Penelope's Side of the Story

We hear a lot about Odysseus's escapades but little about poor Penelope. For this post, imagine you are Penelope and writing on your papyrus scroll. Odysseus has just come home and made himself known to you and the suitors. What a day!

Now write your diary entry....keep it short, no more than five lines -- but make them count!

Odysseus descends into Hades

Odysseus must visit the Underworld or Hades before he can return home. In Hades he is visited by men and women from his past, dead relatives, arch enemies, and dear friends. They each have a message for him.

For this blog, imagine that you too have made that trip to the Underworld. Name three people you would like to see. They can be personal to you or names that we would all recognize. After each person's name tell WHY you want to see them: what questions would you ask them?  What would you want to share with them?  What do you need to hear from them?

Odysseus and his Battles

Odysseus fights physical battles, slaying the Cyclops was one such battle we read about this week. It is easy to get caught up in the theatrics of the epic: monsters and seductresses, strange lands and customs. 

For a moment, let's think about some ideas or concepts might be running underneath these fantastic creatures and events. Why is Odysseus going through such things? What are the psychological and spiritual elements of both reckoning and potential growth?

Oh Those Epithets....

Homer uses the epithet to identify the characters of the Odyssey by their specific traits or attributes. Athena is often called for example "grey-eyed Athena" and Odysseus, "lion-hearted Odysseus." 

For this post select three people in your family and create epithets for them.

In my family I have:
Kemper, man of gentle voice and spirit
Fiery-fisted Rush
Ella, giggling woman of compassion
Tullah, woman of wisdom and strength

Now it's your turn. Be creative!

Connecting to Persepolis

After watching the film Persepolis, think about the ways in which you can relate to Sarjani, the main character.

Identify one aspect of her story that you can relate to. Summarize her experience in no more than two sentences, and write three sentences that explain how it relates to your own life.

Responsibility?

I once had a teacher tell me that I was responsible for everything that happened to me.

I quickly challenged her. I asked: Do you mean to say I am responsible for my father's alcoholism? And she said flatly, 'Yes."  Immediately I was infuriated. I, in no way, had caused or promoted his struggle with alcohol. I knew that to be a fact just like I knew my own name.

She then explained herself. Here is what she said in paraphrase:

You have the ability, the opportunity to respond to every situation that happens in your life. It is the "response" in "responsiblility. Literally a response ability. Taking that on as a truth gives you power. Not taking responsibility, takes all your power away.

H'mmm....what do you think? (This is a tough one.) Talk about a situation in which you did or could have in hindsight taken on my teacher's view of responsibility.

"Eleven" Analysis: Symbols

We've just finished writing personal narratives, sharing experiences from our lives that carry weight and have meaning. Now we are transitioning to analysis writing, using Sandra Cisneros's essay "Eleven" as the text. 

There is a symbol in the passage. What is the symbol? What does it represent?

Everyone has a story...the six-word memoir

Once asked to write a full story in six words, legend has it that Ernest Hemingway responded:

"For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn."

Here are some others from Smith Magazine's collection:
Dave Eggers....."Fifteen years since last professional haircut."
Stephen Colbert....."Well, I thought it was funny."
A man dumped by his girlfriend...."I still make coffee for two."

In the spirit of profound brevity, write a six-word memoir of your life 

Don't steal from your classmates! Don't be glib or cliche.  

How can you best sum up your experiences in just six words?

Furiously Happy!

This post is simple.  Take a minute to think about five things that you are grateful for. Things that make you happy. They can be as "little" as oatmeal in the morning (I love oatmeal) or as big as you want -- my big is yoga (I love yoga) and all the freedom it brings to my body and heart.

Before you list your five things you must read the person's post that precedes your our own and give them some affirmation that you saw their list. Next list your five things. Check back to see what your classmates have said about your list!

Welcome!

Read the following excerpt from Zora Neale Hurston's essay "How It Feels to Be Colored Me" (1928).

"But in the main, I feel like a brown bag of miscellany propped against a wall. Against a wall in company with other bags, white, red and yellow. Pour out the contents, and there is discovered a jumble of small things priceless and worthless. A first-water diamond, an empty spool, bits of broken glass, lengths of string, a key to a door long since crumbled away, a rusty knife-blade, old shoes saved for a road that never was and never will be, a nail bent under the weight of things too heavy for any nail, a dried flower or two still a little fragrant. In your hand is the brown bag. On the ground before you is the jumble it held--so much like the jumble in the bags, could they be emptied, that all might be dumped in a single heap and the bags refilled without altering the content of any greatly. A bit of colored glass more or less would not matter. Perhaps that is how the Great Stuffer of Bags filled them in the first place--who knows?"



So much is going on in this short passage. She speaks of race, of finding one's identity, of "the Great Stuffer of Bags" - the Creator and the cosmos.

In your post create a metaphor that describes what you feel like.

Give at least three different tangible items that help us understand who you are and where you find yourself physically, spiritually, and emotionally at this point in your life.