Week 6, Post 4

Class Poetry Project

Alexie, S. (2007). The absolutely true diary of a part-time indian. New York: Little, Brown and Company.



Write several journal entries using the below prompts. Use complete sentences. Be thoughtful and clear. Connect to the reading as much as possible:

Examine the types of communities you consider yourself to be a part of, both in school and for school, as well as the types of communities you consider yourself to be a part of completely outside of school by making lists.

Compare and contrast these communities. Are there any similarities? What are major differences? 

Do you face any obstacles when you move from one community to another? Consider the obstacles Junior faces when he moves between Wellpinit to Rearden. Can you relate at all to his experience? Can you empathize?

“Well, life is a constant struggle between being an individual and being a member of the community” (Alexie, 2007, p.132). What do you think this quotation means in the context of Junior's life? What could it mean in the context of your life? 

The need to belong is a powerful drive in the human experience, especially in high school. Junior desperately wants to belong, but can't help but want a better education more. He is willing to risk belonging in his community "on the rez" in order to pursue a better education with greater opportunities beyond the reservation. 

If you had a big dream that resulted in you having to leave the support of your community, being called a traitor, and having to feel like you are an outsider as a result, what would your fears be? One example might be, "Fear of sitting alone in the cafeteria."

As a class, we are going to compile a list of your fears using Twitter. Write them in the form of "Fear of..." and use the hashtag #classfearpoem. Submit at least two fears. As a class, we will consider trends, word choice, phrasing, and rhythm, organizing the phrases for greatest effect, so that it so that it becomes a more than a list, but instead a fully formed poem.

For example, Raymond Carver wrote a poem in the same style:
Fear

Fear of seeing a police car pull into the drive.
Fear of falling asleep at night.
Fear of not falling asleep.
Fear of the past rising up.
Fear of the present taking flight.
Fear of the telephone that rings in the dead of night.
Fear of electrical storms.
Fear of the cleaning woman who has a spot on her cheek!
Fear of dogs I've been told won't bite.
Fear of anxiety!
Fear of having to identify the body of a dead friend.
Fear of running out of money.
Fear of having too much, though people will not believe this.
Fear of psychological profiles.
Fear of being late and fear of arriving before anyone else.
Fear of my children's handwriting on envelopes.
Fear they'll die before I do, and I'll feel guilty.
Fear of having to live with my mother in her old age, and mine.
Fear of confusion.
Fear this day will end on an unhappy note.
Fear of waking up to find you gone.
Fear of not loving and fear of not loving enough.
Fear that what I love will prove lethal to those I love.
Fear of death.
Fear of living too long.
Fear of death.

I've said that.

Junior began the book by identifying himself as a "weirdo kid" and lists all the things wrong with him that make him not belong and be an outsider. He ends the book with this list of all the ways in which he does belong and feels like an insider. Junior finds a way to be part of his community, or communities after all:

"I used to think the world was broken down by tribes...By Indian and white. But I know that isn't true. The world is only broke into two tribes: The people who are assholes and the people who are not...It all gave me hope. It gave me a little bit of joy" (Alexie, 2007, p.176).

"I realized that, sure, I was a Spokane Indian. I belonged to that tribe. But I also belonged to the tribe of American immigrants. And to the tribe of basketball players. And to the tribe of bookworms.

             And to the tribe of cartoonists.

             And to the tribe of teenage boys.

             And to the tribe of small-town kids.

             And to the tribe of of Pacific Northwesterners.

             And to the tribe of tortilla chips-and-salsa lovers.

             And to the tribe of poverty.

             And to the tribe of funeral-goers.

             And to the tribe of beloved sons.

             And to the tribe of boys who really missed their best friends.

             It was a huge realization.

             And that's when I knew that I was going to be okay"

             (Alexie, 2007, p.217).

Junior's list is kind of like the poem about fear. As a class, let's make another poem. Let's compile a list of "tribes" where we feel we belong by Junior's example. Think about ideas that "give you hope and a little bit of joy" (Alexie, 2007, p.176). Think about ideas that have universal appeal like sleeping in. Think about the human experience that ties us all together. Submit at least two examples in the form of "And to the tribe of..." using the hashtag #classtribepoem. The poem will begin "We belong to the tribe of Period C English Class." We will compile this poem in the same way as the "Class Fear Poem."

You will be asked to compare and contrast the "Class Fear Poem" and the "Class Tribe Poem" once they are finished in a five paragraph essay. Consider the following as you do so: How does each one make you feel? What was it like to contribute? What it was like to put them together? What does each poem say about our class as a whole?