Monday, January 2, 2012

Motherblog Assignment #8: What I Learned

Image taken from Switzer looking towards the Fred Meyer direction at about 5:00 PM December  29th 2011

October 15th. No one saw it coming. It was spontanious. It was devistating. It was horrific. It killed, if not, fueled inspiration.

A simple night. Went to go see The Curious Savage from the JDHS Play Production with my friend Keegan. Great show. Funny, full of laughs, crazy, fun. It was a spectacular show. It was a fun show to see and experience...well...untill I heard the unsettling news...

Walked out with Keegan, met a few people, and met an old friend, Wesley. He gave me the unsettling news of Mckenna's Passing. I couldn't believe it. I asked over and over if it was true...It was...It was tough to settle...Alison Mckenna died.

I went straight home on the city bus. Trying to get a hold of what happened. Broke into tears...Ms. Mckenna was my inspiration to write. Ever since her Literature through Film class my Sophmore year, I loved to write, create, share dispite being a shy person.

Days, weeks, months went by. It's different to walk into a classroom where a once, smart, amazing teacher used to teach. The walls no longer littered with her presence, but the feeling of her once there still lingers.

Dispite Mckenna's passing, one thing still hold true to her students, the inspiratoin she gave. She for me is the one that gave me the inspiration to write, create, share. I will continue holding that close. The one thing I got from her classes.

Mother Blog assignment #9: Now What?

Image from Mojang's Game Minecraft
Image taken myself.

January 16th. The day the 2nd semester of school will start. the last 4/5 months of the school year left before I graduate and get out (Or if the school system screws me out of a credit and prevents me from graduating which then I'll just get my GED and call it a day). It's also the day Mr. Good will no longer teach the Creative Writing Class from what he said.

Now, I should be happy about the new semester. Getting closer to the end of school for me, the weather clearing up for the summer which means jobs will be rolling in onces the tourists come in. I should be happy. But i'm not. Why?

Mr.Good is no longer teaching the Creative Writing class next semester. It's sad. He's a wonderful teacher. Did his job wonderfully to...well...I guess I shouldnt say "replace" but Take Charge of the class since Alison Mckenna's Passing. Mckenna has a unique grading system that I myself couldnt figure out. Mr.Good's grading system being really well done. Giving us a fair score for our first quarter work by pretty much letting our parents grade it. The point system used for every assignment that Mr.Good setup after taking charge of the class works wonders. You don't do the work, you don't get the points. Simple as that.

Mr.Good does a great job of teaching. Encouraging the sharing of writing or "riffs" to the class, sharing of other pieces of art, media.

Now. This is a Creative Writing class. In the past when Mckenna was in charge, this was the School Magazine "The Ego" class pretty much. You write, publish, read, share. Simple as that. It's a different stance and direction from "traditional" english classes, which are pretty much, read a book (usually really bad ("Speak" is a good example)), write a paper on it about it's story, summary, characters. Then move onto the next book. Boring. Plain, you learn nothing... absolutly NOTHING!

What i'm pretty much trying to say, i'm scared creative writing is not going to be Creative Writing. I'm scared this class is going to turn into what I was trying to avoid since my Freshman year 3 years ago. A traditional english class.

The reason why I chose Creative Writing is because to get away from the boring, non inspiration traditional english class. I hated reading a book, doing a worksheet on it, write a paper on it  (which the teacher doesn't hateful comments on (Speak is a mess of a book that is hated by many)).

Creative writing is a great way to express your writing, thoughts, feelings on paper. I love the class, and I would hate to see it turn to somthing unrealistic and...just what the class isn't.