Closing Statement

Believe it or not, but it has taken me a whole semester in order to open up with my writing. From absolutely struggling to be creative with the reinvented folk tale to actually enjoying my time with writing the song story/nemesis paper. And it is not the fact that I did not like some of the assignments, but it was the way in which there truely was no right or wrong approach to the ideas in which you could write about. I have been so conditioned to stating the facts and getting straight to the point from assigned essays and research papers that I found myself actually forgetting how to be descriptive and engaging to the reader.
Unfortunately, the creative aspect that has come back to my writing will probably slowly start to fade away as I focus once again on the classes with their essays and research papers. I wish I could say that I would continue to write creatively, but it is unlikely. I feel in order to continue my creative writing I need free time and that is something my life is lacking at the moment. However, I have still retained the skills in which we have learned in class and may use them in the future when needed or least expected. It may not have shown but I enjoyed the class and wish everyone all the best!

Video Response #2

The second video I watched was of Ueli Gegenschatz and his base jumping/skydiving/paragliding. To me, I think watching him and his video took on a whole new meaning knowing that he was no longer alive. Just to see how enthusiastic he was about this extreme sport and how happy he was to be able to do it makes me feel that even though he is no longer with us, he seemed to enjoy his life very much doing what he loved. I honestly don't think I could ever in a million years attempt to do what he did. My viewpoint is that on some level you have to be okay with dieing in order to do something so death defying. I was also curious and wanted to know more about what some of the 'crazy' things people have asked him to do given what he does is crazy in itself!

Video Response #1

In regard to Vik Muniz, can I just say 'Wow.' His art was absolutely blowing my mind. The way in which he took the most simplistic materials in order to create works of art had me in awe. I think, in terms of creativity in writing, Muniz is trying to show that creativity can derive from many different forms. With him it came from items such as sugar, chocolate, cotton balls, thread, etc. He used those tools to transform them into his own visions. Much like that of our class where we take inspiration from things such as songs with or without words and pictures and transform them into a vision of our own through writing.

When he first showed the picture of the dog- in which he pointed out that you might interpret a spot on his back for a chicken- I was brought back to one of my art classes where an instructor pointed out something to me in the FedEx sign.

At first glance, you see a delivery companies logo. But if you take a closer look, the 'e' and the 'x' join together to form a hidden arrow between the two letters. Now EVERY TIME I see this sign, my eyes go straight to that arrow (and I bet now yours will too!) Creation would be the FedEx logo whereas creativity is what makes us see the arrow.

Open Mic Night

I'm not very familiar with all the buildings on campus so when I walked into the University Center and saw that I would be performing on a stage in such an open area, my nerves got the est of me. However, when all said and done, the Open Mic night was not as bad as I expected. It makes me kind of wish I would have taken it more seriously and prepared something with a little more thought (although I thought my limerick knocked them all dead lol.) In terms of trying to get more people to attend, I do think it should be held at an earlier time though when the UC is more busy. There wasn't much traffic coming through that late in the day- good for my stage fright, bad for the event- and I feel more traffic would attract more people to sign up. Thanks to Marissa for my picture!!!

KY2L Final Thoughts

The concept that lead to the book is quite clever: trying to figure out why musicians become so much more famous after their death. And I understand that along the way of his actual trip it became much more than just a roadtrip for a magazine article- hence the reason for pursuing the idea for a book. But with all the references to the 'ladies' in his life, I feel the book becomes more of a quest to figure out his life rather than the deaths of other. Don't get me wrong, it was an easy read (and I am all about easy reads for college classes) but part of me is still trying to understand how this book ultimately ties into this creative writing course. And, as previously discussed in class, I was lost a lot of the time when he made references to certain songs that I was not familiar with. For example: I was really lost when he was relating the women in his life to certain songs. I wanted to understand how he was describing him, but I could not make the connection for I was unfamiliar the mentioned songs. Now I know I could probably look up the songs in order to better understand some of the texts, but with as many songs and bands as Chuck mentions, it would be something I was constantly doing making the book more of a hassle than an enjoyment.
Overall, I'd say it was a good book, but with the generations only getting older, I do not know how much longer this book is going to last for the future students of this class.

KY2L Pg. 141-194

Who buys $1,000 glasses for themselves, let alone ones they do not want? And his other reasons for buying them- (1) to avoid an argument (2) to avoid a further excursion to other eyeglass stores and (3) to get laid- do not help the opinion I already have of this Chuck Klosterman. The whole decision just sounds ridiculous- more so because of his reasonings behind it- but after getting a sense of the person he his from reading his book, I can see how he would make a choice like that.

The brief section where Body Integrity Identity Disorder was mentioned caught my intention. I never knew a disorder such as this existed or that anyone could ever be compelled to mutilate their body by chopping off limbs. It was odd and grotesque to say the least.

I did enjoy his elaborate telling of the night he spent with his Nemesis and Uma Thurman. The fact that all night he thought something was going to happen between him and the girl and then nothing ever did. Just another example of how his life seems to be driven by (a) music and (b) believing that every girl wants him (or maybe that's just the vibe I was getting from the book.)

Did anyone else get taken back by the $160 a month apartment he use to rent?

PostSecret

I was absolutely fascinated by this site and the idea behind it. (Makes me wish I would have thought of it.) I noticed that it seems to have evolved artistically from the simplicity of writing on a post card to writing on NetFlix envelopes and photographs. It was very interesting to see how people have taken a base idea and transformed it as their own- sometimes helping to reflect their secret concretely and other times abstractly.

At my college we have a bulletin board inspired by PostSecret. One day a photograph of a sunset was posted. Written across the photo in white ink it said "sometimes I wonder if anyone would care if I didn't wake up in the morning".

A few weeks later another photograph was posted. This was a photo of a sunrise. In white ink it said "yes, I would". . . I wish I could tell the person "thank-you" because the sunset was mine.

After reading this, I sat for a while because it was profoundly moving. I wonder if the creators of this project ever imagined the effect they would have on others all through just sharing a secret on a post card.