An update from the twenty-first Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday November 13 To continue with students’ workshop requests, this week we revisited an older topic: plot vs. narrative. We began with four exercises to be revisited later, writing down the thing that scared us most, the first sentence of a novel, a list of unrelated things, and a time that we lied when we shouldn’t have. To begin lecture, we considered the fact that while all plots are narratives, not all narratives are plots. Following this, we distinguished narrative as a general term that encompasses all stories, and whose events are incidental as well as connected by the conjunction “and.” Plot, however, was how a story is told, meaning that events follow “and so,” leading to a deliberate beginning, middle and end. We then discussed the significance of plot, how it provides a narrative with inevitability, connectivity, and consequence through its ability to imbue every individual action with meaning. Then, at the end, we played a game of “is it plot, or is it narrative?” with examples such as “The Dinosaur” by Augusto Monterroso, Ernest Hemingway’s famous six word short story, “Small Child” by Stephen Tuttle, and “Dog and Me” by Lydia Davis. The Challenge: Transform any of the first four exercises you did (thing that scares you most, first sentence of a novel, list of unrelated things, a time you lied when you shouldn’t have” The Participants: Nova, Lina, Josh, Emma, Penelope, Clara, Ellie, Simran, Alice B., Svitra, Sinan, Olivia, Audrey
Workshops
How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #20: What Is a Poem?
An update from our twentieth Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday November 6, plus some of the output published below After receiving feedback about what students would like to focus on, this week we held workshop on the anatomy of a poem, asking ourselves “What exactly is a poem?”. To begin, Conner reinforced the importance of exciting the senses over making sense, defining a poem as something that prioritizes the mode of writing over the written content, that is more concerned with how it sounds than what it says, and whose language is sonic and aesthetic, not narrative. Over the course of the workshop, we read works such as “Pope John” by Bernadette Mayer, “The Snowman” by Wallace Stevens, “My hat” by Henry Parland, “Poem” by Ron Padgett, and, of course, “Mown Lawn” by Lydia Davis. We also briefly discussed Starry Night as a visual representation of the logic of poetry. The Challenge: Try and imitate the poem “Mown Lawn” by Lydia Davis. That is, take a phrase, any coupling of words, and do to it what Lydia Davis did to the phrase “mown lawn,” turning these words into new words via sound. The Participants: Emma, Penelope, Josh, Clara, Simran, Olivia, Shilla, Sinan, Alice, Audrey, Ellie, Ethan, Svitra, Lina, Nova Svitra Rajkumar, 13(Fremont, CA) The Earl Bear Svitra Rajkumar, 14 Just big enough to sit in your palm The Earl Bear whimpers It is warm, so warm that it is cold Pale and gray Or was it a rich amber? A shade that you know you’ve seen before But can’t seem to remember It smells of cedar and earl gray tea A mellow scent that races through the quarries Quarries that hold crippled carp Gorgeous fish full of imperfections Sparkling tails and glistening scales Prey to the Earl Bear and Predators to the Poppy Kelp Scarlet as fresh blood, the Poppy Kelp sways Under the current of the quarry. Ethan Zhang, 9 (Mclean, VA) The Armpit Monkey Ethan Zhang, 9 I owned an armpit monkey, For some reason I hated it. Maybe because it sounded like Harm-wit donkey. Everyone knows I hate harm. Harm-wit donkey sounds ominous, Even though harm-wit has no meaning. Also, an armpit monkey sounds like A chicken, literally. It shrieks mad, Shrieking the word yeet, Which sounds like yeast, Something that I also hate. Yeet also means throwing things, Something related to harm. I hate life. The armpit monkey ruined it.
Book Club Report: When Stars Are Scattered, Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed
An update from our thirty-first Book Club meeting! On October 30th, the Stone Soup Book Club discussed When Stars Are Scattered, by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed. When Stars Are Scattered is based on Omar’s life in Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya and his journey to resettlement in the United States. The story is told in the form of a graphic novel. When Stars Are Scattered was an immensely popular read among our twelve book club participants, as was evident in our lively and dynamic Book Club discussion. Many participants remarked on how moving they found the book and how it compelled them to dig deeper and learn more about the plight of refugees. As a group we found it equally compelling how vividly the more mundane, everyday experience of life in a refugee camp was portrayed. We learned that Dadaab is such a big camp that it almost feels like a city-with makeshift restaurants and even internet cafes-but it is a city in limbo with no permanent structures. This sense of limbo was captured in the rhythm of Omar’s daily life-the monotony of chores and the weight of responsibility for his brother’s care, the angst over first whether to start school and later how to remain there, and the ebb and flow of friendships all helped to capture Dadaab as a place in flux. We spent time reflecting on what questions we would want to ask about life in a refugee camp and what we found most surprising, interesting, and confronting about Omar’s life. Following this discussion, we listened to an interview of a boy named Muzamill, about his daily life in Dadaab. The questions posed about Muzammil’s life were posed by young people in the United States. The interview was informative, eye opening, and funny! In parallel to our discussions about life as a refugee, we also spent time thinking about the graphic novel format and the various ways in which it enhanced Jamieson’s portrayal of Omar’s life story. Even those who’d never read a graphic novel before are now converts to the genre! We tried our hand at telling an aspect of our own daily routine in graphic novel format and shared these with the group. Remember: if you attended book club and liked what you wrote for this activity, submit it through the Writing Workshop Submission Form and we will post it along with other stories on the Stone Soup website! At the conclusion of our meeting, we had the chance to explore some of the creative works by young refugees through the Stone Soup Refugee Project. If you have not yet done so, check it out yourself, here. Finally, we are so excited to share that on, December 11th, our final Book Club meeting of this session, we will be joined by author and historian, Lucy Worsley, to discuss her book The Austen Girls! Please join us and come prepared with questions for Ms. Worsley!
