Assignment:
DISCUSSION 1
Watch the TED Talks, "Elizabeth Gilbert: Your Elusive Creative Genius."
Reflect on what she says about her experience as a writer.
Discuss if you agree or disagree what she says about creativity and artistry and emotional risk. Why or why not?
DISCUSSION 2
I love Elizabeth Gilbert point of view. I definitely agree with her on creativity and artistry and emotional risk. Over time in history we have seen creativity kill off writers and artists. Edgar Allan Poe, Virginia Wolf, Ernest Hemmingway, Vincent Van Gogh. These are a few creativity genius' if you will that had their lives cut short by their own hands or mysteriously passed away. The fame of their work and the pressure to be as great as that first piece seems to have taken a toll on them. In a way there was no coming back from. We don't know the torment they went through. In some of Van Gogh's paintings you could see the torment in his paintings. It looked as if he was slowly going mad.
DISCUSSION 3
I do notice that when stories are told from the main characters point of view. Reading the series Fifty Shades of Grey you can feel all of the emotions Anastasia is going through in the first book. The confusion, the pleasure and ecstasy, and then the eventual heart break at the end of the first book. The emotion and feeling like you are watching everything going on in your mind is what kept me interesting and sucked into the book if you will. I was so sucked in that I finished the book in less than two days. I love when a book can trap you in a story.
DISCUSSION 4
Creative nonfiction writing is writing that is one hundred percent factual and is based in the real, true known world. However, it is a specific subcategory of nonfiction writing that uses conventions of fiction to help tell a true story. This can be seen in movies and books and essays alike. When you have a movie based on actual events sometimes they change the names and dates and tweak the events so the movie is "A" interesting and "B" protects the identity of anyone who may be a minor.
DISCUSSION 5
In my opinion non fiction is overtaking fiction. When we watch movies or read books about serial killers for example we want to know what could of drove them to that point. Or what could of happened to them in their lives to make them that way. Is it something in their DNA that most people do not have? Is it from a violent up bringing? We do not know, but hope to find out by watching or reading a story about their life. Humans are more curious then any other mammal in my opinion. I know the saying is curiosity killed the cat, but to be honest with you humans are. We will explore a strange sound, a dark room, etc. without hesitation.
DISCUSSION 6
Are there other movements in America that are similar to the Civil Rights Movement? How have these movements begun? What has been the result of the movement? What are movements you think may be important in the future based on the demographics of the United States?
DISCUSSION 7
Describe your own immigrant path, over one or many generations, to becoming an American. Does it include Blacks (slaves or freemen) and/or Native Americans? How so? Be specific.
DISCUSSION 8
Are there other concerns LGBT community members have beside worrying that gay marriage will no longer be legal? 100 words count.