Their Stories

"You don't have anything / if you don't have the stories. / Their evil is mighty / but it can't stand up to our stories. / So they try to destroy the stories / let the stories be confused or forgotten." (Silko 2)

   This citation is about the stories of Native Americans and their culture. The natives don't have writing, so their oral traditions are very strong. They use these traditions to convey not only stories to learn from, but also their history; their very language is embedded with their stories. Without history and culture, we are essentially nothing but an empty shell, doomed to repeat ourselves.
   The poem goes on to say that a certain society (most likely Americans), no matter how powerful they supposedly are, are nowhere near the level culturally and spiritually of the natives. Because of this, that society will try to take away what makes Native Americans strong, and force them to convert their way of life and act "civilized". By doing this, natives lose their identity and will have no choice but to follow society. They destroy their language, which holds their stories, and teach newer generations their lifestyles, causing the Native American traditions to die out.

Creating Something Beautiful

A simple idea,

Inspiration floods the mind.

A jumble of pictures,

Too many to note down.

A team of individuals

Complete what alone cannot.

Time's of the essence,

Finish by a hair.

Paper comes to life.

Colors bring emotion,

Sound brings thrill.

Its spirit spreads beauty to all.

My Writing Style

After reading my past journal entries, I learned that my writing is a direct transcription of my voice. I especially find this in my responses to my personal life in my journal. My style then becomes more sophisticated when I write entries in response to stories or videos. It has come clear to me that unless I am doing creative writing, my voice will usually stand out. "In high school, I have been able to embrace who I am, weirdness and all" (Aug 20). Admittedly, it's hard to read through my journal entries; because I personalized many of my entries, the quality of them isn't very good. In other entries where the prompt was giving an opinion on a certain media, because I need to try to sound more convincing, my writing style is slightly better. "By learning to think divergently, we can become more flexible and open to different possibilities" (Oct 19). It may be from the time difference, but I can see a variation between my response entries.

Analyzing my writing style made me realize that I need to always have great descriptions of people and settings no matter what kind of response I'm writing about. I find that when I'm able to do read-through's, I can edit and add more details to my writing to make it better. When I do a first draft, it's usually very raw and basic, so being able to edit thoroughly helps my work tenfold. "I remember waking up and looking outside and being blinded by the snow in front of our door" (Aug 23). Even from skimming through my writing, I find many different errors and places I can fix a single sentence to improve its quality. I also prefer to type rather than hand write, mostly because I take more time and am able to put more thought into my writing. Yet, if I'm able to use that same mindset while hand writing, my journal entries may develop into something I will enjoy looking back on.

This is a picture of a raw diamond imbedded in a rock. This represents my writing in that after chipping away the unneeded and access pieces and polishing what I have, I'll end up with something beautiful.

What usually inspires me to write is the setting, whether it be the weather/nature or the season. Another thing that can inspire me is the media, like shows/movies, videos, books, music, etc. "An ocean melody / Soothes your pain. / The shifting colors, / You forget time. / A motion of fluidity / Eases your thoughts" (Nov 16). I enjoy writing poems and short stories (in a creative-esque way) and what will inspire me to write them are a varied arrange of things, but the most reoccurring thing is nature and the season (holiday seasons included). In my free write entries, I typically jot down whatever is in my mind at that particular moment; anything from something exciting that happened or will happen, things that are causing me stress, etc. In some cases, little things that I think are cute or pretty or things that make me laugh might be my muse to write. I remember at one time writing a cute little poem about hot chocolate, with a song about it stuck in my head. Many times, my friends will inspire me to write, they may give me an idea that I have to write out, or just being around them will motivate me.

In relation to my inspiration from nature, I found a picture representing each season with quotes from famous writers adding a nice touch to it.

And here's some inspirational music for you: