assignments ENGL298 Second Year Seminar: This Bridgewater Life
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LEE TORDA 310 Tillinghast Hall Bridgewater State University 508.531.2436 [email protected] www.leetorda.com |
SPRING 2014 Office Hours
Monday: 3:30 to 4:30 Tuesday: 11:00 to 12:00 Friday: 1:00 to 2:00 and by appointment. |
DO I HAVE A STORY TO TELL YOU
This is the first assignment associated with the final podcast for This Bridgewater Life. You will pick the story you want to tell, and the person or people you want to tell it with. You’ll do an informal presentation to the class, including any podcast material you put together for it, before midterm.
In the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, there is a scene near the big climax of the movie where Indiana has to pick the right Grail cup from a huge collection of chalices all meant to hide the secret of which cup is the cup that held the blood of Christ at the last supper (the Holy Grail, as it is called). He has to find the cup to save his father who has been shot and is near death. Of course, nothing ever being that easy for Indiana, there is, what else, but a Nazi who also wants the Grail cup because it is said that the cup acts like a fountain of youth.There is also an ancient looking knight there to guard the Grail cup. We are to understand that drinking from the cup has kept him alive all these years.
So, to make a long story just a bit longer, the Nazi grabs this fancy, crazy, be-jeweled chalice (he picks it up saying “this is surely the cup of the king of kings”), fills it with some water from a near by (convenient) fountain, and takes a sip. He is convinced that this is the Grail cup. That is, right up until his head-shriveled up from the inside out as he aged, like, two hundred years in thirty seconds and just before he exploded into a million bits of Nazi dust. Good Riddance.
What advice does the old knight say in response to this spectacle? “He chose unwisely.” Right. Anyway, so now a frantic Indy looks at all the possible cups and picks this tiny, unassuming little clay cup saying “this is the cup of a carpenter’s son.” And then he fills the cup, takes a sip, and he does NOT explode into a cloud of dust. And then he saves his father and rides off into the sunset. The knight’s commentary “You have chosen wisely.”
There is a lesson to be learned here, my young Indianas: choose wisely as you set off on this adventure. I’m not saying that your head will explode if you pick the wrong story, but close. Picking the right story to tell, the first step in this process, sets you up for great success or spectacular failure. And it’s not always about the bejeweled chalice that makes the best story. If there is anything to learn from Indiana Jones and This American Life it is that the small, clay cup comes with it’s own special qualities too. Stories are everywhere. You just have to look to find them.
Indiana did have a team, one of them was a beautiful traitor Nazi archeologist, but that’s beside the point. You can have a team too. You may work alone on your final project, but, as I’ve said repeatedly in class, one thing I’ve learned is that some students seem to work better on this project when they work in a group. I’ve tried to create ways to support the group work part of the assignment, and I’ve tried to develop ways to value both group and individual contributions. You can work in small groups of up to four people. In whatever configuration you decide on, recorded material and story-related material is one per group. Reflections are written by individuals. If that doesn’t make sense at this moment it will.
DETAILS
You’ll turn the materials for this assignment as part of your midterm portfolio. Click on that link for complete details of that assignment. And consult deadlines and due-dates on the syllabus for this class. There are two parts to this project that you need to complete:
1. Any recorded material you have that starts to tell the story of your project. Perhaps you’ve recorded a possible introduction. Perhaps you’ve recorded some background noise or picked a song. Maybe you even have an interview. Whatever you’ve got, let me listen to it.
2. A two to three page, typed, double-spaced reflection letter. In this reflection letter, cover the following:
Good luck my young padewons. Wait, wrong Harrison Ford saga. But you get my point.
This is the first assignment associated with the final podcast for This Bridgewater Life. You will pick the story you want to tell, and the person or people you want to tell it with. You’ll do an informal presentation to the class, including any podcast material you put together for it, before midterm.
In the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, there is a scene near the big climax of the movie where Indiana has to pick the right Grail cup from a huge collection of chalices all meant to hide the secret of which cup is the cup that held the blood of Christ at the last supper (the Holy Grail, as it is called). He has to find the cup to save his father who has been shot and is near death. Of course, nothing ever being that easy for Indiana, there is, what else, but a Nazi who also wants the Grail cup because it is said that the cup acts like a fountain of youth.There is also an ancient looking knight there to guard the Grail cup. We are to understand that drinking from the cup has kept him alive all these years.
So, to make a long story just a bit longer, the Nazi grabs this fancy, crazy, be-jeweled chalice (he picks it up saying “this is surely the cup of the king of kings”), fills it with some water from a near by (convenient) fountain, and takes a sip. He is convinced that this is the Grail cup. That is, right up until his head-shriveled up from the inside out as he aged, like, two hundred years in thirty seconds and just before he exploded into a million bits of Nazi dust. Good Riddance.
What advice does the old knight say in response to this spectacle? “He chose unwisely.” Right. Anyway, so now a frantic Indy looks at all the possible cups and picks this tiny, unassuming little clay cup saying “this is the cup of a carpenter’s son.” And then he fills the cup, takes a sip, and he does NOT explode into a cloud of dust. And then he saves his father and rides off into the sunset. The knight’s commentary “You have chosen wisely.”
There is a lesson to be learned here, my young Indianas: choose wisely as you set off on this adventure. I’m not saying that your head will explode if you pick the wrong story, but close. Picking the right story to tell, the first step in this process, sets you up for great success or spectacular failure. And it’s not always about the bejeweled chalice that makes the best story. If there is anything to learn from Indiana Jones and This American Life it is that the small, clay cup comes with it’s own special qualities too. Stories are everywhere. You just have to look to find them.
Indiana did have a team, one of them was a beautiful traitor Nazi archeologist, but that’s beside the point. You can have a team too. You may work alone on your final project, but, as I’ve said repeatedly in class, one thing I’ve learned is that some students seem to work better on this project when they work in a group. I’ve tried to create ways to support the group work part of the assignment, and I’ve tried to develop ways to value both group and individual contributions. You can work in small groups of up to four people. In whatever configuration you decide on, recorded material and story-related material is one per group. Reflections are written by individuals. If that doesn’t make sense at this moment it will.
DETAILS
You’ll turn the materials for this assignment as part of your midterm portfolio. Click on that link for complete details of that assignment. And consult deadlines and due-dates on the syllabus for this class. There are two parts to this project that you need to complete:
1. Any recorded material you have that starts to tell the story of your project. Perhaps you’ve recorded a possible introduction. Perhaps you’ve recorded some background noise or picked a song. Maybe you even have an interview. Whatever you’ve got, let me listen to it.
2. A two to three page, typed, double-spaced reflection letter. In this reflection letter, cover the following:
- What is your story idea and who are you working with to produce it?
- Why do you think this is a good story. Reference other This American Life stories and the reading that we have done so far this semester to help you make your case for why it is a good story. Obviously, this should take up the majority of your pages.
- What do you think will be the major challenges for you and your group in telling this story? This might include technology, but it might also include stuff like figuring out who the main characters are, what the actual story is, what the theme might be. That sort of a thing.
Good luck my young padewons. Wait, wrong Harrison Ford saga. But you get my point.