What do you want - Really ?

After we listen to and discuss Elizabeth Crane's “Football,” read by Martha Lavey from NPR's series, "Selected Shorts" you will do the following:

On your blog - Capture you thoughts about the story:

Discuss the rhythm of the story. How does Elizabeth Crane create rhythm in her story. What language devices and rhetorical techniques does she use, and how do these speed up/ slow down the pace of the story. How do the shifts in pacing mirror and support the shifts in tone? Consider repetition, use of vivid details vs. summary, narrative tone (humorous, nostalgic, poignant, realistic etc.)


After our class writing exercise:
In Microsoft Word - Start drafting your own "I want" story in the style of "Football"

Choose from one of the following:
1. Start with where you are today, and write a first person narrative based on a series of "I want" phrases that move chronologically through your death and possibly beyond.
2. Start with your mother or father's high school years, and write a first person narrative from either of their points of view using the "I want" phrase to describe their lives (and yours eventually).
3. Instead of "I want" come up with another phrase that you will repeat as you describe the current and future events of your life in narrative form.
4. Use one of the characters you have been developing this year as the narrator of an "I want" narrative.


Publishing-When you have taken the draft through the process, publish the final product by mailing it to yourself in the future. Go to futureme.org and copy and paste your story into the window. Choose a date on which to mail it to yourself (one year from now? ten years?)

Resources:

• Listen to the story by clicking here. Note that "football" is the second story in the program, so you must either enjoy the first story, or let the show buffer for a while and then fast forward.
• Read Elizabeth Crane's blog. Consider leaving her a comment or sending her an email.
• Buy her book, "All This Heavenly Glory"