Your out-of-class work day concludes with a blog post where you share your story about your researching journey.
Part I:
Tell your “story” of your research findings and experiences, including but not limited to, your interview(s), observations, and surveys. In other words, I want you to actually tell the story of your process as if it was a story and not simply a project you were completing for class. Your audience is mainstream people.
Some things to remember about this reflection: it should read like a story, and stories have a central point; they aim for an emotional response; and they are engaging.
Given that this class centers on media ecology and vampires, you must include a paranormal element to your story.
Your story needs to be 350-500 words.
Part II:
The second part of this blog post: you need to respond (comment back) to a peer's post--you MUST do this to receive full credit. This means underneath someone's post, you need to click "reply" and comment on their post.
Due: Tuesday, May 15, 2012 BY 11:59 PM in order to be in attendance and receive credit for your work day.
May 15:
ReplyDeleteAs I pored over the books in my study, I grew increasingly distracted. The light dimmed as wax melted off the candle and dripped onto the brass holder, hardening into long strands. Finally, I sat back in my chair and looked out the window. The night was still young and I needed to find a cure. Determined, I went back to my books. I absent-mindedly ran a finger over the two wounds in my neck as I flipped through the decaying pages. The crucifixes and garlic hadn’t done their job. A few nights ago I had woken up with a huge figure looming over me. There was a piercing pain in my neck, then weakness as I felt the life drain out of me. The next thing I remembered was the early morning sun filtering in through my window and burning my arm. I jerked up and pulled my arm out of the light. My left hand was bright red and blistering. I need to find a cure.
I believe I am becoming a vampire. Before I try to stop this, I need to know the history of the vampire. I have found records dating all the way back to ancient Egypt of life-stealing monsters, but these didn’t appear to be what we consider a vampire. In distress, I grabbed a few books from the library that discussed the vampire and death. There had to be something I could do. Every single book said there is no known cure for becoming a vampire, but some offered a possible medical explanation. However, I knew that these explanations didn’t hold as much ground as would be believed because, in my fear, I contacted Dr. Joseph Laycock to learn his thoughts on the subject. He believed that the majority of vampire stories were simply made up to cause excitement and stir up towns, but that couldn’t possibly be the reason. I saw the figure with my own two eyes. Its dark eyes, pale skin, hunched figure, and dark clothing could only have meant one thing.
I turned to the cinemas next to try and learn more about the vampire. After watching a multitude of movies, I could tell that the vampire was changing. These weren’t the monster that had attacked me. No, these had become romanticized, almost sexualized in their forms. I don’t know what to do. I can’t go on living like this. I know I will start craving blood soon and I have to stop myself before I do…
CORONER’S REPORT:
Body was discovered the morning of May 16, lying in a field. Skin covered in blisters and peeling in many places. Unknown whether boiled alive or burned to death. Further investigation needed.
I really enjoyed how descriptive this was, especially the first paragraph. I could vividly imagine the study that you created. I also like the suspense and how the ending is really uncertain.
DeleteThis is a really well done piece with great gothic elements. The way you describe the scene and your surroundings really made it realistic and fun to read.
DeleteI liked the old detective style to this. It made it very interesting and I could easily visualize you sitting behind a desk with lamp light, in a panic trying to decipher the mystery.
DeleteYou use great imagery and descriptive language to set an appropriate mood and tense atmosphere
DeleteIt had stormed the night before and the smell of rain enlivened my senses, dulled by days of preparation. Nick from across the hall asked me if I wanted to go get dinner I told him to, “F#$k Off.” The door slammed as he exited. I stared determined at my computer, “I got a motherf*cking research report to write.” I don't mess around when I write. Its do or die, kill or be killed. For days I didn't move from the chair, I hooked up an intravenous drip to fight off dehydration. Once a man wrongly came to my door to deliver Jimmy Johns. I killed him.
ReplyDeleteAfter many days I completed the first step in the process of writing a wonderful research paper, my research proposal. The next step was to find myself a vampire. I promptly donned my vampire hunting clothes which have a lot of leather and very little modesty. I have to admit I look damn good in them. Off I went to find a vampire.
My journey brought me to LA where I met with a woman named Tyra who I had fooled around with on and off for years. Truthfully she wasn't aging well, but I refrained from telling her that. After a night of “research” I was leaving her mansion when I saw a strangely pale man with hair black as a raven and fingernails that would make any Jersey girl proud. It couldn't be--- King Don of the Vampires. Little did I know that I wasn't the only one “researching” with Tyra. It ends up I was one of many including the King of Vampires. Feeling jilted by the woman I didn't love I approached Don carefully and invited him for a drink at a local watering hole, The Border.
The Border was a dangerous place where only the scum of the earth chose to frequent. Some say that you had to lose your soul to cross into the Border, I found that a little ironic since Don didn't have one. As we sat there we discussed whether he knew a werewolf I could find. I don't remember what he said because the pitcher of long island iced tea-- which was only ten bucks by the way-- was composed of the normal 10 percent rufalin expected at the Border. When I woke up the next day he directed me to London to find my elusive werewolf. He said there was a man there who go's by the name, Werewolf of London.
I spent years tracking this elusive werewolf, but I finally found him during the full moon. He had just finished feeding on what appeared to be Marshall McLuhan. I followed him back to his home where I was surprised to learn that the werewolf resided in some strange hippie commune that smelled strongly of camomile tea and red wine.
The next day I stormed the commune and found myself face to face with no-one other than a hungover Amit Rai. We fought for what seemed like days, but in the end I won out with my superior intelligence and he in turn ceded defeat. In return for sparing his life he allowed me to ask him three questions. I did so, but fell asleep during the interview for some strange reason. I then returned home and wrote of the dynamic relationship of werewolves and vampires and the singular evolutions that have contributed to this polarizing relationship. It was perfect.
yes
DeleteI loved this mini-story! I imagined a film-noir style monologue overlaid on a detective walking in the rain. I like how you incorporated your different sources into the story, giving each a part that somehow fit into the world you created.
DeleteHAHAHAHAHAHA
DeleteJust...too brilliant.
DeleteI wonder who this Nick person is... You should have included Jason in your story. He should have been a regular at the Border
DeleteOh Jordan! Thank you for the chuckle! I enjoyed the profanity and Nick-bashing!
DeleteI sit down in the library to begin my research essay with a stack of articles and books in front of me. “I don’t have time to read all of this,” I think to myself. But I start anyway. I’m halfway through Hallab’s book when I find myself beginning to doze. I try to stay awake, after all I’ve got a lot more to do, but before I know it I’m asleep.
ReplyDeleteAs I sleep, Hallab, Irwin, Herbert and the other authors rise up around me. “This girls’ got a lot to do,” they say. “Let’s help her out.” They each grab their own books or articles and begin highlighting all of the key points. They work hard while I doze on.
“Well,” Hallab says after they’ve finished, “Now what? We’ve got to make sense of all of this information.”
“I know!” says Irwin. “Let’s compare our themes and write up a lit review!”
“Sounds like fun!” agrees Hallab. They continue working and I continue sleeping.
“We’ve divided this into themes, but let’s go even further” says Irwin. “Let’s write a full research essay following the evolution of religion in vampiric works! We can put all of our favorite quotes in it, and just for the heck of it, let’s make it super long!”
“I like the way you think!” says Herbert.
“Ooh can we add pictures?!?” asks Hallab.
“Of course” replies Irwin. “It wouldn’t be a research paper without them!”
They furiously begin working and compiling a historic timeline of vampiric literature. Hallab is a bit in love with herself and she picks out way more quotes to include than the rest of them. Eventually they finish the paper, print it out and set it on the desk.
“Done!” declares Hallab.
“Wait!” screams Irwin in a panic. “We forgot to staple it! She can’t turn it in like that, she’ll fail.”
“I’m on it!” says Herbert as he leaps over the desk with a stapler and perfectly staples the corners. “Perfection!”
“Well, our job here is done,” says Hallab. They each slowly fade back into their respective books or articles and I begin to wake up.
I sit up, bleary eyed, and mentally kick myself for not getting more of my paper done tonight. Then I look down at the table and see a finished research essay staring back at me. I smile and put it in my backpack as I make a mental note to take naps in the library more often.
I wish I had your do-work-while-napping skillz.
DeleteI think this is everyone's dream. I'm jealous, I should have gone to the library.
DeleteMy story begins on what seemed like a normal day. I had a meeting at an old building in town known as Mary Reed. The building is said to be the home of ghosts and ghouls, but I never believed in such things. What happened that day in Mary Reed, however, changed my opinion on such things forever. I walked downstairs into a dark room filled with books and as I did, the door slammed closed. As I oriented myself I saw a set of terrifying eyes in the corner. The monster told me that I was to research connections between Vlad III, Elizabeth Báthory and Count Dracula or it would do to me things that not even Vlad would dream of. I agreed and left in a shaken state.
ReplyDeleteLater that night I trekked down to the nearest library. It is a scary old building filled with decay and death. I ventured down into the deepest darkest corner of the building and found old pieces of German literature that I knew would yield results in my search for information. After I found the books I left this wretched place and got to work. Once I arrived back in the safety of my own home, I watched two movies on the figures to get my bearings back.
The worst night of my life came later that week. I walked into my room late one night to find the monster back inside. The monster told me that I had to complete 6 pages of single spaced work by the next day. I worked all night and began to pull my hair out from the stress of this project. I barely completed it by the next day, and luckily it was up to the monsters standards and he allowed me to live. After this, I knew I had to enlist the help of some friends. I made a survey and interviewed a friend to get more information about the topic so I could please the monster. The actual research paper I had to write was far easier than the first one I wrote for the monster, but still took considerable time and effort. I ventured back to the cursed Mary Reed building one last time and turned in a paper that even the monster was proud of. I survived the horror and lived to tell my story today.
P.S. Dr. Kt, you are not a monster, but I had to have some gothic elements right?
haha. witty.
DeleteBILLY! You are such a drama queen! Thank you for the snicker!
DeleteIn actuality this story begins years ago with my adventures with a bespectacled boy named Harry Potter. Harry was brave and honest and good, and lived in a world full of witches and wizards and magical beasts. My adventures with my dear pal Harry made me craze a world of the supernatural, and the next thing I knew I was surrounded by darkness and vampires and it was all thanks to him.
ReplyDeleteFast forward to present and everything seemingly started out normally on this vampire excursion. It soon took a new turn however with my introduction to two men by the names of Jenkins and Purse. Jenkins, a brilliant writer, made me question the very essence of the vampire, while Purse blinded me with science. They set me on a path, and suddenly the vampire was not just another supernatural friend, but a mystery to be investigated. I had to understand him, this vampire, and suddenly, the obsession began.
Sleepless nights and a steady stream of caffeine (especially on nights before ever looming deadlines) ensued as I tried to learn everything that I could. But there was something that didn’t want me to find anything. A presence that wouldn’t leave was always there, keeping me away from my work; a ghost that I could not chase away. Soon my bed was strewn with papers documenting what I had learned and where I needed to go, but it was not enough. I needed to understand more, and I needed to hurry before the mystical presence consumed me.
I branched out. I had written documents lying everywhere but something was missing. I realized (and without much time to spare) that I needed to speak to the public, to understand the significance of what I was learning, to finally complete my quest. With the time for outlines and reviews long gone, I set out on the most difficult stretch of my journey: to learn from the people around me, and perhaps rid myself of that horrible presence in the process. It was dark when I set to work. By the dim light of a desk lamp, I interviewed a professional, a doctor who understood disease.
Then was the time for my final task: to inquire to my peers. To see how they thought disease fear and the vampire interacted. The presence was looming and I knew I was running out of time. I could not hold out much longer. As I posted my survey on the popular networking site, Facebook, I finally understood my crushing shadow. And I finally understood that I could never escape. Facebook was angry with my absence and would not let me avoid distraction for so long ever again.
I liked this. Very similar to my experience! Except instead of facebook, it was youtube.
DeleteHARRY HARRY HARRY POTTER
DeleteYES! VAMPIRES AND HARRY POTTER :D
DeleteThe Story
ReplyDeleteIt really all started when I was in the Centennial Halls bathroom and I looked over at the garbage can, which as always was overflowing with a gorgeous variety of what Bertie Bott's every flavor beans tries to imitate. And I thought, wow, my research paper will have a twin. There is blood in that garbage can. Hey, and there's a lot of blood in my research paper. There's some nice wholesome alcoholic puke, which will most likely end up physically on my research paper. Some snot too in that garbage can. I'll probably end up wiping my own snot on my research paper after vasts amounts of mucous is produced as a result of the endless precipitation raining from my eyes onto the demon garbage research paper. It was time to stop making fruitless analogies, and start.
Naturally, I waited a few days which were solely dedicated to finding new and creative ways to complain to my friends about my shit situation. After these few days...it was a few days after the research paper was due. But I had to turn in something, so I turned in a blank piece of paper with little water droplets on it, and small labels next to each droplet that said tears.
Of course, none of this actually happened This is what really happened:
I was sitting in my room, watching my roommate watch TV. I was staring intensely at his temple trying to telepathically burn him. I thought that if I could do that, then I could telepathically assemble a team of invisible nano-fairies that would write this paper for me. He turned and said, “Dude, what the hell are you staring at”. “Your temple” I responded. I figure that's why my roommate never really talks to me. The due date was quickly approaching, so naturally I transferred my focus from assembling the team of nano-fairies to hypnotizing my roommate into writing the paper for me. I didn't know how to hypnotize, so I just stared at his temple. And ya know, eventually I got the hang of hypnotism, and the dude just wrote the damn thing. Didn't even lift a finger. Ha, who woulda thought.
But seriously:
To be perfectly honest, I really didn't get anything done before I locked myself in a dark room without any of my research. All I had in the room was a notebook and I pencil. The reason for this decision to lock myself in the room sprouted from the realization that all of the previous work that I done preparing for this paper...didn't prepare me for this paper. I really needed to just sort out what I was going to do. I was in that room for 3 hours before I actually wrote anything on the piece of paper. I literally just stared at a dim white wall waiting for some magical inspiration to pop into my head. And, while the inspiration may not have been wand-formed by Potter himself, I did begin to sort things out. Eventually I decided not only what I wanted to write about, but also the way in which I wanted to write it. I knew full well that I could not write 15 pages of pure, unadulterated boredom. I had to make I at least, moderately interesting. I decided to use a casual tone that would allow me entertain the audience, but more importantly to entertain myself through the writing process. After the 3 hours I left the room and gathered the research that I was going to use.
I soon realized that not all of my research really connected to my topic In fact, most of it didn't. So, I made it connect. This was not a cop out, or at least not a total copout. I knew that the act of making abstract connections would provide entertainment for both the audience and myself, and would force the reader to really think about what I had to say. I knew from the beginning that not everything I wrote about would be viewed as “right”, and I embraced that. I wanted to reader to disagree and to question. After all, the fact of the matter is that there really is no ultimate answer when it comes to vampires. For me, this research paper was more of an educated meditation than anything else.
Ha nice alternative scenarios. I would like to get your roommates opinion on you. Good job describing the process you went through while writing.
DeleteThis was an interesting read, and I particularly liked your last couple sentences.
DeleteIt all started what seems like 38 years ago when we read one of our first readings ever for this class. It was called Vampire Forensics. Once I read that, I got super pumped for this class because I knew that things were gonna get fun. Vampires could be explained by rabies? Cool. Porphyria too? Sweet. What the hell is porphyria, anyway? I would soon find out. Dum dum duummmm.
ReplyDeleteBut then, our class went a TOTALLY DIFFERENT DIRECTION for a few weeks and we got to read about stuff that makes about as much sense as Picasso’s paintings... McLuhan, Halberstam, MacNealy, RAI!!! :’( Nuff said. When Dr. T told us to start thinking about a research paper topic, I was like heelllll to the yeah, imma write about science. NO WAY is this media ecology stuff gonna present itself in my paper, nuh uh.
I’m a nerd. Science is awesome. And it makes more sense to me than it probably should. So I picked the science of vampires as my topic and there’s been a party in my head ever since.
I sat down and decided to start the simple way. Google. I started on the right track, looking up cool diseases that could explain vampirism, but then, as we all tend to do, I found myself an hour later watching My Strange Addiction about a woman who likes eat chalk. I finally found some cool research, then decided to write my research proposal. May have taken you guys a few hours, but due to my lack of attention span, I found myself watching Maury instead (who am I?). I finally wrote the proposal. Research report? Same thing. Lit review? Same thing. Those were fine and all, but then, this week, I realized I needed to pull my shit together to write this monster of an essay. I realized…I need some serious inspiration.
That night, I had a dream. In my dream, my day started out like any other day. I got up out of my college-bed-from-hell-mattress, brushed my teeth, and got ready for class. However, instead of walking out of my sorority house (kill me), into the alley, and onto Iliff, I walked out of the door and straight into hell. I’m not even kidding. And I don’t even believe in hell, I’m the most atheist atheist you’ll ever meet. Anyway, I walk through the fiery gates, and I found Don sitting next to the guy from Little Nicky with the boobs on his head. I sat down at the table and Don did that creepy laugh, which made me want to vom. Anyway, he told me he knew I was writing this paper, and that I was wrong on sooooo—oooo many levels about his kind. “WE’RE REAL,” he boomed. “What?” I asked. “We don’t have rabies or porphyria, you idiot, we’re just vampires. We have special blood that makes us who we are. We can leg press a lotta weight. And we have 0% body fat.”
I woke up. Shit, I thought. So, vampires are real? They’re not just mythical creatures? Am I going to fail my paper? WAHHhhhh.
I then decided to pretend that dream didn’t happen and carried on with my paper, trying to analyze whether or not vampires are really vampires – perhaps they’re just people afflicted by weirdo diseases. It seems to be going well. Did my surveys and interview with my mom (she’s a doc, that’s why I interviewed her), who doesn’t understand that it’s possible to write a serious paper about vampires. Speaking of that – I asked her what she knew about vampires and she mentioned that they need the full moon to survive. O.M.G. Anyway, Don makes a visit sometimes, and we chat about cats and our favorite flavor of Tazo tea.
Overall, this has been quite a struggle, but at least it’s something I’m super interested in. Hopefully I’m doing it right.
When I had to do my SRR I was looking on youtube for a video that condensed pictures of vampires into a slide show and I found the Don videos,this is before we watched them in class.
DeleteI then spent the next hour of my life going from part 1 to part 6 of Don on Tyra and every time I clicked on the next part the suggested videos got weirder and weirder - so I get the weird fascination with Don the vampire king (or emperor).
Oh Don... I could imagine this happening in real life
DeleteSteph!!! I'm sure you are doing a phenomenal job! YOU GO GIRL!
DeleteIf you don't believe in hell, then where do media ecologists go?
ReplyDelete-Except for Rai, he's a boss hog on low.
My initial interest in the relationship between miscegenation and vampire films was rooted in my first year seminar, which dealt with the way that Native Americans were portrayed in film from the 1950’s to the present. Native Americans are obviously real people that had to be bent into the distorted representations that we see on the screen, but as society became more integrated and politically correct, the offensive stereotypes of Native Americans started to become less prominent. I was curious if that trend had held true in the case of a largely fictional character that had seemed to be undergoing some kind of consistent evolution throughout the past century and especially in the last twenty years.
ReplyDeleteThe academic research came pretty easily. A lot of academics apparently like to write about gothic literature, the vampire and miscegenation. An hour or so of sifting through the EBSCO and Google Scholar results led me to my four academic sources, all of which are articles.
As I started to think about the vampire-human hybrid Blade came to my mind almost immediately. But, comparing the two film adaptations of Stoker’s novel didn’t come to me until after I had already completed by academic research. I was looking at Dracula (1992) on IMDB to see how I could integrate it into my research when I clicked on the original Dracula out of curiosity. I didn’t actually know that Dracula (1931) was an adaptation of Stoker’s novel until I realized that all of the character’s had the same names as the book and Coppola’s adaptation. I guess I previously thought, not having seen the movie, that the movie just used the same central character but in a different plot. The discovery that the two movies were based on the same source text is what led me to consider comparing the two and analyzing the differences between the pre and post-civil rights moment interpretations of the same book.
The interview was probably the most difficult part of the research project, even though I didn’t intend for it to play a large role in my research. Initially I had planned on interviewing the Professor of my FSEM, but after two emails and three weeks I’m assuming he was unavailable. Fortunately, I found a professor at UNC – Chapel Hill that worked in the sociology department and taught a class on racism in welfare that was sympathetic to my cause. She gave me some great baseline definitions of the Other and miscegenation to ground my research in.
A seductive smile. An irresistible twinkle of his stormy blue eyes. A casual brush of the collarbone, exposing the smooth nape of her neck. I watched with jealousy as my friend was daunted on by the most gorgeous man I had ever seen. He radiated sex like an aura, drawing the attention of every female with a pulse. He slowly twined his fingers in hers, slightly pulling her in a gesture to follow. My friend seemed in a trance and followed the mysterious stranger out of the party. I sighed in annoyance and set down my glass. Jealousy aside I knew my friend would regret cheating on her fiancé in the morning. I quickly to find her before something happened. I heard muffled moans coming from the hallway ahead and panicked. I rushed around the corner and then stopped abruptly at what I saw. There was my friend with the same hand that had previously been stroking her lower back, now clamped firmly over her mouth. Her eyes were wild with panic as blood dripped from her neck and down onto her white satin dress. The handsome stranger had his mouth pressed firmly to her throat. I froze in terror, trying to think what to do. The stranger slowly looked up and met my eyes. I was vaguely aware of canine-like teeth protruding grotesquely from his angelic face as my eyes locked with his. Every instinct told me to run, but a darker part of me was intrigued.
ReplyDelete“Come to me” he said with a husky voice.
I walked towards him as if on command, still terrified yet still noticing his prominent stature and broad chest. I registered quickly that this thing could kill me in a flash. Fear coursed through my veins, yet I could not resist my intrigue. The mysterious man was both alluring and appalling.
“Do you want to kill me?” he asked.
“No” I found myself replying, honestly.
I was drawn too strongly to the fear and feelings that he invoked in me. With my response he looked at my friend again, now in a stupor on the floor, looked back at me, and then vanished. I stood blinking for a moment and then rushed to my friend, realizing I was alive and he was gone.
The next day I could not forgive myself for taking no action against the man who had been harming my friend. Why had I not wanted to hurt him? I suspected that it had something to do with my fear. I decided that I must research the answer to why something I feared could be so alluring. I started with a proposal to organize my plan of action. I followed this with much research. Scouring the library became my hobby as my friend recovered in the hospital. I searched day in and day out through academic articles, journals, and databases for any information regarding vampires and fear. I then realized that these sources would only give me hypothesized and impersonal information. If I wanted to understand my draw to this vampire, I would have to go to the experts. I surveyed my peers who know a lot about vampires. Aren’t they scary, I wondered? Why do you like them then, I inquired? To get deeper into the meaning behind their answers I interviewed a psychologist. Through her I found out the most about the human psyche and the thrill for danger. Perhaps my desire for a thrill had made me want to keep this “man” alive. Once I felt that I had too much information in my mind and was going to lose it all, I went about writing a 15 page report of all that I had discovered.
A week after my report was finished I was awoken by a strong hand over my mouth. Panicked, I stared up into the deep blue eyes of a familiar face. The mysterious man slowly smiled at me and my heart fluttered. He cautiously removed his hand from my mouth, as if as a test, and brushed a piece of hair from my sweaty forehead.
“Come with me” he said, and I did.
ALI!!! I love your creativity...I could literally hear your voice telling me the story! PURE GENIUS!
DeleteMy story begins nineteen years ago on a miserable Naval Air Station in miserable Jacksonville, Florida. Just kidding. Well, it did technically start there, but that’s beside the point. I also don’t even know how miserable the Navy or Jacksonville is, but I hear they have huge bugs (Florida, not the Navy).
ReplyDeleteIf my story actually started there, I probably wouldn’t have turned out to be such a procrastinator. But, alas, it wasn’t destined that I should be the wielder of the powers of time management and stress-free living. Instead, my nineteen years have thus far consisted of over-caffeination, sleep-depravity, musings on squirrels, and dreams. These dreams are where it all actually began.
Let me here interject to explain what I mean by dreams. In this case, the term refers to typical life-like-movie-series-that-occur-while-sleeping, but also lucid dreams, day dreams, hypothetical scenarios played out in my head between myself and I, and hallucinations.
These hallucinations, more specifically, are what started it all. As mentioned before, where my schedule lacks sleep it makes up for in caffeine. I constantly push off a normal human schedule in order to partake in a caffeine-driven-fairly-relentless schedule where the only thing that remains constant is my class times.
Even though I seem to be up for eight million years at a time, my profession of procrastination never ceases to perpetuate the endless nights of four A.M. paper-writing followed by quick naps and long classes. The particular field of procrastination in which I am strongest is, and has always been, writing. Why spend weeks on a ten-page paper when you can get it done three hours before it’s due? Thus, my situation going into Honors Writ 1733 would prove to be detrimental. My skills would be tested like never before, and I would need to come to a point of either succeeding in my profession, or turning from procrastination forever to furthermore pursue the path of time-management. (I’ll tell you now, I think I may have become better at procrastination than I ever was before.)
In my sleep-depraved state I have been (frantically) searching for, reading about, analyzing, and writing about vampires for significant blocks of time. Vampires began to consume my thoughts, my life. It was in this state of mind the encounter happened. In my kitchen. 3 A.M. The witching hour (at least, one of them). Vampires. Everywhere. Like a vampire dance party, but without the dancing. Milling around, tangling capes, letting me interview them as a source for my research.
It was then I awoke with a start. It wasn’t the vampires that made me awake breathless and haunted by the images I had supposedly seen. It was the interview. The one critical piece of my research I had put off until it was almost too late. The interview. Good thing it was 12:00 P.M. in Saudi Arabia; I had some urgent questions that needed answers.
Let me just first say, writing is not my strongest subject. Throughout high school, I painstakingly wrote essay after essay, only to be punished with a vampire writing class my freshman year of college. Little did I know, this seemingly harmless class would bring the worst out of me. Literally.
ReplyDeleteAs I sat down to begin what was to be the longest research paper I had ever written on a mythical creature, I looked at the moon. Its bright glow illuminated the sidewalk outside of my window. A slight breeze whistled through the hallways. It was 2:30 in the morning. A typical Monday night. I was reading over my literature review when I realized that the moon had suddenly disappeared. The sidewalk was shrouded by the darkness. The wind stopped blowing. Silence enveloped my room. I paid little attention to these details at first, but after a period of time, I realized that the moon was still nowhere to be found. How could it have just disappeared? I reluctantly closed my laptop and walked out of my room to the dormitory’s lobby. When I reached the window next to the front desk, I was shocked to see the moon shining right in front of me. In a confused state of mind, I left the lobby and returned to my room. After thoroughly rubbing my eyes and pinching myself several times, I still could not find the moon through my window. Perplexed and slightly frightened, I headed towards the exit of the dormitory in order to look at my room’s window from the outside. How was it possible that I could see the moon from any window other than mine? I was hoping there was an easy fix to this problem. Unfortunately, this was only the beginning of my problems.
As I reached the outside of my room, I noticed a dark, hooded figure hanging from the side of my window frame. At first, it simply looked like a shadow. But it seemed to be holding one of its arms out, using its robe to cover the window. I slowly walked forward. Not even two steps in, the hooded figure dropped from the window and sprinted to the door of my residence hall. I see him enter my hallway as I stood in shock. I quickly ran after him only to realize that he had stolen my research materials and books. I was devastated… How was I supposed to finish my paper now?! As the light from the moon shined through my window once again, I could feel my blood pressure rising. A sharp pain surged through my body. I looked down to the back of my hands to see hair growing from my knuckles. My shoes and pants were ripped apart as my body quickly expanded. I instantly felt the need to howl towards the moon as I suddenly felt a burning sensation in my eyes. I quickly ran to the mirror: I had become a werewolf.
My new transformation had given me the powers and motivation to follow my caped nemesis. I quickly ran towards the exit of the building, only to see the hooded figure running towards Olin, the most deserted building on campus. My super speed and strength were no match for the caped figure. I grabbed the end of this robe right before he entered the building. Right before I could turn the caped avenger around, the hood fell to ground, along with my research materials and book. I look around to find where my enemy had gone. The only thing I saw was a bat flying off into the distance.
ABI!!! I wish you were a real werewolf!!!
DeleteOnce upon a time there was a damsel in media ecology distress…I was the lady in cahoots! She was accompanied by the seven dwarfs of writing etiquette. Sleepy, also known as Ali, was never a positive influence on my writing ability, when she wasn’t making snide remarks at me, she was off cat napping. I intended to write by research proposal a week in advance, but ended up snoozing the day away with lil miss slumber. I ended up staying up the night before the research proposal was due...taking care of Sneezy, a.k.a. Zach who had an allergic reaction to his new paint set…and reeling out my research question of whether or not vampires could have a soul mate. I was inspired by Happy, also known as the one of a kind Abi, who proved to me that grinning is the only way to go! “You should never frown because you never know who may be falling in love with your smile!” Aww…words of wisdom and inspiration for soulmate research. After delivering a top notch research proposal…HOLY COW JUMPED OVER THE MOON! The wicked witch of conventional marriage came swooping into the picture! She tried to disprove to me that a soulmate construct in contemporary relationships was viable and durable. She distributed pages upon pages of Internet research trying to disprove that soul mates exist. Although this put a slight damper in my ability to construct a research report supporting my claims, the dwarf named Doc, also known as the smarty pants Jordan, plunged into my life, puncturing a much needed hole in my newly gained skeptics on love. He distributed and dispensed pages of research in my favor from SUMMON@DU proving to me that the soulmate archetype could outweigh and overshadow traditional relationship schemata. Oh Doc, what a man! And then there is Dopey, puzzled and vexed as usual, Mr. Billy, unsure of what a soul mate entailed. Thus, for my research report and literature review I was obligated to tie in the origin of the soul and all the intricacies of this individualistic entity. Upon revealing where the soul originates and all the complexities it houses, I was then led to my favorite part of researching…the LOVE aspect. Just mentioning this word sent Bashful, also known as Chelsea, into a scarlet shade! Upon making it to the t-minus 2 days before the research essay was due…Grumpy, also known as Jason, came whirling into my castle balcony. He tried to riel me up and make me bash this paper, but there was no turning this optimistic Olivia into a negative Nancy…not when soulmates and love are involved! Take that Jason!
ReplyDeleteOh Elizabeth! I love that you used a classic fairytale as your story. It not only its in pretty perfectly with your love of socializing but with your endless quest for a soulmate. Oh look a connection to your paper! Go find your Prince Charming Snow Elizabeth (oh super lame I know).
DeleteI have become plagued this year.
ReplyDeleteReally, it’s become a central problem this year.
It’s consumed me. It has entered my papers on sedimentary rocks for geography classes, rocks, conversations late at night with friends, and ultimately it found itself into my writing for this class.
Yes, I, Chelsea Warren, am completely addicted to using puns. Somewhat witty but usually pretty lame puns.
I think it is what drew me to the topic of politicians and vampires; the whole topic is simply riddled with really corny, bad puns. It was like “politicians suck away at the heart of capitalism!” Being a science major means that I only get to flirt with the liberal arts, and this was the perfect opportunity to dabble with one of my favorite passions – politics. A topic that usually sends people into a completely mute state actually sends me into a desire to talk, to change, to persuade.
Sporadic would be a good adjective to describe my writing, when I first stared at my empty Word page, Facebook whispering for me to check it in the corner, and the soundtrack of Wicked blaring in the background the task seemed daunting. I had my outline, which constrained my random writing style – to a point. I started out with writing my hook, and quickly delved into making what I hope are witty puns for each one of my sections.
My writing came in spurts too, I would spend a lot of time last week staring at my word document but only a select few where I would actually get the inspiration to write and write. Leaving on a floor where half of our writing class is present was a constant reminder of how far everyone was along; instead of passing each other with a friendly hello we asked, “how far are you?” After a few hours of passionately writing, interwoven with watching Netflix and Nova breaks, I successfully had reached page 6 and the editing began.
Last Thursday though, I realized that I had failed to set up my interview. After going into a mild panic mood - the following scenario, helped remind me why I believe in fate. I had been unsuccessful with trying to contact a big representative or senate member to respond to me and therefore I was in desperate need of a person to interview. A friend recommended I interview her FSEM teacher, Seth Masket. His answer to my request?
“I so do not have time for this but I am a complete sucker for vampire debates.”
Fate? I think so.
I LOVE YOUR STORY TELLING CAPABILITIES! You are a truly a creative genius!
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