Handsome Man
He doesn’t like me very much
He bullies
stop
he wouldn’t
handsome boy
perfectly self-possessed
no one noticed
in the hospital
a lady of thirteen
Author: Shivani
Hiders and Seekers
Behind the Fancy Limo
When looking through the examples of triptych’s, I noticed that my favorite ones were the ones with surprise endings and dramatic shifts in meaning from panel to panel. In my first panel, we see a well-dressed family standing next to a limo. In the second panel, the family is in the background and a new man appears next to the limo. We begin to realize that the limo is not for the family. It is not until the final panel, however, that we realize that the well-dressed family is actually homeless and the clothes that they are wearing have come from a cardboard box that they are living out of.
This comic symbolizes how people’s lives may not be as beautiful as they seem at a first glance. After viewing only the first panel, the reader assumes that this is a high-class family. It is not until the later panels that the reader is able to let go of these assumptions and discover the truth of the family.
This Sunday sketch was more difficult than the previous ones were because it required crafting an entire story out of art. The other assignments challenged us to create an interesting visual, whereas this one challenged us to utilize creative visuals in order to construct a narrative. While this took more time to plan and create than previous assignments did, I believe that my final product for this assignment is of higher quality because I enjoyed the structure and very clearly understood what I was expected to do.
Tracing Stitches and Spinning: Reflection
The most recent assignment in English class was to write an essay comparing the two graphic novels we read, “Stiches,” by David Small, and “Spinning,” by Tillie Walden. We were asked to first select one page from each novel to trace so that we could better understand the stylistic elements that thee author included in that page. It was easy for me to decide which page from “Stitches” I would be tracing because I remembered feeling very drawn to that page during my first reading. I chose to trace the scene in which David’s mother brings him his book, “Lolita,” while he is alone in a hospital room awaiting potentially unsuccessful surgery. Since I chose this page, I knew I would be writing about the relationships that the protagonists had with their parents and whether or not the parents were abusive. I had a much more difficult time choosing a page from “Spinning.” I was torn between picking three different pages. In one, Tillie’s mom picks her up after a car crash occurs right in front of Tillie. Tillie chooses not to mention this to her mother. In another, Tillie finally builds up the courage to tell her mother that she does not want to ice skate anymore (she has done it for years) and her mother is indifferent. The scene that I chose is one in which Tillie’s mother learns that she is a lesbian and makes fun of her. The panels show only Tillie’s disheartened face and text boxes that show her mother’s words. This reveals how Tillie’s mother was taking over Tillie’s difficult moment. I did not understand this until I traced the page myself. I felt that this scene paralleled well with the scene from “Stitches.”
For most high school writing assignments, I wrote standard 5 paragraph essays with an introduction, 3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion. For this assignment, however, my professor asked that we write in an “inductive” style. This means that we write 3 paragraphs: 1 about our thesis, 1 about an antithesis, and one in which we resolve the thesis and antithesis. I enjoyed writing in this new format because it felt more structured and I was able to connect my analyses rather than adding in unnecessary transition words or information about topics unrelated to my theses. I also felt that had a more formulated plan before I wrote – when I write 5 paragraph traditional essays I typically only plan out the ideas of the three paragraphs and don’t go so far as to plan out which details are important.
I learned a lot about these two books as well as comics in general through this process. Through carefully tracing the pages I was able to briefly enter the mind of the author and understand a deeper meaning. In fact, before this assignment, I was adamant that these books are not abuse emotional abuse and felt they unfairly judged the parents since they only provided one perspective. When tracing the pages, I was no longer reading another person’s story – I was inside the story. I imagined that this was happening to me and I had an epiphany that the protagonists really did undergo trauma as a result of their parents’ mistakes.
Sky Combophoto
I had a difficult time coming up with an original idea for my own combo photo. I thought that all of the examples given were very unique and noticed that many of my favorites had a picture of the sky as one of the two pictures utilized. I looked through the pictures on my phone for a while to determine if any two pictures would fit together. I considered searching for pictures on the internet, but ultimately decided to stick with my own photos since I didn’t have an idea about what I would be searching for. While looking through my pictures, I came across a picture of green hills taken in Monte Verde, Costa Rica. I settled on this image because most of the space was taken up by the hills but the very top captured some of the sky. I realized that I would be able to attach a photo of the sky to the top of this photo without it looking too unrealistic. I found a picture of a rainbow taken in Tallahassee, Florida. I recognize that my combo photo does not look as clever as do the professional examples that we were given to model off of, but I like that I could combine the atmospheres of two completely different parts of the world and visually display the idea that “the world is a small place.”
Visual Note-Taking
Nap Time
Here is the link to the assignment page: https://eng181f19.davidmorgen.org/assignments/sketches/sketch-2-sunday-sketches/
Reflection: Literacy Narrative
This week I uploaded my Literacy Narrative Assignment. Writing this narrative was enjoyable because it allowed me to revisit some of my past memories related to reading and writing. Prior to writing this, I answered the free writing prompts. I found writing these prompts to be easier than writing the final essay because I simply had to write stories about experiences. I was surprised by how vividly I could remember some of these events, especially since some of them occurred more than a decade ago. When I put the narrative together, I had some difficulty deciding on which details to include. Additionally, some of the topics that I wrote about during the free writing were unrelated to each other, so it was difficult to decide where to write what. I think an outside reader would find this line from my post to be the most intriguing: “Without my immersion into reading and writing, I would have never considered alternatives to science.” This line reveals how reading and writing changed my perspective, interests, and future goals. https://9shivanik9.wordpress.com/literacy-narrative/
My Avatar
My avatar is a watercolor painting that I made with my name at the bottom. My painting is of a sunset over the water, because I feel that looking at a sunset is very calming. I chose this as my avatar because our English class focuses on comics, in which art is used to tell a story. I painted this while I was evacuated during Hurricane Irma last year. My family and I had stuffed our valuable items into the trunk of our car before driving to Alabama. I was glad that my family would be safe but I couldn’t help worrying what our city would look like when we got back. I was in a hotel room and since all of my assignments had been cancelled due to the hurricane, I decided to paint this. Even though this scene looks nothing like that of my hometown, this served as a reminder of the serenity of the past. Thus, while this may seem like any painting of a sunset, there may be more meaning to this painting than what meets the eye. Similarly, in comics, pictures drawn may appear to give clear and accurate depictions of situations. However, as we have learned, when comics are analyzed, deeper meanings can be uncovered and artistic and stylistic elements that shape the story can be uncovered.
I feel that my avatar gives insight into who I am because it shows that I love creating art, and it provides an abstract depiction of an event from my life. Additionally, due to the focus on comics within our class, my avatar connects to a topic from our class.
