Apparently I Blink a Lot in Videos

I'm not even kidding, I've never seen anyone blink so much. I had to redo every little chunk like six times because I blinked the whole time. I don't think I blink that much in real life, do I? This project is throwing my whole world into chaos.

Anyway, I'm very self-conscious about showing people personal videos, so I've only shown this to a couple of friends and my parents, but there you go. A few people have seen the video and a few people have read my paper, and that's much better than it usually is!

Happy end of semester, everybody!

Take Your Protein Pills and Put Your Helmet On

It's time to leave the capsule, if you dare. For whatever reason, I feel like David Bowie's Space Oddity is summing up my experience in writing this paper. I had a hard time with this one. I psych myself out so hard that by the time it comes to really writing the paper, I'm burned out and too scared to start. So I have to put my big girl pants on and get some work done--that's the biggest thing I learned from this process. Oh, and if anyone else happens to be in the mood for some 70's-tastic David Bowie, I've got you covered.

Trying to Find An Outlet for My Morrie Paper

Wikimedia Commons

As I've gotten further in my writing, I've been trying to find good venues for publication or presentation, and it's kind of super frustrating. All the interesting places I've found seem to have just finished accepting application or submissions. Grr. BUT I will find something, and I will find it really fast. I know I'm for sure going to submit it to the English Symposium for next year, but I can't do that right away, so I need to see if I can submit it to something sooner.

In preparing to submit it to the English Symposium for next year, I've found myself writing more consciously because if I present it at a conference like the Symposium, I'd actually be talking to people about it. I can write okay, but I really loathe talking to people. I'm just not good at it. So as I've been writing, I've tried to put a lot of legitimate emotion into it to make it easier for myself if I ever do get the chance to present it somewhere!

The Ultimate Tuesdays with Morrie Feedback!

So I chatted with Mitch Albom today. WHAT'S UP. I'm so excited. I'm actually kind of flipping out right now. Back story!

Maybe a week ago, I was chatting with Sophie about getting feedback from experts, and I mentioned that I was waffling with the idea of asking Mitch Albom some questions. She jumped on board right away, encouraging me to go for it. I hesitated and put it off because I didn't feel like I really had any valid questions, and I didn't want to approach a great author with dumb questions.

Jump to yesterday night, when I was having a small breakdown about my paper. I knew it was lacking the honesty and deliberate care I usually put into my papers. The subject I had chosen to write about was lackluster at best--I simply couldn't bring myself to care about it enough to write a paper I really liked. I went to my dad, feeling ready to give up completely. Sensibly, he sat me down and made me tell him why I care about Tuesdays with Morrie in the first place. I answered earnestly and quickly--I know why I love it. It's honest, heartfelt, and deeply touching to me. I love it.

So, ever the wonderful father, my dad told me to write about that. I scrunched my face up critically--write about love and feeling in a literary analysis? I didn't think I could manage it. But we talked things through and I finally came to a thesis and topic that I can really truly embrace. And now I'm excited to write my paper!

Now for the best part. I snuck into my dad's empty office this afternoon to work on my paper in peace and quiet. I got in the groove and was getting lots done when I realized that I finally had a question for Mitch. So I did some research and ended up on his official Facebook page. I worked and reworked a suitable question, and then posted it with low expectations but high hopes.

AND HE RESPONDED. Ahhhh! Best day ever. His answer was really interesting, and it lends itself perfectly to the topic of my paper. Speaking of which, I've finally decided on a topic. I'm going to write about the fact that Tuesdays with Morrie is not a literary book. It doesn't lend itself to analysis or interpretation--it simply isn't formatted that way. In spite of that, it is a very valuable, touching, sentimental text, and that kind of literature is very literary because the whole point of literature is (or should be) to make us more human. And that's exactly what Tuesdays with Morrie does. Not really elegant yet, but that's the general idea.

What's Up Next For Morrie and Kate

Creative Commons License 2.0
Credit to ToniVC

For the first time in a while since writing this paper, I know exactly what need to do next. Actually, there are two things.

1. I need to set aside some time to really work on this paper. I have tiny little sessions with it, and I get little specks of work done, but I need to feel like I'm making some progress, and in order to do that, I need to put in the time. Finding it will be the hard part, because this week is going to be absolutely crazy (I can already tell), but it needs to happen.

2. Next, I need to sit down and read some Tuesdays with Morrie. Partially because it relaxes me and re-centers me, which I need, and partially because now that my ideas are starting to gel and become a semi-cohesive argument, it's time to settle in and find some hard evidence in the text. It's time to dig into the primary text again and find what I need.

It's good to have a game plan. Go team!

Speculation About Punishment and War Literature...And Morrie

Creative Commons License 2.0

So, I love the BYU English Symposium. I really love it. I got to go to the panel chaired by Dr. Westover entitled "How We Talk When We Talk About War: Language and War Literature." It was so interesting, and I loved listening to the three women present their papers. One was about Robert Frost, the other alluded to Billy Joel and the Wicked soundtrack as well as neuroscience, and the last was a compelling paper about profanity in war literature.

For some reason, as I was sitting there listening to thsoe presentations about war literature, I started to speculate about the language used in Tuesdays with Morrie, and I remembered something that Morrie said about society. Mitch mentioned something about how difficult it is to be a good person in today's society, and Morrie said something very insightful--in a nutshell, if the society doesn't work, don't buy into it. Easier said than done, of course, but a fascinating idea. If you don't agree with something, don't go along with it. I started considering this and trying to figure out if I should backtrack through my paper and try again, writing about the language.

Then, during the presentation about profanity in war literature, I started to think about the different types of words we use to punish people--the kind of language we use when we say harsh things. I'm not sure how (or if) this ties into my paper at all, but it's been lurking at the back of my mind all day, so I'll try to pay some attention to it over the weekend and see what I come up with. Basically, attending the English Symposium gave me tons of ideas, but I'm not sure how to use them in this paper. But I had a lot of fun!

Tuesdays with Friendly People

This is how my imaginary scowl looked.
Creative Commons License 3.0; credit to natsumi88

Over the course of the last few weeks, I feel like everybody has been writing about their great success finding friendly people that love to talk about literature and are just thrilled down to their toes to discuss fun literary topics with anyone and everyone. And I gave those friendly people an imaginary scowl because where were my friendly people?

So this week, I stuck my neck out a little. I felt determined to find myself a friendly person or two for myself, because everyone deserves some friendly people in their lives (besides their actual friends, of course). On Friday, I discovered Mitch Albom's official website, which was exciting. I created an account so I could post in the discussions and forums and went straight to work reading old things and drafting my own little post. Unfortunately, the site seems to have gotten a little run down, and looks to be largely obsolete now. So I went looking for other friendly people.

Bibliographies and Poetry and Such

Working thesis: Despite the difference in age and experience, Alice plays the role of Morrie in the lives of the creatures she encounters in Wonderland.

A quote from Morrie's favorite poet, W.H. Auden.
Creative Commons License 2.0: credit to Debra.

A Miniature Paper About Morrie and Alice

Here's Alice having a nice relaxing afternoon in the fields,
unlike the rest of us, locked inside cramming for
finals and writing papers.

My main problem is that I'm feeling scatterbrained in terms of my ideas. I have lots of good things that I want to include, but I'm not sure how to tie them together. I'm also worried that my idea isn't advanced enough to make an 8 page paper out of it. I don't know if I've come up with anything someone could argue with, I guess. So if anyone has a minute to look it over and give me some
feedback, that would be really really nice.

Here's my miniature paper.

Is Alice Wonderland's Morrie?

My horrible brainstorm web thing.

Here's my train of thought. I've been considering the role that the "Morrie figure" plays in other literary works. Many works have a figure like Morrie--the guiding force, the supremely wise one with compassion for the younger, more inexperienced characters. Gandalf and Dumbledore are prime examples of Morrie figures in literature. So I started considering who that figure is for Alice. The more I thought about it, the less I was sure that Alice even had a Morrie. But THEN I realized that maybe Alice is the Morrie of the Wonderland stories.

Who's Your Morrie?

My own Morrie (my dad)
 keepin' it real with Paul Revere.
(Boston 2012)

Mitch Albom, the author of Tuesdays with Morrie, was an undergrad when he met Morrie Schwartz. Morrie was just his sociology professor, but as Mitch progressed through school, Morrie became more than that. To Mitch and many other students, Morrie became a source of reason, encouragement, and advice. Most of all he was a friend. In my life, my own father is a sort of Morrie to me.

So I have a question for anyone interested--who's your Morrie?