Final Process Writing

            Through thinking about my writing process I have discovered that once I have my first real viable idea I tend to have this niggling feeling that that story I’ve picked is the one that needs to be told. I often attempt to think of other topics just to be sure that there isn’t a better one floating in my mind but I usually come back to my first instinct—I like knowing that I can trust my instincts.

            The most frustrating part of my work for this class was trying to set up interviews. For the chapel piece I thought that I would have an easier time but no one has time. Not me, not faculty or staff. The most I could do was show up or schedule last minute appointments. Once the interviews began however, it was a different story. The people I spoke with speak so easily about themselves, their lives, and their passions—I think deep down all people are people people if you give them a chance.

            The most important change I made in my revision process was directional. I would always change the direction of my focus, sometimes just slightly but the result is magnified in the narratives. Working on finding my focus was somewhat of a breakthrough for me. Workshops were very helpful as well. Hearing about the things that people liked and didn’t like was helpful, as well as hearing what some of my reader’s wanted more of. I think that’s such a cool thing that we get to do in workshop—connect with our readers. In the real world, for a lot of writers, I don’t think that feedback is always there.

            Writing for this course has taught me that I don’t prefer working in a setting where I have to search out a new story every couple of weeks. I like to have the stories I choose to tell arise more organically than that. I learned how helpful workshops can be and that even without hearing feedback on my piece, reading and thinking about the elements of some one else’s work can help with my own work all by itself just by critically reading. This class reinforced and improved much of my previous work and I hope to continue to grow.

Breaking Through

Twenty six year old Daniel Martinez is working on a new concept in a new downtown office in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Dan is a co-founder of Rhino Media Productions whose new office sits on Rose Street across from the Amtrak station. Its big picture windows, high ceilings, and open layout give its team of Media Ninjas room to roam while they fill the entire space with creativity energy.

There is a bottle of mouth wash sitting on Dan’s desk—“I hate coffee breath. It’s the worst”, he explains. Dan is working on a commercial for Biggby Coffee, a coffee business from Lansing, Michigan with several branches in the Kalamazoo area. He uses FinalCut Pro on his big screen Mac to get the edits just right.

Rhino Media is not an advertising agency but they do make a lot of ads. “We’ve made commercials for brand names like Doritos and Coke”, says Dan. They had the opportunity to work for these big names because of Rhino’s submissions to Poptent, a website built for video business upstarts like Rhino whose goal, at least for now, is to get their name and their work out into the world through any venues available to them.

The amount of commercial work that Rhino currently produces, is a concern for Dan whose real passion is telling people’s stories, especially the stories of those whose environment and circumstances don’t normally allow it to be told.

Dan, dressed casually in his black and blue Rhino polo with jeans and business loafers, says he grew up in a corn field. I grew up two doors down from him, in the small farming village of Lawton, Michigan. His path from his small farm town, surrounded by grape vines and corn fields, to small business owner has not been a straight one. Ever since those early days, Dan says, he has had a fascination with Africa.

“I used to have this vision of four boys in Africa, asking me to help.” After three years of college at Taylor University, Dan’s life, he says, took him in a completely different direction. In 2008 Dan pursued his dream of traveling to Africa. He found an opportunity online to go to Swaziland for three months. Dan went despite warnings about the high rate of disease and economic dangers, at the time, it was his calling.

When he returned, a second opportunity arose. This time he traveled to Uganda with a group called “Be A Number”, based in Marshall, Michigan, that contacted Dan and recruited him to work on a company documentary there. Their mission is “to empower those in extreme poverty to connect with you”. What Dan walked away with after building houses, editing film, and volunteering at the local Sunday school, is that “I needed to come back and tell stories. Everyone has a story to tell”, he says, and he wanted to tell the stories that don’t get told.

Kevin Romero is twenty nine years old. When I walk into his office on Rose and West Michigan to interview him he greets me at the door. He’s wearing a plain black sweatshirt, jeans, and a hip white and black white watch. He looks concerned. “How does this work?”, he asks, “how much time do you need?”.

Down to business it is, I think, and refocus my thoughts away from the small talk I had been planning. “It’s casual, I say, I’m going to record it if you don’t mind. We can start with where you’re from.”

  “Hartford”, he says, “a small town in a pretty rural city”, and he relaxes slightly—as much as he’s going to anyway. Kevin is soft spoken with a tough looking exterior. His full, thick beard and his serious, intense, brown eyes can throw you off when he tells a joke. Kevin is a people person and an artist. He grew up with big aspirations—major league baseball, painter, musician—today, he and Dan are the co-founders of Rhino Media. Business savvy Kevin is the primary owner. “We met bowling”, he says, through mutual friends. “I thought he was a fun guy, we started hanging out and I invited him to church.”

Kevin thought he might someday own a small business, “I was thinking restaurant, probably an Italian restaurant.”

“I got out of college and worked a couple of jobs and got a taste of some jobs I didn’t want to do”, like working in the Citibank call center. Through his manual labor job with a landscaping company he found his business mentor. “I took it upon myself to learn from him.”

One of his most validating jobs was his substitute teaching; he liked giving people hope and things to think about, to offer a unique perspective to high school students. He’ll have past students come up to him today and say, “Hey, you’re Mr. Romeo! Man I loved you”.

When Rhino started in 2010 Kevin had been developing his skills as a photographer. “We didn’t really know what we were doing, we wanted to be creative but no one took the reigns of the business” Kevin stepped up, “to put the skills he learned in school to use.”

Since then Rhino has been morphing and growing, building on who they are, Kevin says. “We’re all very relational people and we capitalize on that. It’s tough to balance that in a creative field; I think often times artists have a hard time being more into their work.” Rhino doesn’t embody that says Kevin.

Shortly, I will be working close at hand with these two young business founders as a Rhino Media Intern. Kevin doesn’t worry as much as Dan about the work they are doing in advertising the overtures of Dan’s goal of telling people’s stories are mirrored in Kevin’s belief in business and knowledge that everyone has a message—even if that message is to drink their coffee. Kevin’s goal for the company is to “up Kalamazoo’s game” as a place for business to thrive.

Dan is the idea man behind the Rhino in Rhino Media. Rhinoceros are mostly blind, he explains, they move in a “crash”. It is Dan and Kevin’s hope that Rhino Media will continue to break on through its obstacles as it has since its evolution as a “pipe-dream” to where Rhino is now, “on the verge of something big, says Dan.

Audio/Visual Slideshow--Chapel Times

Note/Mini-Process Writing

This piece is obviously incredibly incomplete. I apologize. Please don't focus on that if possible. I'd like to know if you think Dan is interesting so far and what you think of how I lead into the story. Of the several parts I haven't yet expanded, which ones are you most interested in? Right now I'm sticking with the Biggby focus, however I predict this focus may change.

So far I've only had the opportunity to interview Dan. And this isn't in the piece so I'll tell you, it was a full hour and half of 'interviewing' but in the course of our time together he caught up with an acquaintance, talked to her about a job he might have for her, overheard a conversation about Africa from a different media group that happened to be at that same coffee shop where we were, and that media group attempted to hire Dan as an extra for a shoot they were doing the following week. This isn't an excuse for being incomplete, but if you happen to read this first you can see where I'm going with Dan's character a little more clearly maybe.

I will definitely be interviewing his partners in media as well as Kyle, the Biggby Coffee franchise owner. 

Profile--Title Pending

Publication: Kalamazoo Gazette

Twenty six year old Daniel Martinez is working on a new concept in a new downtown office in Kalamazoo, Michigan. This new concept stars the Biggby Coffee Company that calls Kalamazoo its home, while it is currently working on expanding throughout the country. The various visual scenarios for this potential client are in the works, but Dan reveals the slogan for the concept, ‘Biggby Coffee—Just for Drinking.’ This is one of his team’s “big projects” says Dan.

Dan is the co-founder and co-owner of Rhino Media Productions whose new office sits on Rose Street across from the Amtrak station. Its big picture windows, high ceiling, and open layout give its team of Media Ninjas room to roam while they fill the whole space with creativity energy. There’s a bottle of mouthwash sitting next to Dan and his big Macintosh computer that his uses for his video editing. He caught me eyeing the mouthwash inquisitively as he finished up a bit of work. “I hate coffee breath, there’s nothing worse”, he states, a smile breaking across his face dissipating his concentrated features as explains, turning his attention away from the screen.

I am whisked away in his beige Honda, Dan is always on the go. He is wearing his Friday casual: jeans, business loafers, and his Rhino Media polo. His black hair is cut short. A genuine people person, he tells me about his life with ease. “Everyone has a story”, he insists. That’s what he walked away with after his time spent in Africa. One of his biggest life questions—“How can I tell people’s stories”. While a contract with Biggby doesn’t exactly answer this question, Dan isn’t concerned. He is however confident that as Rhino Media continues to grow, and crash through new boundaries, like the one standing between personal narratives and advertising perhaps, that they are “on the verge of something big”. 

Dan’s co-partner at Rhino, as founder and owner, is Kevin Romero who is pitching Rhino’s promotional video ideas to Biggby’s Corporate Division today. Back when Rhino Media was still in its “pipe-dream” stage, the members of the team spent much of their time at Kyle yle Kinney’s Biggby Coffee Franchise on Stadium Drive. After making some promo-videos for local franchise owners such as Kyle, Rhino caught the interest of ‘Biggby Bob’ at Corporate.

Reading Response--"U.S. Ideals Meet Reality in Yemen"

Finkel’s lede does so much for us in his piece titled, “U.S. Ideals Meet Reality in Yemen”. He draws me in with all the fast paced talk of days which turns out to be foreshadowing. I wonder, will he be foreshadowing the dismissive reference or is that just the starting point of what he will revel throughout his piece? We also know that the story involves an American—Robin Madrid and the President of Yemen. We already have to characters and a direction in one sentence. Then in small snippets the story builds. I know how it started and how it finished, interesting structure but it sounds like it’s meant for an audience that might not understand the complexity of what will come in the middle. And here we get to the point, the story of “what can happen when the United States tries to use democracy as a way to reform the world”. I’m hooked and I understand everything thus far despite my lack of knowledge in world politics. So I’m beginning to realize that the best journalism narratives are journalism but they read like a good novel. I’m concurring with everything Finkel is writing and it’s also opening my eyes to some things I used to believe about democrats and republicans. It’s so interesting that republicans complain about democrats spending on helping the poor in the U.S. but all the while republicans are spending billions overseas to help other people who may or may not really want it. This quote blew my mind, “I think there are times when you throw spaghetti against the wall and see if it sticks” from deputy assistant secretary of state in regards to how America takes democracy overseas. I absolutely love the way that Madrid is described! There are so many details, some more relevant than others with such a quick pacing—I’m so into Finkel’s style right now. She’s very likable throughout the piece but seems so naïve…      

Reading Response--"Life on Chittock"

Aupperlee’s piece, “Life onChittock: Plenty of Eyes Watch Chittock Avenue, and There is Plenty to Watch”, has quite a bit of foreshadowing but not much pay off. I’m not a fan of the structure he uses to describe the blocks he’s talking about, “the 900 and 1000 blocks”, because I’m not really sure what it means. I’m not really sure which city we’re in either, I mean I assume it’s Jackson because I know that the author is from there but I really don’t get a sense of where Chittock hill is. I don’t identify with Edwards story of reporting speeding and then the police arriving too late—that makes a lot of sense to me that they would arrive too late. The ending seemed abrupt. What else happens? I’m left wondering.

Reading Response--"Grass Lake Teens"

Aupperlee’s story "Grass Lake Teens Paralyzed in Separate Accidents Form Friendship in Hospital"  has such a fun voice to it. It’s hard to believe that the nurses condoned their wheel chair races and helped the boys prank their but that’s pretty awesome. The ending seems a little too nice, their only problems were a bow tie and ill-fitting crown, as if the bigger problem of paralysis just didn’t matter so much but I think it’s great that there was such a positive story here. I wonder if Aupperlee knew that it would be so heartening when he took on the piece.

Reading Response--"Mother Who Beat Cancer"

In Aaron Aupperlee’s article, “Motherwho beat cancer walks miles every week to support son who is heading to prison” I thought that Gail Hammett’s characterization was really interesting. Her first quote is, “He’s my son; I think that any mother would. Maybe I’m not just any mother. I’m his mother.” This contrasts starkly to what we learn later about her alcoholism and her absence. I wonder if it would have been possible to interview the son, Jimmy, and see what he thinks and how feels toward his mother. I also took issue with the focus that is elucidated in the long title—that she walks miles every week despite her struggles. But walking four miles a day is less than an hour of walking, not that much really and also pretty good for you. I suppose overall it’s a story of Gail Hammett’s redemption but it doesn’t particularly touch my heart. Although she does admit that she allowed alcohol to wreak her life and refers to her husband’s arrest because of meth dealing as “bad luck”. At the end of the article I’m just mostly confused about what the point of it is. I would be interested to re-read it after gleaning Aupperlee’s perspective.

Reading Response--"The Events of October"

            What I learned from reading Gail Griffin’s “The Events of October” is that structure is everything. The image of Gail in her cabin with note cards lined up and a story board and all that—it’s inspiring to think that if I could organize a story idea like that I could write a novel, I could be a writer. I write a lot but when I think of writing something big, it’s intimidating. And what’s even more intimidating is to think about taking on such a dark, emotional story that many people have strong feelings toward. I think the change up in structure at the end of the book is really brilliant. The threads that Gail weaves are subtle and the first part of the book with the chronological story structure flows naturally into the discussion that begins in chapter 10 and leads us into statistics and where we take the story from here. I had a hard time reading this book, but once I made it through, I was glad I did.

"Now and Then" Profile: Process Writing

I really wanted to explore a place with my first profile piece. When I realized that Stetson Chapel was intriguing me, and that I didn’t know much about the history of the place or if other students knew much about it, I decided to make it my profile. It was more difficult to do the reporting than I thought it would be. It’s on campus, I’m on campus, everyone to interview is on campus…but I found that everyone is too busy—the faculty, the students (including myself), the staff, all too busy for scheduled interviews. I eventually had to opt for the more casual drop in and hope someone is there approach. Even though it’s a relatively small space on our small campus, it’s also unoccupied or under-occupied most of the day. It definitely helped me to have the extension because I was able to attend a Community Reflection. DOGL messed up my plans of attending last week and before then I’d had to work Friday mornings. But week 9 I sat and listened to “Why Where Drag” and snagged a great interview from Craig Isser. I think one of my struggles thus far in class is that we read these amazing pieces that took years to write and I just know that I can’t do that much interviewing with the time I have. I think that I definitely could have done more with this piece but I’m happy with what I have thus far.

Now and Then—the Life and Times of the Chapel

Publication: The Index

On a clear sunny day in the largest city of southwest Michigan, if your elevation allows, you can soak in the skyline of Kalamazoo. If you’re pointed in the right direction you can usually catch a glimpse of the symbol for Kalamazoo College poking out among the tree tops—the Stetson Chapel bell tower. This emblem marks the center of a small, private liberal arts school often overlooked. It’s hidden in the outer stretches of a sea of buildings that surround it. This sea of buildings comprises its younger more massive neighboring institution, Western Michigan University. On a cloudier day the bell tower of Stetson Chapel stands stark against the gray sky, overlooking the modest, green quadrangle that sprawls below its lofty height.

Students travel beneath its gaze, crossing the spaces in front, behind, and beside it several times a day. Looking up from the red brick road running up through the campus, a student can often be seen, head tilted up to take in that central campus structure that has evolved immensely since its conception in the early 1900s.

Back then, in the fall of 1928, Kalamazoo College was nearing its centennial and its president, Allen Hoben, requested the construction of a chapel. Founded as the Michigan and Huron Institute by a judge, and a Baptist Minister, in 1833, four years before Michigan was granted Statehood, the college’s name changed to Kalamazoo College in 1855. Seeking to realize a college noted for its scholarship and Christian standards of life, President Hoben insisted that a campus chapel was an essential addition to the college.

In Hoben’s letter to the Chairman that year, he wrote, “It is no secret that a college of our type needs above everything else literally, practically, morally and imperatively a chapel. There is nothing so formative important and central in the education which we aspire to give.”

Dedicated on the 22^nd of April 1932 to President Emeritus Herbert Lee Stetson, the “grand old man” of Kalamazoo College, Stetson Chapel has remained the symbol for ‘K’ since it’s inception. Its past, was melded by two aims of thought—religion and education. Its present arises from the evolution these thoughts have incurred in the years that span now and then.

            Throughout its years, Stetson has housed the office space for various chaplains, intent on fostering the spiritual lives of Kalamazoo College Students. From 2001 through 2008 Jeanne Hess, an avid teacher and devoted coach at ‘K’, served as the assistant chaplain for Stetson during a transition period for the Chapel—a campus space for which she urges the campus community, as well as the outside community, to come and get to know.

            Hess fills her office space in Anderson, which sits at the bottom of the campus hill, inside the athletic building. Since 2008 a new chaplain has taken over and the position of assistant chaplain, for the moment, no longer exists. Short sporty hair-do, bright blue eyes, a smile that stretches far and wide, I listen as Hess speaks volumes about Stetson. “The Chapel puts into bricks and mortar that which we value, of which can never be put in bricks and mortar of our religious and our spiritual life, and that has evolved from a prescription of you be there and you listen, to come and join us and be a part of this community.”

            Stetson Chapel has transitioned from a structure built out of a Puritan epoch, with a pointed purpose to a more fluid purpose with wider notions of what spirituality is. Stetson Chapel’s architecture speaks to a simpler time. It is a grand structure yet is far from being grandiose. The Roman Ionic columns of the entrance to Stetson stand and represent the classical ideals of antiquity such as the quest for knowledge through reason. Meanwhile, the rest of its design evokes the Puritan virtues of simplicity and restraint.

            Presently, Stetson Chapel provides students and community members of all faiths and backgrounds with a quiet place for reflection among its vast array of other uses. The space is versatile. It welcomes academic speakers from every discipline, it is host to a number of student organizations often run by the student interns and chaplains who work and volunteer there. It is where the Kalamazoo community celebrates, mourns, welcomes, and congratulates. Upon entering the chapel you can sense that is a place for intentional quiet.

Student Chaplain Emily Cain notes that Stetson is not the kind of atmosphere everyone is interested in, but she encourages her friends to come down. Down, meaning, to the cavern of the Chapel. The cavern is the basement of the Chapel, a place where students will find free cookies, a huge assortment of quality teas accompanied by hot water and cozy corners, at times even quieter than the farthest reaches of the library’s third floor. 

Cain first become involved in Chapel events because of the first year forums put on for each new class of students at Kalamazoo College. “If you need a place on campus to be alone or to do homework, the Chapel is a great place to check out”, says Cain.

Stetson is an open chapel where students are meant to explore. They are even welcome to climb the spiral staircase that leads to a balcony, the clerestory, that looks and feels like a secret. Hess explains the feeling when she says, “It gives you that cool feeling in your solar plexus like, ‘cool nobody knows about this’, where you can sleep or just go rest and just go be. You know, it’s not an academic space.”

The stress level of life at ‘K’ College calls for such a place. One of the most centralizing activities for the Kalamazoo community at Stetson is the weekly dialogues that are addressed each Friday during common time for teachers and students—Community Reflections. For Hess these discussions are, “a great space that’s carved out with time, intentional time that students and faculty and staff can gather together and really reflect.”

This time used to be somewhat mandatory. Students would earn Liberal Arts Colloquium (LAC) credits that were required for graduation but now it’s a choice, it means wanting to pay attention to certain issues—another aspect of Stetson’s evolution. For Hess this transition is transformative for the student.

“It has a greater purpose, evolving from the academic to embracing the whole student, to really getting the student to understand this idea of community and where they fit in the community and their thought about who they are within the community. It’s evolved into demanding that the student look at their spiritual presence, that they look at who they are and why and what they’re doing here and they find a greater purpose.”

For Hess this spiritual presence embraces diversity, she says, “We have evolved from this idea of simply Christian religion, into all faiths, honoring all faiths, honoring everyone, honoring race and gender and creed and all of it; it’s honoring the whole person. The root word of holy is to be whole in mind body and spirit and so the chapel is a holy space, it’s a sanctuary where all can feel welcome, all need to feel welcome.”

In 2008 Elizabeth (Liz) Candido became the Chaplain for Kalamazoo College. In charge of religious and spiritual life at ‘K’, she says with a bright smile, “I certainly have the best job on campus.” She tells me about one of the most recent additions to the Chapel. It’s an ancient form of meditation and it looks like a brain—the labyrinth. Placed up in the grass where the Stryker center used to sit at the top of Monroe, the labyrinth has one way in and one way out. You start with a question or a topic that you seek direction with, “from god, the universe, or wisdom, for example. The path of the labyrinth spirals inward and the middle is the place to listen for the “moment of insight”. During the Community Reflection just before crystal ball at the end of 8^th week Liz introduced the topics to be discussed saying this, “The way it is here may seem like it is the way it’s always been but that is not the case. There is nothing inevitable about today. The rules we live by are the rules we create.”

To the Chapel’s continual transformation Hess says, “A rather Christian looking building, students of faith other than Christianity may or may not feel comfortable in that space. I think Liz is working hard to carve out a space for students of all faiths and to feel comfortable there and that it is a space where you may gather intentionally it really is a holy space, full of, it holds the memory of the soul of this college, it really does—the inaugurations of all the presidents, the last reflections of all the presidents, faculty, oh, it’s very rich. It has a profound history.”

Junior Kalamazoo College student Craig Isser is a student Chaplain and an active member of the Jewish Student Organization (JSO) who spoke at the 9^th week Community Reflection after Liz’s introduction. The topic was “Why do we dress in drag?” He ended his presentation by introducing himself, “I’m Craig and I identify as Craig. I’m a lot more than a gay penis in a dress.” Inside the Chapel no topics are taboo, no beliefs unwelcome.

Just as Hess pointed out, the Chapel and Kalamazoo College as a whole aims to support the whole of a person. “It is who we are, it represents our heart it represents our mind it represents our bodies and I think we would be wise here in this place to honor them all”.

When he’s not speaking at Community Reflections Craig uses the Cavern for working on his poetry without distraction, at times taking a break to write on the chalk walk that is new this year. Upstairs he feels like he’s “in a wedding cake”.

“The columns and the light of the chandeliers it feels so beautiful and pristine. It’s so special to escape the confines of my dorm room or academic work in this space. I feel like it’s a different world in here. It’s like stepping into a European Cathedral. It’s beautiful and I love it.”

            In a few short weeks another class of students will graduate from Kalamazoo College. The night before they walk convocation takes place in the Chapel. Names of those who died before their time on this green campus, faculty, students, and staff, line the walls of the sanctuary we remember them through plaques as the community celebrates the accomplishments of a group of students who go forth into the world to make the most of this short life. An image of the Stetson Chapel bell tower on their diplomas, its purpose transcends the one its creators foresaw but the words of Reverend T. Torrance Phelps, D. D., a former student of Kalamazoo College, on the symbolism of Stetson in 1932 do not contradict our views today.

“Stetson Chapel is like a great organ sounding forth a message of many notes. It rises in the center of campus. It represents the past, the present, and the future. Upon the front of the great tower soaring above all is the inscription, “Koinonia Pneumatas”—Fellowship of the spirit. When you stand before any noble structure, what is the supreme word it speaks to you? When you step within a majestic cathedral, and see arch pointing upward to arch, and pillar to spire, something within you soars up that cannot be stopped. It is the essence. It is aspiration. So it is here. Aspire. Thy only greatness is to aspire.”

To what we aspire is our decision, ours, not society. Stetson Chapel is a holy space for us to decide. A norm of an institution then, during the 1800s, was to build a chapel. Now, at ‘K’, Liz says, “we create the norms.”

CYOA--"Held Hostage"

This story about the "Voices of kidnapping" radio show in Columbia was troublesome, I wasn't aware that kidnapping was so prevalent. Despite my surprise, the segment seemed to be directed at an audience who maybe already knew something about it? The narrator mentions some background information like the year 1994 and the number of kidnappings a day during this time, but I am left wanting more information about why the guerillas do this and why the government doesn’t do more to stop it and who they decide to take. I get the impression from the segment that the victims are mostly older men, some are civilians for ransom and some are political. Why though, why? So I’ll forget about why for now and focus on the other aspects, like how calm, collected, and monotone the narrator’s voice sounded. The narrating style made it all seem blasé and matter of fact. Maybe that was the intention but maybe not? For me, this piece didn’t seem very effective, I wasn’t distracted by the language barrier (though I didn’t understand those bits, I welcome the inclusion) so much as being distracted from all the bits of the story that are not included.

CYOA--"The French Fry Connection"

In “The French Fry Connection”, though I don’t know what exactly is meant by goose wings, and I had to look up Hutterite, I think the lede is brilliant. And in the next statement we get foreshadowing and what the whole story will be about—uber effective. “A study of mass production and global competition and an uncanny barometer of economic health”—I had no idea. I think the author of this piece makes the topic accessible for people; the points made are reiterated and explained. The history of the men who brought the Burbank potato to its current prominence is so concise and informational. “In the process he made his first fortune, helped shape contemporary America’s culture of convenience and capitalized on Asia’s economic rise.” This sentence brings us up to speed so fast, maybe it’s saying a lot without backing it up but since this is narrative and not essay, I think it’s excellent. There are a lot of numbers thrown out during the explanation of the planting but I am grateful not be too overwhelmed by processes—there are descriptions thrown in to make it more visual and interesting like “fluffy, sandy, soil” and cupcakes.

When ‘prosperity breeds greed’ and we get into some conflict the players and their moves are explained with a novel-like intensity—very compelling. “The stage was set for a fall that would shake not only Southeast Asia but also the entire region. And—ultimately—the world.” This sentence, from a more pessimistic angle may sound a bit contrived, overdone, dramatic? But I love it! At the end of the first part we get a great summary of plot so far—“Investors quickly realized that the economies of other Southeast Asian nations were precarious, too. Like Thailand, they had grown rapidly, borrowed heavily in dollars, launched grandiose business ventures and speculated wildly on property and financial schemes.” On to part two!

Second part, second paragraph, “But the global economy assembles a diverse cast of characters.” Read’s style is so clear and pointed, really enjoying it. “By the time these spuds were done, they would have been grown by members of a Germanic sect, sanctified by Muslims, transported by Protestants and consumed by Jews and Chinese converted to Catholicism in Asia.” Read weaves a lot of complexity into this narrative without it feeling overwhelming or complex at all, I’m definitely following his thread. I think Read really asks us to trust him with some of the more complex stuff like the ‘veteran worker’s’ knowledge and all the connections that are made.

 “Thueson downshifted, attuned so precisely to the engine that he never touched the clutch, his left hand steering into a crucial turnoff.”—awesome transition, while it’s meaning is literal to Thueson’s drive, it mirrors the larger narrative. McDonald’s is so dark here, ““We’re in this for the long haul,” said Jim Cantalupo, McDonald’s International president and chief executive officer.” Does Asia have a choice? Here, “The Dagmar steamed on to Shimizu, Japan. It spooked a large turtle in the inland sea.” I wonder if Read is pushing this, was he on the ship? The significance of the second Australian, the engineer, confuses me momentarily as I head into part four but I’m still hanging on to Read’s meaning—and it’s complicated and universal, “no one can claim immunity to swings of the global economy.” The ending of this drama is a bit anti-climactic but it sounds honest. “At the dawn of the Pacific Century that held so much promise, food relief has become the latest link between the Northwest and the Far East.” Great pick for a complex narrative!

Reading Response--"The Marriage Cure"

In “The Marriage Cure” by Katherine Boo, the reader is able to learn important bits of character sprinkled in several places as the linear story begins—Corean taking Kim to church. I think this approach was very effective. I learned about her physical description, the place she lives, her old job, and her birth control, that she is in love, and that she wants to go to college. The whole story is just loaded with details like we know the approximate time period of the story because the author mentions the Bush administration. Although I enjoyed the description around Kim during the first part of the narrative the next bit where Corean is described was even more vivid. I also think the small incorporation of dialogue during these introductions is important, it’s not much but what is used really works. I wonder if she meant to use patience twice in the sentence about marriage as a job…When the author gets into the dialogue part of the narrative, at the church, we know the characters (some what) and now we get into the issue of marriage and all the complications around it—the author structures the narrative here in a way that really shows a lot of perspectives, but none explicitly her own. I thought the lack of transitions during the rest of the piece were an interesting style choice. I’m curious how much time this piece took to report.

Chapel Times

Intended Publication: The Index 

*Author's Note: This piece is incomplete, since my first interview two days ago I was only able to pull together what I have thus far, I apologize for the lack.*

On a clear sunny day in the largest city of South West Michigan, if your elevation allows, you can soak in the skyline of Kalamazoo. If you’re pointed in the right direction you can usually glean a snippet of the symbol for Kalamazoo College poking out among the tree tops. It marks the small liberal campus that is hidden in the sea of Western Michigan University the surrounds it. On a cloudier day the bell tower of Stetson Chapel stands stark against the gray sky. Several times a day, hundreds of students cross the green quadrangle that unfolds before it, yet, many of those students pass by without a glance or a thought toward its evolution.

In the fall of 1928, the President of Kalamazoo College, Allen Hoben, requested the construction of the chapel from his board, to match the then recently endowed library. Founded as the Michigan and Huron Institute by a judge, and a Baptist Minister, in 1833, four years before Michigan was granted Statehood, the college’s name changed to Kalamazoo College in 1855. By its 99^th birthday President Hoben’s request was granted.

Seeking to realize a college noted for its scholarship and Christian standards of life, President Hoben insisted that a campus chapel was an essential addition to the college. In his letter to the Chairman in 1928 he writes, “It is no secret that a college of our type needs above everything else literally, practically, morally and imperatively a Chapel. There is nothing so formative important and central in the education which we aspire to give.” Dedicated to Herbert Lee Stetson, the “grand old man” of Kalamazoo College, Stetson Chapel is the emblem of a history formed with two aims of thought—religion and education. 

            My education centers on ‘K’. I am one of those students, walking swiftly by, until recently, unaware of the prominence of Stetson Chapel. It is a holy space. I have been both consciously and unconsciously avoiding hallowed places since I left home three years ago to attend Kalamazoo College. For me, a church, or the smaller equivalent, called a chapel, holds many meanings. I grew up in and around church—church services, church camps, church youth group, and a church family. In the Congregational church of my childhood I wrestled with my beliefs and by the time I left for college I had successfully beaten down most of my conservative protestant upbringing. However, a piece of that history remains, and I as I walk across the grand threshold of Stetson Chapel seeking to realize its meaning, I am captivated by its presence.

            The Chapel’s architecture speaks of a simpler time. It is a grand structure yet far from being grandiose. Like the church I used to know, it has small spaces to explore. There is a door on the right that leads to the tight practice space of the change ringers. To the left are the stairs, one set spirals up and the others go straight down.     

Stetson was constructed with a specific intentionality. On the symbolism of Stetson Chapel, Rev. T. Torrance Phelps, D.D. wrote, ‘this Chapel came out of the Puritan epoch. The Puritans very consciously tried to build an austere ecclesiastical structure. The unadorned ceiling and white walls are a survival of that spirit of austerity.’ The large windows let in the sunlight of the day, designed to be open—open for worship as well as for views of the outside world.

In an article titled, “If Stetson Chapel Could Talk”, the dissonance between my thoughts on modern spirituality and my view of the chapel, a symbol of an older idea of religion that’s stifling, is addressed in these words from an issue of Encore, ‘Just as [the Chapel’s] architecture reflects the college’s ideals, its events have reflected changes in our American culture’, changes that are discussed in the open article of Psychology Today sitting on my desk. It addresses the ‘atheist in the pew next to you’ by profiling a young family attending a Unitarian Universalist church. Such churches, in existence since the 1960s, are a good example of our cultures shift toward religion as a free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

What all of this means for Kalamazoo’s Stetson Chapel is elucidated by Jeanne Hess, Kalamazoo College Volleyball coach and chair of the Department of Physical Education at K-College. Among other important contributions to the college Hess was Associate Chaplain for the chapel from 2001 through 2008. The Chapel speaks to Jeanne of the past, but also of the present and future. For Jeanne the chapel is a bricks and mortar symbol of the spiritual and its evolution.  Hess sees the chapel as a place whose meanings have evolved and whose presence is as relevant as ever.

“I have been on both ends of the spectrum, of being there and saying this is an important message and the community needs to be here and gather round and hear this and celebrate this, to oh my god I’m so overwhelmed just like what the students are doing, that’s what I would hear from students, was ‘I have so much to do’, and we got in this culture of stress. I am seeing this culture of stress permeate everyone.”

            Hess reveals that the chapel is not a place of dogma and judgment but the scene of an essential movement that aims to support the whole of a person here in our Kalamazoo College community. It is a holy place. Its presence welcomes its students to be whole.

CYOA--Lost and Found Films

            What I noticed the most about the narrative structures contained in the four short videos titled, “Hill”, “Prime”, “Coffer”, and “Byun” from a series called This Must Be the Place, was that the camera is able to show a contrast to what is being said. For example, Hill says he lives in a shop and that he is never really alone, yet, the images the audience is shown are displaying a different perspective—the perspective most of the world sees when they look at run down images of a once immensely prosperous city. Despite the isolation that appears on screen, Hill’s words are consistently positive and hopeful.

            In “Prime”, I was interested by the blurring of the film during certain parts, especially toward the end. Maybe this technique is a call back to earlier simpler times—this seems to be a theme of these video shorts, though I’m concerned that they future only men (side point).

            I’m noticing that this type of narrative makes it easier to be more concise and say more with shots in addition to dialogue than they could do one at a time on the written page. The close ups in “Prime” are powerful and makes me wonder if they are equally effective on the page if not more. Another theme of these shorts is the reliance on striking images with no words.

            In “Coffer”, the contrast between his dialogue and the images shown help lead the audience into the narrative, though I think this can be done just as effectively on paper. This video had the most action—Coffer making his plate photography. I think action could have been used more and I didn’t appreciate the use of the same type of music for every video.

            Video is especially effective for translation without leaving out the words which were actually said. I thought that the story of “Byun” was the most compelling—the least ordinary among a group of ‘different’ people. These pieces definitely have some great discussion material embedded in them—great pick!

Stephanie and Elaine Choose Our Own Assignment

The Most Dangerous Gamer 

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/the-most-dangerous-gamer/8928/1/

This piece, written by Taylor Clark, that profiles a game designer/developer named Jonathon Blow caught my interest despite being a non-gamer. While you read think about the various narrative elements the author employs.

-What are these elements? Are these elements employed effectively?

-What were your favorite parts of this narrative and why? What could have been done differently in this narrative?

-Do you think Clark has constructed Blow's character in an honest and fair way?

-Who is Clark's audience? How does Clark navigate or not navigate his narrative around the non-gamer? 

Reading Responses

Adrian Nicole LeBlanc—"Trina and Trina"

I respect Adrian Nicole LeBlanc’s reporting after reading “Trina and Trina”. I don’t think I could do it—take on this topic and with such depth and breadth. The narrative was compelling and it ebbed and flowed at such a consistent pace that I didn’t get bored. I was overwhelmed at times by the intensity of the events in the story. LeBlanc really drew me in but I was concerned about her role as both reporter and friend, and I also struggled with her brief comparison of Trina and herself. I also wanted to know what it had been written for, what’s the upshot; the ending doesn’t really resolve things for me.  

Susan Orlean—"The American Man at Age Ten"

            The Hook is different an interesting, it does a good job of setting up the characterization. The little American man sounds too perfect for me though. And I don’t appreciate Orlean’s interjections like, “They talked for a minute about one of the girls in their class, a tall blonde with cheerleader genetic material”. This is her impression and I don’t believe the boys would use this dialogue at this age—in fact, I don’t believe a lot of the dialogue. Maybe I haven’t spent enough time with ten year old boys, but I have spent some. There a few really good moments in this piece that I thought were foreshadowing but then they weren’t—they were just aspects of this boy’s life, like the brief mention of race.

Dream Catch Me (Revised)

Intended Publication: Modern Love

I am my own worst enemy, especially when it comes to making decisions. Even simple decisions—Paper or Plastic?—the possibilities unfurl before me, lines of thought racing across a sprawling map which extends out into the universe eventually sucking me into a black hole of doubt and indecision. Knowing that I must decide, I choose. My heartbeat quickens. I am playing Russian roulette with my future.

My future is unknown as the springtime sunlight accosts my eyes near the end of March. Squinting, I look down and endeavor to open the small white envelope I retrieved from my college mail box. I am grateful for this letter. It decides for me—whether I shall be granted passage to my first choice study abroad destination, or not. Forcefully, I slide my index finger inside tearing a hole to view my fate.

Rejection is disheartening but diligently I re-apply, this time I attempt to gain acceptance into the study abroad program in Perth, Western Australia—studying abroad, a new vital life step; I am ready. One month later, at the close of April, I enter the mail room again. I smile cautiously as I slide a new letter from my mail box. This time it’s a manila envelope that yields exciting returns. My smile widens.

In July, I drag myself off the plane in Perth expecting paradise, but the airport leads to a parking-lot, which leads to a highway, which leads to a tiny bedroom painted white, cold and uninviting. Disappointment overwhelms me as I flop down onto the sparse mattress Curtin University Student Housing has provided for me.

Weeks of classes keep me busy, no beach days, no warm balmy nights—it’s winter on this side of the world. Eagerly I await spring break for the second time this year. My friends and I make a collective decision to book a tour north to a warmer destination.

In early September, a scruffy Australian drives his tour bus up to the curb at the tourist coach stand. The first thing I notice is his hair. He is rocking the worst case of bed head in the history of heads that ever skipped the hair brushing phase after bed. An unshaven face and wrinkled clothing add to the tousled effect. He looks rugged. He has chest hair. He’s talking in a thick Australian accent as we board the bus. I can’t stop staring. His gentle, sincere eyes catch mine. I stumble across the threshold.

The third night of this Australian adventure, on the shores of Coral Bay, the trouble begins. It starts with the sand—soft, cold, inviting sand between my toes. I sink my feet in further. Our feet touch underneath the sand and a reckless abandon rushes through my veins as I down my bottle of champagne and move on to a warm Australian brew. He sits on my left, close enough to see my goose pimples. We’re getting to know each other faster now but for the life of me I don’t remember what we said. I do remember one thing though, “I’m going to head to bed”, he says. I hold his gaze hoping he can read my mind. Then words begin falling out of my mouth—“Come skinny dipping with me in Coral Bay instead”.

Time stands still and then speeds forward quickly, and then suddenly, unexpectedly, our  naked bodies are in the ocean water and I am swimming somewhere between ‘I can’t believe this is happening’ and ecstasy. We venture to the sand dunes, our muscles shivering violently in unison. We shove ourselves together inside one swag covered sleeping bag, under the stars. Eventually, sleep follows what seems like hours of sex until a blaring alarm clock sounds at 5a.m.—the sun is still asleep. My 26 year old tour guide must leave me now and I forget to ask him if this was a one night stand.

Up the Australian coast we travel. Each night while my friends sleep, he and I stay up late enjoying the pleasures of casual sex. In Broome, we decide to exchange numbers—turns out neither of us wants our fling to end with the spring.

October is nearly upon us as he takes me on our first date to That Little Mexican Place, and he buys me an expensive bottle of Australian wine. A transition period has left him homeless tonight, so he books us a room at the Holiday Inn—the King suite. We stay up laughing, and touching, and holding on tight.

On our next date we struggle against the wind and waves of the Indian Ocean, he’s teaching me how to surf. I’m in over my head. Our next adventure—mountain biking. He has a house now. I’m sleeping over every night he’s home. Tomorrow he leaves on another tour. It seems we’re always saying good-bye. 

When he takes me up the coast to the beach in Lancelin to meet his friends and christen his truck bed, I know that he’s serious. I am beginning to sense that our feelings are mutual—we are both secretly smitten.

October’s orange sun begins to set and I am overwhelmed by this man. He is more than a man really; he’s a grand adventure that I dream will never end. I have a mere six days left to spend with him in Australia when I realize that he could quite possibly, if I’m not reading into anything, if he thinks so too, he could, maybe, be my soul mate.

I am calm and collected on our last morning together, before I embark on a new journey. We wake up before the dawn and I kiss my handsome, scruffy Australian good-bye. I leave him with words full of longing—“I’m going to try my absolute hardest to find a way to stay in Australia with you—if there’s a way, I’ll find it”.

In November I board a flight to China. As my altitude increases, I try to find the truth my words. I rifle through my desires and my doubts. I fill a rifle with the complexities of my decision. Full of this ammunition I yearn for the pressure in the barrel to eventually spark confidence in a decision. I want more time with my Australian—but how?

My participation in the twenty-one day East Asian Tour that begins in China will complete my course work abroad. At the end of November I am expected to fly back to Australia for my homecoming departure to the small mid-western town of my childhood in America. One thought echoes in my mind—I don’t want to go home.

My decision consumes me. I could attempt to extend my visa. A multitude of reasons condone me staying but there are just as many excuses protesting. Go home or stay? Go home or stay? I want to stay but, but, but…what if it all falls apart? I’d need a job, a place to live—I can’t ask him to take me in! He has roommates, they don’t need my estrogen clogging up there space indefinitely. What if I don’t get the visa? What if he doesn’t really want me to stay!?!?

In Shanghai, I once again board a tour bus, this time to Nanjing. I feel small riding through the bigness of China. Sky-scraper apartment buildings line the highway. Lines of denim and cotton hang from even the highest windows. I keep myself busy by breaking out a bus seat ab workout. I used to workout on his bus, on our way to Broome—I had so much positive energy then, I had no worries, no doubts. Falling in love was effortless. Fighting for it…required…everything.

While I tightened, grunted and released, only to breathe in and repeat, the memories of my past four months spent in Australia had me agonizing over this one decision. Nanjing was where I had to decide my future.

I needed a visa. I needed to be abroad to submit my request to immigration. The process could take up to a month and I was meant to leave in less. A visa is only step one, but if it could work—the rest of the pieces could fall into place. “It’s not the visa that I’m worried about”, I explained to my friend. What I couldn’t tell her was how small I felt, how scared, how insignificant. Paralyzed in a limbo of my own design I knew that step one was the most important. If I could send my visa application, I could embrace it, I could let myself fall, and my dream would catch me. I just need to tell me, ‘it’s ok, it’s not a crazy idea, really, it’s ok.’

“You only live once,” was a common phrase for me abroad, the anthem grew louder and louder as I journeyed farther from the Aussie land. It sung of a man with a scruffy head of hair, a scruffy face, and a smile that makes my heart race.

I sink back into my bus seat, stomach burning, body worn down, mind frayed and tattered. It is early November, and the chill of winter in the Northern Hemisphere seeps in slowly as I sweat.

I’m in the hotel in Nanjing, on the twelfth floor. I sit in the bathtub. Warm water runs cold as my time runs out. Tonight is the night to decide. Water droplets fill the creases in my worried forehead. I look out across the landscape, at the small piece of Nanjing before me. The bathroom fog quickly fades and the answer slowly becomes clear. ‘Love is a legitimate reason to do this’, I think. I believe myself this time. I would do what I’d been dreaming, what I’ve wanted this whole time. My hair is wet and chilling as I cross the room to sit in front of my computer.

I couldn’t be bothered to dry off. Wiping my hands on the towel wrapped tightly around me--holding me together--I stare at my computer screen. A completed visa application stares back. Taking a slow, deep breath, I press the send button. I exhale the worries from my chest—application sent.

Franklin Outline for "Dream Catch Me"

Complicating Focus:

Elaine doubts herself    

Development:

Elaine faces rejection

Relationship surprises Elaine

Elaine chooses Australia

Resolving Focus:

Elaine trusts herself

Story Pitch

I think "Kahani" deserves a great spread in the Index and possibly the Kalamazoo Gazette. A short piece has already been written but I feel that it needs a full profile for the community to really understand what's going on 'behind the scenes'. I will explore what it means to create a devised performance and be a part of such a collaboration. I think it's a relatively complex subject once I can dig deeper. The show touches on a lot of relevant issues in our world and to the social justice movement that has lived on our campus for sometime now. This subject has great profile potential and I am excited to get down into it's details and 'life' story.