In “What Is Oral History”, we learned that “oral history might be understood as a self-conscious, disciplined conversation between two people about some aspect of the past considered by them to be of historical significance and intentionally recorded for the record.”  Although the conversation usually takes place as an interview, with one person asking questions and the other answering them, it is more of a conversation. Oral history has allowed us to understand what it might have been like at another time from by interviewing those who had lived through certain events. It is important for interviewers to try and help or get the narrator (person in question) to try and remember as most of the details that they possibly can. Also, at times, it may be important for the interviewer to read between the lines as to what the narrator is trying to get at and even dig deeper to answer some harder questions. Without oral history, there is much that we would not know about events that we have not experienced. When you really think about it, without oral history, we wouldn’t have much history at all.

At the beginning of the article, the author mentions how he is not necessarily trying to define what narrative inquiry is but is trying to explain it with examples. At the end of the article, I found some really interesting quotes that I think sum up what the author is trying to say. The first one is: "As we worked within our three-dimensional spaces as narrative inquirers, what became clear to us was that as inquirers we meet ourselves in the past, the present, and the future. What we mean by this is that we tell remembered stories of ourselves from earlier times as well as more current stories.All of these stories offer possible plot lines for our futures." I find that many of my plots or ideas for writings usually stem from past or present experiences that I have had and as far as my twitterive goes, it is a story about my future in a way. A second quote that I found interesting was "As narrative inquirers, we share our writing on a work-in-progress basis with response communities. By this, we mean that we ask others to read our work and to respond in ways that help us see other meanings that might lead to further retelling." This is an example of what is occurring in our classroom right now. As writers were are asking the class to respond to our twitterives with questions that might lead us to retelling our stories or adding on to them. Finally, "as narrative inquirers we work within the space not only with our participants but also with ourselves " meaning

As of right now I have not included too many forms of technology into my writing but I have some ideas in mind as to how I am. I plan on using technology to scan a letter that I wrote to my boyfriend while he was away in order to put a personal touch into my writing. I have also found many you tube videos that could fit into my story and I am trying to pick the best one that fits. I also used twitter to help me come up with my idea for my story so I guess technology has really helped me out with producing the outcome that I hope to get.

I feel as though my online identity represents my real identity but it is much easier for me to show my true feelings online as apposed to talking to someone in person. I feel as though I am able to let all of my feelings flow without feeling embarrassed or wondering what people are thinking of what I am saying. I am definetly one to hide my feelings because I don't want to be judge

1. Does my story make sense? Can you understand what I am trying to convey or show?
2. Although the character in the story is not me, is it okay to use photos of me and my boyfriend or should I use random photos I find online?
3. Any improvements on my writing that I should be worried about?
4. Do you like my story? Is it off to a good start?
5. How is my prologue? Is there anything I should add/change?
6. What do you like most about my writing?

I just want to say that I had a hard time writing like this because this is like the complete opposite of how I talk. I was able to "channel" into my "gangsta" side and think about what Lola would say. I seriously laughed while reading this to my roommate. Here goes nothing.

Yo Diary,

2 morrow nite is da big fight dat ma babi Dee is goanna kick ass in. I dont no who dis otha guy is but I kno mi babi gurl an I kno dat she is goanna win cause she is da champ. I honestly dont even kno da guys name I just kno dat the only reason he is in this comp is cause he is a male. Ya heard? He dont have no shot on winning against muh gurl cause Dee is more of a man than he will EVER bee, know what I mean? True dat home boy. Btw his girl think she all hot and shit but nah she aint. She seem nice and all but I don’t like gurls like that. Be real wit me know what I’m saying? None of that shady ass shit. Hell no. She alright an all but she aint no Lola. Hah! I run this place gurl. You only wish you could look like this. Good luck to you and yours aiight? I hope my baby gurl don’t get hurt. Not that I think she wont win but that’s muh life right there, my gurl, muh boo boo. All I know is if she cant handle this situation herself she know who to call. I be der in a minute. I LOVE YOU BABY! DO YO BEST FOR LOLA AND KICK SUM ASS WHILE YOU AT IT AIGHT? Aight!

Holla atcha gurl,

Lola

Before class I had an idea of where I wanted my story to go. Being in a relationship with someone in the Military tends to be a lot of work, sometimes more than I bargained for. I often get upset with the fact that my boyfriend is going to be leaving for 6 months and then a year after that so by developing a story in which the character is not me, I am able to shape the outcome of this story. Although all of the feelings and emotions will be mine and be real, I am not the character. The male character will resemble my boyfriend and his personality but will not actually be him.

When I first started talking to Ashley and Kim, I wasn't really sure where my story was going. It wasn't til I  was able to explain to them my thoughts about my writing that they were able to provide me with some feedback. Most of the ideas I had they also liked so I knew that it was an idea that my readers could understand or relate to. I got a few tips about what kind of genre I might choose for my writing and how am I going to go about letting my readers know how my characters are feeling.

If we were never given the chance to pair up and talk with classmates I'm pretty sure that I would still be lost at this point. Although my idea is not fully developed, I have a pretty good idea o

Anzaldua's writing was really interesting to use for my micro fiction. I decided to go along with the theme of speaking another language and how someone would react in that situation. I chose to make the main character a little girl in 4th grade that had just moved to America with her parents. It was her first day of school, it was different from where she used to live, and all she wanted to do was go home. A young girl walks over to Maria and asks her name and if she is new. Maria knows how to answer those two questions but when the young girl asks Maria what grade she is in and who her teacher is, she becomes nervous and answers the girl in Spanish.

The tone of my micro fiction was sympathetic towards those who come from other countries and who speak another language and are thrown into another place such as America. I guess it kind of went along with Anzaldua’s tone because she was telling the story about how people who speak two languages may not fit in with either one. Not fitting in was one of the main concerns of her writing and that’s why I chose to also use “concern” throughout my micro fiction.

When I created the haiku, I also wanted to use the emotions from my character to sum up what the story was all about. I decided to choose:

She felt alone and scared

It was her first day of school

She wanted to go home

By using alone and scared, the reader can understand how the character felt. She felt alone because everyone around her was nothing like her, they had nothing in common. She was scared because this place was new to her and all she wanted to do was to go home.

Although I have never been in a situation quite like this, I had to really dig into my characters mind and create feelings that I thought she would have. I feel as though a lot of my writings come from my love for children and the fact that I want to be a teacher someday. I usually am sympathetic for young children and seem to get on their level pretty easily.

For this next assignment, we were asked to make a haiku from one of the micro fictions that we had previously created.

Haiku

She felt alone and scared

It was her first day of school

She wanted to go home




My boyfriend’s army clothes are all over my room
and my books are thrown all over the gray rugs;
I can never seem to keep my room clean.

Having such a hard time sitting in class knowing that my boyfriend is leaving,
                                                                                                                        this is going to be harder than I thought.







my boyfriend's army clothes are taking over my room....the perks of being an army girlfriend :)
long day filled of homework, sports, and football with the boyfriend
It's really sunny but wayyy too cold out! Where's summer?!
Why do I always wake up in the morning with only one sock on my foot?
Patiently waiting for my boyfriend to get here
my books are thrown all over the gray rugs, i can never seem to keep it clean. above my bed is my fav poster kissing on v day (sailor /nurse
no desire to sit in class knowing that my boyfriend is leaving in 3 weeks only to go away for 6 months :(
in a really good mood, things are starting to get better
pics from home hang all over my room-friends,parents,boyfriend and dog. not as good as my room in cm but it works
having such a hard time finding something to write a story off of from the Anzaldua readings...this is goanna be harder than I thought

This next post is something that my professor asked us to do in response to a reading. I chose to write a micro fiction story on Gloria Anzaldua’s How to Tame a Wild Tongue. The quote that I chose to use from the reading was “For a people who are neither Spanish nor live in a country in which Spanish is the first language; for a people who live in a country in which English is the reigning tongue but who are not Anglo; for a people who cannot entirely identify with either standard Spanish nor standard English, what recourse is left to them but to create their own language?

It was her first day of school in a place much different from where she came from. She felt alone and extremely scared. She learned a little English from her parents who tried hard to fit in with the standards in this unusual place. She wanted to go home, but her parents explained to her that this place offered so many opportunities for her and her family and that some day she would understand.

While walking up the steps to her school a little girl with blonde hair came skipping over to Maria and asked if she was new. Maria shook her head, she understood what the little girl said but kept her head down.

“What’s your name?” the girl asked.

“Maria.” That’s two questions she knew how to answer. Maybe making a friend wasn’t so hard.

The blonde girl smiled. “My name is Katie. What grade are you in? Who is your teacher?”

Maria understood what her “friend” had asked but she began to panic. She didn’t know how to say that she was in fourth grade and her teacher was Mrs. Brown. She began to speak in her native language, desperately trying to get Katie to understand what she was trying to say.  She handed Katie the paper which stated her grade and teacher. The young girl had no idea what Maria had said but could understand the writing on the paper. She grabbed Maria’s hand and walked her inside the building.

The second part of this post has to do with writing a micro fiction from a twitter post. I chose to challenge myself and chose a tweet that I didn't think that I could write a story from. I did have a hard time but enjoyed challenging myself. The tweet I chose was : Why do I always wake up in the morning with only one sock on my foot?

Every night, the girl goes to bed with a sock on each foot; the socks tend to vary in color and design but there is always a pair on every night. When she finally falls asleep the socks slip off and slide onto the floor where her laundry lays. Every night her socks throw a party while the girl is sleeping.

As the sun starts to rise the socks realize that their party time is running out and that they should venture their way back. Unfortunately, the left sock partied pretty hard last night and is having a hard time finding her foot. He stagers through the covers trying to find the foot so the girl has no idea that they had even left her in the first place.

The alarm sounds. The girl rolls over to turn off the alarm and rubs her eyes. She sits up and swings her legs out of the bed only to find that her left sock is missing. She lifts up the covers searching for the sock. Where could it have gone? After about five minutes of searching she gives up, goes to her drawer, and finds a suitable sock to replace the one she lost. The case of the missing sock continues.

Unfortunately for the sock, he never made it to her foot. He stumbled trying to find his way back. He ended up falling off the bed and down the side where he passed out for the rest of the day.