First of all, I promised you this. It is a copy from my last class, yet it was yummy and so, do this first.
Our First Run: Universe in the Pause
Alright. Just to get started, I was still thinking about the "pause" we were discussing in class on Friday and realized we only really talked of the pauses before obvious life-changing moments. What of the pause between the more simple moments, the space between cause and effect, and how they represent so much more? I was remembering, the other day waiting for my dermatologist to swipe away a bothersome (in more than one way) mole on my face of how--just in the split second between the moment you slice your skin with a razor and the moment in which it decides to bleed, there is a bit of a pause. Damn it, that is going to hurt in a second. The skin, impeccably severed and clean in shaving cream or body wash, almost as if it is taking in its breath just before the scream of red frothing into pink, beading and tracing the line down a knee, or a chin, toward cold porcelain. How strange that a cut so clean, almost numb in its splice, can bleed so profusely, so insistently, before leaving permanent scars. Those scars will become how you know your face, the turn of your jaw, the bend of your knee, the boney line of a shin. They cost the least pain and the most blood, didn't they? And-we inflicted them, however carelessly and with no malintent, upon ourselves in the swift turn of a hand, a ritual of hygiene, that will forever record an unremarkable Tuesday morning on our aging skin.
And so? What of these pauses? What of this pause? Does it represent anything other than the minutia of daily life?
And so? What of these pauses? What of this pause? Does it represent anything other than the minutia of daily life?
AND THEN do this:
Today we talked about audience, truth, wrapping things up pretty or letting the bullcrap stay. What of it? Just subtitle halfway through the word AUDIENCE and rock and roll, my English/English Ed majors. We are going to have so much fun. :)
PAUSES
ReplyDeletePauses allow us to take a breather and to look back or rethink a decision we have made. They are saying, “hold on, wait a minute.” Well, we do not always like to pause. Sometimes it is better to not have pauses and simply say, “the heck with it.” If the there is a decision that will greatly alter my life, then I will pause and evaluate all of my options before doing something utterly stupid. Many times if I do not pause, I might, as my dad says, “stick my foot in my mouth.” Meaning that I said something not fitting at the moment, and I should have thought about what I said before it came out of my mouth. I often find myself pausing in department stores while shopping. I pause to ask myself if I have too many Auburn t-shirts, if I need another pair of black high heels, or if my parents will gawk at my credit card bill from my shopping adventures. Sometimes the pauses save my parents some money. Pausing is also an important component of the way I drive. I get road rage on my way home to North Alabama, and I have to think whether or not pushing the slow driving person in the left is a good idea. So far, pushing those drivers into the right lane has worked out nicely. But I’ve had to pause in order to think about getting on their bumper; otherwise, I might have been pausing to talk to a policeman about a wreck. Pauses…they’re good for many aspects of life. AUDIENCE. When I think of audience, I automatically think of a concert; it doesn’t matter what genre of music. I like to think of the Brad Paisley concert that I went to with an ex-boyfriend. Brad Paisley didn’t know I was there, but I was in his audience. Yeah, he has NO way of seeing everyone in the crowd. Paisley does see some of his fans from the stage; he probably notices the ones who are really into the music and singing every word to every song. And then there are the ones who might have had one too many beers, which he notices them, too, maybe more often than the fans who are singing along. On a more serious note, the audience of a classroom is a different kind of audience. Students sometimes encase themselves in a hard shell, and they do not want to come out to talk. During my internship, I noticed that some of my senior students did not want to talk, but they were still in my audience. I did notice the ones who talked (and the ones who talked just to hear themselves talk), but I recognized the quiet students, too. As far as wrapping things up in a pretty bow, I think people should be themselves and talk about whatever might be on their mind. At times I think it is appropriate to wrap things up nicely. If you’re in a meeting and you’re boss comes in looking like she needs to be put on What Not to Wear, don’t tell her that is what you’re thinking. Wrap up your thoughts and put a bright fuchsia bow on top of those thoughts!
A pause is a moment of silent consideration. I think about the nervous basketball player dribbling the ball thinking, “Concentrate. Flick your wrist. Let it roll off your fingertips.”(A guy I met came up with this mantra). In this brief moment, the B-baller blocks the heckling rival team, and the cheers of the home team in order to focus on one goal, get the ball in the hoop! If the ball goes swoosh, he knows that his team will not only receive a wannabe gold trophy, but be handsomely rewarded with a trip to CiCi’s or Mr. Gaddie’s. Even though the trophy might not be made of diamonds, and the pizza is most definitely not DiGiorno, it is something about reliving all the suspenseful moments of the game with your teammates and overweight coach. I think about the famous singing group such as Boys II Men who pause before ending a song in a victorious vibrato. Their notes soothe our ears, allow us to fall in love, and appreciate the storytelling that goes into an awesome, standing-o (standing ovation) worthy performance. I think about a great orator who pauses before bringing a speech home, making listeners hold onto the edge of their seat, anticipating, the last words that will escape the orator.
ReplyDeleteBut a pause is also a minutia of life. Even though I hate thinking about it, I will graduate from Auburn someday and have to leave the warm comfort of the plains. I find myself pausing to soak in Auburn: the town, the memories, the people, and of course the education. I constantly find myself pausing by Samford to hear the clock tower ring the fight song at noon. I know our ears hear the fight song all the time, but it something about standing in front of or walking by majestic Samford as this carillon chimes loudly. I guess you can call it a pride thing.
AUDIENCE
I thought about the discussion we had in class today. One of the girls in class mentioned the idea of ignorance being bliss versus being exposed to harsh realities of our current world. This made me think about my internship I had at Opelika Middle School last spring. We studied the Holocaust and watch the films The Diary of Anne Frank and The Boy in Stripped Pajamas. I watched as the students began to get emotional in watching the horrors of the Holocaust. Some of the students shed some tears. In learning about the Holocaust, the students’ perfect little worlds of cliques and striving for popularity were rocked from these two films. Even though the kids were shocked about Anne Frank and the young boys in the The Boy in Stripped Pajamas, I hope they realize that holocausts are still going on today in places like African where there is constant genocide in places like Darfur. I think it is in our human nature to desire for happy endings and for everything to work out. Sometimes, things don’t work out, but in being exposed to unhappy endings we began to examine our own lives and realize the ubiquitous unhappy endings that haunt us.
Since I was little, and probably because I often blurted out whatever came to mind, anytime I hear the word "pause" I hear my mom's voice saying "Lauren, remember to think before you speak". Pauses have saved me from a trip to the principles office in middle school, and out of a caddy fight at the bar with the girl who looked at my boyfriend, and from flicking off the jerk who cut me off on the highway. So yes, over the years I have learned to appreciate pauses, they help keep me out of trouble…for the most part.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first moved to Auburn I often found myself missing my warm sunny home in Fort Lauderdale but in quiet moments or pauses between my new busy college life I had time to reminisce about the great life I had lead up to that point, recall memories of times with my best friends, the beach, and my family. Then I put everything into perspective, I knew that those things were not lost to me, but that this was a time to grow, and with that over the years Auburn has come to hold a very special place in my heart. Without those pauses I may have spent time dwelling in homesickness and not the amazing opportunity I was currently living.
AUDIENCE
Any audience is there to judge. It is human nature to judge. It isn't the audiences fault as to how they make you feel, it is how you interpret it that matters. I like to think that there is a silver lining to any situation and for this reason audiences have never made me nervous. Of course there is an appropriate way to act in every situation, a business forum would not be the place to sway back and forth with a beer in my hand repeating everything the speaker is saying, however at a Jimmy Buffett concert, that behavior is perfectly acceptable. I believe that in order to be a good performer you also have to be a good audience member. As for wrapping things up in a pretty pink bow, or and orange and blue one here on the plains, I believe that is a good thing to do, there's a certain time, place, and audience to let yourself loose with, but I believe that group should be select. As for the rest of my audiences, I want them to see my silver lining, my pretty wrapping, all of the good that I have to offer.
Pauses
ReplyDeleteAs I find myself reaching for my Blackberry every time it vibrates, I realize that I am secretly hoping it is him. You know, the guy that puts this stupid smile on my face. That's a pause. A pause that explains the difference between hope and reality. While, at the moment, I am lucky enough that my hope is my reality, it doesn't always last. They become misleading. They create false hope. They let my heart be vulnerable. But those pauses make me who I am: guiltlessly gullible,hopeless romantic, and a girl who wants to see the good in all things.And These kind of pauses are God sent- I'm sure of it.
Audience
Where do I even begin with that word? I have so many thoughts about it but can't seem to articulate them, so here goes my 3rd grade simple sentence writing bullshit because I can't think of intelligent or whitty way to say it.
That thought alone made me think back to the part of the discussion when Dr. P asked how we write for ourselves... We write to make ourselves look better, hell, I'm doing it now. In my group of friends, you can always count on me for some dirty, comical, smart ass remark. In my writing that I do for myself, I am the same way. But why can't I ever write about something serious? Is it because I don't want to accept the fact that I am growing up and am actually maturing. By God, I think I have got it... I write for an audience that doesn't believe I have grown up...because I don't want to believe that I am growing up. I'm a regular Peter Pan.
As part of today's society, we do not like to pause. We get irritated when we have to wait in line for anything or when our super fast Internet is not going fast enough. We feel that our time is valuable and that we do not have time to pause. There is no time to wait for anything. We fill our schedules to the brim and get annoyed any time something does not go our way. We are so fast paced that we get upset when someone tells us that we should pause and take a break. There is no time for pausing here. We have to get as many things done as possible as quickly as possible. We are experts at multi-tasking and fail to factor any time for pausing into our overly factored, overly planned lives. I do not want a delay in anything. I want what I want right now and plan on getting angry if I fail to see results. We have too few pauses in our stressful lives and if we would only take a few seconds to breathe deeply and relax (away from the computers, phones, televisions, and video games) we might actually learn to enjoy the pauses.
ReplyDeleteAudience
We are in front of an audience everyday. The moment we walk out of our houses and into the world, we are being looked at. Today’s society is fascinated with watching people. Just look at all of the reality shows on television. I am a personal fan of the Kardashians (even though I realize that are famous for being famous). I want to know what they are wearing, who they are dating, and all of the drama that they have going on. And this is the way the world looks at everyone today. Take facebook for example. Why do you think it is so popular? Why is it that almost everybody has one? Because people are nosy! People are so infatuated with looking at other people’s lives that it almost becomes a hobby to stare at the computer for hours looking at pictures of people that you may not even know. Have you ever sat on a bench in the mall and people watched? You know what I am talking about. You stare at people and judge them as they walk by. It’s like a thirty second beauty contest. They have to thirty seconds to impress you before they get out of your eye sight or you are going to say something unpleasant and perhaps mean about them. But don’t feel too badly… people are people watching right back at ya, waiting for you to mess up so that they can tweet about it. I believe that every day you face an audience. Whether that be your family, your peers, or even your dog. You act in a different way according to which audience you are standing in front of because you want to impress them…. You want people to believe that you wrap everything up in a nice little bow. Even though the truth is that sometimes you forgot to tie the bow, or maybe you even forgot to buy the bow, or maybe you could care less about even having a bow.
Pauses
ReplyDeletePauses are so often considered bad, like a pause in conversation. A pause gets a bad wrap because it can be mistaken for lack of thought, when it really allows for the collection of thought. I want to pause more when I speak because I know how eager I sound when I speak at times. I don’t like the way my tongue curls and swells up when I think I have something so important to say, leaving my words to fall over each other until my lips give up and close. I want to pause more in life. I love the moments of pause that make you realize for just a second how wonderful life is, just in that second, even if it’s the shittiest day you’ve ever had. Not to sound hokey, but it’s the pauses with a blue sky, a candle burning, a glance from my husband, those things that make a day worth it.
Audiences
I finally got rid of my journals after there was a fire in my room last December. The journals had survived, but I took it as an opportunity to only hold on to those things that truly mattered to me- and I had read those middle school and high school journals enough to know how stupid I sounded and didn’t feel like being reminded of that. I didn’t write with an audience in mind, and that’s what bothered me when I read them over: I was honest, even if that honesty was over silly things, mainly boys. The most frightening thing is reading over the life questions I had then and realizing that I still don’t have the answers or that the answers I had then are now questioned. Everything else that I write how is for an audience: essays, parent-teacher letters, resumes, all seeking approval not of merely my writing, but approval of me. But how in the hell are they going to know who I am by reading a resume? Or a letter explaining the same crap, but in a friendly tone as to show how nice and willing I am to work with their child who will probably be a lovable pain in the ass. These audiences are less appealing to write to, but are unfortunately “necessary.” The times that I didn't tie a bow in my writing, unintentionally, are and were the scariest to reread because they were from that part that I try to forget is there- the scared, pessimistic, hopeless part that has no idea what is actually going on or how to make sense of my life. But that's what pauses are for...
Pondering the Pause Button
ReplyDeletePauses can be considerably more potent then words when used correctly. You wouldn’t want to throw them into writing willy-nilly, but they are easily implemented to excentuate certain things you want to get across. A pause comes when an author deliberately stops and screams “Hey you, this is important. Some way. Some how. This matters.”
Pauses can be
The camera restsing on a butterfly’s wings which have just ceased flapping.
A brief pause as the store clerk’s eyes examine (and probably judge) the dirt under your fingernails.
Or anything you please, those were just two basic examples.
-If you pause and think for a moment about anything- I’d say it’s possible to find a deeper meaning/ a connection that leads you farther in a direction unexpected. Our brains are built to function randomly and precisely at the same time. They find continuity in confusion. When you press the pause button on a moment- sometimes it’s fun to play six degrees of separation with the imagery and a further concept you want to reach. Other times, you go to the new X-Men flick with a friend and never have the chance to try six degrees of Kevin Bacon because he’s already in the movie. Sometimes the meaning is already there. Pauses are a nifty way to make the reader think, to make the writer think, and to make the story write itself.
One of the most direct and distinct pauses I have experienced is in the film Funny Games, a movie focused on an unexpected house invasion by two young men. (The 2008 U.S. Remake as opposed to the 1997 Austrian original)
In a crucial scene, just as the victims are near freedom- one of their captors calming takes the remote. Breaks the fourth wall- saying fuck you to the viewers- and takes control. He hits pause. He hits rewind. There’s no escape.
Audience
ReplyDeleteMy closest friend. My Worst enemy.
I spent about four weeks last term. I spent about all of last term trying to understand and overcome audience and it only left me in an even larger puddle of patty cake with my self. I think audiences are a waste of time. Too often the notion of an audience will preconsume my thoughts. I register an idea. Then I wonder who will care about my idea. Then my idea dies.
I like making beats but they don’t necessarily have any ends. I’d like people to listen to them. But I just like making them. I think that’s led to a concise style of tune- which may be boring to anyone but me. So, obviously audience has to be a factor in creating something, especially writing. But how important should it be? Idk, I’m still trying to staple down my beliefs. I will say that when I’m aware of an audience it tends to make me real real nervous, I tried playing a show with my friend Seth and dropped the guitar on stage. I remove the guitar from the case. I begin to tune. Strap gives. My ovation electric acoustic smashes on stage. Not broken. But then I was in a horribly bewildered and painful state of being. I feel like each full face introduction to audience should bring about relevations about self in some sense. Last term I was taking Intro to Creative Writing; I did my best to avoid thinking about audience while writing. During peer workshops I was made to rethink my own writing- worrying about some things I had been confident about and being embraced for other things which I hadn’t even accounted for in the spilling process that is writing.
As far as writing for an audience goes- I think it’s important and an interesting technique to take. It probably results in semi-fabricated stuffs, especially when tumbling into writing for a distinct genre. (Part of the reason I question the idea of audience in music is that I’m not particularly punk. Nor am I a rapper. I’m also not a classical music composer. We all like a bunch of things—so why should we produce anything into a certain shape or form.) I think the most beautiful works should come from ackowledgement of audience combined with authoritative dismissal. An author has to be willing to say “Yes, that’s good, that’s how you think. Now, look how I think. This is what I believe. This is how I feel. This is what I see.”
Audiences are what they are-The lookers-in from outside your window.
Pauses
ReplyDeleteAs I PAUSE to write this very response, I realize that my life is full of pauses. Probably well above the average amount as well as length of time. Immediately upon waking, I PAUSE. I rehash every detail of the inexplicably awkward dream I had about an old high school acquaintance. I look for the line between the unexplainable and the decipherable. What does this mean? Am I secretly, somewhere beneath my outer exterior, deep within my Freudian freakishly sexual emotions, in love with him? What a load of crap, that Freud. Isn’t he?....
Mid-morning. I’m in between saying “Hello, mother” and “by the way…” but I pause. My judgment betrays me and I am unable to recall the laundry list of things I swore I would remember to tell her without jotting them down. Jesus, I’m a writer. I had an ingenious idea for a piece yesterday, and when I got home, nothing. Concept gone. So naturally, I sure as hell didn’t remember a thing I had planned to say to my mother. “Sorry to bother you at work, Mom. Call you back when I have a moment to PAUSE and look for my thoughts.” I remember the reason I bought 300,000,000,000 sticky notes.
Three-o-clock. Peaches or bananas? Better yet, Cheetos or Doritos? What do I plan to eat for dinner that may or may not be completely healthy? If I eat a banana now, might it, by some calculation of metabolic fate, counteract the quesadilla and guac I eat tonight? PAUSE. Doritos it is.
12:00 AM. What in God’s name was I thinking writing that ridiculous excuse for a response to our blog prompt? It sounded so wonderfully full of literary devices and honest language at the time. Maybe it was too honest. Maybe she’ll like it. Maybe she’ll love it. Do I love it? PAUSE.
My life is one big, fat, ugly, confusing, clarifying, gratifying, disheartening, unexplainable, freaking beautiful…..PAUSE.
Audience
It’s what we as writers hopefully, mindlessly, and narcissistically imagine we have at all times. Even my thoughts are inked with track changes in Word like I’m the head editor at Random House. “I really hate him.” Wait – scratch that. “From the depths of my being, from the core of my identity, from the curls of my toenails, I abhor him indescribably.” There. That thought sounds better to me now. Good Lord, I mean seriously, he is the only one hearing my thoughts besides me, and yet, I feel like they must sound as if they came straight from the mouth of Scarlet O’Hara. And even she might have toned it down a bit.
Even my prayers are a testament of my devotion to words and pleasing whomever might hear them. “Dear, Jesus…” Wait – “Dear most heavenly, gracious, majestic Lord…” I remind myself, “Rachel, no matter what you ponder up tonight to call Him, HE’S HEARD IT BEFORE!”
PAUSE
ReplyDeleteIn reading this yesterday, I've been thinking about the pauses in life and what they mean, or rather what they lead up to. Pauses are a way of telling you that things are going to be different. Every pause changes your life for either better or worse-those pauses before you open an e-mail, text message, or letter that you've been waiting for forever. While you don't take notice of these pauses while they're happening, they are forever entrapped in your memory because of the road they take you down. Whether they are good pauses in that they lead to something you want to hear or happen, or they are bad in that they lead to the opposite of what you wanted-the pauses are memorable because something DID happen and who am I to say if that something is good or bad? After all, doesn't everything happen for a reason?
AUDIENCE
Trying to pin down your audience is impossible. Even if we were to say that the audience for Twilight is teenage girls, I'm SURE that there are many people out of that category who watch/read Twilight. This is the same with any genre of entertainment that you throw out there, whether it be books, magazines, tv shows, etc. No one can know who will be interested in consuming their work, but I think that's why it's important to leave the audience to think what they will and NOT tie up everything. With completely different kinds of people participating in the audience, the conclusions that are drawn are going to be amazing. Why would you want to limit your audience's creativity and excitement in summing up everything for them? While, yes some might appreciate you doing the work for them,in the long run they will inevitably enjoy the
ambiguous ending of - "so what?" This doesn't mean that you, the creator can't throw in all of your "bullcrap" throughout the piece and try to turn the audience over to your dark side, but in the end the audience would have much more fun if they're tricked into thinking they're making the rules. Of course, in actuality it's you all along-but I won't tell them.
PAUSE
ReplyDeleteA pause is a wall between you and – well, anything. Nothing can reach you without penetrating that pause. That pause belongs to you, and nothing can take it away from you. Any event, any words, any actions – they all must endure the pause before they can affect you.
Think of it like an answering machine. “Hey, it’s Kristin. I can’t come to the phone right now but leave your name and number and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
…Beep
^ There it is.
No one, not even my mother, can convey any news, can make any requests, can voice any opinions to me before that pause.
Sometimes a pause is a glimmer of hope. Like, when the news waiting on the other side is less than favorable. In the pause between the teacher handing back my paper and my eyes seeing a giant D at the top, I can hope for any grade that I want. In that moment, in that pause, I aced it. In that pause, my parents are already cheering on the other end of the phone line because they have never been so proud. Or, what about the pause between answering the phone and getting the news that someone you love has passed away. In that pause, for that short second, they have made a miraculous recovery and they’re coming to visit next week – never been healthier. Nothing is decided until the pause concludes. Nothing is final until the pause surrenders its reign. See, a pause precedes the set-in of reality. Pauses are the places our minds most enjoy residing because there is hope and possibility – pauses give us moments of invincibility.
AUDIENCE
Last weekend, I watched my all-time favorite movie “A Walk to Remember” with one of my best friends. I hope I don’t spoil this movie for anyone who hasn’t seen it, but you’ve had almost 10 years to rent it if it interests you whatsoever so I will just go ahead and say it – she dies. My friend, absolutely bawling, proceeded to leave the room ranting about how she will never watch the movie again and “how could they end it like that?” I tried to explain to her (unsuccessfully) that it’s not supposed to be depressing – it’s supposed to be real. Jamie’s death (the main character a.k.a. the girl that dies from leukemia) was sad, yes, but her illness changed so many people’s lives and her faith throughout her suffering is genuinely inspiring. Death is not, in the words of our class discussion, a “pretty little bow,” but miraculous recoveries and perfect happily-ever-after’s often take away the human aspect of a work of art.
What is a “pretty little bow” anyway? Is there a certain word that makes an ending pretty? Doubt it. The way I see it, an ending doesn’t have a lot of power. In order for there to be an ending, there has to be matter leading up to it – that’s the substance, that’s where the meaning lies. And ending is just a way to check out without leaving loose ends. But, who say ends can’t be loose? I have mixed opinions on the role of “pretty little bows.”
Pauses:
ReplyDeleteThat last second between biting your tongue or releasing insanely regrettable amounts of word vomit. Too often, I think I maybe need my pause to last longer than it actually does. On a more positive note, it can act as an incredible "eureka" epiphany moment that can determine so much of an outcome. I wish I had more of those pauses than the prior.
Audience:
Life sometimes seems as if it is one huge play or movie. Everyone you ever encounter in your life is your audience. You constantly adjust your "act" to appeal to the varying members you encounter. We aren't real enough with ourselves, always trying to impress or please certain individuals. The audience, in turn starts to consume our everything and when we're alone how do we even know if this is our true self? By being shaped by every person we encounter how do we know who we truly are inside?
Let the BS be BS. Oftentimes, I find in my own writing I put the "pretty little bow" on just to please this crazy so-called audience. If I wanted to please myself I'd let the BS roll... its more fun that way. It makes the audience create their own happy ending, which sounds a lot like me wanting to please the audience now that I've written it down. Interesting. I guess everything has a bow of its own after all?
Pauses
ReplyDeleteI eagerly look forward to that “pause” I feel every time I ride my horse over a jump. Heart in your throat, moment where you can’t breathe, the rush of adrenaline. The feeling is distinctly unique. It is something similar to the peak of a roller coaster before you drop down that initial plummet, but, unlike the thrill rides, you are not strapped in. It’s that suspension of a 1000-pound animal over a few wooden poles or an unmovable log obstacle with you, the rider, balanced precariously on top. The whole time you are trying to convince yourself that you’re in the driver’s seat. Yeah, right, in full command of an animal almost 7x your size, that’s a joke. They could crush you if they wanted to. But they don’t, or at least not always. Instead they carry us around, leap over obstacles, and give us those looks with their big liquid eyes (where you can almost see them roll their eyes) that say, “I’m only doing this because I like you, but don’t get too cocky”. In doing this they give us those “pauses” that we so desperately crave.
And why do we crave them so badly? What about those moments where the whole world is suspended, including yourself and your horse in midair, do we need so much? Is it an escape? Sure. A chance to think? Maybe. But ultimately, that moment is there to remind us how out of control we are. Because for that one moment, that one pause, our eyes are opened to the simple incontrollableness of our world and we are reminded how little control we have. The moment leading up to the jump and the moment our horse’s hooves impact the earth again we are able to fool not just ourselves, but the people watching as well, that we have control. But it’s all a lie.
That is what life truly is. Deceiving the world around us that we are in control. Those moments, those pauses, are the reminders to us that we don’t have control regardless of how much we fake it. Fate or chance or destiny or predestination, whatever you want to call it or whatever you believe in, we don’t really have a choice. That “pause” is a reminder that at that single moment in time that you can’t turn back from the events that are unfolding. You can’t change what is about to happen. You just have to ride through the moment and hope that you don’t crash to the ground on the other side of it.
Audience
ReplyDeleteMy whole life I feel like I have been performing for an audience. My family, my friends, my sorority, guys I date, interviewers for jobs, the people at the grocery store in the ice cream isle as I take a low fat flavor while sneaking a tiny pint of Ben and Jerry’s Half Baked, people at the gym as I pretend I’m enjoying sweating, etc etc, it’s rather long list. It goes back to growing up, this awareness of my audience. I am the third child, the youngest. My oldest sister was the rebel. 18 years older than me, she was the one that dyed her hair orange, shaved the sides off and snuck off to rock concerts. She had perfected the “I don’t give a flying f…” well you know what comes next. The next sister was only 6 years my senior. She was always the perfect one. Perfect grades, perfect social life, perfect boyfriend, daddy’s favorite… blah, blah, blah, vomit.
And then I came along. Well what role did that leave me with? I couldn’t be the over achiever and I couldn’t be the rebel, those roles were already taken, and my mother would kill me if I was a slacker (that was just not acceptable in our house). In the end I became the people pleaser. That became my role, but it was secret one. I walked the fine line of pleasing my eager audience while at the same time pretending that I didn’t secretly crave their approval, that it didn’t bother me if I didn’t match their expectations. I got good grades, but not as good as my sister. I rebelled, but not near as far as my sister. I competed in horse competitions, and I faked my satisfaction if I didn’t get the blue ribbon. I succeeded but at the same time held myself back from pushing all the way to the top. Failure wasn’t an option, but neither was true success.
In high school I played a certain role and when it came time to graduate I thought I chose a school two states away because I wanted to get away from the same people I’d seen since kindergarten and “find out who I really was.” Yeah, right, really I just got to college and found I was playing a new character. Collegiate Beth, we’ll call her, but still always trying to please, always playing the part for the always-watching audience. You may say I’m paranoid, but how many of you have walked down the concourse and made a snap judgment, or even had a simple thought, about someone walking in the opposite direction. You have now become that poor person’s audience in that split second of time. Or you’ve looked up and found somebody watching you. You’ve got an audience. Whether you’re aware of it or not, you do have viewers in the role that is your life in this world that is a massive theater. As Shakespeare said in As You Like It, “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players.”
Pauses can sometimes be seen as a moment in which your body prepares you for a possible life-changing event. These still moments are possibly ways that our bodies brace us for what is to come. I can remember the phone call from my mother telling me that my great-grandmother had passed away. It was that moment in between the time my mother said “It’s Granny Mae,” and “she passed away this morning” that I felt a sense of extreme calm. This pause in my mother’s voice almost prepared me, in a way, for the heart-breaking news that was to follow. I recall this same feeling from a time when I was much younger. When I was in elementary school, my mother and I were involved in a terrible car accident. I can clearly remember the pause between the moment I realized that we were about to crash and the time that the car behind us jarred us into the car in front. I can distinctly remember the since of calm I felt in the pause before that crash. There are also those pauses that come after a time that we inflict pain on ourselves. Times that we burn ourselves while cooking is an example of this. There is that moment between that time that your hand touches the hot stove and the time that you feel the burn that prepares you for the pain you are about to feel. It is in this pause that we experience no pain before the effects of the injury set in.
ReplyDeleteAUDIIENCE
When I think about audience it takes me back to the discussion we had in class today about our own writing. I have no doubt that when we write for ourselves, we do so in a way that makes us feel better about ourselves and our writing. There is always the thought in the back of our minds that someone might read our writing, even the writing that was meant for only our eyes to see. There is no doubt that we try to make ourselves look good in our writing, as well as make ourselves seem intelligent in front of our audience.
I completely agree with LaurenJiffo’s statement that an audience is always there to judge. This goes along with the idea that we write to make ourselves look good and to impress others. We are aware that if our writing has an audience, even if it is just one other person, it is subject to judgment and criticism, therefore, forcing us to put more thought and effort into our writing, even if it is just meant for ourselves.
PAUSE
ReplyDeleteThis literary device reminds me a lot of theatre (after all, I am also a theatre major). There are pauses in performance too. Usually they indicate a change of events, or allow time for laughter, but are also used to allow whatever was just presented to the audience to brew in their minds a little. I think this does the same thing in literature. Sometimes we even create our own pauses as we read... for laughter, etc. (or sometimes to grab a snack or drink). Regardless of the reason for the pause, it affects how you perceive the text. For me, they make the most sense when switching topics or right after some intense scene between characters takes place. But those are the obvious ones. I didn't really notice until we read this book that there are also smaller pauses that are harder to spot. I feel like I have been taking them for granted now. There was actually a play I read last semester that used a lot of pauses.... I mean a ridiculous, and to me unnecessary, amount. I just skipped a lot of them. After discussing their purpose in that class and this one, however, I feel like I skipped something important. Those pauses were placed there on purpose by the author/playwright, and I should have paid more attention to them. Lesson learned.
AUDIENCE
Again, this reminds me of theatre (that tends to happen a lot... just a warning). As an actor you really have to “know” your audience, and it is the same thing with writing. You have to understand who you are trying to communicate with and why. In some ways it is what gives your work purpose and meaning. And like we discussed in class, even if you are writing a diary no one will ever read, you still have an audience. I don't think anyone writes or performs for no one at all. Even if you sing in the shower, let's be honest... you are doing it for yourself (or perhaps hoping someone will hear you and think you sound good). In writing though, I find it harder to state who my audience really is. I am pretty sure I have been asked in every english class for nearly every paper “Who is your audience?” Most of the time I say it could be this or it could be that, but teachers don't seem to like that answer. I think knowing your audience is one of the harder parts of writing. I know I struggle with it all the time. Hopefully it'll click one day and I'll magically know who my audience is for everything I write and do.
As far as the ending goes... it should really be meaningful and tie the whole story together. I mean it's cool to have some random ending sometimes, but at least give it some meaning. Please. I think leaving in the bullshit is good. Life isn't neat, so why should anything else be?
So apparently I have too much to say. I had to split up my two topics/sections and post separately. Ok, here goes...
ReplyDeleteThe pause is something unnoticeable; something that slips by almost on purpose, but it isn’t until someone or something points it out that the potential arises to find it revelational. Not every pause teaches you something, reminds you of something, or even has value, but every pause has some purpose. It’s like you’ve achieved a certain wisdom in life if you learn to catch all the pauses, and the wisdom only increases as you find the ones that do have meaning.
You know, everyone always talks about how the world is so hectic and so busy and how it never sleeps, but I cant help but attribute that to the fact those people just cant tell the difference between an important pause between those crucial “cause and effect” moments of life and a slight lapse in memory. It’s all the same to them. This doesn’t make them less intelligent or ill-equipped for life. More so, that they don’t have that deeper understanding for the functionality of our existence like Almond was talking about in his postscript. They don’t see life from a removed perspective, that darker, less pleasant, harsh reality that only creeps in when you watch those pauses float past naturally. I like to think this only exists in the mind of a writer.
So, you ask what of these pauses? This pause? This is revelational. A pause to think, reflect, speak. A pause with purpose. A pause that would allow no room for growth if we just kept reading through the lines. A response might only come after it’s too late. And all that is left is a missed opportunity.
Where audience lies, truth never does. This is something I’ve learned to explore, accept, and move past. I’ve starred at many of blank pages too scared to empty out my soul and backspaced many of lines of blog-vomit only to edit OUT the truth. I even devoted a whole blog post to audience one time in hopes of finding some truth underneath the ruble. It’s hopeless, let me tell you. Audience is kind of like God, always there, always listening, and always knows the truth whether we outright say it or not. Now for some, God is a little easier to pull away from than the concept of audience, but a set of beliefs is the only difference.
ReplyDeleteWe talked about journaling today. One of those pastimes that is intended for privacy and serves as a space to vent the depths of our hearts, yet that thought of someone else knowing what we know stifles every truthful word’s cry for release. Our culture (and for most of us, our majors) has taught that careful editing produces success, but we fail to realize that careful filtering often produces boring writing. I’m just as guilty as you are.
A good friend of mine, who recently graduated from the University of Alabama as a mechanical engineer, recently started blogging under my influence. We used to spend late nights awake doing nerdy things, tweeting back and forth witty comments and trying to top the other’s nerdiness (nerdy, I know); he was usually solving math problems along with other world issues while I was writing. As time progressed, our spotty blog posts turned to blog challenges, which brings us to current times. The last challenge I received went like this:
“For your next post you can't write out any outline, can't revise and reorganize. Feel free to correct spelling and grammatical errors (but I'm pretty sure English majors don't make any). Just let it all spill out onto the page as it comes to you. Game on!”
I couldn’t help but think of the moment I read his most recent challenge when audience came up today. As I read the lines out, all that surfaced in me was fear. Needless to say, I haven’t completed or even attempted this challenge yet because honestly, the raw truth of writing with no edits scares the hell out of me. Someone out there is reading, someone is passing judgments (don’t act like you don’t analyze other people’s writing), and someone just might think I’m crazy for having a certain viewpoint. But that just shows how things come full circle. The juxtaposition of these two ideas, “the pause” and audience, have woven themselves in harmony, and it was only a specific pause that led me to this conclusion and a specific audience that forced me to write about it.
So I guess this is where the “tiny little bow” gets tied on, but what’s the use? I’m too lazy to write a summary of what I’ve already said, and I doubt there’s a moral of the story to be told…instead here’s a pause.
Pause — The button I had to press on my remote to make this happen
ReplyDeleteI had the make a conscious decision to get more fruit salad. Lift both my feet off of their cozy resting spot. Swing my hips to an upright position while my dog dances at my feet. Too bad she doesn’t understand I am not getting off my ass to take her for a walk. Nope, just getting some more fruit salad. And I am not even hungry, but the thought of the kiwi getting grosser by the second motivates me to turn Dexter off and move my almost zombie-like body. Why does kiwi go bad so damn fast? I don’t like being rushed by my own food. Kiwi is making the shots, I am sadly at its disposal. It doesn’t matter that it is eleven p.m.
My dog still thinks I am going to take her outside. The kiwi bribe isn’t working. I think she can tell it is old. Don’t most dogs eat their own shit?
What even made me think about the fruit salad? I was half asleep fast forwarding through tonight’s episode of Conan. Elijah Woods usually just conjures up lord of the rings lines. I don’t think I remember any amazing feast scenes throughout the seemingly endless trilogy.
Why can’t I trace back the second the idea was planted in my brain to eat this fruit salad. Did it just slip right through me? I let it get past me, and now all I can think about is the decision I made to buy all the fruit in the first place. I should really start pausing before I make some of my decisions.
Like maybe just a second ago when I decided to write about my ten second walk to the kitchen to get some fruit salad. There was nothing special about it.
And I just remembered I forgot to watch the rest of Conan. I forgot what made me think of that, though.
Au(die)nce
With no suicidal pretenses, I promise
The scariest thought of anyone bearing her soul to anyone. The smallest audience resonates the same sounds of failure as a sold-out concert. I write to and for myself…but I can’t tell you when because I am too scared. Not too scared to tell you but too scared to admit it to myself. Almond really brought me back to what scares me the most. Failure. Not just the kind of failure with a grade attached to it. Rejection. The best ward of it is never taking a leap. Great, I am just a leapless idiot.
No, I’m not.
I am obviously unsure.
But I am willing to hang on the ledge. I just hope my only audience isn’t the ones waiting down below to see me fail epically.
Pauses
ReplyDeleteWhat causes a pause exactly? As I look back on my life I can see how they’ve littered my memories. I notice that pauses don’t always follow bad or good moments; there are different pauses for every situation. One pause that I can remember vividly was at the moment I received my orders for deployment to Iraq. As soon as I opened the certified letter that contained my orders, it felt like the world stopped for a brief moment, a pause of life. I can remember not really having an emotion at that second; I felt my throat clinch tight and my heart fall into my stomach. I can also remember a good pause, one that teetered on the cusp of the sublime. I felt a pause the second after I proposed to my wife. I knew what the answer would be, or at least I thought I knew. During that pause I felt an internal panic. My heart pounded and my hands started to sweat. What if she said no? During that pause, a million different scenarios of how life would be without her flooded my mind. Because of this pause, her acceptance of my proposal was more important to me, and it lead to the happiest day of my life….so far.
Audience
The word audience is one I normally think of when I’m writing or watching a performance of some sort. However, now that I think about it, audience encompasses so much more than the people that watch or read a movie or book. Aren’t our very own lives merely living performances? We make ourselves conform to the guidelines that society has set forth for us in hopes of some kind of acceptance. The world is our stage and the people that surround us are our audience. And now we have given the world a 24/7 window into our personal lives as we envelope ourselves in social networks like Facebook. Audiences also judge, so what does that say about the word audience? Do we modify our lives to be what our audience feels is a good life or do we make our own decisions? Personally, I feel that we conform to others views and claim them as our own. But everyone has their own opinion…….or do they?
Pause. ”Please let him notice me. Please let him see me. PLEASE let me cross his mind.” I thought as I came to a complete stop midway out of the kitchen as my boss rounded the corner. Maybe that tiny millisecond of hesitation on my way out was enough for him to see me, realize that it was late, and I should have been sent home an hour ago. That I'm tired, hungry, and irritated at every person who decided that 10:00 was an acceptable time to eat dinner. Maybe my little pause would turn the night around. I had hoped that tiny pause would spark a revelation in my manager that would lead to freedom. Then I could have time to actually cook dinner, do my homework at something less than warp speed, and actually have time to enjoy a shower and getting into bed. The remainder of my night hinged on that tiny pause, that second of complete hope that he would just say 'go". But he didn't, and there were no profound earth-shattering implications. Just another 15 minutes or so of lingering (which I probably earned from that same pause). The fact is, my entire night didn't hinge on that moment. It would have been late, dinner from McDonald's was cold, my homework is still not finished 30 minutes till midnight, and by the time I get done I will probably just collapse in a heap in bed, before I have to drag myself up in the morning. This probably would have played out the same way even if that crucial pause of hope had granted me an extra 30 minutes or an hour. Sometimes those single moments where your hold your breath and time freezes really are just moments. Insignificant as the seconds before them. Life didn’t hinge upon it; in fact, your life didn’t even acknowledge it.
ReplyDeleteAudience
Sometimes I think you should just let the bullcrap stay. Like the above, I could have finished by saying something about how I would probably appreciate the extra money I made by having to stay late. But that’s not how it feels, and that’s not what I’m going to write. Sometimes the bullcrap has to stay because you can’t put a bow on something ugly and magically make it beautiful. The thing is still ugly in substance, no matter how you try to camouflage it. And this is important, because not everything CAN be wrapped up into a nice, concise ending. Some things are meant to be left hanging, open, and up for further development… or further degradation. (Or maybe I’m just being a pessimist).
Pauses happen every second of my life. I pause right before I walk into the classroom before I take a test. Auburn fans pause as the football sails through the air. Will he catch the ball for a touchdown? Pauses consume us and make us who we are today. Pauses represent those brief moments when our mind needs a break. I sometimes stop to pause in conversations because I want the next words that leave my mouth to sound perfect. But those are unrealistic goals. How do we decide how long a pause sound be? If I pause for too long in a conversation I will just look stupid and awkward. Pauses are important because during that pause anything can happen. Your mind can create anything it wants without consequences and we need these types of moments to survive in this hectic world.
ReplyDeleteAUDIENCE
When I think of an audience I think of facebook status updates and twitter. When we update our facebook status are we honestly doing it to tell ourselves what we are doing at that exact moment? No, we update our status for our audience. We want to make sure we put that pretty bow tie or funny remark to please our audience or friends. Twitter is no different in my opinion. Tons of celebrities use twitter to connect with their fans or their audience. We constantly are trying to please everyone whether we know it or not. Writing a paper for class is no different from updating your facebook status, we are writing to please our professor or more specifically the writing prompt that tells us which audience we are writing for.
…(pause)…
ReplyDeleteAt first thought, to me the pauses present in all aspects of day-to-day goings-on shape the way experiences impact life. But on second thought, in my experience at least, the pauses act more as narrators in the “narrative” that is life. Pauses involving fear and panic tend to be the most pronounced moments for me. These are usually in response to some external factor. On multiple occasions growing up, every so often my mom would say something along the lines of Hey, Laura, I wanted to talk to you about something (perhaps along the same lines as the “we need to talk” line that is the cliché relationship dissolution, but vastly different subject matter). My mom has never been one to hold back commentary toward my three siblings and me. So when a topic is introduced in this manner, a pause is sure to take place before my response. In that pause, which can be as quick as a bucket of cold water being dumped over my head all at once or may persist for several seconds, innumerable sensations are sure to pass through me. Often, whether guilty or not, the wordless pause could probably be best summed up in words as something like, Shit. What did I do? Who’s died? My pauses are in most cases the anticipation of catastrophe. It is a moment where a chill starting at the top of my skull and speeds down to my heels. It is the undeniable sensation that the room is rocking back and forth and side to side. And then there is the black cloud that moves from my eyes’ periphery inward. As quickly as this sensation occurs, there still always seems to be space for a pause to introduce the pause, if that makes any sense. This is a moment of pure nothing, just numb. Dr. P’s example of the moment between a razor’s slice and the outpour of blood would be an analogous instance. These kinds of pauses have marked some of the most subjectively scary moments in my life: my cousin telling me that her parents are divorcing; Grandma Alice is not going to make it through the week; someone I know has overdosed and died. These pauses narrate much of my life; and while I don’t remember many of the actual words said, the experience during the “pause” remains vividly accessible.
Of course, pauses can accompany a host of positive experiences, I’ve chosen to reflect upon the ones characterized by horror (glass half empty? Maybe. But there it is). Pauses are an inescapable part of any aspect of life, be it a devastating or glorious moment, or anywhere in between. Not every pause can carry some profound meaning with it, and it is this that makes the memorable pauses that much more important. They are little cues given by the unconscious distinguishing between the noteworthy and the ordinary (that’s not to say that the “ordinary” is not profound…).
AUDIENCE
ReplyDeleteOne of the most troublesome aspects of writing for me is the concept of “audience.” Maybe this is a result of being taught the “proper” way to write. Don’t use contractions. Try to sound like a cotillion-trained, proper young lady. I haven’t even been able to keep satisfactory journals for much of my life on account of my inability to write with true honesty⎯and these are texts meant to be read by me and only me. There is something much too uncomfortable about documenting the ugly happenings of the day. I’d like to blame this on my puritanical American upbringing, but I know it has much to do with my personality. And then there is the fear of seeing everything for exactly what it is. This is scary because, while I know I’m no saint, in writing pure facts, there is a good chance that I’ll come out not looking so good. There is some innate aversion to physical evidence and conscious self-knowledge of one’s shortcomings. Some, or rather all, of the most effective writing carries an admirable style of self-deprecation on the part of the author. At the risk of excessive cliché use, I’ll say it anyway. There is a glass ceiling made up of self-preserving restraint. An honest writer is one who has broken through this ceiling and can write without fear of his/her appearance to others. On students relying on “talent,” a “knack for the language,” Steve Almond made a statement that really struck a chord with me, “[These students] are likely to suffer the illusion that writing is about applause rather than humiliation.” To write truthfully requires a sort of arrogance in which the writer can confidently assert a point while aware that any time an audience is present, there is a risk of negative feedback. A “stick it to the man” attitude may emerge, but there is something admirably humble in this act. To present all of oneself in writing acknowledges that while not perfect, both the ugly and the polished sides of life are essential for any real understanding of virtually any subject. At this point as a writer, I do my best to make a habit of writing with honest. This has been no easy task, and often I must force myself to let my words out by feigning comfort and confidence in flaws. A child brought up on Disney fairy tales, neat and happy endings seemed the norm for any type of story telling. Inevitably (and fortunately) with age comes the realization that not all endings are neatly polished. In reference to our conversation in class today about Steve Almond’s rejection of happy endings, and then his relatively warm closing sentiments, these two poles seem somewhat reconciled. Another of Almond’s quotes, his summarization of Vonnegut’s aim as a writer, spoke out to me, “Despair is a form of hope. It is an acknowledgement of the distance between ourselves and our appointed happiness.” This weaves all the various aspects, including potential tragedy, together. An ending need not be “neat,” but in acknowledging the beauty in imperfection and the gallant act of even attempting or suggesting the possibility for betterment, those ragged edges become valuable in themselves, even when the possibility of a happy ending is improbable at best.
Pauses always make me think of Céline and his writing style. As his career went on and his auto-biography/fiction novels went further and further into his life, into his memories and such, he seemed to rely on the ellipsis more and more. Rigadoon [pretend that the title is underlined], Céline's last novel was just about 1/4 ellipsis. Rigadoon is a far cry from the narrative of Journey to the End of the Night [ditto on the underline] where the main character, non-committal and constantly searching for himself, his true self, is troubled by few such pauses as appear in Rigadoon. When considering the novels side by side, and realizing JttEotN is set in the characters early life and Rigadoon near the end of his life, the ellipsis take on a whole new meaning.
ReplyDeleteThe pauses become signs of the aging process, a stark contrast against Journey's open minded youthful semi-idealism. The pauses begin to talk about the character without saying anything. As the main character wanders through a ravaged, war-torn city, trying to make his way home, he can do nothing but pause when seeing such needless destruction. Céline died and set the path for Vonnegut, to show the world as it is, or that is humanity as it is. Vile, uncaring, narcissistic, nihilistic, but at times so incredibly beautiful. The pauses, ellipsis, represent both of these realizations, the beauty and the horror that lies in people.
When I think of pauses, I think of a sort of silent wisdom. A sort of understanding that cannot be expressed. How can you explain the revulsion that humanity can cause, the bile that can swill in your stomach, evoking that slight vomit in the back of your throat. But then see something so beautiful, something so intimately human, that it completely takes you aback, and suddenly your faith is restored! You learn to love others in these pauses.
You learn to live in the world, not against it. That is what Céline learned by the time he wrote Rigadoon: to capture the beauty of moments and realize that people, no matter how horrible, can always manage to surprise you and act truly empathetic. The final chapter in Rigadoon (finished two weeks before Célines death) has a pro-Semitic comment [I don't have the book in front of me to find the quote], Céline himself being a NAZI sympathizer and famous anti-Semite for most of his life. He saw humanity within his own pauses, and realized by the end how to live in the world, how to truly be affected and realize that the Other can just be ourselves reflected back at us [no time to get into a Levinasian explanation about this last point].
AUDIENCE
I will summarize with a misquote from Bukowski: If you are a true writer, the words will just pour out of you. You will not be able to stop it, you will have to write to survive. Not because you want to say something, but because you have to say something.
Do the best writers really write for an audience, or because they feel something welling inside them that they must express. Some truth they think they have found and must write-it-out to truly get to the bottom of it? Do writers really write for an audience, at least the best among the writers (Bukowski, Burroughs, Nabakov, Joyce, etc.; in my opinion some of the best writers), or do they write out of a necessity? Some unrealized necessity of revealing this deep truth they feel that they have glimpsed? I don't have an answer; for all I know the best writers are full of shit and wrote for sheer recognition. But one cannot help but feel drawn closer to a sense of genuine humanity when it is expressed in art, more so than a pandered, formulaic piece of work (notice the absence of the word art).+
PAUSES. They can be awkward or meaningful. They can bring a story to life with silence, or make you wonder why in the hell it was ever put in that book. As for me, awkward or beautiful, I absolutely love them. Why you ask? Because they make a story seem real. For instance, in real life we face these awkward or beautiful pauses in situations we may not even care to remember. However, I remember going to the check out counter in Walmart not too long ago and talking to the check out lady about her husband's struggle with skin cancer. Halfway through our conversation there was a moment of pause. We both stopped, looked up at each other, then I chimed in with "I am so sorry to hear about your husband. Stay strong!" That was it. That was all it took for me to think of the incident in Walmart all WEEK long! I thought about the hardship, the tears she almost shed, and most importantly the beautiful pause in between the conversation. It was as if the world stopped for two full seconds, then kept turning so that the Walmart lady and I could go about our "awesome" daily routines. Pauses are powerful ways of saying everything you feel without saying anything at all. Now, pause. Think about that. AUDIENCE. Every person on this planet is an audience to something. Whether it be a book assigned in class, a movie with your boyfriend, concert with friends, etc. I consider myself to be a heavy "movie goer." I'm usually that girl in the audience who laughs at the parts that aren't funny which makes everyone turn around and stare. Yeah, real cool. Anyway, movie audiences are the best because you can always tell what people think about the ending as soon as the credits start rolling. If the movie was horrible, people start looking around at one another as if to say, "Did I really just pay money for this shit?" If the movie was great, you see audience members bopping down the aisle with a smile on their face and that happy glow that screams, "I wish my life were that perfect!" Then, you have the movies that truly hit the soul. The ones that cause audiences to leave the theatre balling their eyes out or holding on to their significant other. Almost too much if you ask me. However, the audience makes the movies that much more fun. If I was by myself in the theatre, I would have no one to stare at and watch to see if the movie meant to them, what it meant to me. The audience decides what moments are special in the film. They shed the tears. They wrap the pretty bow at the end to make it spectacular. They find the true emotions of themselves just by being an audience. Pretty awesome if you ask me.
ReplyDeleteTo bnp0001:
ReplyDeleteYour comment about people watching is funny because I feel like all of us have been guilty of this obession. It can be entertaining to observe people and create our own narratives for them. I like how you called it a beauty contest.
You also bring up a good point about taking a break from our televisiosn, computers, and cell phones. Our current world is so media and technology dependent. We want the next big type of technology or want to watch the next big show which will be outdated in a few months. Just think how everybody acted a fool when the ipad and the first iphone came out. By taking a break from media and techology, we will be able to pratice communicating face to face with people which and also appreciate our current surroundings.
Pauses. Pauses often occur in my life when I forget to do something. This happens from time to time (not to point any fingers but an hour ago I had one of these pauses when I realized this post was going to be an hour(s) late). Nothing wrong with these pauses I might end up with some stress related pains in my neck and my back in the morning but nothing that isn't beyond human. They have some significance, like when I forget it's my mom's birthday or when I forget if I am supposed to use an apostrophe on its (possesive) or it's (it is) like I might've done earlier in this post. I think these pauses are healthy; it's a post-it note reminder on your forehead after a drunken night that lets you know that you need to apologize to your roommate or go buy your girlfriend flowers. There is redemption found in my pauses. Where I fuck up (pause) assess the situation (pause) move forward (whistling past the grave). So be clumsy, be drunk, be human; you will always have the pause to catch your (or not catch you it's really up to the person).
ReplyDeleteAUDIENCE
I think (not saying this is bible speak) the goal of the writer is to express truth, wholy, firmly. I think in Almond's case he wrote truthfully to the voice he had established. Since this is the case I think the bull shit ending is the truthful ending. I think it pretty much depends on if you are forcing it as a writer. Drop the bows if you feel it is truth. Drop the shit charade, quit thinking about the audience and write with truth. Or something. (follow your heart).
Luke Sheehan
PAUSES:
ReplyDeleteI find pauses to be incredibly useful and effective literary tools when used correctly. When done in the correct manner the nearest example I can think of is a car accident. Namely, when the desire we all feel to check ourselves out in the rearview mirror backfires. We glance back, first at our phone and then to the road only to look up and realize that we are about to slam into the back of the douche, that, just a few minutes earlier we presented our most prized finger accompanied by the tune of our melodic horn for close to ten seconds when he turned out directly in front of us as we approached at something bordering mach speed. That split second when you realize the crash is ineveitable and your stomach drops,. The only words that come to mind that you actually have time to muster are, "OH FUCK".. then boom.
In essence that feeling is just what a great writing pause should be for the reader. The writer (us) should have your readers stomach in his throat thinking oh shit as you drop that perfectly placed pause.leaving them with no option but to crash full speed into that perfectly set word,line,scene, or moment.
Audience:
Be yourself, write what you feel. write what you think, write who you are and I believe your writing will find it's appropriate audience.
Pause
ReplyDeletePauses are interesting. I guess. The thing about pauses in speech that interests me is how they can be used in different ways. Sometimes, you will pause before speaking simply because you cant think of anything appropriate to say at that moment. On the other hand, there are times where some people will pause in order to build suspense about something that is probably pretty stupid seeing as it requires pauses to keep the listener's attention. But when a person is doing this does their mind pause before they decide to pause for dramatic effect? Is there actually a never ending chain of pauses going on in our minds? My guess would be no. But its just stupid enough of an idea to warrant a second thought. When writing a pause however, things are a little different. Its pretty hard to convey voice inflection on a sheet of paper, so the pauses become more important. Writers actually can build suspense or something like that by adding commas, periods, or any other form of punctuation that someone with as little brains as me would take time to figure out what it means (like semi colons, what the hell are they; should I know how to use them or should I throw them into sentences arbitrarily).
Audience
A writer shouldnt write with a specific audience in mind, it generally produces a lower quality work. Look at Justin Bieber, his music is written almost exclusively for girl children. I might even be able to make the argument that his songs arent the best ever written based on the fact that I am not a pipsqueak girl. Obviously I would have my work cut out for me if I chose to undertake that task, so Ill leave it for someone better suited for the job.