All about that Blog, 'bout that blog, no problem

      So for the first time ever I went to a ball last night with my fiance´ called "Unmasking Domestic Violence". It was a big-time black tie event with all of the who's who of Lafayette and West Lafayette in attendance. Halfway through the keynote speech by Purdue Professor Marcia Gentry (her speech was incredibly moving, and I suggest watching a speech by her daughter on Youtube if you want to know more about their event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFJ69V7LRaA), I was really inspired for my blog. Professor Gentry chose to give the details of her assault in a stream-of-consciousness style that both fit the way the mind works during a traumatic event and expressed her experience in a direct yet profound way that allowed the audience to connect to what was a horrific and unwarranted assault on her life. Being a creative writing (poetry) major, I especially appreciate stream of consciousness as a form of poetry that is similar when read aloud to spoken-word and evokes a lot of physical and emotional response from readers and listeners alike.

      Because of this speech, because Professor gentry was able to communicate a particularly emotional message and depart great import to her audience (to help garner donations and spread awareness), I realized that I can do the same. After all, a short story is really just a long poem. Often in class at Purdue I have engaged in group exercises which seek to stretch our brains by truly analyzing the importance and significance of every single word. Each word is valuable, and each combination of words even more valuable. That being said it ought to be possible (with an abundance of deliberate concentration) to slim our stories down into poetry, even going as far as using direct words from the stories.

      Another example of how this will work is the Bible. I will not identify as being part of any particular alignment in terms of my own spiritual beliefs, but I will acknowledge that a great deal of people have spent their lives studying the Bible as a guideline, and a very large number of people have spent their lives studying it solely on the basis of literature in the context of culture. It is widely accepted that the Psalms of David are indeed poetry, as it is also widely accepted that many forms of musical lyrics are poetic. My point is this: I can take short stories and slim them down into poetry if thousands of people over a long span of time are allowed to take the poetry of the Bible and turn it into sermons and parables (this view coming purely from a literary standpoint and making no assessment either way about the validity of anything to do with the content or how it is perceived by anyone in and of itself).

      So hence my blog. Over the course of the next month or so I will make some shaky but enthusiastic attempts to turn our stories into poetry while still retaining the key points and the original author's voice. I will do this by using their words, by focusing on the themes that were originally intended, and by writing as if to the original audience intended (I will be doing more research on these authors and their time obviously). Each poem will be followed by my own challenges and thoughts as I processed through the stories. I will make sure to speak about why I kept things I did and why I think those things were important, and I will attempt to gain insight into the way the author processed things when first writing the original story.

     I will also talk a bit about why I chose not to include other items. I may elaborate upon the poetic styles I use and why I chose that specific mode to carry the story, and how I think it contributes to what the original author was going for. So maybe if poetry is your thing you would find it interesting and see how we compare and if poetry is not your thing then you will probably learn a couple new ideas. That's all for now, I have a cat begging for my love and attention. Until next time, dear readers!

Au Revoir,

Julia