Rhetorical Prospectus
Prompt
Begin mapping out the rhetorical situation for your (Her)story
project by answering the questions below as fully as you can (in paragraph
form). Be as reflective and detailed as possible, as this will also help you
with the critical-reflective portion of this project:
- Who did you ultimately choose
to focus on for your (her)story piece? Why? What drew you to her?
- To whom do you plan to address
your paper? Why this audience?
- What genre did you choose to
reach this audience? Why?
- Given the specifics of this
particular (her)story project, what affordances will this genre offer you as
you seek to tell her story?
- Given the specifics of this
particular (her)story project, what constraints might this genre present you
with? How will you negotiate them?
- Summarize (in 2-3 paragraphs) the nature of the secondary literature that you gathered to flesh out her story. Given the genre you chose, how will you incorporate, draw from and/or allude to this secondary literature in your piece?
I chose Leona Hilton for my piece because she immediately seemed like a person who doesn't do what she's told. I like that. "Hobble skirts," as I keep referencing in these posts, are much tighter than the typical dresses women commonly wear in photos from this time period, and Leona is noted for wearing them (and for sneaking out to see a boy, which...just yes).
ReplyDeleteSince I'm doing my project in the style of journals, I'm looking to reach a younger audience or people right around our age--students who are graduating. What if Leona didn't want to be a teacher, but wanted to design clothes? It would perhaps inspire insight into possibilities after graduating, instead of doing "what you're told." Journals are best for this, I think, because the reader is able to get a good insight into that mentality, which I think I can tap into fairly easy because I, as well as many others, am already freaking out about what I'm going to do after graduation and getting angry when people think they know what that is, or what is best for me. How would they know what's best for Leona, as well?
It might be difficult, however, in the way that first person is the only real option, and that means really putting myself in someone else's perspective. It means understanding their daily activities and putting myself in a time and place I've never been. And separating what I know of MCLA in this time vs. North Adams Normal School.
So, I've three sources thus far: an article on Commencement in the North Adams Evening Transcript, a specific reference to 1911 fashion in a book by Rebecca Arnold, and a summation on agriculture in a national book that mentions NA. The article on Commencement is most notable because it talks about the expectations of young women to be a certain way (teachers) and I'd like to spin it in such a way that my woman does not. So the journals will take place around graduation, and I'm incorporating sources by footnotes.
The bit on fashion is particularly interesting because, as I said, Leona might like to do that, and the specific drawings of tighter dresses are extremely relevant. And then there's the bit on agriculture, and seeing as that's what most of NA was--farmland--and planting was required for students at NANS, it might add something.
I like that you're imagining a genre that will allow you to imagine possibilities outside of the "norm" for Leona, while also exploring the normative itself.
DeleteFor my (Her)story piece I chose Rose Marie Johnson. She is a young women from Holyoke Massachusetts. I am choosing her because when I first saw her, her powerful gaze entranced me. Her eyes are so dark and inviting. She has the faintest smile on her face, its almost as if she is saying aaayyyeeee I see you. She is fierce and looks independent. For a quick second I also thought she looked like me in a way because we both have what seems to be Latin American features. I also though that she looked the most diverse out of all the other girls in the photos because one of her eyes, then her hair is so dark its almost black and she has a strong sharp jaw. All the other girls are round face and not looking at the camera with either light brown hair or blond hair. And she doesn't have glasses either which a lot of the girls do. Rose seems like a very free spirit from her bio. All the other girls seem to like her and she always has a smile on her face. Her favorite song to sing was Lonesome, which makes me think she has secrets that I am ready to flesh out in my project.
ReplyDeleteI hope to address young women like myself with my work. Women who are in college and want to know things about the past generations and what life could have been like. I think young women should know past histories because they can learn from mistakes made or things that really helped women as a whole progress to be more well rounded educated women whom have gained rights and equality. I guess I’d like young people to know that even though these women are from the past, they went through the same struggles we are going through now with, being away from home, dealing with other people, going to school and keeping up with school work and possibly a job, dating or not dating, graduation, wondering what life is going to be like outside of college and freaking out. There is a lot that young people could learn from my work.
I would like to start writing letters in Rose’s point of view. I am choosing her point of view so that my readers get a first hand account of what life could have been like and the struggles she may have went through. I think by writing in first person my readers will be able to connect better to Rose in a more emotional way and realize that even though she lived in the past, Rose is just like them. Choosing this genre will allow me to use a lot of detail, general and small. This genre will allow me to really flesh out Rose as a person. It will allow me to work with my creative side and really put a nice twist on the past. This genre allows me to be more flexible then others in that its more based on creating a life around the facts or details I already know.
I guess my biggest challenge would be citing my secondary sources. I can’t just add random facts into the story with out telling the reader where it came from. I would possibly create footnotes for the bottom of my letters if I were to type them up. And if I wrote the letters by hand then I would make cite my information on note cards attached with the letters giving a description of the source and why I used it in the way that I did.
My secondary sources have a lot to do with the Normal School’s garden and how the students from the Normal School taught the younger students in the gardens and in the classrooms. I also have sources about the May Pole festival, one newspaper article and a photo.
I would incorporate my sources by telling who ever Rose is writing the letters to in detail what is going on at school such as the gardens and the may pole festival. Rose would explain the gardens and how the may pole works. She would also talk about the town and what is going on there. Her details would be more of accounts, a retelling of what she did that day or week and what she is looking forward to next.
I think letter writing will work nicely to help your audience empathize with Rose! And your brainstorming as far as your sources is good; either option will work!
DeleteI chose Olive Christine Burt from Easthampton, MA for my (Her)story project. What particularly interested me in Olive's entry was that she had extreme similar interests to my own; I could even imagine her sharing in my double major (Philosophy and English lit). Not only does she prize logical thinking and rational application of ideas. But Olive would also surrender meals for a good book, which is something I've been known to do on occasion. Her biography is so simple, but it gives a fair amount of information about her analytical yet lackadaisical nature. Her appearance also struck me as something interesting about Olive. While none of the women are exactly smiling, Olive has a relatively sad look on her face; I think it's something about her eyes.
ReplyDeleteIn using postcards/letters as a medium, the audience for my project will be limited to family, friends, and future historical scholars. This format will allow me to express Olive’s personal side and expose her feelings on what it’s like to live in North Adams during the early 1900s. A difficulty will be figuring out how to incorporate my secondary sources. As of right now, I’m thinking about using a combination of postcards and letters for my project. I plan on accompanying the postcards with notes on a separate page, sort of like an analysis of like in ‘The Handmaids Tale.’ For the letters I will probably use footnotes too.
The scholarly book ‘Remembering Massachusetts State Normal Schools: Pioneers in Teacher Education’ provides information on various aspects of not only the North Adams Normal School, but seven other normal schools from the late 1800s and a current update on Massachusetts State Colleges today. The book includes tuition fees, various outreach programs, the impact of world events on the school, etc. Additionally, the book includes information on the shape of the institution over the course of the following century.
This book will be useful in creating context for the conditions in which the students live. Also, the process which took place before the establishment of the North Adams Normal School is important when considering the functionality of the institution during this period. Also, the book includes a couple memorable students who also were born and raised in North Adams, MA; I intend upon using Helen Crowley Car (Class of 1927) as a potential student of Olive’s.
I love your postcard idea, and your plan for how to incorporate sources makes complete sense. Your idea to also focus on a potential student of Olive's is also quite creative!
DeleteI chose Olive Christine Burt from Easthampton, MA for the (Her)story project. I was drawn to olive by her love of literature. She reminds me of myself in regards to the fact that she would give up food just to follow her passion. I like this quality of her a lot and I can’t help but imagine all of the things that she was possibly reading at the time.
ReplyDeleteFor my project, I’ll be writing a series of letters about Olive’s graduation year. The letters will be addressed to her parents. I chose letters because i love letters; i think there very personal and intimate and there’s just a quality about that is just very classy. I also chose letters because they can be like a stream of consciousness, which is something i want to play with. I chose her parents because i imagine Olive to be very introverted at school, but I think she’ll have an honest and great relationship with her parents.
The affordances that this genre gives is that I’ll be able to capture her feelings about living during this time and her feelings about attending the school and what she did there. The constraints, however, will be putting in information from secondary sources without making the language seem clunky. Also, citations is huge constraint. I’ll work around the citation by using footnotes and I’ll work around the language by being selective with words and syntax.
I found this source on the environment of the city of Northampton that I plan to use in the project. It mentions a lot of the changes that were happening in Northampton in regards to the opening and closing of mills and how factories were beginning to emerge and immigrant workers. I want to utilize the research on her curriculums and write about the classes that she was possibly taking at the time. I want to use the research on the gardens and agricultural stuff that was happening at the school. I can picture Olive loving the garden. I will incorporate my sources my having Olive write about what was happening in the letters. I will describe in great detail what she was possibly doing through the letters.
I think that letter writing will work nicely to accomplish your purpose, Tramel. And I'm glad that this form will allow you to stretch your writing in new directions. It will be interesting to see how you and Kassie imagine Olive's life differently, by the way.
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ReplyDeleteI chose to focus on Rose Trainor for my piece. I chose to write about and create a story for her because I felt like she could be someone that I would have been friends with if I was alive during that time period. She seems like she had a good sense of humor and I think that she seems like she was quite lively and probably surrounded herself with other who liked to have fun as well.
ReplyDeleteI plan to address a broad audience that has experience with social media and enjoys what social media can do to tell someone’s story. I think that in the present almost everyone has a Facebook account or uses some type social media account so it would be interesting to tell a story to an audience using a form that we are so familiar with today.
I chose to make a fake Facebook page for Rose because I think it will be interesting to use a form of social media. I think there are so many things that can be added to an account that will make her story come to life. The ability to use pictures, links, and experiences that I find or create will be helpful in telling her story. I will be able to use a large amount of various events and photos to assist in telling the story of Rose that I found from various sources.
With this genre it may be somewhat harder to get into specific details about all the events since most Facebook posts are fairly short. I think that I will be able to negotiate around this by sharing links to websites that go into more details and adding plenty of pictures with explanations. I also plan to try to add comments from Rose’s classmates to get more into the details1 of particular events.
The secondary literature that I used in finding information for this piece was various articles that focused on what normal schools are and what types of activities the girls in these schools were involved in. I also found information on the North Adams Historical Society website about how the women’s Monday club made a newspaper in North Adams in the late 1800s. I would like to incorporate this into the piece as well because I think that it would be a good addition to what was going on in the city during the time when Rose was around.
From the literature that I chose, I will take various events and photos from and use them in my Facebook posts. I will also incorporate some of the ideas I found from the yearbook into the posts as well including other members of the graduating class. The articles will help me in creating various topics for Rose to post about on her Facebook as well.
This is such an interesting idea, Felicity. And I think that this genre will realy allow you to give a multi-faceted and three dimensional view of what Rose's life could have been like if Facebook was available back them. That is, if you're going to write the Facebook page in first person, as if Rose was writing it. If you were going to write it as a historian talking about Rose, there would also be affordances.
DeleteFor my project, I will be focusing on Mary G. Knap. I chose her because her bio in the 1911 yearbook caught my attention. It’s open-ended, and leaves a lot of room open for potential stories, which is exactly the type of bio I was looking for when I was going through the yearbook. In her photograph, Mary is looking down away from the camera, and the area around her eyes is dark with shadow. From what I personally gathered from this photo, she strikes me as a shy person, who has more to her than meets the eye. As a character, this is just the sort of person I will find it most enjoyable and interesting to work with.
ReplyDeleteI’m planning to address my project to young adult fiction readers. Specifically, I think college students will make up the most suitable audience for this particular work. My plan is to write a short story about Mary and her adventures, so I think this is the type of audience that will most enjoy what I create. From the moment this assignment was first announced to us, I knew that I wanted to write a short story. I’m looking to practice more creative forms in my writing, and this assignment provides the perfect opportunity for me to do so. It’s a good choice of format for this particular project, since we are taking the short yearbook bios of these young women from 1911 and, because the information we have on these women is so minimal, giving them a new life of their own.
Since the project requires historical, archival research, I think the short story form provides me with a medium through which to best express this research, through setting descriptions, dialogue, and physical appearances of characters. This is one affordance of the form. Another would be the fact that fiction is literally the art of storytelling, so since we are being asked to tell these women’s stories, this form will fit the objective perfectly, while providing me with many creative liberties. As for constraints, I am limited to the perspective of the woman I have chosen, as well as to the setting of the Normal School, North Adams, 1911. I am also constrained by the extremely limited information provided in Mary’s yearbook bio, in that I must create a story that incorporates and builds off of this information.
As for my secondary literature, it will all be helpful in establish the context necessary to set a short story at the North Adams Normal School in 1911. Two of the articles I have chosen describe the roles of Normal Schools at the time, both authors drawing specifically from experiences with the North Adams Normal School. After reading these, I will (hopefully) be able to create an accurate picture of the school at the time, where Mary will be pursuing her studies. I will be able to get an idea of what the Normal School did, what the curriculum was like, and what the students learned, so that as I write Mary’s story I might incorporate this important information.
I also am utilizing some more visual-based sources, such as Robert Campanile’s book of postcards, to get a sense of what North Adams looked like in the early 1900s. For me, having a mental picture of the town’s layout, and the campus’ layout as well, will be incredibly important to my writing process. I am also hoping to get a look at more primary sources from the archives as well, that will include photographs of students and the campus. I usually struggle with writing engaging physical descriptions in my creative work, and this is something I’d like to practice with this project, since setting plays such a significant role in the assignment. Sources like these will help me to do so.
I'm so glad that you chose a genre that will allow you to work on your craft, Diana, while also highlighting what life could have been like for Mary. I'm excited to see your final piece!
DeleteI chose to focus on Helen Kay for my project. Her humorous blurb drew me to her, how she proudly stated that she is “not very thin and not very tall” and “in the kindergarten sandwich/she’s usually the ham”. Kay seems to have a good sense of humor and the ability to poke fun of herself which is something I admire in people.
ReplyDeleteThe genre I chose to do my project in is a scrapbook, so my audience is intended to be Helen’s friends and family - it would be something she would show everyone after the school year ended in place of something like Facebook or Instagram that we have today that shows pictures, memories, etc. This audience will be able to see what Helen’s life was like during her time at North Adams Normal School, and get to see photographs of her dorm, letters, trinkets and memorabilia, etc. This genre will allow me to really reflect on what a typical teenage/young woman’s life was like during this time; what her interests her, what was important to her, who was important to her, etc. Scrapbooks are a fun way to take memories and recreate them into something visual, I’d like to think that this scrapbook would be something Helen kept all throughout her life, and perhaps even passed it down to her descendants.
With this genre, there are some restraints. I am having trouble figuring out exactly what should be featured in this scrapbook. I have a few ideas, but not enough that would make a significant amount of pages. I have to really do my research and think about what are some things a college student would keep, treasure, and document. I am also wondering how to have a modern twist on this while still keeping the historic charm, and trying to find a balance between the two. Once I do more research and sit down and make this scrapbook, I will hopefully be able to figure this out once the book comes together.
I am still working on gathering sources, but I was most interested in dorm life in the 1910’s. I’m not sure if the students at NANS lived in dorms, but for the sake of the project, I’m assuming they did. I’m very curious as to how the dorms were decorated and I have only seen a couple pictures of dorms from the early 1900’s. Seeing what these women kept in their rooms or hung on their walls will make it easier for me to get to know them better, and I would assume that these decorations would be kept and put into this scrapbook.
My sources will also inform me about how everyday life at NANS was like, what their classes were like, what clubs they had, etc. That way, if I put journal entries or letters in the scrapbook, I have a better idea as to what Helen’s narrative would sound like as she recounts her day or explains her classes/clubs/everyday life.
I love the idea of the scrapbook, Nicollette. And it's a genre that girls probably constructed back then, too! I imagine that they'd save programs from events, awards, notes from friends, photographs, etc. And from Linda's talk, I'm pretty sure almost everyone did live in dorms; I'd go talk with her at the library (or shoot her an email) and she'll probably have resources for you.
DeleteThe person I chose to focus on is Louise Wingate. The reason I chose her was the fact that was, in a class that was so overtly athletic, noted for being “the least athletic girl in the class”. This made me wonder about whether or not she may have had trouble fitting in. I was also taken aback by her style of dress, which was quite a bit from the other girls in her class, who are often depicted with high collars and their hair pulled into buns. Louise’s clothing has a lower neckline, and she’s sporting a pearl necklace and ribbon in her hair. I’m also wondering, from her blurb, if she was, perhaps, engaged.
ReplyDeleteI plan to address something of a younger audience with my work, as I’m writing a fictional piece about a young woman, roughly my age, in a very different time with a different social situation. The way that I’m writing this, which is a sort of retrospective on Louise’s graduation day, is meant to look at her journey through the normal school from the beginning. From the pieces of the Taconic that are relevant to Louise, I also know that she was in a production of Hiawatha. This does offer some insight into what she may have enjoyed doing in her spare time. I was considering writing a poem, as many of the yearbook entries include poetry, including Louise’s, which ends with a rhyming couplet.
I plan on shaping the story in such a way that it starts with Louise preparing for her graduation, and receding into vignettes about her time at the Normal School. One of the challenges I will have with this genre is the problem of including my secondary sources in a way that doesn’t jolt the reader from the narrative-- I don’t want to this to read as a Brechtian spectacle; my goal isn’t to remind the reader that they’re witnessing a piece of fiction.
One of the secondary sources that I’m using is Longfellow’s poem, “Hiawatha”. The reason I’m using this is because this is the play that Louise is noted being in while she’s at school. I’m currently trying to locate the play, maybe to find a couple of the lines that Louise may have said. If I’m unable to find the play somewhere, however, I’ll likely use a couple of lines from the poem instead.
Another source that I’m taking advantage of is a book on women’s fashion in the Edwardian era. As I said, I was interested in the style of Louise’s clothing and hair as opposed to the styles that seemed to be popularized by her classmates. While it focuses on the fashion from Britain, the fashions travelled overseas to the United States, copying the styles of the aristocracy, as the interest in the English hierarchy is one that’s been rooted as the royal became publicized (with the appearance of the tabloid in the English Romanticist period). I’m also looking into things regarding asthma in the early 1900s—Louise’s nickname is ‘Weezy’, and I plan on taking creative license with that nickname and the fact that she isn’t particularly athletic and giving her a chronic illness that she may not have had.
Good brainstorming, Danielle. It sounds like you're planning to do a multi-genre fictional piece that weaves together poetry and vignettes? And to avoid the Brechtian spectacle, I'd perhaps put in endnotes, rather than footnotes (at the bottom of the page)?
DeleteI chose to focus on Alice Teresa Mahanna because she seemed like a really cool, interesting, well-rounded individual who was confident in herself and what she wanted. She was obviously well-liked by her peers and had good leadership skills because she was secretary of her graduating class. She also loves the song "No Wedding Bells For Me," which made me think that she was super independent. All of these characteristics allowed me to envision her as powerful, liberal, and adventurous.
ReplyDeleteI decided to take on a collage-blog/journal project to represent my interpretation of Al's life. This genre will allow me to tie in multiple aspects of her life. The blog format would allow me to reach a larger audience and would allow me t to post limitless multi-media content. It would also allow me to strategically blend fact with fiction.
There are, however, some constraints to a blog-type project. First, it may be difficult to paint a distinct picture of this woman through a blog because I am constructing it through fragments and pieces of the life I imagined for her. Second, it is limited by audience interest, so I'm unsure what kind of following a blog like this would gather.
Therefore, my target audience of this project is primarily feminist bloggers/readers, and anyone interested in women's history/historical fiction.
Some of my secondary literature focuses on the addition of agricultural education to the curriculum at the Normal School. I envision Alice as being very in-touch with nature, someone who likes to spend time outdoors. I think she'd be interested in taking some of the skills she already has in working outdoors and teaching them to others, both her classmates and her own students. I might post images of a growing garden to the blog, using that as a metaphor for her own growth.
Another one of my sources mentioned that students at the Normal School didn't have to pay tuition if they promised to teach in the state of Massachusetts. However, seeing as I imagine Alice to be adventurous, I don't think she would have wanted to make that kind of commitment, so I think she would have paid tuition so that she could eventually teach all around the country.
In another source, Frank Murdock stresses the importance of teaching local history and geography. Murdock writes, “…the study of a continent is approached by finding out how people live there, what they do, how they are all clothed, what their manners and customs are, and then what are their specific processes, agricultural, etc., coming to political development last.” He also writes, “’What can we do with things?” That carries us all over the world.”
I envision Alice being a woman with the desire for adventure and travel, and I think this statement regarding geographical and historical pedagogy would play a role in inspiring her to perhaps pursue teaching outside of the state of Massachusetts.
I think a blog will work nicely to help you create your piece of "critical imagining"; although sometimes blogs feel fragmented, they are also multi-dimensional and multi-vocal, which will help highlight how you're re-constructing history.
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ReplyDeleteUltimately, I chose to focus on Rose Trainor for my (her)story piece. I ultimately chose her because she is from Worcester, MA, where I grew up, so I thought it would be interesting to look at her life not only here in North Adams, but possibly what she would have been doing in Worcester a century ago. I was also drawn to her because, from the blurb in the yearbook, she seems really funny, and I always like funny.
For my paper, I am seeking to reach a younger, tech-oriented audience. Rose, if she was alive today, probably would have been the friend on Twitter that was always cracking jokes and retweeting awful puns and bad jokes from others, which is why I chose to make a Twitter profile for her. Like some of the other students in our class, I think that you can add so much more to a person by using a social media platform. I may also create a blog that has a few blog posts here and there that I could link to that would be a bit more in depth than the 160 characters that Twitter allows for.
While Twitter will be useful for making Rose a bit more ‘modern’, one of the biggest drawbacks from using it is the 160 character limit that I’ve previously mentioned. I plan to negotiate around this by making a ‘blog’ for her that will include some longer posts (possibly four or five) that will give a more in depth insight into a few of the significant moments of her life.
The secondary literature that I’ve found so far consists mainly on details as to what normal schools were like in the early twentieth century, with a bit about the North Adams Normal School specifically, but the majority from other normal schools around the northeast. I’ve also found some research (pictures, articles) on what both North Adams as a whole and Worcester were like during the times that Rose would have been alive.
I also plan on using some visual sources, such as Robert Campanile’s book of postcards, in order to get a “bigger picture” look of North Adams in the early twentieth century. Rose, from her description, also seems like she would be very fashion forward, so I also am going to do a bit more research on the fashion of the 1900s-1915 or so as an image of what she may have worn during her time here. Those will also most likely be visual sources that I will somehow adapt into a Twitter profile for Rose.
I like your plan to start with Twitter, but move to blog format to help you flesh out a bit more of (her)story. I'm interested in what this will look like. Will you actually create a Twitter/blogsite for Rose?
DeleteThe person I decided to chose was Mary Ellen Burke. I chose her because in my opinion she had an interesting look on her face...almost as if you cant tell what her facial reaction is. A lot of people tend to miss read me wrong, thinking that I may be mad just because I appear to be but that is not the case. I felt as though both Mary and I have the same issue so why not talk about it.
ReplyDeleteI plan on addressing this paper to the young ladies during this time period but to ladies whom seem to have some sort of trait as Mary have, whether that being silent, looking mischievous etc. I chose this group of audience because it would be easier to relate if one was to be a young lady during the 1911 time period, because they can understand the issues better but also I could possibly lend a hand in help finding themselves with the help of structuring my character as well.
I am leaning heavily on a poem/ non fiction genre. I think that would allow for the readers to connect to something if my story isn't working, maybe the poem piece can help out in a way. Also doing a poem/ non fiction piece would allow for readers to get a better sense of who Mary is through artistic ways.
The accordance I can gain from this is adding on a personality to my character. Being able to be creative and show another side of my character will help readers connect to my character in ways that they could not if it was not presented in that form of fashion.
Some restraints I may face is allowing my character to have too much personality that may scare some people off. I am structuring my character to be a fun, welcome, smart individual and balancing out the pros and cons of a person is essential which is what I am aiming to do for my character.
Incorporating the secondary sources I found in my piece will be challenging a bit but fun. If I can create different scenes for my character that would be beneficial for readers to get a sense of who she is when happy, mad, scared etc. My goal is to make my secondary sources an additional piece to my character. I do not want her to be judge for a small portion of who she is....as Chimamanda stated, stereotypes are incomplete not necessarily true. Also, besides painting my characters personality I can also add in clothing she is wearing and things she may do during that period to make her a complete story.
I like your hesitance to create a "single story' about Mary Ellen, Dermar. I'm also interested in seeing what you mean by poetry/non-fiction piece. Do you plan to weave poetry and non-fiction together, creating a piece of creative non-fiction? Or would you write poetry and then reference it/explain it in more of a historical overview piece?
DeleteFor my herstory piece, I decided to focus on Catherine “Kate” Deeley-Meagher. I was drawn to her because she seems to be a rebel. She does not conform to the norms of her society. She’s a confident young woman who doesn’t let society dictate her sex life, and despite this apparent taboo, her classmates still love her enough to make her class treasurer.
ReplyDeleteMy paper takes the form of a diary, full of several paper articles of the time—newspaper clippings, class notes, letters, etc., all fabricated by me based on facts I learn from my research and from the other girls’ entries. It’s directed towards other college students, other feminists. I feel that Kate’s story will appeal to them in the same way it appealed to me and that her life could be relevant to theirs.
This genre is the best choice because by putting myself in her shoes, I can reach her character easier and connect with my given audience more. This is Kate’s story, so who better to tell it than Kate?
Of course, I don’t know what Kate is really like, so I have to take some risks with inferences about her from a couple sentences describing her written by no-one-knows-who. I will do my best to represent her as someone inspiring, and be authentic from what I know.
One selection from my secondary literature reflects on the way the Normal School was operated, what life was like for the women who went there and from this information, which is important since I need to create a picture of what a day in the life of Kate might look like. Another looks at three types of male viewpoints regarding the rise of feminism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the anti-feminist response, the masculinist response, and finally, the small camp of men who supported suffrage and sexual autonomy for both men and women. I like this breakdown and the analysis given, and I will try to represent these perspectives as I feel they are necessary counterpoints to Kate and the Lenox trio’s point of view. Another academic journal article highlights the ways that media contributed to and shaped the new independent 1910s woman, a woman who defied conformity like Kate and her friends. Lastly, there is a book which looks at popular culture of the time, for added authenticity. All of these articles will help me in my quest to “world-build” and create a livable, accurate space for these women’s personifications to come alive in.
I like your description of what we're doing as "world-building," Alycia. And I think your approach with the secondary literature--particularly in relation to how men thought regarding suffrage and sexual autonomy--will add a valuable lens to the feminist issues we've been discussing throughout the course.
DeleteI chose Rose Marie Johnson because her character is so happy, but still so mysterious. The Multiple names offer me the opportunity to have her present multiple identities, while her song and date offer me other outlets of freedom I can use. She seems like a vast character, and I’d love to work on making her a story.
ReplyDeleteI plan to form this paper as a diary entry. I can get Rose’s emotions and innermost thoughts out, without her having to conform to an audience. It allows me to keep some background about her in, but also lets me write without having to structure her thoughts. It’s sort of a stream of consciousness for Rose. She doesn’t have to write to someone, but it can still contain information describing her situation.
This genera will allow me to get rose to tell of her secrets and rebellion, without the trouble of someone finding out, because it’s supposed to be personal. The problem is, citations may seem weird, so I probably will footnote it to include information.
I did research on what normal schools were like because I plan to write from a point of view of someone in a normal school. I also did research on the plants and gardens in this time because it is a large part of her life and I intend to use it as a symbolic tool. Finally I did research on queer identities at the time because I may make rose have a secret queer identity. This is a great project that lets the author practice creative freedom, but still teaches history.
I like that you chose to create a diary for Rose, Natalie; as you say, it's a genre that allows for creative play and for the exploration of thoughts without the constraints of a wider audience (other than Rose herself). And creating a queer identity (was there language for this yet?) for Rose would be fascinating, particularly if there wasn't a way for her to theorize it in the way we can now. How would someone write queerness in her diary in the early 20th century?
DeleteJohanna Tumpane Meets Breanna Stewart
ReplyDeleteWhy Johanna?
- She was athletic.
- And she was the only one.
- I am fascinated to know more about sports for girls in the early 1900s.
Audience:
- I have a lot of friends who “don’t sport.” I like to think this will be a piece that makes athletics something more approachable for them but also something that athletes will enjoy as well.
Genre:
- Historical Fiction
Affordances of the Genre:
- Allows me to mix fact with fiction; allows me to fill in the gaps; allows me to learn about the time period and (hopefully) accurately portray it.
Constraints:
- Knowing me, I will want to use the history of the time period too much and may drive myself crazy trying to recreate it.
Summarize:
I have gathered many books from the library and am expecting them soon. Some are on the history of basketball / the history of women’s basketball, which I plan to read to research the origins of basketball as an organized sport. The differences between the sport then and the sport now fascinate me. Having played basketball, I have the vocab / slang to be able to narrate a game from today, but I'm not sure what I'll find out about 1911.
I also got books on the UCONN Huskies’ Women’s basketball team and specifically, Breanna Stewart, who I wish to use as a parallel to Johanna. Both women share a sport, but not much else. I want to highlight how renowned Breanna is and how forgotten Johanna feels to me.
I still want to find Johanna’s birth certificate and death certificate if possible.
I should also mention that I am thinking of doing this "story" (sorta) in fragments, blending "her"story with today.
DeleteI love that you're going to play with creative non-fiction, Alex, and that you focus specifically on women athletes! This will be such an interesting project.
DeleteI chose Elizabeth Eno for my project because she seemed mysterious to me which creates a challenge. I love a challenge. Although her classmates wrote her yearbook blurb, they did not seem to know anything about Elizabeth aside from her love of reading and education. Her yearbook blurb projected a single story I would love to expand upon. I want to dive into her life and show a different side of her. So often we don’t recognize that those who are underrepresented have a whole other side to them.
ReplyDeleteThe ideal audience would be young women. I want them to read about Elizabeth and remember that although stories weren’t represented, they still existed. Elizabeth had a great mind, she was always reading and studying. She was stern and probably wouldn’t want the standard life that was expected of her. I like to think that she wouldn’t have gotten married and instead would have depended on herself.
For this reason, I thought that creative nonfiction would be the best process to reveal her story. To do so, I must take a little creative license (hope that this is okay). I am still researching Elizabeth, but there doesn’t seem to be much available about her so my creativity could expose her story. I am struggling trying to decide which way would be the best to expose her story, hopes, and dreams. Part of me wants to write this in the form of a one act play so that I could write visuals/stage directions to capture the essence of the time. The other part of me wants to focus solely on her own writing in a journal. I am leaning much more towards one act play, but I will consult my group members about this.
I will have to do a lot of my own thinking to fill in the blanks here. I don’t want to write the play all in old dialect because I want it to be adaptable to a modern audience. This will also allow me to look into the lives of a few other characters in the play since in a play everyone has their own story, no matter how small or large the part is.
Luckily, many of my sources capture the day-to-day life of Elizabeth. I can visualize her classes, hobbies, studies..this makes things much easier. Furthermore, I must further research her own life. I want to pay respect to her since she was so underrepresented in the yearbook itself. I could write a scene with a letter being read out loud to capture the dialect of the time (and show some secondary research). I am certainly leaning towards a one-act play that captures a day in her life. Perhaps the rest of her classmates had a single story about her but she was much more than that.
I ultimately chose to focus on Olive Christine Burt, from Easthampton, MA. I was drawn to her because she reminded me of myself in a way. She was described as a “straight thinker” and a book worm; it is also said that she often skipped breakfast to read. This gave me the impression that Olive was quite the introvert, but that she had a loud mind. The fact that she is not looking directly at the camera in her picture also suggests her quiet nature.
ReplyDeleteThis story will obviously be available for anyone who is willing to listen, but I think an audience that this could be directed to would be younger women. This story is going to be about making choices, and I think that young women often have a hard time making choices that benefit them, and would instead try to please other people and society through their choices.
I will be writing in a short story in the first person point of view, from Olive’s perspective. This genre will give me the freedom to give Olive a voice, and I think this would be powerful because of her assumed shy nature; it would allow readers a look into her mind, rather than just seeing her as someone who loves books. This singular voice would also allow readers to see Olive’s thought process throughout the story, allowing readers to glimpse at her emotions, and why she makes the decisions that she does.
I think my narrative structure will be both an affordance and a constraint; first person narration allows Olive’s voice to be strong, but it also limits the narration of the story. I would hope that my writing will be able to characterize the other characters enough that they are not completely voiceless, but I realize that this might be a more difficult task.
My secondary sources are the yearbook itself, two articles on the normal schooling system, and an essay on women’s right activist Alice Paul and the Women’s Suffrage Parade of 1913. The yearbook is allowing me to draw characteristics for the person I chose, as well as another character I chose out of the yearbook. This, along with the articles on the normal schools, will help me shape the setting and environment in which the story takes place. As for the essay, I will be alluding to Paul and the Women’s Suffrage Parade, as it was a major event in gaining the women’s right to vote that occurred in 1913.
I will be using footnotes to allude back to my secondary sources. This way, the reader will not be interrupted by explanation within the text while they are reading. Also, it would make the most sense considering the voice is from Olive’s perspective, and most people would not feel the need to stop and explain everything in their world while telling a story.
I chose to work with Rose Cyrille Lynes, as I felt her on a spiritual level. She might be my sister or something in a past life. She’s a good conversationalist… when she’s in the mood. It’s like looking in a mirror with words. I really like her and I have enjoyed delving into her life.
ReplyDeleteThe audience is a personal one, as I am using fictitious journal entries from Ms. Lynes.
I feel like I have access to her thoughts, though I have to take a lot of liberties, as I am writing from the first person. This genre, however, is very fun because I have to really work to see the world as she would see it and not a 21st century chica. Finding the right way to write, slang and speech, is difficult though.
I have spent most of my time searching for rural times in New England, as well as queerness and “psych” hospitals that she would probably end up in because of her laughing at her own jokes, her ability to TAKE DOWN, and yeah, her queerness.
I chose to focus on Laura Stevens. The first thing that stuck out to me was her nickname “Steve,” which I thought was great and hilarious. As I read her mini-bio, I found out that she was a witty, and funny conversationalist. She just seemed like it could be fun to write her story. My audience is anyone who can access social media, more specifically twitter. This makes her story and the life I’m making up for her more relatable to a younger audience, who perhaps have the most to learn from “herstory.” This genre of twitter and social media in general have both great affordances and some constraints. On the bright side, social media lets you take creative license and modernity with what you are doing. There are no real restrictions of what you are able to talk about. It is kind of like a stream of potential consciousness. You are able to include or leave out whatever you like, because social media doesn’t give a person a full biography, but rather moment to moment snapshots. On the other hand, it is slightly more constricting with the 140 character limit of twitter. You also have to pay attention to writing style, because it is so tempting to write contemporarily.
ReplyDeleteThe secondary literature will also be a little tricky to incorporate. I plan on using various literature to give Laura a bit of a background and things to talk about. For example, I have an entire book about the culture of the 1910s so she could potentially tweet about the music of the era or maybe the growing popularity of Vaudeville. How did she feel about suffrage? Did she have any inkling about the first world war? I am also looking at the book on fashion that Jade put on the Commonplace, because as a woman working with children, in gardens, in the up and down weather of the Berkshires, she definitely would have something to say about what she is wearing.
I’m using the Murdock gardening piece to get an idea of what the environment of the actual North Adams Normal School. Since gardening is such a large part of the curriculum and Murdock such a famous and beloved character, it will be good to have his actual words on the subject. I can use his ideas and perhaps quote him? It depends on what time the piece was written. The last piece I know I’m definitely using is the North Adams Normal School history provided on the Canvas webpage. I will use this to get background on the school and lifestyle of the girls who lived there. The history is important to corporate into the herstory.