Visual of Nemesis

My nemesis was fictional: I wrote my narrative from the point of view of someone who cannot encode his short-term memories into long-term memories (a disorder that some people actually suffer with). However, I chose to do this subject because I do often times have trouble remembering things. Usually, it's the little things, like taking out the trash or printing an article. Although they are problematic, nothing cataclysmic results from the error. Occasionally though, I forget something huge, let's say to write a paper for school, which is obviously a colossal error. Imagining the life of someone who couldn't remember anything past a few moments reflected my situation, but also made me feel grateful for the memory that I do possess.

Here is a visual representation of what it can feel like when I forget things. It conveys the absolute power of the forgetfulness, while demonstrating how easy yet frustrating the situation can be.

Ira Glass

The more interesting part of Ira's discussion was the fact that one must "kill" the inferior parts of one's work. Now, Mr. Glass was referring to this idea from the perspective of radio broadcasting, but it is a notion that everyone can relate to, but one that only the most adept succeed in implementing.

At the beginning of any creative process, one will inevitably end up with "crap", as Ira so honestly put it. From my own experience, I can say that whether I am writing a poem, drafting a Magic deck, or composing a piece of music, only a miracle will result in a consummate first copy. The hardest part of revising this crap is weeding out certain lines, cards, notes, or phrases to add to the overall meaning or efficiency of the piece. This task becomes particularly daunting when I must remove a fragment of the work that I have taken a particularly intimate liking to, let's say it's a line in a poem. I may know very well that it needs to be removed for the overall success of the piece, though when I remove that single line, it feels as if part of me has contracted a terrible disease and died a gruesome death. So, Ira is right--in order to be successful, one must be willing to murder the crap he or she creates for the good of his or her work. Unfortunately, just identifying this fact isn't enough, and the real struggle is actually getting rid of some part of your work that you have grown attached to.

Open Mic Night

I thought the open night mic went fairly well. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, and although not too many more people outside of our class attended, students in the UC were turning and listening to us, which I found to be cool. Sure, there were a few distractions, and the microphone can be a bit difficult to speak into if one is not comfortable with it, but overall, it was a great experience.
My performance went better than I imagined also--it wasn't perfect, but I thought I did well both with my speaking and playing, so I hope that people enjoyed it. Everyone's works were quite outstanding actually--I was surprised at the unbelievable talent of those in our class.
When we talked about the event on Monday night, people believed that it would be better to have it in a more theatre-like auditorium or classroom--an opinion that I disagreed (and still disagree) with. Even though only one person outside of Engl 223 presented, many people walked by and were introduced to the event. If it was at a more isolated location, people would have to know about it ahead of time, and locate the specified meeting area on campus. I will be honest--I wouldn't go through all that trouble, unless it was at a convenient time for me. However, if I just saw some people presenting in the UC while eating my lunch, I would be much more inclined to participate and listen.
That being said, I do believe that the time needs to be a bit earlier. For people who live farther away and who don't stay on campus very late, the event was quite inconvenient. If we just moved it up a couple hours (to maybe 4 or 5 o'clock), people would be much more inclined to stay and share the experience with us.
Overall, I would like to do the open mic night again, and although we could have had a better turn-out, I do not think that a different location would resolve that issue.