks cheerful. Climb to a higher plateau and you'll see plunder and murder. Truth and beauty are in the eye of the beholder. I stopped trying to figure everything out a long time ago.

--All of us in some way are trying to kill time. When it's all said and done, time ends up killing us.

--Some of us pursue perfection and virtue and if we're lucky, we catch up to it. But happiness can't be pursued. It either comes to your or it don't. You can always say, "if only this and if only that", but if only is a state of mind that we get into when we feel deprived.

--Would you reach out your hand to save a drowning man if you thought he might pull you in?

 Hm, I seem to be running short on quotes for the movie as there are little on the web and I have already returned the movie without scribing more down. Oh well, you get the idea!

Random Impulse- Being

So, yea writing this piece I confirm a feeling I have had for a few weeks now. When we started our class with poetry, all I wanted to write was prose. Now, however, I feel a tug at the challenge to write poetry. I am really torn right now, but don't know to either patch that tear or simply let it bleed. Seeing your life-blood leave you lets you see life. Anyways, I was watching a newer film(2002) starring Bob Dylan, and it had so many great monologues(my junkyard will be filled this week) but one stood out in particular to me. Here is what I wrote, I'm high but I enjoyed it.

His voice presented to me a life-changing thought. Seeing Jake Fate in his later years made me think of how opposite and greater than the Rolling Stones he was. He didn't try to be who he was, he was who he was every moment of who he was. He wasn't who he used to be, he was already he. He existed in his own current moment.
I used to wonder what living is, I now no longer wander.

P.S.
I did in fact correctly spell the last word, because it is not the same as 'wonder'.