Welcome new readers, there seems to be a group of you, all arrived at the same time and I’m wondering how you came across this newsletter. This is suppose to be a newsletter about teaching technology, language, and culture, and it is for the most part, with deviations into the news, living in Pittsburgh and traveling around the US.
If you’re interested, Issue #54 is the least read and Issue #141, where I hobbled around Hollywood (forgive the alliteration) has the highest readership.
I’m not sure what to give you this week, a little of what I’ve been up to, some things that I spotted. I know that I need to get out a little more, I’m not feeling too inspired, winter is almost over but it’s blues still have me.
That’s why this is coming out on Tuesday.
Stephan
Spaces to Connect
Just a quick mention that I attended Adrian Jones and Dorothy R. Santos’ Docu-poetics and Creative (Flash) Non-Fiction Writing Workshop presented by the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater and The Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry. It was just what I needed, such a lovely group of people all willing to share and enjoy time together. It was wonderful hearing some of Adrian and Dorothy’s writings, and learning about this craft.
Docu-poetics speaks to me as a type of non-fiction storytelling that centers feeling, emotion and sensation. It is a way of using all our senses to tell a story, active, embodied and occasionally interactive. We sang songs, listened to stories told through recipes, of neighborhoods and communities through its people. In much of what we retold there was a yearning, a longing to return to a particular feeling, something hard to describe, but connected to a place and time.
Speaking with Dorothy over lunch a few days later (what a treat), we talked about storytelling in its many forms, including soundwriting which looks at ways that we can create audio essays, sound pieces that again evoke particular feelings and emotions. I’m interested in re-writing (or branching off) a course on Podcasting that I taught, so that the outcomes are much closer to the elements of docu-poetics or creative non-fiction audio storytelling. This brilliant book Soundwriting: A guide to Making Audio Projects by Tanya K. Rodrigue and Kyle D. Stedman is well-worth reading if you’re interested in this area. I’m hoping to stay in touch with Dorothy and would love to work on a project together.
The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Nonfiction edited by Dinty W. Moore was shared at the workshop. I’ve ordered a copy and hopefully I can let you know more in an upcoming issue.
Life Lessons
To be honest, I’m struggling a bit at the moment. I have a huge list of things to complete and feel overwhelmed. Where to start, how to divide my time? One of my first jobs, after the obligatory paper round, was working in Budgens Supermarket on Checkout 1, all day Saturday, a seemingly endless number of trolleys, even though this was the job, my heart fell a little when another would turn up, almost overflowing, someone’s weekly shop. It was a relief when I was asked to stock shelves or my favorite, breaking up cardboard boxes. There’s a very specific technique that you learn, stand with two feet in the box and kick out the corners until you’re left with the flat panels, that you pile up and slide into the skip. At the moment it feels as if I’m back on Checkout 1 and there’s a long queue of shoppers all waiting to be rung up.
So, I’d welcome some advice, I’m thinking I need to turn these lists into actionable tasks, estimate some time around them and then put them into my schedule. I really don’t have much of an idea of where to start…but I will. I hope this isn’t coming across as procrastination. Honestly, I’m good at giving myself things to do, less good at figuring out when I’m going to do them. I think I need a regular schedule too, Maybe Mondays and Fridays working from home and the rest of the week in the office.
I’m juggling a few things outside of work too, so add this into the pot and it’s no surprise I’m a little behind. Truth be told, I’m a little flat after finishing my course and just need to refocus and get back to it. Please don’t worry though, I know how caring folks are, I just want to tell it like it is, counter the toxic positivity and hyper-production of the modern age. Sometimes you’re the hammer and sometimes you’re nail.
At least breakfast at Bob’s Diner gets you off to a good start.
Lost and Found
Notion has an Ai that everyone can use, it is a little more Siri like than some of the others but it will help you convert, list, format and write from within the application itself.
I’ve only recently discovered No Proscenium, a site dedicated to news and updates about immersive technologies.
I’m re-reading The Bone People by Keri Hulme, and it is just as good as the first time that I read it, with it’s intricate, sometimes harrowing, intertwining of three lives, a woman, a man and little boy on the shores of Ōkārito on New Zealand’s South Island. I also came across this video from the 1985’s Booker Prize that includes a phone call from one of the judges to Hulme, who couldn’t make the ceremony.
I’ve added to The Spaces Reading List, these are all affiliate links and I’ve never made a penny, but if you want to see what I’ve been reading, then this is turning into a nice collection.
826 Valencia has updates its website with a heap of new resources for teaching writing. If you scroll down to Tools for Educators, you’ll find everything by Grade and links to prompts and videos. Love this prompt from Jason Reynolds, the writer of the Miles Morales books and many others.
There are some new features on Padlet, including a group posting with titled columns that they’re calling shelf that is super useful, and a few more examples added to the gallery. This is great when you’re not sure where to start or want to work on a Padlet that someone else has already started.
Thank you
I watched The Last of Us, and although I’ve only played the game a handful of times, some of it is lifted directly from cut-scenes and game time. The game, as I remember was super violent and quite scary, and the series doesn’t hold back either, although zombies (yes, I know I’m not suppose to call them that) and people still get dispatched in gruesome ways. What is different is the writing, there is real depth to the stories. Episode 3 is going to knock you sideways.
We had a birthday last week too and went to a new place in South Side Works called Pins Mechanical, where you can have a drink, do some bowling, play arcade games and order some food.
Soccer season is back again, and I’m still helping out with the Rugby team, so that’s keeping me busy in the evenings. We’ve been so blessed with the weather, despite some snow over the weekend. It feels good to be outside and in the sunshine.
Well, there you go. When I started writing this I didn’t think I had much, but once I put the photos in, I realized just how busy I’ve been.
I’ll see you next week, hopefully with a bit more pep in my step. Thank you for your understanding.