Mr. Cheng's Creative Writing Class Blog

These things I don't understand:
...why some people have to lose their child and I got to keep mine, this is the most difficult of all
...how God hears prayers and intercedes in the lives of people
...how we have mapped the brain but our soul is a mystery
...why strangers step in to help someone in need
These things I don't understand.
But, these things I know:
...three numbers can save someone's life 911( thanks Drew)
...first responders don't give up
...people WILL care for someone they've never met
...my child survived because of people from all walks of life who pumped his chest, applied defib, operated, visited, sang, cared for, prayed for and loved my son.
These things I also know:
...the world is filled with good, kind, caring, and compassionate people
...each child is precious, every life a gift
...the human soul DOES defy explanation
...God DOES answer prayers
...miracles DO happen and I have witnessed one this week!

For your homework:
Write a poem about an emotional experience. Use imagery, symbolism, metaphor, simile, references, allusions, meter, and structure to SHOW, NOT TELL your emotion.

There is no length requirement, but your poem should effectively express the emotion and re-live your experience.

Afterwards, reveal the emotion about which you wrote and provide an explanation of the poetic devices you used to express this emotion.

As always, give your poem a title.

Due Date: Published to your blogs by 8:30AM Wed, Mar 6

Grading
Title = 2 points
Completion = 2 points
Explanation = 2 points
Emotion identified = 2 points

Thursday, November 8, 2012

DVD Chapters of My Life

STEP 1 - Title this post "DVD Chapters of My Life"

STEP 2 - Section your life story into at least 10 chapters (feel free to do more, it's actually fun and builds on itself). Don't feel responsible for covering every single event and detail of your life, just the interesting stuff that would be in a movie. These chapters should be in order. Most important - give these chapters interesting DVD titles.

*You don't have to restrict yourself to the movie for which you originally made your poster - the poster was just a starting point.* Just come up with 10 interesting chapters from your life and give them titles. Try to be creative with your chapter titles, but don't pressure yourself. Remember, your job is to show up and do the work; your genius's job is to make it interesting and creative.

Afterwards, choose 10 chapters and describe in a sentence or two what that chapter will be about.

Example:

Chapter 1 - Just call me "Butthead." - I had two older sisters who called me "butthead." They weren't always horrible, but certainly made my childhood more challenging.
Chapter 2 - If I'm Not Near the Girl I Love... - Girl-happy. I always had crushes on girls (this chapter title comes from a showtune that goes, "If I'm not near the girl I love, I love the girl I'm near"
Chapter 3 - Finally, a girlfriend! / First Kiss - Beth Ann Barrett. 7th grade. 9th grade.
Chapter 4 - My Own John Hughes Movie - You know that totally unrealistic movie scenario where a nerd has a crush on a popular beautiful girl and somehow ends up with her? It happened!
Chapter 5 - I peaked in high school - lots and lots of success and overachieving - sports, grades, other extracurriculars
Chapter 6 - Just Add Water/Drowning - college was fun. And haaard.
Chapter 7 - La la land - Moved to L.A. to go to film school. I still get star struck
Chapter 8 - Mawwiage - Remember that girl in chapter 4? Married her.
Chapter 9 - I am a Hollywood peon - working for Jodie Foster, Ron Howard, and the dude who executive produced the Lord of the Rings movies. I am still star struck.
Chapter 10 - Party like it's 1999 - DINKS - double-income, no kids. Europe trip, lots of conspicuous consumption, and then... pregnant (which leads to the next chapter...)
Chapter 11 - Twins? TWINS?!!!
Chapter 12- Minnesota, Hats Off to Thee
Chapter 13- So now I'm a Cake-eater

STEP 3 - Choose 5 chapters and describe in detail the specific scenes that would go in those chapters. You can do this in bullet points or in paragraph descriptions - whatever it takes to give an idea of the story that will be in each chapter.

Example:

Chapter 3- Finally, a girlfriend / First Kiss! I was one of those kids that was always unlucky in love. I started having crushes on girls in, like, 1st grade. None of the girls ever liked me back (awww....). I finally got my first girlfriend in 7th grade. Beth Ann Barrett. She was pretty, smart, and I had known her almost my whole school life. She was actually the first girl who had a crush on me when we were in 6th grade together. She wrote me a note that she was in love with me and even had a dream that we had a daughter named Rose Petal (for her first word - ironically my daughter Maggie's real name is Rosemary). Anyway, we started "going together" I think on her birthday, March 23 - which ironically is the birthday of my own kids. I never formally broke up with her, but just kind of stopped going over there. Lame, I know. The crush on her came back in 8th grade, and we spent a lot of time together, but we never "went steady." Then I got a crush on her again in 9th grade. We did go steady, and I heard from Kris Beamer, the girl who sat next to me in art, that Beth Ann wanted me to kiss her. It took me about another couple weeks, but I finally mustered the courage and kissed her. It was a big deal.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

WarmUp: Movie Poster Gallery Walk

Title Your Blog: Movie Poster Gallery Walk

Based on what's on the poster, list 2 titles of classmate movies that you would like to watch. Explain in 2-3 sentences what part of the poster drew your curiosity (please try to avoid simply choosing the movies of your friends).

Monday, October 22, 2012

End of Unit Poetry Reflection

Please publish a 300 word reflection on the poetry unit. You may write anything that comes to your mind related this class and our poetry activities - the various assignments, our poetry slam, your feelings about poetry, etc. You will be graded on completion. Please give your blog reflection a fitting title. +2 Extra credit - add a poem at the end using/inspired by your reflection

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Modernism Assignment

Please publish a modernist-inspired poem that incorporates strong imagery to evoke an emotion. Use verbal imagery, but also consider using imagery in the way the words are placed on the page (if you to use visual formatting, you might need to take a screenshot and upload the photo to publish to your blog - see below).

As usual, please provide a short paragraph explanation of your poem. Be sure to include the emotion you were trying to evoke.

DUE: 8:30 AM Fri, Mar 1

Requirements:
Title = 2 points
At least 16 lines long (sort of) = 2points
Strong imagery in descriptions= 2 points
Written in "musical phrases" rather than set words and lines= 2 points
*Explanation/commentary=2 points
10 points total

*Detailed explanation/commentary by author at the end. Discuss specifically the traits above. You may choose to write fewer than 16 lines, but you must explain why. Similarly, explain the way you use imagery and "musicality" in evoking your emotion. Explicitly identify the emotion you are writing about.

***IMPORTANT: Blogger sometimes reformats picture poems, so if you want to be on the safe side, take a screenshot of your screen and paste it into your blog entry. To take a screenshot, press the PrtScn button and then paste.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Extended Metaphor

Write a poem that is an extended metaphor. Rather than making a series of comparisons between your topic and other things (e.g., "Life is a bagel... Life is a game... Life is a test"), make a single comparison between your topic and whatever your comparing and extend it through fine details. For example, if your metaphor is Life is a game, find different details about games that make the comparison richer and more subtle - you play by the rules, people try to cheat, sometimes you win, you keep score, etc.

Examples of extended metaphor poem linked here

Your poem must be at least 12 lines. Worth 3 points. (2 points extra credit for poems that go over 20 lines)

Due date published to your blogs by end of day TOMORROW (Tuesday, Mar 20)

Monday, March 12, 2012

Found Poetry

In your blogs, create two versions of the same found poem from material you cut and paste from another source. Possible sources include newspaper articles, Facebook status updates, Tweets, speeches, essays, wikipedia entries.

Your found poems must be at least 16 lines long. The two poems should have identical words, but differ in your use of line breaks, enjambent, caesura and stanza breaks. Provide an explanation that discusses how you tried to use these poetic elements.

REQUIRED: include a link to the original source.

Example: the above instructions rewritten as found poetry

In
your blogs,
create
two versions of the
same
found poem
from material you

cut

and

paste from another
source.

Possible sources include
newspaper articles,
    Facebook status updates,
        Tweets,
            speeches,
       essays,
wikipedia entries.

Your found poems
must

be
at least
s

n
lines
long.

The two poems should
have identical words,
but differ
in
your use of line
breaks
enjambent, caesura and stanza breaks. Provide
an explanation
that discusses
how you tried to use
these
poetic
elements.

RE QUIR ED:
include
a link to the

original source.

Link to original source

Grading:
2 points for link to original source
2 points for each poem
2 points for explanation
2 points for use of line break, enjambent, caesura, and stanzas

Beat Poem

Please write a Beat-inspired poem (you can define "Beat-inspired" however you like) that makes 12 references to your personal experience (I don't have to get them). Bold or CAPITALIZE your 12 references and at the bottom of your poem, provide a glossary that explains what they mean (even if they're obvious). As always, include a paragraph explanation of what your poem means and how it is "Beat-inspired."

Grading:
2 pts = 12 references
2 pts = 12 glossary explanations of reference
2 pts = beat / counter-culture aspect (explained in poet commentary)
2 pts = author's explanation

DUE: 8:30AM Tue, Mar 5

Example:

I have to have my Heath Bar blizzard every night
Then I watch a Jackie Chan movie
Nothing is more American than fattening snacks and movie stars
Except maybe Five Guys, Fuddruckers, and In and Out
(Hamburg, by the way, is in Germany)

Glossary:
Heath Bar Blizzard - High Calorie Dairy Queen frozen treat
Jackie Chan - popular Chinese martial arts star
Five Guys, Fudruckers, In and Out - Hamburger restaurant chains

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Show, Don't Tell

Publish your "Show, Don't Tell" poem from the moodle activity to your blog by 11:59PM tonight. The activity and poem publishing are worth 12 homework points total.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Pantoum Homework

Please publish a pantoum to your blogs. A pantoum has no set meter, rhyme, or length. For the purposes of this assignment, please write a pantoum that is AT LEAST (longer is fine) 8 stanzas long (each stanza is 4 lines). Pantoum examples and explanations linked here.

2 points for completion
2 points for correct structure
2 points for including a volta
2 points for short paragraph explanation of your poem

8 points total. Published to your blogs by midnight tonight.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Villanelle Homework

Please publish a Villanelle (structure explained here) to your blog by 8:30AM, Tues, Oct 9 (tomorrow).
You may write your villanelle about any topic you choose, but I will suggest the following first and last lines.

FIRST LINE...

I LOVE OcTOber VERy MUCH you SEE...
(or I HATE)

Grading:Worth 8 points
2 points for correct meter
2 points for correct rhyme scheme
2 points for correct structure of refrains
2 points for paragraph poet's (that's you) explanation/commentary. Tell your reader what your poem means and how you tried to communicate that using the rhyme, structure, and meter.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Sonnet Homework

Due 8:30AM Mon, Oct 8

Please write a sonnet. Traditionally, sonnets are love poems, but feel free to make your sonnet about kind of love (for a romantic partner, family member, friend, pet, god, etc.). You can choose a completely different subject.

Don't worry about making your poem "good" - that is the job of your genius. Your job is to fulfill the requirements, which are as follows:
1. correct use of iambic pentameter
2. correct use of rhyming
3. use of a poetic structure - beginning, middle, end and volta
4. explanation

Each criteria is worth 2 points (2=mostly correct; 1=partially correct; 0=missing or completely incorrect)
total assignment = 8 points.

After you finish add an explanation of your 3-part structure, rhyming, and "Volta" that you employed.

***Important: be sure you hit PUBLISH POST button (orange) rather than SAVE NOW***

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

February Blog Instructions

Use your warmup exercise as pre-writing for an original, expressive piece titled February. Your finished product can be any form: short story, nonfiction, poem, song lyric, poster, graphic story (comic). Due at midnight tonight, worth 5 points.

Monday, May 2, 2011

On the assassination / killing / murder of Osama Bin Laden

I am immediately aware of the charged nature of my using the word “murder.” It’s not appropriate because a murder is a crime, and there clearly is no criminal action in bin Laden’s killing. At least I don’t think so. If the U.S. just went into any country it disagreed with and killed its leader, would that be legal? Who decides what’s legal or illegal in the world? Doesn’t the most powerful country kind of get to set its own rules? What would happen if tomorrow, a missile killed Qaddafi (sp?) in Libya. Would that be justified? When is violence unjustified?

This isn’t even how I wanted to start my blog, but I felt that I had to address the title I gave to it. I have very mixed feelings about being elated over someone’s death, even someone who is a self-described enemy of the United States, and whom I presume would have celebrated my death if it had come at his order.

I had fallen asleep early last night and was woken at about 12:30 AM by my son Jack, who couldn’t sleep. He lay down in our bed, and my wife and I got up. I checked Facebook and saw two references to bin Laden’s death. I think I said out loud, “Oh my God,” or something to that effect. I went to my most trusted news source, the New York Times, and they had not yet put anything on their website. Then I went to CNN.com and saw confirmation there. My initial reaction was pleasure. I don’t know if I can say that I am thrilled or ecstatic or joyful or even happy that bin Laden is dead. Well, is that even true? Yes, I am. I am glad he is dead, but I am not sure how I feel or what I think about being glad.

Am I not anti-violence and anti-war in general? Did I not lecture my son over the weekend for pushing his sister? Am I reaching to connect the two? I don’t know. I do know that I was ambivalent when I saw cheering crowds outside the White House. I was less ambivalent when I watched CNN coverage of the people gathered at Ground Zero in New York cheering and singing and chanting. People talked of working and living in that neighborhood, and as I have grown up, had a family, I have gained an understanding and respect for the word “neighborhood” that I didn’t have when I (probably) first heard it on Mr. Rogers. A neighborhood was attacked nearly ten years ago. It wasn’t attacked because it was someone’s neighborhood, but I doubt much consideration was given to the World Trade Center’s neighbors. I saw a woman interviewed who was at work the morning of Sept. 11 and saw the planes hit. She was also at work when she learned the news about bin Laden, and she felt the need to celebrate. With her neighbors. That gets me on a gut level. That makes sense to me.

But chants of “U.S.A.” still trouble me. Because at heart are they a celebration of justice or revenge? Can there be justice for masterminding something as horrible as 9/11? Is the only response to kill that person? I know I sound like a freaking bleeding heart, but this is where my head and heart go.

I remember in my initial reaction to the attacks, one of my first thoughts was “We have to get who did this. We have to fight back immediately.” I also had the thought that we must rebuild the towers as quickly as possible. I guess I have a defiant streak. Now that we have killed bin Laden, I do feel a sense of satisfaction. But I think I am trying to make myself feel the weight of killing him. I don’t know if it is appropriate to celebrate his death (I think I’ve said that already).

I am aware of using the word “we” when I referred to who killed bin Laden. Something that struck me about Obama’s speech yesterday is that it called for unity. One of the things that I remember most about the days and weeks after the initial attack was the sense of unity we felt in this country. I don’t want to get political, but I do think it is relevant to reference some celebrity ( don’t remember who) that voiced his/her disappointment that Pres. Bush had an unprecedented opportunity to unify a very divided country and came up well short. I don’t necessarily blame Pres. Bush for that failure. I think there’s a lot of people in politics who view it as a game and a sport that needs to be won at all costs, and I think they wrongly used 9/11 as leverage to raise their scores.

Now, I see Pres. Obama with a similar opportunity. I hope he does not try to take all the credit and make the killing of Osama bin Laden into re-election currency. I also hope his would-be opponents don’t try to minimize what will almost certainly be positive P.R. by raising questions like, why wasn’t this accomplished sooner? I already saw a Facebook post that read something like, “I knew Obama would take credit for it. Thank you George Bush!” I don’t want politics to be a game. Shouldn’t it be about what’s best for the people. Wouldn’t the best and most truthful sentiment be that the leaders of the government – on both sides of the aisle – and individual soldiers accomplished this task? Can it not matter who gets credit?

Killing bin Laden was not winning a game. It was a necessary response. An aggressive act of self-defense. I am glad that he is dead. I’m even glad that Americans “got him.” But I’m not sure what I am going to tell my students or my children. In the end, I hope that people have their emotional responses, but also thoughtful responses.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Published Poems

Haiku
select five poems
that you'd share with your classmates
publish on your blogs

Original Draft - Limerick
There once was a class to learn writing
That everyone found so exciting
They put poems on blogs
And rewrote them like dogs
Until they became more inviting

Rewritten Draft - Limerick
These poems should be from portfolios
Produced from your blood, sweat, and cardio
As exercise
You'll have to revise
And make them your best, yes indeedio

Free Verse
Each poem you choose must be on the blog twice
The original draft and then a rewrite
The difference between draft one and draft two
Will be up to the poet, who's none other than you.
This means all the poems you publish will go
on the blog from your writing portfolio

The points you receive will be left up to me
The maximum score you receive can be three
One point will show that it's up there at all
Two points or three will depend completely on how
Much you experiment with revising your draft
and showing your poetic talent and craft.

Acrostic

Don't
Under-
Estimate

Fred's (that's me)
Rigorous,
Intellectual, and
Demanding standards.
At least make an effort to improve all
Your poems. Don't just type them and think you're done
!

*See comments for grading on comments

Monday, April 4, 2011

Spring Break "Adventure"

For this blog entry, dramatize an experience from your spring break. You must: 1) narrate in the third person; 2) apply show, don't tell to bring your experience to life; 3) employ a structure that gives your story a clear 3-part structure (beginning, middle, end)

If it hadn't been for those dinosaurs, he thought to himself, shivering. And that Dudley-Do-Right. The rain had been tolerable. In fact, it had been a blessing as the lines thinned down to a trickle. Ten minutes at Harry Potter's Forbidden Journey! It was the kind of boon that merited a Facebook status update. But now, the macho decision to forgo a rain poncho (a glorified, 7-dollar trash bag), along with ill-advised rides on the Jurassic Park River Tour and the Dudley-Do-Right Log Ride, meant a sweatshirt transformed from an insulating layer of warmth into a soaking body wrap of cold rain.

"I can't go on like this," he told his wife, who brightly removed her clear, vinyl, Universal Studios smock and sat down over her cup of steaming coffee. "I have to go find something dry to wear."

As he ventured back into the watery grayness, he remembered the laughable sight of himself in a restroom mirror: straight, black hair matted down like a shiny, plastic shell (was his head really that round?), patchy chin stubble, and his wife's thick, extra-nerdy glasses (he'd lost his professorial spectacles days earlier). Through the droplet-spattered and fogged lenses, he focused on the Marvel Studios souvenir store, the steel-clawed manimal Wolverine beckoning him inside. Yes.

He was not a big Marvel fan. Further, he stubbornly refused to spend money on an overpriced T-shirt that he wouldn't want to wear again. Not a fan of the Hulk or Fantastic Four, and always having had a natural aversion to the bright, tight spandex of Spider-Man (even implied in a hoodie or cotton tee), he scanned the racks until he zeroed in on The Shirt. Its simple chest logo appealed to his spare aesthetic sensibility. Equally important, it was a hero he would be happy to emulate, Iron Man -- cocky but lovable, smooth with the ladies but at heart devoted to his true love Pepper Potts. And more than able to kick a little tail.

He took the shirt to the cashier, already working out in his head where he could peel off his dripping top and replace it with his new geek-chic symbol. And then his eyes found the perfect protective outer shell to complete his vacation armor: a rain poncho with "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" emblazoned across the back. Seven bucks was actually a pretty good deal.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

"Soundtrack to my life"

DUE: Before class Monday, April 15

INSTRUCTIONS:
STEP 1
Title this post "Soundtrack to my life"

STEP 2 (worth 5 points)
Create a 10-song tracklist that would be on the soundtrack to your life movie. The songs you choose will usually be one of two things: 1) the song that was actually playing during a specific life experience; 2) a song that perfectly fits the mood or action of your memory (think of it as 'background music' for a scene)
For each song on the list, include 3 pieces of information:
a. The title
b. The artist
c. a link to the song (if you choose a song that does not have a link - like a church hymn or a family song or some other non-famous piece - simply list as much information as you can)

STEP 3 (worth 5 points)
Choose 5 of the songs from your soundtrack and write an explanation of why this song is important in your life.

Here's an example for Mr. Cheng

Step 1
"Soundtrack to my Life"

Step 2
1. Canon in D by Pachelbel
2. Gasenhauer by Carl Orff
3. Raise Your Glass by P!nk
4. Piano Man by Billy Joel
5. Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
6. Annie's Song by John Denver (1974)
7. No Rain by Blind Melon
8. Overture to Marriage of Figaro by Mozart
9. Days of the week song (no link)
10. Amanda by Boston

Step 3
Track 6. Annie's Song by John Denver:
This was the first dance at my wedding in 1994. The second verse excerpted feels perfect for a wedding because they seem like vows ("Come let me love you, let me give my life to you..."). The whole song feels very true to my wife Shannon and me for many reasons. First of all, we both have a great regard for nature. Some of the lyrics of the first verse go, "You fill up my senses / like a night in a forest/ like the mountains in spring time / like a walk in the rain." While I would never call us "outdoorsy" types, we both appreciate and have a spiritual connection to nature. Neither of us is particularly religious, but we are awed by natural beauty. We spent part of our honeymoon at Glacier and Yosemite National Parks, and Yosemite Valley is probably my wife's favorite spot on earth. She even refers to it as "church." Some other key connects for us are that we are both children of the '70s, and this was a big hit then, so it reminds us of our childhoods. John Denver had a very squeaky clean image. He kind of represented wholesomeness and decency (his real name is Duesenberg, but he changed it Denver because he liked that city's vibe). Both my wife and I are kind of square that way. He had a popular Christmas album. That he did with the Muppets.

Anyway, Shannon and I see ourselves as kind of good, dorky folks who like things like kindness and nature and being polite, which seems out of fashion in contemporary society (that's probably more of a reflection of our insecurities than a clear-eyed judgement of American culture).

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Tuesday, March 5, 2013