By 8 p.m., Tuesday, March 9, please send a list of five topics for our Los Angeles Notebook-type project. That is, what areas of life at SUNY New Paltz do you think it would be worthwhile and interesting to send Didion- or Orwell-like postcards about to readers? My idea is to divide you into five groups of four. Each member of a group would be responsible for creating at least one scene (maybe two) that illustrates an aspect of the group's subject. Each group would also need to create a contextualizing section, as both Didion and Orwell do, that cements the pieces of the mosaic together. I have already spoken to Nancy Heiz about using the stories in The Little Rebellion.
If anyone has other ideas or suggestions about how to proceed, please submit them with your response.
27 comments:
Hey Professor
Just a minor detail... When is this blog due because it says Tuesday March 8th and Tuesday is the 9th.
I think there are so many interesting topics to cover when thinking about this school. These topics have come to mind because of things I have either seen or heard in my three years here.
1) Roommate conflicts.... dealing with living with either a stranger or a friend can be difficult..How do you establish boundaries? How do they compromise? Things along those lines.
2)Gossip on campus..This is a fairly small campus and people talk about other people constantly. Rumors spread like wildfire and so many people give into this drama.
3) How to stay healthy despite the limited food choices on campus. Trying to get the same vitamins, minerals and nutrients that you used to get at home.
4)The pressures of under age drinking.
5) Being involved in extracurricular activities and the leadership skills, friendships and other skills that come along with it.
I think there is a lot of things we can write about, but I agree with Sarah about no being sure how broad or acute the subjects should be.
1) I like the idea of town life, almost like the idea of New Paltz night life, but (at least in town) I think it can be expanded during the day. I've ran into a lot of interesting characters here. For example, a few days ago at around 11 in the morning a man missing his two bottom teeth walked out of Cuddys, proclaiming he's "had a few beers" and was asking my boyfriend and I if we knew anyone who could get him weed. He even knew all the townies that sat outside playing guitar all day.
2) One thing that is unique to New Paltz is all the nature activities we have around here. We could write about people's experiences going to the mountain, Minnewaska, Mohonk, etc or all the little places people have found themselves.
3) Living in a dorm opposed to living of campus. How the experiences differ and people could write a scene for the one that applies to them.
4) People could write a scene about a common problem they experience on campus, such a parking.
5) A scene could be written about the social atmosphere at SUNY New Paltz. It could be about parties, or school events, or just what you notice in the hallway. Something that describes how the writer best interprets the overall atmosphere here.
6) The protests and rallies that have been seen on campus. There are many different ways the students here raise awareness. It could be the classic form of a protest with picket signs and screaming chants or the hanging of condoms from trees.
I suspect I may be grasping for straws here, given upwards of an hour was spent today mulling over subjects we could tackle for this. Nonetheless, here's what I've got...
The Loop - I know local public transportation doesn't initially sound like the juiciest of subjects, but more often than not, my rides on the New Paltz Loop wind up far more memorable than anticipated. I've sat across from a woman who snuck her two kittens onto the bus in her pocketbook. I've overheard a bunch of interesting conversations, most notably one between a student and a retired chef who had to give up his occupation after a bout of illness. Hell, not that I'd be overly keen on writing about it, but I met my ex-girlfriend on the Loop.
Oscar's/Hawk Station - likewise, a dining facility may not be the most exciting platform for literary journalism, but I've seen my fair share of notable stuff here. The happenings in front of the grill and the interactions between the cook staff and students often make for some memorable moments. Not sure if this would have as much potential as a platform for storytelling as Hasbrouck does.
The club scene - and, no, I don't mean Truman's. It might be interesting to hear various perspectives from students in the class who've been active in the extracurricular club scene. Perhaps there are good stories of conflict between club presidents and administration officials, or among the club members themselves?
College dating - there are bound to be decent stories to write on this. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
College race relations - again, it's meaty, provocative subject matter which, with a local spin, would probably make for engrossing story material.
Okay, so maybe I'm just really cynical but I think it might be more interesting to stay away from the "campus food" type topics that have been used for every journalism assignment times a thousand. Maybe we could venture into some, or a few darker elements. Maybe darker is not the word. Just not so... typical.
I was thinking a few things when I read this assignment... and I may not be conveying them perfectly clear but I'll try. (this is a little long sorry)
The first idea was this... If you live in New Paltz and hang out in town, whether it be Snugs, Oasis, Muddy Cup or Bistro.. everyone knows those certain characters of town. Those guys (or women) whom you know their name... but the whole story of who they are,where they live, how old they are, or what they even do for a living is always a mystery. The local sort of wanderers who are not students, but yet permanent fixtures around town, we could explore our imaginary ideas about their back stories pondering how their paths lead them here ... how they ended up in New Paltz, why they never left, their secrets.. things like this.
My second idea is pretty simple. Judgments. We all make them, consciously, unconsciously, with no intent, with ill intent. Everyone could write a sort of confession about judgments they may have passed on a stranger, a teacher, a classmate.. whoever, and explore the consequences (if any), why you did it, if you ever got to know that person long enough to prove yourself wrong. Something of this nature.
My third is more of an experiment, stemming from my notions that no one talks to strangers anymore. I know this sounds silly.. but sometimes I feel like even managing a smile from a passing stranger is too much to ask. Due to lack of seating, I recently shared a table with an elderly man, whom I'd never met in a local bagel shop. We chatted for maybe 5 or 10 minutes mostly about his life, but it was so incredibly refreshing. We could force ourselves to step out of our bubbles of BFF's and make a new friend, not even... just form a new bond, reach out to a stranger, talk to them, and see what happens. We could explore our experiences in writing somehow.
My fourth idea is to make us write an honest assessment of the person students are here in New Paltz, and the person they are at home, wherever that may be. Hey, maybe its exactly the same, but I know some people to morph into a whole different person once they venture off exit 18 back onto the NYS thruway. Why do people think they need to act differently to fit in? Why do some people do this and some people don't?
I'm still working on the last idea I will post it soon!
I like a lot of the ideas that have already been submitted. Here are my five.
1) Music around campus. When I first came to New Paltz I played a lot of guitar and saw a lot of performances. I think it would be cool to see what experiences everyone in the class has had with music at New Paltz.
2) The geese. Anyone who has lived on campus knows that the geese are infamous for squawking and making noise at all hours of the night and day. People also love to chase them and feed them. Per haps we can chronicle all of our experiences with the geese on campus.
3) All-nighters- I know that a big part of my freshmen year were the nights I spent staying up all night with my friends, be it studying or other reasons. I think these could make interesting stories because of the odd situations that tend to arise at the wee hours of the morning.
4) Main Street- The small community of shops and stores that make up New Paltz’s main street are what gives the town most of it’s character. A series of stories about the colorful people and storefronts on Main Street would be very interesting.
5) Orientation- New Paltz puts its students through three days of intense bonding with total strangers before the start of freshmen year. These have to yield good stories because they are everyone’s first real taste of college life.
I feel like this post is going to be very lame, since we spent so long in class discussing topics, and I'm the eighth comment, so I feel like my ideas might be pretty dull, if I'm not just saying "I agree."
1. I really like the idea of the different bars in town and the different personalities that go along with it. I think that focusing on the people there instead of stories focused on us in the bars would definitely be more interested, because you can overhear some pretty interesting conversations.
2. I thought maybe it would be interesting to write some pieces about experiences on Old Main quad, maybe some of the people you see there and what they're doing, or different experiences that people have had. I see people playing "extreme croquet," smoking up, and playing music to name a few. I think if we approached it the right way it may be interesting.
3. In the spring, there are a lot of venders down Water Street Market, and sometimes they have live acts, like musicians or jugglers or whatever. There are lots of little stands and tons of people everywhere. Writing about different experiences could be interesting.
4. This is kind of stemming from Andrew's post about the clubs, but the 3rd and 4th floors of the SUB is where most of the clubs have their offices. Writing about the different conversations in the SUB that don't involve the food area is kind of a twist on an old idea.
5. I really, really like the idea of writing about the different majors, but also maybe taking into account the buildings the majors are housed in, like the Communications Cave in CSB, and the photo students practically living in Old Library
Allison, I really like your idea about where different majors are housed! I feel like I lived in the dungeon of CSB last semester when I was producing my documentary. Meanwhile, business students have this glorious building that's practically brand new. I remember Howie saying that Communication is the largest major at SUNY New Paltz, how did we get the smallest space? Do the buildings our programs are housed in characterize the professions we're going into?
OK so a lot of great ideas have already been posted, and so has that statement. Onward:
1) The life of the commuter.
2) I really like the idea of the nature spots in town.. a more campus orientated spin would be if students go into nature to study, to release from the pressures of studying, to learn about nature/from nature?
3) Library life. Every time I'm on the second or third floor I see the same people and they always look as stressed as I feel. These people live in the library and respect each other and the library rules. But when finals week rolls around everyone comes, even students who practically didn't know where the building was all semester.
4) The pond. Has anyone ever swam in it because that would make a funny story. Or maybe the sorts of activities that go on around the pond, other than being respectful.
5) Everyone wants to do a story on the town and the characters in town. What about the impact those townies have on the students? I have heard some underclassmen say that they are scared to walk past Muddy Cup. That's a little drastic but I wonder it is deters more people from becoming students or if the bohemian lifestyle is a big deciding factor.
I also really like Sarah Bolt's protesters idea and Sarah Fine's drug driven student body pitch.
There are a few ideas already mentioned that I do really like...but here are a few more.
1. Relationships - this can go either way because it could be cool to look at how relationships survive with the pressure of college or we can even do it as relationships between friends. I know I met my best friends in college and I'm sure others have similar stories.
2. Living on your own - I know when I first went away to college it was a huge smack in the face when I had to learn how to survive. Moving away from home is a big step and you don't ever realize all the things you took advantage of by living there. This can be an interesting topic for people to talk about the first time they had to learn to do laundry or something similar.
3. Seniors - I really love this idea! I think it would be awesome to write stories about something many of us know so well. I think senior year is such an important time is someones life, and the experiences people go through would make for a good story.
4. I really like Kim's idea about students that work. I am in the same situation, and I know plenty more students who do the same thing. This could make for some very humorous stories with people trying to juggle two very different but very important parts of their life.
5. I like how everyone wants to do something about New Paltz nightlife and the different people out there. But, I would really like to do something about New Paltz students in general. Walking around campus you can see the diversity this campus has to offer. There are hippies, sorority girls/fraternity boys, art kids, hipsters, activists, musicians, and students that come from different countries. This could be interesting to get a view into a certain world maybe some of us aren't used to.
1.Outsiders— Everyone is mentioning college life and the roles students play socially and academically, but what about the people that really don’t fit in anywhere. What is life like for them at college?
2.Different Crowds— the sorority and fraternity crowd, the art crowd, the athletes or jocks, the 4.0 student. They are all students at SUNY New Paltz, but their life-styles differ so much.
3.Volunteers— I’m not talking about volunteering every now and then to help a cause you’re passionate about. I’m talking about those people that volunteer to do everything. They are always helping out at school functions and care about winning things like recycle mania.
4.Variations among years— The freshmen, excited about college where everything is new, to the senior, scared to go out into the “real world”, or maybe not? I guess we’d have to see. It could be interesting.
5.Main Street— I noticed people mentioned the different bar scenes or “townies”, but I was thinking maybe shifting the focus to just Main Street. It would be a way or incorporating all the different ideas—just something to think about.
I am very interested in the drug driven student body 'post-card' because I also live with those described in Sarah's post. Depending on their majors and class rank, how do some still maintain grades and life while polluting their bodies with prescription drugs? Are they proud of it?
I also think it could be important to reflect on the difference between commuters and on-campus residents since there is little the school and the Off Campus Student club does to desegregate two polar opposite student bodies.
Religious students and how some keep a close relationship within their faith and how they abstain from the pressures/temptation of drugs and alcohol. Even though there's Hillel and Campus Crusades for Christ, is religion unifying students on campus? One of my friends has repeatedly questioned whether or not she is living the 'right' college experience by reading Shakespeare all day, going to Bible Study and going home to spend time with her family as opposed to the drug driven student body's lifestyle. Are other people feeling left out?
And how the campus has environmental clubs and awareness (like recycle to win against other colleges) but does little to promote community service (unless you count Community Service Day or going to the website for ideas). Scholarships are offered based on grades and sometimes community service, but what students are working hard in both areas?
Most of my ideas have been said already.
An idea I have is to do a piece on how students react to living in dorms. I see events and programs posted all over the building, but I NEVER hear of anyone bothering to go to them. I wonder if the idea of a dorm being a community is phasing out, and why if that's the case.
Another idea would be snowballing off of anyone who said the night-life. I want to hear about these new clubs like Trumans and if they really are worth attending, so I think it'd be interesting to write about that.
Third idea--I liked Josh's idea about seniors being overwhelmed with graduation. I'm overwhelmed and I'm only a junior, so it'd be interesting to see what people say as far as them going out into the real world soon, if they have any advice, etc.
...That's all for now. I'll wrack for some more.
I would really like us to do a piece that all works together. Just like The L.A. Notebook was ordered like "The Second Coming," I think we could achieve some sort of statement with the collection. Another way to think of how I'm thinking is to envision a music concept album, most notably, a Pink Floyd record. Each song has it's own timing and reason for being there that contributes to the greater picture.
If we did a story about college nightlife, instead of doing just 5 vignettes about going out, I think we can accomplish more. We could start with maybe freshman year going out, which for most people is mainly parties, Snugs, and Murphy's because they are all easy to get into under 21. That can progress into where I am now, struggling to experience as much as I can, going to the bar as many nights as I can, because I only have eight weeks left. Along the way we can show how we've grown as people, what we've learned. Or maybe, actually, better yet, 1-4 can be about the growing and knowledge we gain outside of the classroom with bars, parties, drugs, etc, each story building with conflict, crescendoing all the way to the end of story 4 and then slicing off abruptly with story 5, which can start with sitting in class (we'd still have a conflict build in this one, but it'd be like in "Fight Club" when it'd show all the action and violence and then the next scene is Ed Norton sitting, numb, under florescent lights).
I wrote a piece a month ago about my introspective walk back from class. It talked about how I was then and how I am now. I think a piece with that idea would be a good start to a concept like this, as a contextualizer. Then it can cut to either a night out or whatnot.
I hope this made sense, I have a lot of ideas for this, so many that I'm having trouble mapping them all.
With that being said, some other topic ideas are:
-How it (college and/or life) isn't like 'they' told us it would be.
-Something that points out the flaws of the education side of things. Why don't any of us really care about most classes?
A new favorite:
-The struggle between doing what you want to do (in the now and/or for the future) and doing what you are doing, are expected to do, and/or what you cannot do. This would work well for this class because of what we all want to be. Parents just don't understand.
-Fighting bureaucracy. We've all stood in line at student accounts for hours only to have to go back to records and registration and then go back up and wait in more line.
-Might be a little riskay; sexual exploits.
------------------
"I'm just that loner that can't seem to place his dreams and visions, yet all day in my head, I hear 'em; just so out of time..."
i like a lot of these topics. i think if we define the "topics" broadly enough, we can fit many of the different themes that excite you. for example, the future could contain both job anxieties in one story and another on the conflict between dreams (be a writer or rock star or both) and expectations (get trained for a real job, as we've discussed in class. we should look at the topics in this way, i believe. we might be able to fit more under each umbrella if we do. thus, academics could include sarah's drug-driven student and a classroom scene as well as a library or bookstore theme as a vignette (also an encounter with a professor might be good). social life could include a vignette each on dating, boozing, frat or sorority life. see where this is going?
I think so many of these ideas are really great, and Nancy Meyer Heiz and I have already been speaking about how we can visually represent the stories on the site. That being said, this is my attempt to try not to repeat ideas that have been said.
1)I am still not strongly against the idea that has to do with different lifestyles of students in different programs. What does the art majors do in Smiley Art Building all night? How do physics major deal with being in classes of nine people?
2)The general sens of apathy:
Why aren't students involved in clubs or organizations on campus? Why is there such a negative attitude toward academics?
3)Student/professor relations:
Can students develops friendly relations with their professors? Should they able to? Do they look up to them? Or are professors just a voice behind the podium? Different students have different experiences with their teachers that could be interesting.
4)The "gunk" has become a sort of symbol and institution on campus. What doe students do around the gunk? Whether it is a story about students swimming laps in the green waters, polluting its waters, running away from the geese or just talking with friends when the weather is nice, some interesting things could happen there...it's kind of a stretch, but hey.
5)How Facebook has affected social interactions on a college campus:
Whether you're obsessively checking friends' Facebook statuses or obsessing over pictures from your last drunken night, this social networking site has affected the way college students perceive each other.
1. The stress of finals.
2. Roommate drama and other intense living situations.
3. The craziest shit you did when you were high.
4. The isolation our generation has experienced because of technology: Facebook, etc.
5. Failure: We've all been through it. I think it would be cool if we all wrote about a time when we tried hard and what we wanted to achieve didn't pan out.
I agree with a lot of the suggestions made by my classmates. I do think that one piece on college night life is necessary, but because this is a college campus, we should also dedicate some of our space to academic related issues. With that said, I suggest that we write about the why some students find it difficult to get involved in student government organizations? Are students aware of how their tuition money is being used? This is also leads to something we discussed in class- the indifference for students to get involved in student clubs/organization or attend lectures and speeches. SUNY New Paltz offers many opportunities to get involved and many students really don’t take advantage of it.
Something that I think would be really interesting is college student nap time. The idea might seem a little silly, but I find that I’m meeting more and more students who take a nap at least once a day. Why are students taking naps? How long are their naps? Is it part of their schedules?
I would also be interested in the culture of New Paltz classrooms. I feel like many classrooms are very detached from not only their professors, but their classmates as well, which makes it difficult to build a comfortable environment. This could be a branch of student/professor relationships? How are professors leading their classrooms? I’ve had professors who feel that knowing everybody’s name is critical in achieving a fulfilling classroom experience. Do students or other professors agree with this approach?
Aside from these ideas, I do agree with many of the topics discussed by my classmates. A piece on the most popular and least popular majors in SUNY New Paltz would be really interesting. Where do different majors spend most of their time? How are different students gaining experiences based on their major? Are they taking advantage of on-campus organizations in order to better understand their career choice?
If I come up with more before class on Thursday, I will keep on posting!
stories. stories. stories. the subjects you suggest must be doable as a scene. we're not doing feature stories. we're writing creative nonfiction -- with point of view and dialog and character and minimal exposition.
stories. scenes. everyone, remember that. . .
To tell you the truth, im having trouble coming up with ideas because there are so many good ones already posted. I was thinking in class when we were talking about how school is kind of the last thing on students mind, that the idea was a kind of misconception. I know for a fact that the reasons for doing drugs, going out all the time, etc etc, are products of the stress of academics. I know i hear about 3 times a week "Schools been so rough, im so stressed out, i need to get wasted this weekend." I think it is unfair to assume that student are getting drunk and not caring about school because i know so many who are getting drunk, doing drugs and such because they care to much about school. Just throwing that out there.
I feel like we could write about strange things we've seen on campus or in town. I know a lot of people have stories about their experiences with the townies, what they see on the rail trail. Or something about the art aspect of new paltz such as musical events,fairs, or poetry readings and how they affected you. I also like the idea of night life in new paltz that other people suggested like talking about strange events that happened at bars or mixers on campus and the various things that happen at night. Someone can write about a struggles they have with work at night and staying up all hours to finish a paper.
I feel like we could write about strange things we've seen on campus or in town. I know a lot of people have stories about their experiences with the townies, what they see on the rail trail. Or something about the art aspect of new paltz such as musical events,fairs, or poetry readings and how they affected you. I also like the idea of night life in new paltz that other people suggested like talking about strange events that happened at bars or mixers on campus and the various things that happen at night. Someone can write about a struggles they have with work at night and staying up all hours to finish a paper.
1) The improvement of dining places on campus..Like Andrew said, it isn't to exciting, but it is an issue that many people (like myself) talk about and complain about. It could make for an interesting story.
2) Responsibility. A piece could be done on many people living on their own for the first time, and then adjusting from living on campus to living off campus, and how the responsibilities become that much more burdening.
3) The lack of a prominent sports team here. Although the sports are improving here, a lot of people base their college life on it's school's sports teams. And with more interest being put into sports, more school spirit.
4) (For New Paltz in particular) The way people who are in fraternities/sororities are looked at by people who aren't in Greek Life.
5) The way people change as they go year by year in college. I know a lot of my perspectives, thoughts, and myself in general is different this year than it was last year as a freshman. I feel that as every year goes by in college, people change annually.
I think some of these suggestions could be turned into scenes. There's a big difference in sitting in a classroom where nobody knows each other and a classroom where people are comfortable with each other. In a scene one can describe the energy, connection, and conversations of a familiar class compared to a class where its so difficult to get others to speak because of the detachment. The difference is very noticeable.
Lack of student attendance at an event could also be a scene. There are many events where very few students attend. I for example, went to a meeting last year about things to keep in mind when moving off campus- something I thought was important. Only three people attended the presentation. There are other events that discuss huge social issues and students still don't attend. It's a serious problem on college campuses.
I think that scenes could definitely develop from these "featurey" suggestions. Students should look at the different suggestions and ask themselves if they've ever experienced something related to the topic and could they create a scene? Just a thought!
Post a Comment