First, read over the 3 outcome statements on this study sheet, which also includes background information on Gandhi.  As you watch the excerpt from the movie, ‘Gandhi,’ decide which outcome statement you want to focus on.  During and after the movie, take bullet notes on the outcome statement you chose. Finally, put your ideas into complete sentences in a new post at your blog. Remember, your focus should be on one outcome and Gandhi’s experiences in South Africa.

Here are 4 video clips that make up the excerpt we saw in class:

[View with PicLens]

]]> http://inside.isb.ac.th/jkenney/2010/02/05/class-trip-blog-post/feed/ http://inside.isb.ac.th/jkenney/2010/01/29/identity-masks/ http://inside.isb.ac.th/jkenney/2010/01/29/identity-masks/#comments Fri, 29 Jan 2010 04:46:26 +0000 johnk http://inside.isb.ac.th/jkenney/?p=1161 Mask Activity: Now that you have designed and discussed the design you created on your mask, put your notes into a reflection with an introduction, body and conclusion. As mentioned in class, your reflection should include an expository essay ingredient (e.g., identity, culture, values, personalities, African masks) in the introduction and reconnected with in the conclusion. Two sample reflections, a word bank and scoring rubric are at the Class Documents page.

Period 5 - 6 Masking Activity

Click here to view the embedded video.

Period 5 - 6 Mask Designs

[View with PicLens]

Period 1 - 2 Masking Activity

Period 1 - 2 Mask Designs

[View with PicLens]

Create a post at your blog about a current event that took place in sub-Saharan Africa sometime over the last 6 months. First, check a source of information and decide on a news topic that you find most interesting and somehow relevant to your life. Here are the on-line news sources that you can use:

allAfrica.com - Select a country or region at the drop window on the right.

International Herald Tribune (from The New York Times) - Click on the Africa link at the left.

NewsBank - Click on the map of Africa, then click on the map of a country in Africa that you are interested in. Click on the blank window to the right of the Date drop-window and choose ‘past 6 months.’  (The off-campus username is: isbml09 and the off-campus password is: isbml09.)

BBC -  Click on the Africa link at the link.

Time Magazine - Type in ‘Africa’ in the search window at the top left.

National Public Radio - Type in ‘Africa’ in the search window at the top right.

Once you find an article, include the following points in your blog post. (A good idea is to jot down notes in your learning log before creating the post.):

1.  What are some of the vocabulary and/or terms that you think your readers will need explained? (include the vocabulary/terms along with clear definitions in your post.)

2. What did you already know and/or assume about the topic of the article?

3. What is the setting of the article (date and place)? You might want to include a map.

4. What are the main details in the article?  Think about the 5W + 1H categories.

5. Was there any bias (one-sided perspective) or any other particular attitude presented in the article?

6. What more would you want to know about the topic of the news article?

7. Why was this article relevant to you?

Other ingredients to include in your blog post:

* Begin your blog post with a ‘hook.’

* Include the title of the article in quotation marks.

* Include one or more images that relate to the news article. Include a video or audio clip if related to the news article.

* Indicate which source you are using from the above list.  Include a link to the URL address for the source of the news article.

* Make sure you use quotation marks if you are taking information directly from the article or paraphrase the information in your own words.  Use phrases such as ‘according to’ when referring to the source or someone’s opinion cited in the source.

* If the article is short on content or if you want to show further curiosity about the news event, find an additional source. Make sure you include a link to the URL address.

* Use spacing in your post for organizing your content.

* Correct any sentence structure and/or conventions mistakes in your post.

Before semester vacation, we all had a chance to get our hands on some non-fiction reading, maybe a biography, autobiography, memoir, history, science, philosophy, how-to/self-help, or some other factual book. The trick was to find a book that seemed interesting as well as challenging.

Now’s your chance to share your non-fiction reading. Create a post at your blog about non-fiction reading that you began during or after second quarter and which you have now finished. You blog post is due Monday, January 18.

Here are some points for you to bring out in your blog post:

* What kind of experience have you had with non-fiction reading?

* How did you choose this particular non-fiction book?

* What did you already know and/or assume about the topic covered in the book?

* What did you already know about the author?

* What’s the first sentence in the main part of the book (i.e., not the introduction or prologue sections if the book

has one)? What did this first sentence tell you about the attitude of the author and how the information in the

book might be presented?

* How did the author try to make the information interesting? (e.g., How effective was the author’s writing style?)

* What were 2 or more interesting things that you learned about the topic inthe book?

* Without giving away too many details, did the book end in the way that you were expecting?

* What kind of readers would you recommend this book to?

* You can also make reference to other non-fiction reading that you finished.

* Include one or more image (e.g., book cover), and if you can find one, a related video (with an introductory caption for the video).

Here’s an example of a reflection on non-fiction reading:

I usually reserve my non-fiction reading to on-line newspapers and other websites and blogs about politics, sports, science, technology and pop culture. However, like a lot of readers, over the last few years, I have found myself reading memoirs, in addition to the fiction books that I usually read.

A couple of memoirs that I read during semester vacation included What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami and Driving Mr. Albert by Michael Paterniti.

Haruki Murakami is one of my favorite fiction writers of surreal mystery stories, so it was interesting to read his down-to-earth thoughts about his other passion – marathon running and how it relates to writing and life.

You could call Michael Paterniti’s book a travelogue memoir, but I would call it one of the strangest – and fascinating - stories I’ve read, just as the subtitle on the book cover indicates!: ‘A Trip Across America With Einstein’s Brain’

The non-fiction book that is the focus of this post is one that captures so many elements of writing and contemplation - The Autobiography of Mark Twain.

Mark Twain has always been one of my favorite authors of all time, although I may have reconnected with him at the beginning of this school year when a number of students chose to analyze a quote about writing which just happened to be from Mark Twain: “The difference between the right word and the wrong word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”

Later in October, while checking the titles of books in our classroom, I came across a copy of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I decided to read it, the first time since Grade 7!

Mark Twain’s autobiography is a 500-page read, but it was so personally written, that it was like drinking in the letters composed by a wise elderly grandfather who was looking back on his life’s journey with both sadness and humor.

The author’s first sentence of his autobiography is: “I was born the 30^th of November, 1835, in the almost invisible village of Florida, Monroe County, Missouri.” I’m not sure why Twain italicized the first part of the sentence other than to emphasize the irony of how small-town life would play such an important role in his life.  Maybe Twain was previewing his goal of revealing memories that could have faded forever just as Twain died in April of 1910.

To really get the most out of reading this autobiography, it would be essential to have already read at least one of Twain’s books such as the stories of Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer. The fun aspect of reading the autobiography is that Twain reveals the real-life people that he based his fictitious characters on, including Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, Becky, Aunt Polly and Jim, the runaway slave.

One issue that is clearly revealed about the author is his attitude towards black Americans.  Twain lived at a time, before and during the Civil War of the 1860’s and into the 20^th century, when most Americans considered blacks to be inferior.  Now there are schools in the U.S. that are reluctant to use Twain’s classics about Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer because, in capturing the language of Americans at the time, the author often uses the derogatory word ‘nigger’ in reference to black Americans portrayed in his stories. Those schools should read this autobiography and read about the influence that Twain’s mother had on him and his own opinion as stated on page 39: ‘Slavery was a bald, grotesque and unwarrantable usurpation.”

Reading this autobiography was like reading not only a personal history of American society but also a travel memoir as Twain included his perspectives about his encounters with people in Europe and Asia.

Mark Twain is often associated with his sharp sense of humor, using satire to poke fun at he failings of humans, especially those in power.  You could say that Mark Twain would have felt very much at home with the 21^st century American comedian, Jon Stewart.

However, if you read this autobiography, be ready for the sudden swings in Mark Twain’s moods and writing style, for example, going quickly from describing a humorous prank he had played on his brother Henry to recounting a vivid dream he had of Henry laid out in a coffin with a bunch of white roses along with one red rose placed on his chest. Shortly after, Henry in fact died, and when Mark Twain came home for the funeral, there was Henry with the same roses placed on his chest.

As with perhaps many elderly folks near the end of their lifetimes, Mark Twain finishes his ‘journey’ recalling more melancholy in his life, but his humor remained intact when he claimed that he would leave with the comet that he had come into life with back in 1835, and sure enough, he died when Halley’s comet passed by in 1910. In anycase, Mark Twain’s fame as a writer and humorist live on.

One way that Mark Twain remains literally ‘on stage’ is from the dramatic presentations of Twain as portrayed by the actor Hal Holbrook.  For the last 50 years, Holbrook has taken on the appearance of Mark Twain and does a theatrical dramatization of the author speaking to a mesmerized audience!

Here’s a video clip of Hal Holbrook as Mark Twain.

Click here to view the embedded video.

And now that you have read Chapters XXIV - XXVII, what are your thoughts on the conclusion to the novel and the overall effect of the author’s purpose in writing the story? Be ready to share your ideas about these kinds of questions in a Socratic Seminar. Also be ready to discuss ideas on symbolism, theme, writer’s style, and personal connections to the novel.

Here’s a scene from the movie, ‘The James Dean Story’ (James Dean was a famous young Hollywood star of the 1950’s - he is portrayed by another actor in this movie.)  As portrayed, James Dean makes references to The Little Prince and the fox, a character that appeared a little earlier in the story. But you can see how the actor portraying James Dean is trying to convey the effect the story had on him. What effect did the story have on you? We’ll find out during our Socratic Seminar!

Now that you have read several chapters of the class novel, create a post at your blog on two or more topics related to Chapters I - XV. Do less summarizing and more interpreting what aspects of the story mean to you as well as evaluating the effectiveness of the author’s writing style. You can also include a topic for your blog post that is based on the information you read in the Introduction section of the novel. Here are some topics that you can choose from:

1. information about the author - from the Introduction section of the novel - or information you have found on your own

2. the author’s style of writing (e.g., choice of narrator, possible theme, writer’s voice)

3. the interaction between the pilot and the little prince (e.g., drawing a sheep)

4. the little prince’s planet (e.g., baobabs, volcanoes, sunsets)

5. the rose and her relationship with the little prince

6. one or more of the adults the little prince meets (i.e., Chs. X - XV)

7. a topic you think of that relates to Chs. I - XV and/or the author!

Include one or more images (or video clips) for your blog post.

Here are a couple of video clips that relate to the novel.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The full title of this video is ‘The Little Prince and the Complex Semiotic Aspects of Non-Verbal Modern Day Communication’ (created by university students in Bulgaria).

Click here to view the embedded video.

This video is a rap song created by some high school students in Los Angeles.

Our Socratic Seminar is about the short story, ‘The Dream’  by the Thai writer, Kuruvin Boon-Long. Make sure that you have carefully read the story and be ready to have an open-ended discussion.

Here is the file for the story:

the-dream

And here is an audio recording of ‘The Dream’ (narrated by Mrs. Joan Estin):

Click here to view the embedded video.

In order to participate in the discussion, you need to bring a copy of the story, your learning log notebook and a completed entry-ticket.

We’ll use our Socratic Seminar to explore questions and speculations about the story. Here are some points you can touch on (maybe you can think of others!):

* questions about some aspect of the story’s plot and theme

* questions about vocabulary and/or use of figurative language and symbolism

* connections to our unit on Consumer Economics + Identity (e.g., perception, influence, etc.)

* the author’s purpose in writing this story

* personal connections you have with the story

And here are some sentence starters you might want to use during the seminar:

* I’d like to know…              * I’m not sure, but…

* I’m wondering why…       * What puzzles me is…

* I’m confused about…       * I’d like to ask the author…

1. What did you already know about advertising?  What did you assume about advertising?

2. What do you remember most about analyzing ads - the samples and the one you chose?

3.  What was it like working with a team in coming up with a logo and slogan for Vinco?  How did your team decide on a product to focus on and how difficult was it in coming up with a consumer target group, values that connect to your product and a perception that you wanted consumers to have by looking at your ad? What was it like having professional advertisers as well as teachers and other students checking out your team’s advertising work?

4. How did these two activities (analyzing ads + Vinco branding) affect your perceptions about advertising?

Below are photos from the Vinco branding activity.

[View with PicLens]

[View with PicLens]

]]> http://inside.isb.ac.th/jkenney/2009/10/15/analyzing-advertising/feed/ http://inside.isb.ac.th/jkenney/2009/10/11/video-connections-to-consumer-economics/ http://inside.isb.ac.th/jkenney/2009/10/11/video-connections-to-consumer-economics/#comments Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:45:26 +0000 johnk http://inside.isb.ac.th/jkenney/?p=596 The following are videos you can comment upon here, or you can get the file for one or more of the videos and create a post at your own blog.

‘Consumerism, the Musical’ (first line - ‘I’m the king of excess…’)

A video podcast about consumerism by ‘The Resident’

Music Video - ‘Made in Thailand’ by Carabao - lyrics translated into English - made-in-thailand

Mini-Documentary - ‘Why People Buy’

Thai TV Commercial - Smooth-E Face Cream - ‘Materialism’

Dove Cosmetics - Advertising Campaign - ‘The Evolution of Beauty’

Brand Shopping in Japan

‘Poddicts’ - a story of ‘addiction’ to iPods. Note how the details of the actor smoking and often saying  the word ‘like’ fit in with the context of his character.

Ethical Consumerism - an animated message

Background to the story about Iqbal.

Mini-Documentary - ‘What’s Behind the Label?’

Movie Trailer for ‘The Cove’ - 2009 documentary about dolphins in Japan hunted for sea shows around the world.

Sponge Bob in China - labor issues connected to consumerism

George Carlin, Comedian - a rant about American consumerism and other issues

News Video, 2007 - ‘Gross National Happiness’ - the Mountain Kingdom of Bhutan meets the material world

‘The Cost of Cool’

or

‘Coke vs. Pepsi’

Get the viewing guide for your documentary. The files are below.

the-cost-of-cool-viewing-guide coke-vs-pepsi-viewing-guide

Do the preview on the first page of the viewing guide, an exercise with vocabulary from the documentary.  You may need to use a dictionary.

Read over the phrases for the section of the documentary that you are about to watch. These phrases are right from the documentary script, so reading them will help your better understand what you hear and see.

Watch the documentary individually or with a partner. Adapter jacks for head/earphones are available so that two people can use one computer. Play the video from your desktop, not from the school server folder. Right click on the video file; open and play the video with VLC or iTunes.

Pause the video after the number of minutes indicated on your viewing guide.  Jot down some notes about what you just watched. Your notes can have a brief summary of important information, but try to focus on recording your personal reactions to the information, including your thoughts about how the documentary topic is being presented.

Continue: Reading, Watching, Pausing, Noting…

After you finish the documentary, jot down follow-up notes as part of your reflection on the last page of the viewing guide.  Read the directions for the questions you need to answer, including any bias you detected in the way the information was presented in the documentary.

Now that you have lots of personal reactions and reflection notes, create a post at your blog, sharing what you learned about the documentary - and any extended connections and/or knowledge that you later discovered!

Here are examples of going beyond the two documentaries with a couple of video clips.

The first example is a connection to ‘The Cost of Cool.’  The video clip is a preview ‘teaser’ to the documentary titled, ‘The Story of Stuff.’  Many schools also use ‘The Story of Stuff’ to cover issues of consumerism and the impact on the environment. Some people believe the documentary has bias and is ‘propaganda’ against capitalism.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The second example is a connection to the ‘Coke vs. Pepsi’ documentary. Check the commercial below that features two truck drivers, one for Coke and the other for Pepsi. They meet in a diner during the Christmas holidays, and just when it looks like peace is in the air, and the cola war is over…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Create a post at your blog about a current event news story. Here’s what to do for your first current events post:

1. Find any article (not more than 3 months old) from a newspaper, magazine or the internet that interests you the most. Your article could be about any topic, e.g., politics, business, sports, science, fashion, technology, music, a new consumer product, etc.,-  but the article needs to have some connection to consumer economics.

2. The introduction to your post should include background to your source(s) of information.  Tell us how and where you came across the article, and if you followed up by checking other sources on the same topic. Include the name of the source (title of newspaper or magazine, website URL)

3. Also include the source of any photo or video that is part of your post.

4. Then tell us why you were interested in this particular news story and what you already knew or assumed about the topic that is mentioned in the article.

5. Give a summary of the article, indicating what you have learned about the topic and any connections to consumer economics.

6. Next, explain what you would want to know more about this news story topic. You could also predict what will happen next in relation to the events described in the article.

7. Finally, try to indicate if you think there was any bias in the article. Did the author or someone presented in the article seem to show a preference for or against the idea that was the basis of the article?

8. Your category for this post will be Current Events (Humanities as Parent Category or Tag.)

Further Notes:

You will receive most credit for using NewsBank and/or EBSCO to find a current event article.  Also recomended is the International Herald Tribune (linked at this blog).

The title of your post can be something such as,  ‘Current Events - Consumerism.’

You can copy and paste the actual headline to the article or you can create a headline of your own.

Make sure that if you use any text from the article that you use quotation marks. When referring to information from the article, you could use a phrase such as ‘According to …’  You will earn most credit by putting information from the article in your own words. You will earn least credit if you are copying  information from the article (i.e., plagiarizing).

Here’s an example of a current event story that has a connection to consumer economics.  It first starts with a made-up headline.

World’s Most Expensive Coffee - Comes from What?!

On Friday, August 21, I came across the photo above posted at one of my favorite blogs, ‘The Daily Dish.’  This blog contains mostly news dealing with politics, but it also has a variety of other topics. The information about some animal eating coffee berries was only about a paragraph long, so I did an internet search to get more background on the topic. I found a useful article in the January 20, 2004 online edition of the newspaper, USA Today.

I was interested in this news story because when I read the caption to the photo at ‘The Daily Dish’ blog, there were details about Indonesia having the world’s most expensive coffee. In general, I believe the high price of a product is often based, at least partly, on the status that the consumer is supposed to acquire when buying the product, so I wanted to know how an animal eating coffee berries would lead to any consumer status.

Before reading the article about civet coffee, I already knew that there are several types of coffee that come from places such as the highland areas of  South America, Africa and the Middle East.  As far as Asia goes, I wasn’t aware that coffee is a major crop in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.  I did know that a civet is a cat-like raccoon that lives in the forests of some parts of Asia, but I had no idea what role a civet would have in coffee production.

I assumed that the most expensive coffee is found at Starbucks, the high prices due to quality of the coffee served and the status of the brand, but I certainly didn’t realize that one type of coffee that comes from Java, in Indonesia, is marketed overseas and sold for the equivalent price of up to 1500 baht for a single cup of coffee!

The extreme high price is due to the limited supply of civet coffee, but the real surprise is what you could call the ‘inside story’ of this increasingly popular coffee.  (Watch out, you might get grossed out!)

In the photo above, a civet is eating coffee berries. The coffee berries pass through the civet’s stomach without being digested and then excreted, the coffee beans embedded in feces (photo below).

That’s right, the coffee beans are in the civet’s poop!  The beans have to be cleaned by hand, dried and then lightly roasted, just like any other coffee bean, right?

The civets in the photos look tamed because in the wild, civets climb the trees that have coffee berries, and then someone has to carefully scoop up the poop, making sure the beans are in safe hands.

In any case, according to the article in USA Today, coffee aficionados claim that the aroma of civet coffee from Indonesia is the world’s best. It is supposedly the ‘unique enzymes’ in the civet’s stomach that give the coffee its  ‘distinctively earthy’ taste - no wonder!

The article from USA Today also brought out another aspect to the story on civet coffee that I want to find out more about, namely the safety factor of consuming such coffee.  When the respiratory illness called SARS went worldwide a few years ago, China exterminated thousands of civet cats out of fear that they spread the illness. The World Health Organization also sees a possible link between civet cats and the illness.

However, that follow-up article in USA Today was posted back in 2004, and I didn’t come across any news of people negatively affected by drinking civet coffee.  In fact, a civet coffee seller in Jakarta claims that there are many kinds of civets in the world, and the ones in China are not the same as the ones in Indonesia.

Also from the USA Today website article, it was Interesting to read that a man from Boston who owns a chain of coffee shops in Indonesia said this particular coffee would catch on because of its ’semi-romantic taste’ - but he did not plan to sell civet coffee in his stores because of ‘product liability lawsuits.’  In other words, he was afraid of getting sued if a customer got sick!

So, I learned about the world’s highest priced coffee (that doesn’t seem to have made it to Thailand).  I also learned that the high price of a product is not only due to some marketing campaign that tempts the consumer with status; it can also be due to a limited supply.

Neither source, ‘The Daily Dish’ or USA Today, showed bias for or against the idea of drinking civet coffee, but the report from USA Today did seem more skeptical about its popularity and even referred to the possibility of there being a ‘marketing scam.’ By the way, the title to the article about civet coffee from USA Today was - ‘Good to the Last Dropping.’

Finally, here is a video clip from ‘Animal Planet TV’ that gives you more of a look at civet coffee.

Click here to view the embedded video.

(The image at the top left and the original source of information for this report are from The Daily Dish blog; the other photo is from Google images.

The Daily Dish URL is: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/

The USA Today URL is: http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2004-01-20-civet-coffee_x.htm

The video clip is from YouTube.)

Four months ago, Edublog had a blogging challenge during which more than 1000 students from 15 countries shared posts and comments.

Edublog’s new challenge involves the following:

‘Better Blogger (BB) - this will involve setting up your blog, adding avatar and widgets, writing posts and some commenting - suit students new to blogging.

Better Commenters (BC) - this will involve looking at your comments, how to improve them, learning to continue conversations through commenting, writing posts that invite comments - suit students who have been blogging for a while.’

You can find out more information about the challenge at this site: http://wyatt67.edublogs.org/2009/08/22/its-about-to-start-the-student-blogging-challenge/

A  7th grader from Vancouver, Canada won an edublog challenge for his posts on video game reviews and video game news.  You can check out his blog (and the audio avatar that he has, which you can get for your blog!) at:

http://danielwh16.edublogs.org/

If you do enter the edublog challenge, you can earn extra credit!

(image above: ‘Global Player’
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29487767@N02/3574392846
by: Dani Released under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License)

The idea is to take a look at a book (fiction or nonfiction) that you are reading now (or have read this semester), and see what kind of first sentence the author used as a ‘hook.’  Type out the first sentence. You can add an image such as the book cover illustration.  Then explain why you think the author’s first sentence was (or was not) effective as a hook into the story.  Also explain how the sentence reflects the book’s genre and what the story is about (without giving away the ending).  Here is an example of a reflection on the topic:

Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood.

Rick Riordan has, in my opinion, a very effective hook for his novel, The Lightning Thief.  Although the first sentence of the novel contains only 8 words, it reveals even more than the dramatic image on the book cover.

The author’s first sentence introduces the reader to a boy with a confused attitude about his identity as a half-human.  I had already heard that this novel has lots of connections to Greek mythology (just right as a preview to Grade 9 English!). Therefore, from the first sentence, I figured that the main character must be the offspring of humans as well as Greek gods.

That first sentence implies that the main character gets caught up in a lot of trouble, maybe some caused by his own doing.  The main character saying, “Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood,” is similar to when we might hear someone say, “Look, I didn’t mean to break the window with the baseball.”

On the other hand, the first sentence also reflects the pattern of a lot of stories that have young main characters who are reluctant heroes. Even from just the first sentence, being a ‘half-blood’ seems to be a headache for the main character.  You would think that such a situation would increase one’s status, but that’s part of the author’s effective hook in that first sentence.  The reader wants to find out what would be so bad about being a semi-god.

I enjoy all genres of literature, but I have to admit fantasy is not on the top of my list. That being said, the first sentence to this novel got me hooked because it’s expressed by a main character who has a seemingly spunky attitude. The first-person narration that the author has chosen is especially a good match for a main character who gets into a lot of unworldly trouble!

Create a post at your blog about the movie you saw in class - ‘Children of Heaven.’  Share ideas you have about the movie that help us go further into our unit, Consumer Economics + Identity. Keep in mind that the story takes place in Tehran, Iran of the late 1990’s. Here are some blogging points that you can make about the movie:

* What scene(s) in the movie helped you most in seeing examples of economic situations?

Give us the details you took note of and your thoughts about these details.

* How might the title of the movie relate to some economic idea about the lives of Ali and Zahra?

* What connections can you make between the economic situations seen in the movie and experiences you have had in your life?

“If one but tell a thing well, it moves on with undying voice.”

Pindar was a famous poet of Ancient Greece who lived 522 - 443 B.C.E.  I’m not certain what Pindar meant by telling ‘a thing well,’ but maybe he was referring to the idea of telling something - an historic event, an imaginary story or a poem - in a memorable way so that it can be remembered long after it has been presented.  Pindar’s words are still with us even after more than two millennia, so his ideas must have been expressed in memorable ways.  Pindar’s quote actually sounds relevant in our age of technology because thanks to blogs and other on-line formats, our ideas could conceivably last as long as Pindar’s - if there is qualitiy to what we express.

Here’s the song by Janis Ian, ‘At Seventeen.’

The following are examples of poems that you can imagine could have been written out as memoirs in a narrative style.

‘Fifteen’ by William Stafford

South of the Bridge of Seventeenth

I found back of the willows one summer

day a motorcycle with engine running

as it lay on its side, ticking over

slowly in the high grass.  I was fifteen.

I admired all that pulsing gleam, the

shiny flanks, the demure headlights

fringed where it lay; I led it gently

to the road and stood with that

companion, ready and friendly.  I was fifteen.

We could find the end of a road, meet

the sky on out Seventeenth.  I thought about

hills, and patting the handle got back a

confident opinion.  On the bridge we indulged

a forward feeling, a tremble.  I was fifteen.

Thinking, back farther in the grass I found

the owner, just coming to, where he had flipped

over the rail.  He had blood on his hand, was pale -

I helped him walk to his machine.  He ran his hand

over it, called me good man, roared away.

I stood there, fifteen.

‘Freedom from Wires’ by Carl Immerman (high school student)

Ever try to kiss a girl through a wire fence?

It can’t be done.

But now girls, line up.

I’m gonna make up for lost time.

I want to scream it to the world.

Yell it from the mountaintops.

Today is the happiest day of my life.

Rickie, my friend,

Why are you sitting in that classroom alone?

Come out and hear my good news.

Today I am liberated,

Free at last, free at last,

Great God I’m free at last!

Today I will laugh and not just smile.

Today I will gorge myself on seven eclairs.

Today I will join the human race.

My braces finally came off!

‘Jill’ by an anonymous high school student

Jill is so straight; I can’t stand it.

But I need a friend who helps me touch the ground

While I chase the wind.

If I am a high-flying kite,

Jill is my string.

If I want to buy something outrageous,

She reminds me that it’s not machine washable.

If I act like a complete idiot,

She tells me there is still hope.

If I have a fight with my parents,

She reminds me that it will soon blow over.

Last Saturday I wanted to go shopping with her,

But she had a brother to cheer at a game.

I went to the mall myself and

Walked through the aisles admiring everything.

Without thinking, I pulled a top off one of the shelves,

And stuffed it into my bag.

A hand grabbed my arm.

A face asked me questions.

A finger dialed a phone.

I felt so embarrassed.

I kept thinking I wouldn’t be in this mess

If Jill had come shopping with me.

A Six-Word Memoir Contest

In 2006, there was a contest for people to create their memoirs using Twitter - a memoir all in six words! Here’s a sample of the 11,000 submissions, as seen in an edited YouTube video. Try your hand at creating a 6-word version of your memoir and submit it at the comments link for this post.

Click here to view the embedded video.