Poetry Bracket Challenge

This is our last official post for the course!

Please start by perusing the animated poems at this site:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/poetryeverywhere/uwm/index.html

After viewing at least 8 poems, choose your “final four” best poems and arrange them into a bracket (identify which four poems make the cut, then put them up against each other to see which one wins). If you can visually arrange your poems into a bracket, feel free to do so, though this part is optional.

Explain which poems eventually win out, and why.

For your winning poem, share a link and explain why it won.

Because this is our last post, feel free to add any last comments you would like — in addition to commenting on the blogs of your peers.

Also, feel free to check out two other animated poems:

Forgetfulness by Billy Collins: http://vimeo.com/38356

How to Be Alone by Tanya Davis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7X7sZzSXYs

Laughing and Crying

As you finish up your short story, remember that you can earn extra credit if you record your story as an MP3 file (and save it on iTunes?) and play it for the class tomorrow. You can record your file in the Media Center using Garage Band, or other software of your choice from home.

For today’s post:

Visit the most recent 3-minute Fiction contest at NPR.

Read several (at least 3) of the current submissions and pick one that you like.

Share a link to the story you enjoyed most on your blog and articulate why you think this was a good story.

For fun, you might visit This American Life to view other (nonfiction) stories of note. This is a weekly show that follows a new theme each week.

Kehinde Wiley

Some information about the artist:

Kehinde Wiley’s paintings incorporate a range of historical and vernacular styles, from French Rococo to today’s urban street. Wiley collapses history and style into a unique contemporary vision. He describes his approach as “interrogating the notion of the master painter, at once critical and complicit.” He makes figurative paintings that “quote historical sources and position young black men within that field [of power].”

Spend a few minutes investigating the works of Kehinde Wiley. Try to locate Baroque or French Rococo images that he may have been drawing on for original poses. What kind of message does Wiley’s work convey to you personally? Using images and words, create a post that explains your reaction to his work.

Also, free to use them to create an avatar if you haven’t done so already, or to try to re-create your own Kehinde Wiley-inspired pose (to post to your blog).

Great job on the Creative Nonfiction Papers you have completed! I have seen many of you make huge leaps as writers.

Who is Banksy?

The British street artist who goes by the nom de plume of Banksy has enjoyed quite a reputation in the mainstream media. His secret identity and his willingness to put his art up in public spaces, often without permission to do so, has no doubt contributed to his allure and notoriety. Taking on many aspects of modern society, Banksy’s art is often meant to provoke and poke fun at the powers that be. Here are a few samples:

(This one is one of many he did on the Isreali/Palestinian Separation wall.)

(This one was put up without permission in the British Museum, it is now part of the permanent collection.)

For your second post, I’d like you to comment on:

1. What is your reaction to Bansky’s pieces? What are they saying? Do you agree or disagree with them? Why?

2. Is graffiti art? Is tagging a building? Why do you think writers and artists often use pen names and go by alternate personas?

3. To what extent do you think it is important to put your work in the public?

Take a few minutes to articulate your ideas, then check in with what others had to say, and leave some comments.

And just for fun, there is a new documentary about Banksy — you can watch the trailer for it here:

Exit Through the Gift Shop

Feel free to add to your blog in whatever way you want to, in terms of additional images, links, other thoughts you have (about the class, or otherwise). Or challenge yourself to put up something creative you have done personally, whether a song you wrote, a piece of art you created, a photo you took that you are proud of, or something else that allows you to express yourself.

Throughout the term, I encourage you to continue to make your blog your own. And since this is creative writing, feel free to share comments on authors and artists you have been inspired by.

Up and Running

Let me welcome the (Liepa) Creative Writers to this site.

I will be posting to this site to disseminate information for class, and to serve as a forum to post and respond to topics that come up in class. You can leave me comments, and from your own blog you can leave comments for others.

One place to start exploring is a creative commons list of noteworthy sites that are related to creative writing, photography, film, and diverse media and music artists that are currently doing something that goes beyond the ordinary:

http://del.icio.us/dliepa

Today, I’d like you to practice posting to your blog.

1.  What I’d like you to focus on is a photographer or other visual artist that speaks to you in some way. Find an image (using Google images, or by visiting other sites). I’d like you to copy the image and post it to your blog (giving credit where the image came from, if it did not come from you).

2.  Take a few minutes to articulate what you like about the image or the artist (if you post several images). What makes the artist effective? What message are they trying to convey? How is it meaningful to you, personally.

3.  When you are done, find at least 3 other students in class to add to your blogroll. (Or if you are using tumblr, link up with at least 3 others in Creative Writing.) Read their comments, and post a thoughtful response to at least one other person in this or the other creative writing class.

4.  (Optional) — post a link to your Freeread Friday book. Get the image for the cover and tell us why you chose your book.

5.  Lastly, please write your blog address down (the URL) on the class roster by the end of the block.