Alan Anderson- English Undergraduate Conference: Keynote panel&panel 14

    In the keynote panel of the english undergraduate conference I listened to several professors of english and learned many new things.  Dr. Lynn Alvine discussed along with providing a handout ''writing our stories''.     She discuseed how we do this by obtaining narratives in various functions, means, and ways. 

    Narratives can be a way that we organize our expierences. Hardy Barbara. (1976) Tellers and Listeners: The Narrative Imagination, goes on to tell us that ''We dream, daydream, remember, anticipate, hope, despair, believe, doubt, plan, revise, criticize, construct, gossip, learn, hate, and love by narrative.  We make up stories in order to live''.  This in fact is correct. We as humans most certainly manifest most of our feelings and emotions through the action of making up stories.
     
     Narratives also acts as a function of mental health.  People who seek assistance with their mental health sometimes are asked to simply provide a written story, a truth.  These individuals will produce these narratives almost to perfection of themselves.  The logic behind this is because they wish to recieve the full amount of help by providing the caregiver with the most accurate version of their personal story.  Coles, Robert. (1990) The Call of Stories:  Teaching and the Moral Imagination, 'The people who come to see us bring us their stories.  They hope they tell them well enough so that we understand the truth of their lives.  They hope we know how to interpret their stories correctly.  We have to remember that what we hear is their story'".  Psychologists need to understand the stories of those that seek help. This being, so they may correctly and analytically break them down to understand more deeper underlying issues of a human being.

     Narratives do and will act as a mean of developing ones concepts.  As children growing up then into our teenage years, and finally into adulthood, we continueously use narratives.  They make ourselves think clearly.  They give us an opportunity to think abstractly outside of the box, along with logical reasoning and analogy.  This helps us put our thoughts down on paper, or on a keypad.  It provides practice in an organized manner to mature our speech by using words. Vygotsky, ;ev. (1986) Thought and Language, tells us "...learning to direct one's mental processes with the aid of words, or signs is an integral part of the process of concept formation."

     From a professors point of view and generally from a life teaching view, narratives can be used as a means of developing reflective teaching practices.  This I understood to be using the text of your own life to develop a teaching practice.  I interpret this as people that may not be in the field of higher education, still have the opportunity and cause to impact those around them by the use of their personal stories. Vinz, Ruth. (1996) Composing a Teaching Life."...we can investigate what it means to teach and examine the complexities of making choices in context and practice, often within competing and contradictory intentions and means by considering the 'texts' of our own lives."
  
      I have touched on how narratives can be used as functions of the mind, mental health, means of developing concepts, and means of developing reflective teaching practice.  Finally narratives act as a way of life.  Meaning to open oneself to the possibilities of stories.  For example, if someone were to write a story about themselves then revise it, chances are they would change the piece.  They would perfect the story.  In order for one to perfect the story they must look back and read again and again their own story.  In reading their narrative over again repeatedly one may just find what it is they are looking for about themselves.  One also may find what it is they wish to change.  Pagnucci, Gian, (2004) Living the Narrative Life: Stories as a Tool for Meaning Making.  ''To live the narrative life, then, is to open yourself up to the possibilities of stories, to give yourself over to them, to trust them. ...If we tell our own stories, preserve them, study them, we can find in our stories some of the answers for which we're looking.''

       Dr. Park spoke next.  She went on to talk about projects that she has students perform in her class.  The project she has her students do is similar to our social research project.  Her projects include human diversity along with contemporary issues.  Within this project includes an introduction, literacy review, methodology, results discussion, conclusion and social action, and ending with a reflection on research process.  Some of her students have the opportunity to emerge academically and own their research topic.  When I say emerge academically, I mean students have the chance to perform in informal and formal settings.  This allows them to move beyond just the classroom. 

      Dr. Watson spoke last.  I found her take on literacy to be intresting and intreaguingly eye opening.  She stressed alot on hearing different stories.  Unlike Dr. Lynn Alvine and telling your own story, Dr. Watson stressed reading literature, understanding, and hearing culturally different stories.  She described literature as an intercultural wormhole.  Literature trades space between the writer and the reader.  This means the reader needs to put himself in the shoes of the writer.  The reader needs to feel, smell, and taste everything that of the writer is portraying on that particuliar page.  She went on to ask the question what can literature do for us in twenty first century? Why?  We facebook everyday, use twitter, and text.  She went on to explain that we can touch others emotionally by saying less.  Networks expand while connections weaken. Meaning, we   talk to to many people we have a specific contact with. 
 
      We dont know people with different values, backrounds, and belief symptoms.  Literature helps us reverse the issue, slow it down.  Dr. Watson went on to describe this fast pace lifestyle through writing as ''technology hyperdrive''.  Literature puts us in a time, place, and experience no one knows.  It helps us get to know more people on a deeper level.  It helps us broaden our expierences, empathize, and understand. Very importantly it helps us humanize those we are fearful of and ignorant of.  It forces us to be aware of the vast cultures even in our own backyards.

      Panel 14 consisted of three students reading their creative writing pieces.  All three were very intresting and I thought to be insightful.  College creative writing and highschool level creative writing I found to be increasingly different.  That being obviously college level creative writing to be more demanding.  People also may find their identities while parataking in creative writing. Students may find their ''calling'' or destiny to be writers.  They may feel a certain connection and insight through writing others may never feel.  One of the dynamics of creative writing in this particuliar panel was the concept of flash fiction.  Flash fiction pieces usually consist of a thousand words or less.  These pieces may include poetry or simply a short story.  Usually these pieces of creative writing at the college level consist of much emotion and heart.

    I liked the conference especially the keynote panel because I found it to be very intresting.  Learning things I never knew anything about.  I never thought of writing to be included with so many different natural sciences.  As a sociologly major Ive found this conference to be quite beneficial.