Big Blog Post # 1: Make History (due Sunday, October 13, 11:59 PM; Comment by Monday October 14, 11:59PM)

• Make some History

• Make it out of your own life—your memories, stories, and your archive: the mess of photos, souvenirs, trophies, books, decoration, the old shirt you wore to...,  the three-part display Mom made for your graduation party, the album about your bat mitzvah, and all the 'real history' you remember from the News, media, and others telling you about big public events.

• Do it with a partner—and get both voices and lives in.

• Do it reflectively—like Art Spiegelman does, always aware that somebody made this story up, that it could be different, and that you want your reader to work with you to 'get the story.'
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Tough Part:  (1) Find a Partner (2) Find your Story(s))

ASAP:  get together and talk—about your lives and experiences.  You're getting to know each other, but you're also looking for a story or stories that you can tell.  And the possibilities are endless—which is why this is tough.  It could be a common experience (the stories of your very different confirmations or even 'first dates' (quite different for men and women.  Doesn't happen in some sects of Islam).  How you recall the stories of the big 'public events' like the Newtown shootings, or the way the Great Recession played out if your family suffered (or didn't).  Politics.  Belief.  'Coming out.'  Wrestling with parents or siblings.  In short, it can be really private (things that happened to you), or pretty public (things that happened in the larger world that had some effect on you).

We know you think it isn't true, but everybody has a story, and the art (Art) is in the telling.  A broken skate and friends who left.  'Why do you cry, Artie?  Hold better on the board.'

Fun Part: Build your archive

The stuff. Pictures, of course. Family stories. Mom's scrapbook (you may need to call her and explain how to take and send a picture with her phone). Your bedroom and the stuff that's still in it. Pictures that hung on the fridge (image or descriptions). Think: the fuzzy picture of Richieu in Vlad and Anja's bedroom (p. 14-15, 134). Objects (Robin's Dad's Boy Scout handbook). And, and, and.  The 'historical scavenger hunt' part of this project is half the work.

Robin does his homework: Mom put this picture in my babybook on the page for 'Baby's Fourth Birthday.' Apparently I didn't have a good time; Mom wrote 'Robin did not have a good time.  He was afraid the other children's balloons would break and they would not have a good time. No party next year by request.'  Yikes!  Thanks, Mom.  From the left: Guy Huntley, Phillip Moreland, Donny Peterson, and me (what was Mom thinking with the flowered matching outfit?).  Guy became an insurance salesman. Phillip (the goofy looking one) became a Catholic priest.  Donny's father was a coal miner, and Donny followed him into the mines.  He died there in an explosion (Consolidated Coal) at 52. And me—well, you know me. Maybe biology matters (I still worry about whether the other kids will have a good time).  If I were writing this blogpost, I'd use this baby book and picture as part of my 'archive': Mom 'representing' (and maybe shaping her kid). This is part of how a 'writer's subjectivity' gets constructed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember that no image / object / story just tells its own story; you've got to frame and shape it.  Here's a 'posed / faked' image Spiegelman found of his bar mitzvah.  'Happy family':

Necessary Part: Use our work.  No need to dump a lot of theory-words in here for decoration, but what you give us should show how aware you are of all the messy stuff thqat goes into making history:  The power of the 'author's subjectivity.'  The codes for 'representing.'  How 'genre's' (family pictures) operate.  The huge power writers have to 'select, focus, narrativize' and so on.  How history is always 'partial truths.'

THE RULES:

• remember that this is a PUBLIC BLOG.  Don't write something you don't want your family (or the world) to see.

• one post with both names on it

• good title (not 'Big Blog Post #1')

• both writers somehow represented

• longer: it's a 6-pointer, so probably 500-750 (we'll always read whatever you give us, but remember that longer isn't always better)

HOW WE'LL GRADE YOUR WORK:

The Project is worth up to 8 points toward the final grade.  We will grade you as a team in the first two categories, and individually in the third.  (As always, everything will be curved, and we will report the results.)  The points will be divided as follows: 

                                

Archive (the stuff)  (up to 3 points):  What did you find, and how well did you use it?  How much detail did you present (in explaining it)?  Did you make it interesting, accessible, and understandable for those of us who don't know you at all?  How well did you offer the various sides of controversial issues?  Did you leave obvious material out? Was there evidence of good, old-fashioned work?

The Write-Up (up to 3 points):  Is the story clear, compelling, and important?  Are both team members represented?  How well did you pose—and answer—challenging questions? How clearly did you structure your post?  Did you put your material together with ideas from class in productive and interesting ways?  And: did you make us care?

Comment (up to 2 points):  How does your comment contribute to the work you’re commenting on?  Did you add something the team missed?  Clear up something they left vague?  Elaborate upon a point they could’ve taken further?  Make another connection with material from class?  Challenge a conclusion they drew?