explain what topic essay you’ve chosen (Grealy, Cooper, Reid), and why.
An Open Letter to Elwood Reid
- Open Letter
I upload the prompt, please read it carefully.
This assignment ask you to close read and analyze the personal, argumentative narratives, paying close attention to the tools of creative nonfiction.
Uses MLA formatting and citation guidelines.This papers should be typed and double-spaced with one-inch margins and Times New Roman, 12-point font or equivalent. Pages should be numbered in the lower right corner and labeled, on the first page only, with your name, the date, and the course number in the upper right corner. Every paper should have a title but should not include a separate title page. Any block quotes should be single-spaced.
I also upload the class readings you need, and the tools of creative nonfiction.
- Discussion Post
1) At least 100 words, explain what topic essay you’ve chosen (Grealy, Cooper, Reid), and why. Then, describe some of the craft strategies or patterns you’re thinking of writing about. Remember to use our Tools of Creative Nonfiction files for help. Remember our steps from class:
- a) what struck you?
- b) do you see a pattern of this choice anywhere?
- c) what name would you give this pattern?
- d) what does this pattern of choices do for the overall meaning of the essay?
2) Then comment on the posts of two peers (no minimum or maximum word count). Respond thoughtfully to their ideas, offer your own, or otherwise engage with their plans for their writing.
posts of two peers:
- a) I chose to write my letter to Bernard Cooper, author of the essay “A Clack of Tiny Sparks: Remembrance of a Gay Boyhood”. It was clear to me while reading the essay that Cooper was implementing methods we discussed about creative writing, one being filling in gaps that he could have in his memory with realistic details that added shape to his story-telling, especially about conversations he had. He did so selectively, however, because there is a part in his story where he admits he cannot remember the reaction of one of his teachers. Instead of filling in this gap with some realistic alternate reaction, he admitted he could not remember and it added to the development of his story in the long-run. Another is his use of scenic writing to create more of an intimate feeling to his writing that invites his audience to keep reading. Cooper also frequently draws back to interactions with one particular student, Theresa. It is clear that her opinions of him and the world were very influential for him and they help move the story along.
- b) I’m choosing Elwood Reid’s essay “My Body, My Weapon, My Shame” to be the topic of my response letter. Not only do I find it to be a fascinating glimpse behind the curtain of perhaps the most popular sport in America, but the methods he implements in order to drive his message home really stuck out to me. He strips both the sport and the players themselves of almost all human qualities, turning the game into something more abstract and the players themselves into mere tools who exist only to hit and be hit. The word “hit” itself is also repeated many times throughout the text, sometimes as a mantra and sometimes touching upon the concept of hittingitself, and through the word’s repetition and his steady dehumanization of everyone involved in the sport, Reid is able to effectively drive home the point he is trying to make about how cruel the world of football is, rather than simply telling us something like “Yeah, football was not a good time, and made a total mess of my body.” In other words, I felt like through these two tools of repetition and dehumanization, Reid really puts the reader into the mindset of a football player and helps us to understand the cold, grinding nature of the sport itself better than we perhaps otherwise would have.
REQUIREMENTS
UC Davis
Answer preview…………………..
apa 1038 words