Carissa's Corner

There are several recommendations, specifically from Chapter 14 of Tell It Slant , that I found helpful while revising my essay. The first suggestion I noticed was to question, " Why does this essay exist? " Although a seemingly simple reflective question, it is an important one. There should be a reason behind any piece, a specific audience in mind. For Cara Italia , I want the focus to be about the personal transformation I experienced while studying abroad. Reading through my essay, I think I got caught up in describing the sights of Italy. It is a beautiful country and I want to give it the attention it deserves. However, some revisions I'm making on my essay are to include more personal feelings/reflections while I'm in those moments. I don't want to take out the descriptions of my excursions, but I want to add more depth to them. I think this will show how much I changed while I was abroad and shift the focus of my essay to what I intended it to be: growth. ...

It is clear from Chapter 13 that there are several things that make a "good" essay: scene, specificity/detail, character, dialogue, point of view, image/metaphor, and rhythm. Looking through my previous writings, I believe I can specifically work on specificity/detail, character, and dialogue.  I've been afraid to use too much specificity/detail in my writings. There's a constant fear of drowning the reader in adjectives and descriptions. However, I liked the suggestion from the book to "keep going back and sharpening as much as possible" (167). It is easy to start out with many details and wean them down as I revise my longer essay. For an essay about Rome, I think it will be particularly important to include details. The city is incredibly rich with history and culture, and I must honor that aspect of my trip. Character is another part of writing that I can improve upon. Most of my writings are self-centered. This makes sense because I am describing storie...

My long essay will be about a five-week study abroad trip I attended in Rome, Italy, in the summer of 2018. Rome is synonymous with history -- which means I must conduct a lot of research. Several research methods from Tell It Slant caught my attention. The first research method is using library books. I learn better from hard-copy materials and am certain I can find a book on Rome at the Sacred Heart library. I could also utilize Internet searches; however, I find the Internet to be overwhelming in terms of data and prefer something simpler. It is essential to include historical information about Rome because it will make my essay more interesting as well as more accurate. It will show increase my credibility as a writer by being factual.  The book also describes ethnography as a form of research that examines cultures. By reading books from the library and researching online, I am conducting ethnographic research. Including information about the culture of Rome will strengthen my...

          Chapter 12 of Tell It Slant  will be incredibly helpful for my writing in this class. I've found myself writing a lot about my emotions, even in my obsession journal. Although this has felt therapeutic, and I like what I'm writing, I feel as if I'm focusing too much on my emotions rather than actual events. Tell It Slant succinctly showed me where I was going wrong and how to strengthen my creative nonfiction pieces. One phrase of advice I highlighted was, "You must know when you are ready to write about certain subjects and when you are not" (159). For some prompts, I originally wrote about entirely different subjects than I ended up sharing with the class. But when I read them back to myself, I felt it was too raw and too open. There is a boundary, being a creative nonfiction writer, between being real and being unbarred. Sharing emotional events that you have not healed from will result in an essay that doesn't have a complete message -- a...

When my stomach is in knots, you take the time to investigate it. it looks like it's...     Right over left.               Through the center.                         Left over right. When my stomach is in knots, you grab both ends of the thread gently.  I think I can...     Left over right.             Through the center.                     Right over left. And then the thread is just thread. And you are you. 

I'll remember this. We're on the train and my head is in your lap. I look up at you. Your eyes are following the buildings outside, the buildings hidden by the shadows of the night sky.  You look down at me. I'm not sure if you're smiling because your face is covered. But then your hand is in my hair and it suddenly doesn't matter. I take your other hand. I hold it up against the palm of mine.  I'll remember this.

In the middle of the Gianicolo Residence is a plum tree. Its roots interrupt the tiles laid onto the ground, like an octopus breaking out of the ocean, and its branches reach two stories high. The tree is alone, but it is happily growing, producing purple plums. Leaning casually against the tree is a makeshift pole with a net attached for students to pick the plums. When my friends and I would come back to Gianicolo, after a night of drinking and eating and laughing, we would take turns catching plums. The Italian resident assistants would saunter out of their rooms to yell at us for being too loud, but we just couldn't help ourselves. It was our nightly tradition, and how could you not laugh watching Dre and Emily drunkenly stab the pole into the tree? The plums were the perfect drunk-snack. They had a thin skin that broke easily against my teeth. The insides coated our mouths in juice. We joked that they would prevent hangovers because they were so hydrating. While we ate, we wou...