User:CarrieBerg/2009 Literature Self Assessment

I realize that the class is not over yet... but I just had to write this. I'm sure you understand how that is: sometimes the words just flow out, needing to be said, even when the time is not ideal - much like the story I just had to write down late last night... despite the fact that I really wanted to sleep.

Going back and looking over what I have written for this class, I have to laugh. Usually what I enjoy writing the most is dialogue (it goes without saying that my dialogue is witty. Why write boring dialogue?  Yes, I'm being facetious.)  And then I looked through my stories posted here and found that, huh, I wrote almost no dialogue this entire quarter. Sacrilege!

Not only that, but while I usually write stories in limited third person (or third person omniscient), here I've been writing a slew of stories in first person. How completely out of character for me! I blame the book If I were an Evil Overlord. I seem to have had a change of heart. (Once I refused to read stories in first person. Now I find they are not as bad as I thought.  I wonder what horrible story originally made me stay away from them?)

Well, I guess I'm allowed to experiment as I see fit, but it still makes me laugh. It also means that this is not a full example of what I usually write. Maybe I'll add a dialogue heavy story, just to fix my omission...

And now for the question portion of this assessment.

What did I learn in this class. Hmmm... Oulipo is the big one for me. My, what a fun method of poetry! I shall have to try it with different limitations in the future. Like only using words with "st" in them... fascinating... I could spend hours lost in the intricacy of Oulipo. Hours I don't currently have.

My papers taught me much about Colonial healing properties of plants. And I learned more about modern healing properties of plants: next time you pull up that dandelion, eat the leaves in a salad - it's good for you! I also studied more into the Arthurian tradition, and delved back into my notes on alchemy and Chaucer.

I was also reminded how much I love writing. I really have to find more time to do so, despite all my other classes. There has to be a way to rearrange my schedule. And I was reminded as to how much I love tossing ideas back and forth between other people. I would love to write a book with someone else, where we trade off every other chapter and build upon our crazy tangents...

Which brings me to: what do I have left to learn? So much that I couldn't possibly write it all in this tiny space! As Socrates once said, "The only true wisdom is knowing you know nothing." There is still so much to learn - and I intend to spend my life making a tiny dent into that great mountain of knowledge. I do not see my task as impossible, though I know there is too much for just one person to know. I see it as a worthy challenge - to see how much knowledge I absorb, and then to test my use of it.

What did I do well? Ah, research. I love to do research. Research takes me anywhere from double to quadruple the amount of time it takes me to actually write the story or paper. Each page of typing takes about an hour. So for a five page short story, I spend 5 hours writing it and anywhere from 10 to 40 hours doing research on various topics. I think it pays off. And I learn a lot. But I'm sure not everyone has the extreme patience I have... or takes as copious quantities of research notes.

What could I have done better? Given more time to hone my writing skills, yes I could have done better in this class. But given to where I am right now in the matter of things? Then no. This is as good as my writing is currently. Sad, but true. Perhaps someday I will grace bookshelves with volumes of my work.

Until then, I will continue to read, and write, and eventually, by accident of brilliance, I will come to a greater understanding of the literary arts. Or I will find that I already have that understanding, I just chose to be blind to it at this time. That is the tricky part of hindsight...

Do I feel prepared or unprepared to continue my studies? This question is moot. Whether I'm prepared or not, I plan to spend the rest of my life studying! Have you seen my personal research library? No? Not surprising, but let me describe a small slice of it: it's filled with treatises on Medieval magic, Medieval alchemy, Medieval philosophy, Ancient Egyptian, Byzantine and Greek healing practices, astrology from around the world, herbs, religion from around the world, tomes upon tomes of mythology... and it is constantly growing based on whatever I find interesting or useful. Sufi poetry? Got it. Obscure religious texts (translated into English) from 15th Century Italy. Check. Thompson Tale-Type Motifs? Yep. Turkish folklore? Bottom shelf!

And if I don't have something, I know where to find it. Early English Books Online is a great source for those Medieval treatises on alchemy (eebo.chadwick.com/home). And www.theoi.com is possibly the most comprehensive site in the world for Ancient Greek Gods, Goddesses, Demi-Gods, monsters, heroes... There are so many great resources, and I have a feeling I'll be using all of them as I continue to write.

How did I contribute to the experiences of other students in this class? Ah, now this is a tricky question. I do not know. I am not the other students. Was I annoying with my in-class comments? Was I too aloof? Was I scary? Did I teach anyone anything? I guess I'll have to ask people about this one...

As I mentioned at the beginning, class is not yet over. So there may be more things that come up that I will feel the need to write about. I reserve this space for future comments - for I'm sure that they will come.