View of the Praan-Based Courts, and So Could Not Care Less About Working for the Government

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

View of the Praan-Based Courts, and So Could Not Care Less About Working for the Government ABSTRACT BLOOD OF THE WINDMAKER by Elizabeth Jenike BLOOD OF THE WINDMAKER is a fantasy/steam punk novel that attempts to make an exploration into human bodies and their significance/insignificance using fantasy tropes and an inverted Journey of the Hero structure. During the writing of this, I was especially interested in subversions and “otherings” of the human body—tattoo markings have an intricate role in the magic system of my world, but the acquisition of this “magic” marks a person as Other. I’m trying to answer the questions: why do some bodies generate more meaning than others? What do bodies really “mean”? BLOOD OF THE WINDMAKER A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of English by Elizabeth Jenike Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2014 Advisor: Brian Roley Reader: Margaret Luongo Reader: Kay Sloan Table of Contents PART I Chapter 1: TO BREAK THE LAW……………………………………………..p. 2 Chapter 2: A STRANGE WARMTH…………………………………………...p. 7 Chapter 3: AN AWKWARD SILENCE………………………………………...p. 14 Chapter 4: THE APPLICATION PROCESS……………………………………p. 21 Chapter 5: GREATSTORM……………………………………………………..p. 25 Chapter 6: OPTIONS……………………………………………………………p. 30 Chapter 7: LETTERS AND WARNINGS………………………………………p. 35 Chapter 8: A FEW QUIET WORDS…………………………………………….p. 43 PART II Chapter 9: NEW WINGS………………………………………………………..p. 50 Chapter 10: ANOTHER NOTE………………………………………………….p. 55 Chapter 11: A SMALL BLACK BOX…………………………………………..p. 59 Chapter 12: BLUE CLOAKS AND AMBER ALE……………………………..p. 64 Chapter 13: FORGIVE ME……………………………………………………...p. 68 Chapter 14: A BRAND NEW BOX FOR YOUR SOUL……………………….p. 74 PART III Chapter 15: WAITING………………………………………………………….p. 80 Chapter 16: EPIPHANY………………………………………………………...p. 81 Chapter 17: A QUESTION OF PROPRIETY…………………………………..p. 87 Chapter 18: SO MUCH RED……………………………………………………p. 94 Chapter 19: RA’IM……………………………………………………………...p. 99 Chapter 20: SOMETHING BURNING………………………………………….p. 105 PART IV Chapter 21: EVERYTHING…………………………………………………….p. 112 Chapter 22: TROUBLE STARTER……………………………………………..p. 113 Chapter 23: A PROPOSITION………………………………………………….p. 119 Chapter 24: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS…………………………………...p. 128 Chapter 25: MECHANICAL CHAIR……………………………………………p. 136 Chapter 26: CACOPHONY……………………………………………………...p. 140 Chapter 27: SYLOOMS………………………………………………………….p. 147 ii PART I 1 Chapter 1 TO BREAK THE LAW The wind was just right today. A good breeze gusted around the small city of Briia, fully unfurling the standards that littered rooftops, displaying house colors and symbols, shop slogans, and simple city decoration. The small mountain ledge barely accommodated the steadily growing metropolis. Briia had started out as a small merchants’ gathering, mostly a pit stop for traders on their way up the western mountains. In the present age, however, the once-tiny trading post sprawled all over the mountainside. Lanterns were beginning to shine bright enough to be seen in the fading light of the day, illuminating gleaming white buildings. Katrya Millor grinned as she watched the city steadily approach. She knew that when she docked in this town, she would find a proper merchant to unload the cargo her ship carried. Wine was precious, especially to the “connoisseurs” this far up in the mountains, and she had fourteen full-to-bursting barrels of it sloshing around belowdecks, waiting for the right amount of money to exchange hands. So she smiled, imagining the payoff her most recent excursion to the valley floor would bring. Her small ship, a kebek large enough only for the four full-time crew members to live and work, groaned as the wind took hold of its sails. She slapped her hands on the bow in annoyance and shouted over her shoulder, “Carefully, guys. I don’t want a repeat of what happened in Vilomel.” Her poor ship, named the Arienna after her grandmother, was still trying to recover from the hull beating it had received on the valley floor. “You worry too much, Ree,” Machinir Libbin called from his position near the central mast. “We landed on the ground in Vilomel; rocks aren’t good for hulls.” He grunted as he heaved on a rope connected to the main mast; the main sail shifted slightly. “Now, we’re in the air. So quit complaining.” “Yes, let us do our jobs,” said Ien Sandir, smiling quietly from the stern. Her Navigator’s tanned face accentuated the bright blue wing-shaped tattoos at the corners of his eyes. He turned away from her and closed those eyes, clasping his hands together at his waist. Concentrating—the wind seemed to swirl with a little more . amusement was the only word she could think of to describe the warmth that brushed her cheeks. Returning her gaze to Briia, crawling closer and closer every time she saw it, Katrya rolled her eyes. Smiling a little herself, she admitted that Ien was right. Her kebek, and all other ships, were, after all, made to tread in the skies—not on soil. She turned away from the bow and from the approaching city, focusing instead on the members of her crew as they scurried about, preparing to dock. Ien stood, as usual, with hands clasped behind his back near the central mast. Now that he had nothing to chide her about, he stared into space with an expression of deep concentration etched across his features. Wind tugged at the ship’s sails: one on the main mast and one each at the front and back of the ship, and also two on each side that acted almost like a bird’s wings. Ien, as the Navigator, used his dominion over the wind to carry the ship on its journeys. She didn’t know how it worked; she didn’t question. It was just the way the world functioned. Navigators used the wind to pull ships. Katrya’s job was simply to give orders and see that they were followed. Nola Reen, the boatswain that oversaw repairs on Ree’s ship, waved at her from her position up near the fore of the ship. Not only did Nola oversee repairs, but she worked as a regular crewman as well—with only four crew members on this tiny vessel, even Ree did her share of the dirty work. 2 “Hey Ree,” Nola said. “I sure hope that wine gets us a good vacation. I feel like we’ve been in the sky for years.” Nola tugged on a rope near the side of the ship, causing one of the “wings” to angle sharply and sending the ship into a slow turn toward the harbor waiting straight ahead. Nola’s long black hair, tied out of her face with a bit of twine, swung around her in the gentle wind, along with her deep green skirts. “I wouldn’t count on it,” barked Machinir in response to Nola’s wishful words. He heaved on another rope, this one connected to the side sail. “Wine fetches good money, especially this high up, but there are four of us, and I want a flagon of beer. Or seven.” Mack’s scarred face broke into a grin, flashing rows of yellowing teeth at Nola, who smirked. His large muscles strained to hold the rope steady, but he still talked with ease, his gruff voice carrying a hint of amusement. “And besides, I get to decide where the money goes. After we divide it between my beer and you three, we might have a copper kip left.” The dock, approaching steadily, protruded from the ledge, thrusting out over a sheer drop down the mountainside. The huge mountains afforded the opportunity to build cities within the confines of the rocky walls. The dock, jutting out into the void of the mountain range, was large enough to safely house eight or nine ships of varying sizes—from small boats such as Katrya’s kebek to the huge carriers used by the Courts. One such carrier caught her eye, and she sucked in her breath. Beautiful. Somehow the governing body of Daen employed the world’s most skilled metalsmiths to plate the hulls of their ships. And instead of proper sails, the gigantic ships boasted great rudders and engines that propelled them through the skies. Even though she had little idea how the engine worked, Katrya would have given her left arm to be the captain on one of those great beasts. The Court of Ships had overlooked her application for a consecutive three years now, but perhaps this fourth would be her year. Mount willing, she swore to herself. The kebek slid smoothly into the pier. Briia loomed above them, a white-washed city of fast-talking merchants and kind but wary citizens. Smiling, she nodded to herself and went to inspect the cargo. “Below-decks” was a generous term for the place she kept her wares. The kebek was too small for a large space beneath their feet, but there was enough room for about fifteen barrels of wine or twenty medium-sized crates. As a small-time merchant that had to take whatever came her way, Katrya had to know the capacity of her mode of transport. And as a woman who lived on her ship, she had to know the limits of her home. By the time she had opened the hatch to step down into the cramped area, noted that the wine was in good condition, and came back to the deck, Nola, Mack, and Ien had already lashed the boat to the pier. The gangplank was lowered, and she saw Ien nod to her, a smile in his eyes. The dark blue robes of his position rippled in the steady breeze. Returning the smile, she fingered the hilt of the long knife at her side—only worn for precaution’s sake; in this line of work, one never knew who or what would come against her—and stepped from the sky onto the wooden walkway protruding from the city and, ultimately, the mountainside that soared above and around them.
Recommended publications
  • The Terena and the Caduveo of Southern Mato Grosso, Brazil
    SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION n INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOQY H PUBLICATION NO. 9 THE TERENA AND THE CADUVEO OF SOUTHERN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL by KALERVO OBERG Digitalizado pelo Internet Archive. Disponível na Biblioteca Digital Curt Nimuendaju: http://biblio.etnolinguistica.org/oberg_1949_terena SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 9 THE TERENA AND THE CADUVEO OF SOUTHERN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL by KALERVO OBERG Prepared in Cooperation tiith the United States Department of State as a Project of the Interdrpartmental Committee on Scientific and Cultural Cooperation UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PIIINTING OFFICE-WASHINGTON:1949 For Bale by the Superintendent of Documenn, U.^S. Government Printing Office, WaohinBton 25, D. C. • Price 60 c LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL Smithsonian Institution, Institute of Social Anthropology, WashinfftonSS, D. C, May 6, 1948 Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a manuscript entitled "The Terena and the Caduveo of Soutliern Mato Grosso, Brazil," by Kalervo Oberg, and to recommend that it be published as Publication Number 9 of the Institute of Social Anthropologj'. Very respectfully yours, George M. Foster, Director. Dr. Alexander Wetmore, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. CONTENTS PAGE The Terena—Continued page Introduction 1 The hfe cycle 38 The Terena 6 Birth (ipuhicoti-hiuki) 38 Terena economy in the Chaco 6 Puberty 39 Habitat 6 Marriage (koyendti) 39 Shelter 8 Burial 40 Clothing and ornaments 9 Collecting, hunting, and fishing 9 Modern changes 41 Agriculture 10 Religion 41 Domestic animals and birds 12 Rehgious beliefs 41 Manufactures 12 Shamanism 43 Raiding 13 Present-day religion 45 Property and inheritance 13 Secular entertainment 47 Organization of labor 13 Dances and games 47 Present-day economy of the Terena 13 General description 13 Football 51 Sources of income in a typical village.
    [Show full text]
  • FAHRENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury This One, with Gratitude, Is for DON CONGDON
    FAHRENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury This one, with gratitude, is for DON CONGDON. FAHRENHEIT 451: The temperature at which book-paper catches fire and burns PART I: THE HEARTH AND THE SALAMANDER IT WAS A PLEASURE TO BURN. IT was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history. With his symbolic helmet numbered 451 on his stolid head, and his eyes all orange flame with the thought of what came next, he flicked the igniter and the house jumped up in a gorging fire that burned the evening sky red and yellow and black. He strode in a swarm of fireflies. He wanted above all, like the old joke, to shove a marshmallow on a stick in the furnace, while the flapping pigeon- winged books died on the porch and lawn of the house. While the books went up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind turned dark with burning. Montag grinned the fierce grin of all men singed and driven back by flame. He knew that when he returned to the firehouse, he might wink at himself, a minstrel man, Does% burntcorked, in the mirror. Later, going to sleep, he would feel the fiery smile still gripped by his Montag% face muscles, in the dark.
    [Show full text]
  • Gaslightpdffinal.Pdf
    Credits. Book Layout and Design: Miah Jeffra Cover Artwork: Pseudodocumentation: Broken Glass by David DiMichele, Courtesy of Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco ISBN: 978-0-692-33821-6 The Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices is made possible, in part, by a generous contribution by Amazon.com Gaslight Vol. 1 No. 1 2014 Gaslight is published once yearly in Los Angeles, California Gaslight is exclusively a publication of recipients of the Lambda Literary Foundation's Emerging Voices Fellowship. All correspondence may be addressed to 5482 Wilshire Boulevard #1595 Los Angeles, CA 90036 Details at www.lambdaliterary.org. Contents Director's Note . 9 Editor's Note . 11 Lisa Galloway / Epitaph ..................................13 / Hives ....................................16 Jane Blunschi / Snapdragon ................................18 Miah Jeffra / Coffee Spilled ................................31 Victor Vazquez / Keiki ....................................35 Christina Quintana / A Slip of Moon ........................36 Morgan M Page / Cruelty .................................51 Wayne Johns / Where Your Children Are ......................53 Wo Chan / Our Majesties at Michael's Craft Shop ..............66 / [and I, thirty thousand feet in the air, pop] ...........67 / Sonnet by Lamplight ............................68 Yana Calou / Mortars ....................................69 Hope Thompson/ Sharp in the Dark .........................74 Yuska Lutfi Tuanakotta / Mother and Son Go Shopping ..........82 Megan McHugh / I Don't Need to Talk
    [Show full text]
  • King's Speech
    FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION 2010 BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY David Seidler THE KING'S SPEECH Screenplay by David Seidler See-Saw Films/Bedlam Productions CARD: 1925 King George V reigns over a quarter of the world’s population. He asks his second son, the Duke of York, to give the closing speech at the Empire Exhibition in Wembley, London. INT. BBC BROADCASTING HOUSE, STUDIO - DAY CLOSE ON a BBC microphone of the 1920's, A formidable piece of machinery suspended on springs. A BBC NEWS READER, in a tuxedo with carnation boutonniere, is gargling while a TECHNICIAN holds a porcelain bowl and a towel at the ready. The man in the tuxedo expectorates discreetly into the bowl, wipes his mouth fastidiously, and signals to ANOTHER TECHNICIAN who produces an atomizer. The Reader opens his mouth, squeezes the rubber bulb, and sprays his inner throat. Now, he’s ready. The reader speaks in flawless pear-shaped tones. There’s no higher creature in the vocal world. BBC NEWS READER Good afternoon. This is the BBC National Programme and Empire Services taking you to Wembley Stadium for the Closing Ceremony of the Second and Final Season of the Empire Exhibition. INT. CORRIDOR, WEMBLEY STADIUM - DAY CLOSE ON a man's hand clutching a woman's hand. Woman’s mouth whispers into man's ear. BBC NEWS READER (V.O.) 58 British Colonies and Dominions have taken part, making this the largest Exhibition staged anywhere in the world. Complete with the new stadium, the Exhibition was built in Wembley, Middlesex at a cost of over 12 million pounds.
    [Show full text]
  • The Construction and Export of African American Images in Hip-Hop Culture
    East Tennessee State University Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University Electronic Theses and Dissertations Student Works 5-2006 "Don't Believe the Hype": The onsC truction and Export of African American Images in Hip-Hop Culture. John Ike Sewell Jr. East Tennessee State University Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd Part of the African American Studies Commons, and the American Popular Culture Commons Recommended Citation Sewell, John Ike Jr., ""Don't Believe the Hype": The onC struction and Export of African American Images in Hip-Hop Culture." (2006). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2193. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2193 This Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Works at Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “Don’t Believe The Hype”: The Construction and Export of African American Images in Hip-Hop Culture ____________ A thesis presented to the faculty of the Department of Communication East Tennessee State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in Professional Communication ____________ by John Ike Sewell, Jr. May 2006 ____________ Amber Kinser, Ph.D., Chair Primus Tillman, Ph.D. John Morefield, Ph.D. ____________ Keywords: Hip-hop, Rap Music, Imagery, Blackness, Archetype ABSTRACT “Don’t Believe the Hype:” The Construction and Export of African American Images in Hip-Hop Culture by John Ike Sewell, Jr.
    [Show full text]
  • The Last Days of John Lennon
    Copyright © 2020 by James Patterson Hachette Book Group supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce creative works that enrich our culture. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights. Little, Brown and Company Hachette Book Group 1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104 littlebrown.com twitter.com/littlebrown facebook.com/littlebrownandcompany First ebook edition: December 2020 Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc. The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc. The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher. The Hachette Speakers Bureau provides a wide range of authors for speaking events. To find out more, go to hachettespeakersbureau.com or call (866) 376-6591. ISBN 978-0-316-42907-8 Library of Congress Control Number: 2020945289 E3-111020-DA-ORI Table of Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 — Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 — Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24
    [Show full text]
  • Please Take Me with You
    3,149 words Please Take Me with You “Good God, it REEKS!” The shrill voice cut through the silence which permeated the cramped quarters of our Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle. “Smells like money to me, Doc,” the reply floated down to us through the roof-mounted turret. “I’m in the wrong business!” “I can’t believe they let you have a gun, McCloud,” Sergeant Strauss snapped, removing her glasses to wipe watery eyes with the edge of a worn, digital-patterned sleeve. It did reek. The sour, pungent smell of marijuana poured through the open turret and sliced through the familiar stink of sweat-soaked leather and motor oil, assaulting our noses. We’d been on the road for over an hour, heading to a small combat outpost on the outskirts of the Arghandab River Valley district of Kandahar Province to drop supplies or provide security or clear the roads—I don’t remember the ‘whys’ now; I’m not sure I ever knew them in the first place—I only remember the ‘whos.’ The banter continued, a distant buzz while I squinted through inches of foggy, ballistic glass at the world outside. This was my first time leaving the outpost, my first glimpse of Afghanistan that wasn’t skewed by barbed wire or distanced by the bird’s eye view from a guard tower. It didn’t look like the Afghanistan I’d seen on CNN at all. It’s so green, I thought to myself, remembering the footage I’d seen of a UH-6 Black Hawk helicopter flying over Kandahar, the city a maze of muddy walls and more shades of brown than I’d ever known existed.
    [Show full text]
  • Cinéma, De Notre Temps
    PROFIL Cinéma, de notre Temps Une collection dirigée par Janine Bazin et André S. Labarthe John Ford et Alfred Hitchcock Le loup et l’agneau le 4 juillet 2001 Danièle Huillet et Jean-Marie Straub le 11 juillet 2001 Aki Kaurismäki le 18 juillet 2001 Georges Franju, le visionnaire le 25 juillet 2001 Rome brûlée, portrait de Shirley Clarke le 1er août 2001 Akerman autoportrait le 8 août 2001 23.15 tous les mercredis du 4 juillet au 8 août Contact presse : Céline Chevalier / Nadia Refsi - 01 55 00 70 41 / 70 40 [email protected] / [email protected] La collection Cinéma, de notre temps Cinéma, de notre temps, collection deux fois née*, c'est tout le contraire d'un pèlerinage à Hollywood, " cette marchande de coups de re v o l v e r et (…) de tout ce qui fait circuler le sang ". C'est la tentative obstinée d'éclairer et de montre r, dans chacun des films qui la composent, comment le cinéma est bien l'art de notre temps et combien il est, à ce titre, redevable de bien autre chose que de réponses mondaines, de commentaires savants ou de célébrations. La programmation de cette collection est l'occasion de de constater combien ces " œuvres de télévision " échappent aux outrages du temps et constituent une constellation unique au monde dans le ciel du 7è m e a rt . Thierry Garrel Directeur de l'Unité de Programmes Documentaires à ARTE France *En 1964, Janine Bazin et André S Labarthe créent Cinéastes de notre temps.
    [Show full text]
  • Fahrenheit 451
    1 FAHRENHEIT 451 By Ray Bradbury This one, with gratitude, is for DON CONGDON. FAHRENHEIT 451: The temperature at which book-paper catches fire and burns PART I IT WAS A PLEASURE TO BURN IT was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history. With his symbolic helmet numbered 451 on his stolid head, and his eyes all orange flame with the thought of what came next, he flicked the igniter and the house jumped up in a gorging fire that burned the evening sky red and yellow and black. He strode in a swarm of fireflies. He wanted above all, like the old joke, to shove a marshmallow on a stick in the furnace, while the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and lawn of the house. While the books went up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind turned dark with burning. Montag grinned the fierce grin of all men singed and driven back by flame. He knew that when he returned to the firehouse, he might wink at himself, a minstrel man, burnt-corked, in the mirror. Later, going to sleep, he would feel the fiery smile still gripped by his face muscles, in the dark.
    [Show full text]
  • Homeless Mutant Quest 26-50.Docx
    HOMELESS MUTANT QUEST Threads 26-50 By Crusty Jones X-men was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and are owned by Marvel (pls don’t sue him Mickey) Thread #26 Thread #27 Thread #28 Thread #29 Thread #30 Thread #31 Thread #32 Thread #33 Thread #34 Thread #35 Thread #36 Thread #37 Thread #38 Thread #39 Thread #40 Thread #41 Thread #42 Thread #43 Thread #44 Thread #45 Thread #46 Thread #47 Thread #48 Thread #49 Thread #50 Thread #26 As the evening descends, so do the birds. You pick your way through the scar in silence, Gabriella ambling just about alongside you, her breath staggering noisily as she flinches and shuffles and cringes her way over the snow. Laura is hanging back somewhat – whenever you slow down, you can’t quite seem to pull her closer, her pace shifting to accommodate, keeping her orbiting at a fair distance. Occasionally you’re sure you can feel her eyes boring into your back. But you can feel everyone’s eyes doing that – it’s just who you are. The scar is easy nesting. When the sun dims, the pigeons and the crows and the other tiny, winged shapes you couldn’t put a name to crowd in, their collective rustling and preening rising as a sort of low, reverent applause, clapping the day off stage. It edges away and away along the sky until there’s only red, and the thin, withered winter clouds take on the appearance of long wounds. Thinking about the scar is a good distraction.
    [Show full text]
  • Writing Wounded: Trauma, Testimony, and Critical Witness in Literacy Classrooms Extending the Conversation
    D u t r o > Writing Wounded Extending the Conversation Writing Wounded: Trauma, Testimony, and Critical Witness in Literacy Classrooms Elizabeth Dutro The scream that goes through the house is the heartbeat that makes audible, at last, who we are, how resonant we are, how connected we are. —Weinstein, 2003, p. xii n his book, A Scream Goes through the House, literary scholar Arnold Wein- Istein writes that he once began the first session of his university literature course by asking his students, “How many of you are hurting now?” His point is that emotions are part and parcel of literature study and of class- room life and too often bracketed from our notions of what constitutes an education or a curriculum. He also writes that he could have asked about other emotions—“How many of you are delighted?” (2003, p. xxii)—and the students would be equally surprised by the question. Equally surprised? Prob- ably. But equally affected? I don’t think so. I think Weinstein asked about hurt because he intuits that pain, loss, trauma—whatever term we might attach to it—is the most resonant emotion to tap for his goals of supporting students’ connections to the visceral aspects of literary engagement. In my university teaching and through my research with students in high-poverty schools, I have come to believe that such an explicit acknowledgment of the hard stuff of life is important in classrooms. I must believe it or I would not choose to share, in the first session of my writing classes, this draft of an autobiographical essay: When the subject of siblings arises at dinner parties, I consider my re- sponses carefully.
    [Show full text]
  • Gritting Teeth: a Memoir of Unhealthy Love Samantha L
    Western Kentucky University TopSCHOLAR® Masters Theses & Specialist Projects Graduate School 12-2010 Gritting Teeth: A Memoir of Unhealthy Love Samantha L. Day Western Kentucky University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses Part of the Creative Writing Commons, and the Social Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Day, Samantha L., "Gritting Teeth: A Memoir of Unhealthy Love" (2010). Masters Theses & Specialist Projects. Paper 230. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/230 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by TopSCHOLAR®. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses & Specialist Projects by an authorized administrator of TopSCHOLAR®. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GRITTING TEETH: A MEMOIR OF UNHEALTHY LOVE A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of English Western Kentucky University Bowling Green, Kentucky In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts By Samantha L. Day December 2010 GRITTING TEETH: A MEMOIR OF UNHEALTHY LOVE Date Recommended Alo V. ;3 ~~(?~ ,I DirecoTOf Thesis ~ P~A.~ )4- '2J.,,~11 Dean, Graduate Studies and Research Date -- ---------i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many thanks to my thesis director, Dale Rigby, for his input, encouragement, and mentorship over the past year. I also want to thank my other committee members, David LeNoir and Wes Berry, for their patience and support. I owe my parents, Carol and John Nomikos, a million times over for putting me up when I had nowhere else to go and kicking me in the ass when I was ready to give up. And to April Schofield: Thanks for having faith in my writing and my ability to pull through.
    [Show full text]