Advanced Essay Writing, Spring 2013

I have been sitting at my desk for a very long time. I had several ideas, but every time time I try to write one of them up, I do not want to write it, and I delete it.

Henry Kissinger was one of the greatest negotiators of all time. He managed agreements between the Arabs and Israelis, that no one else could. Some said the Arabs and Israelis were like mixing oil and water — how did he do it? What special skills did he use? What agreements did he manage to come up with?

To be honest, I know very little of this topic, and I would need to get more information or perhaps do some research.

But perhaps I could describe a scene with detailed images and dialogue of one, two or more agreements between countries, the concessions, the skills used, etc. At this tme, Iam uncertain as I need to do get more information.

For this Hybrid essay, I’m planing to interview immigrants (students, workers, professionals) and ask them several questions and from those answers I would find my story. I’m planing to make an audio version because it is going to be easy to heard their different accents.

Continuing with the pattern of my first two essays, this last installment will also portray a family element, but with a different aspect. In this essay I want to compare the dynamics of family relationships with that of friendships and discuss which is more valuable.  I plan to interview some of my family and friends and ask them to describe the elements in each relationship they feel were the most fundamental in helping them become who they are.

I am undecided if I will make this draft into an audio version but it will be a hybrid essay, where I start off with a poem about family and friends and then use the interviews as examples. The title, Family or Friends” is a work in progress and may change when I have completed the first draft, but for now it works.

In this essay I want to explore quotes and how they impact and reflect my thinking. I love quotes and tattoos and in this paper I plan to take a look at my own views and beliefs on a wide range of topics through the lens of quotes I have tattoos of and quotes I plan to get tattooed later on.

In terms of the essay being a hybrid I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to do that but I think I’ll give my point of view from two different time periods in my life. This mainly applies to my views that have changed from the past and why they’ve changed. Ideally I’d like to also make this a lyric essay by somehow making it poetic but I’m not sure how yet. Although an idea I had was to take the quotes and use them as not only section breaks but at the end of the essay arranging the quotes together and having them form a poem.

Structurally, I’d like to break up the essay into sections separated by the quotes and then go directly into a stream of consciousness about my thoughts on the quote or what it means to me with no real explanation or intro into it. Almost as if to have the quote open a window into my mind and then I just, for a lack of better word, rant about whatever it is that comes to mind.

As of right now the working title is “Why do you speak?”

For my essay 3, I really want to incorporate music. Since I am a musician, I feel that I can really tell a good story with just music, no words. I haven’t thought about a story yet, but I plan to go around and film some shots of everyday life to see what exactly I can come up with. I will film the shots, then depending on the visuals, and the atmosphere I would like to portray, I will write scores to each scene.

Music can depict images very vividly. Moods of scenes will be easily interpreted by viewers. However, I don’t to just stick with one genre. I would like to string together scenes with completely different vibes. I would like to jump from depressing and gloomy, to romantic and triumphant.

However, the final product will tell a story; a story that makes sense, and has a definitive plot and characters. Maybe I can do some animation? Then I won’t have to find actors..

If possible, I’d like to hear some suggestions. I’m pretty open to where this essay will be going as of now. Maybe when I start filming, things will happen to fall into place and then I can work from there. Or maybe work backwards? Write music and then try to capture shots that would align with mood of the song? hmm…

For a while now I’ve been thinking of writing an essay based on the duality of my life – being an active member of my church and being a college student in a massive commuter school. It may not seem like a significant topic at first glance, but lately I have seen how different the two lives are. The only thing is, I still can’t figure out what message I want readers to take away from it, or if I want there to be any message at all…

As for the format, I want to try focusing on music. Either I will include lyrics to a few songs from both aspects of my life in the middle of the essay or I will turn the entire piece into a video where I will sit in a professional suit with my drum in my lap. Both ways should portray the contrast between my religious life and my academic life.

The flow of the essay should be rhythmic, where someone could read it out loud and follow a simple beat. I’m not sure how well I will accomplish this, but it’s certainly a goal I want to pursue. The challenge will be to keep the words I use consistent with my day-to-day speech at the same time. I want to start with my life at Baruch, then use a song from my church as a transition into my religious life, followed by lyrics from a song I might hear at Baruch for the next transition, and so forth. The ending would be a gospel song that has entered my life at Baruch in a bit of a humorous way, which I might explain in the essay if I think it will fit.

I am thinking of titling my final essay, “Little Irish Shangrila”. This essay will be about a weird little symbiosis that exists between hard-core Tibetan party mongers and the setting of an Irish pub. Especially, during weekends, instead of finding grumpy and scrubby Celtics overdosing on their favorite lager, this place is packed with Tibetans and has been for the last four or five years. Fights Break out, Girls fight for boys, guys fight at the slightest agitation and other scenes peculiar to a bar. But doesn’t this sound like any other bar? Yes, but what’s at stake here is the whole discourse that has formed around it: rumors that originate from the bar and end in the community meetings; aphorisms that surround the “type” of people who go to that bar.

I think one reason why I am doing this project is to understand my community a little better and at the same time, defamiliarize ourselves a little. As a Tibetan myself, even I have stereotypes and generally categorize them under various rubrics. But I have always attributed this tendency to the lack of interaction I have had with youngsters of my ethnicity. So I am taking this opportunity to know them a little better and confirm, or otherwise, my reduction of their diversity.

I am planning on starting the essay with a bit of a humor when I do my exposition, and gradually bring in anecdotes from the regular patrons and the staffs who work there. Finally gravitate towards a graver tone of realization.

I believe my essay will be a hybrid because it will be an audio essay with proper background scores and patches of voices outside of me. Hopefully I will do a good job at that. If anyone is interested in the place that I am talking about here, I guess you can go and read the yelp reviews on “”Sean Ogs,” Woodside.

My original idea, which I pitched to two of my classmates and some friends, was to analyze the Beatles. Despite my enthusiasm for it, I had a thoughtful discussion with a dear friend who convinced me otherwise. She urged me to unravel a personal story I’ve never addressed before.

The story centers around my 10 year old self being thrown out of the house on New Year’s Eve by my mother. When I first thought of this story, my immediate reactions were a) this is going to be painful and tedious to bring up b) there isn’t much of interest for people to read. What’s the takeaway going to be? Don’t abuse your kids? I think that lesson is pretty obvious.

After giving it more analysis, I want this essay to be about the consequence of one person’s actions applied throughout my life. I’ve always been interested in the power of words and this will certainly be an interesting personal investigation. The device I’d like to use is having myself take the 3-mile walk again and then reflect on it at each intersection/red light. I don’t know what the final message will be.

The hybrid/lyrical essay component will be interweaving the two tales – the original as a 10-year-old and now as a recent 18-year-old, following in my footsteps. I want to add the sound to the experience, the traffic in the background, my shoes stepping in the snow. I’m trying to borrow a hi-res camera to photograph each intersection.

I don’t know how the essay will progress. I believe it will be chunks of self-reflection which hopefully leads to some sort of conclusion. I haven’t thought of a working title, because it’s silly to give titles to your own experiences. Let’s call it the New Year’s Eve March for the purposes of this blog post.

Dear Everybody,

So, I have come up with two different ideas for what to do with my final project that I would not only love to share but also could use some input.  I’m leaing towards developing a previous essay rather than starting fresh.

The first idea is built off of my essay on what my father collects (II.II). Feel free to take a look at it on my blog and please comment on that draft. I want to develop it further, to get a full picture of how crazy what he collects truly is and how how almost anybody can relate to it (surprisingly). I love this topic because it is something that has always interested me. I think it will be successful because it is relate-able to on several levels and  it is special to me ad I feel that will fuel the fire to make it a compelling essay. The structure will be similar to my II.II essay, unless somebody has a better suggestion as to how to format it. It already has an introduction paragraph to set the scene which I am open to changing. I was thinking of adding some dialogue, cutting the cross-section of the box  altogether a focusing on the closet. The message I want to communicate is really about how different yet similar all humans are.  We feel an unconscious need to hold onto things because they hold greater significance (yet a the same object means nothing to somebody else) and I want to showcase how my father has done this, in a very specific way,  throughout his life so far. The list of  items is really a poem, thus making it a hybrid essay. I’m thinking of adding the epigraph of the cross-section as the closing for the essay as well. I’m not sure how long it will be, although it will adhere to the requirements. I’m going to have to play with the list itself to show the breadth, depth and insanity of the collection, while making it cohesive and make sure the flow is correct so it reads not like a shopping list but like a poem. The working title is “My Father: A Controlled Hoarder” or the previous title of Essay II.II

The second idea I have is either brilliant or really stupid. I’m not sure. There is a fine line between the two. Regardless, it centers around a question: Have you ever noticed how men and women take their T-shirts shirts off very differently? First, men tend to grab it from the back, while women cross their arms in front of them and remove it (I think it is due to the hair business). I was thinking of incorporating some silent videos of people removing their shirts (I may give every person a similar one in the correct size to streamline it) and conducting interviews (which I would transcribe into text) about how one takes his or her T-Shirt off to each participant. What are your thoughts? Is it doable? Is it to risque? What would you take away from it, if anything? The working title is “How Do You Take your T-Shirt Off?”

Best,

Alee

My final essay will be about my grandmother’s life in three stages: coming to America, its affects, and going back home. Although, my grandmother suffered from Alzheimer’s, I do not want to frame the story around that, but of her final days with this illness, which gives a deeper impact of all the suffering she had endured.

This has been a topic I have been working on since her death and have attempted various ways and structures to tell her story. It’s a beautiful fairytale with a sort of “Happily every after” ending.

I would like to frame this story around the story of the “Little Red Riding Hood” as told by the Grimm Brothers. This is a story my grandmother told me every night and reminds me of the journey she had taken.

The purpose I would like to get across is the struggle of life and the beauty of death. It will consist of sections rather than paragraphs. I will provide three or maybe four different scenes in her life and give great detail and imagery. I want the reader to feel as if they knew her and can relate.

My essay will be a lyric essay. I am intertwining two stories: my grandmothers and Little Red Riding Hood. This creates a parallel between both characters. It will be abstract as I will attempt to leave holes in which the reader can fill with their imagination. I would also like to incorporate an image if I feel that it fits with the story.

I might change my mind regarding the type of medium I want to use for my final draft.

I will write about 4 pages double-spaced, but I am not too sure. I am still figuring out how to structure it and correctly develop the story. It is UNDER CONSTRUCTION.

The title of my essay will be: ‘Discontinuity’