We know the importance of stories from our discussion of Haroun and the Sea of Stories and The Secret of Roan Inish. Universally, cross-culturally, humans define themselves through narratives. In this project, you will place a piece of your story into your cultural context.
Gather a story of your birth or early infancy – say before the age of one. Try to find a story known in your family, one that gets related often as a remembrance of your beginnings. You will need to “interview” an older family member – a parent, a grandparent, an aunt or uncle, perhaps even an older sibling. If possible, try to find different versions of the tale by talking with different family members. See if everyone remembers it the same way or tells it with more detail.
Having gathered your story, write it out in a narrative form. You may be creative with your presentation, but remember to stick to the facts and not invent. You want the story to accurately reflect some bit of who you were at first. (Draft due, 9/4)
You were born into a larger context, a wider world than that of your immediate family. As a second section, try to find a newspaper or other source of what was happening near the time you were born around the place where you were born. (Be as close as possible.) Again, family may be of help, but try to move beyond personal sources. Look for more than the “headlines,” though. Try to find a sense of the everyday.
Now take that information and work it into a coherently written section. Find a focus, though, and do not simply catalog what you found. Try to make it part of your story. Be certain, too, that you credit the source(s) where you gleaned the information. (Draft due 9/7)
Now place yourself into the world at large. Move your story from the locale of your birth into a larger parameter – a state, a country, the world. Again, do research to find what things were going on at that time. Again, think in terms of more than the headlines. What was happening in the Arts, sports, science? What were people seeing, hearing, reading? Remember that who you are is shaped by more than major events.
Having found your information, mold it into a coherent, interesting piece of writing. Remember to credit your sources. (Draft due 9/10)
Take all the various parts and craft them into a unified whole that gives a glimpse of who you were – or are – in the context of the world around you. Process this essay and turn it in. DUE September 14
Make a photo of yourself that reveals visually an important aspect of who you are. This photo may relate to the essay or may be some part of who you are that the essay doesn’t show. Add a brief explanation to the visual.