Essay #2 Options

The In Cold Blood Option: Seek out and/or research an event or experience (as Truman Capote did with the Clutter murders, David Foster Wallace did with the Maine Lobster Festival, and John D'Agata did with the tour of Hoover Dam) and then write about it. It should go without saying -- but I'll say it anyway -- that the experience you seek should not put you or others in harm's way. A good barometer: If your parents wouldn't want you doing it, then don't do it. Use the above texts as models, especially when it comes to their methods of engaging in said experience. Here are just a few non-binding suggestions for seeking out area "experiences":

Sidewalk
Activeculture.info
Jones Valley Urban Farm
ASFA Open House

But you should choose something that's interesting to you. Or -- actually -- maybe not. It can be argued in at least the latter two cases (Wallace and D'Agata) that the actual event/experience kind of bored the writer...but he still found something to write about.

At any rate, in all three cases, the writers used the event/experience as a springboard to write about larger cultural issues that they cared about. You are more than welcome -- in fact, encouraged -- to do the same.

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The Running in the Family Option: Use your family history as the source material for an essay. Pick an aspect of your family's history that you don't know a lot about. Dig into it. In this essay, you're writing as much about yourself -- and your discovery of your place as an individual in the context of your family -- as you are about the particular events you choose. A word of caution: don't feel like you have to write your family's entire history. Pick something specific. Perhaps you want to delve into the circumstances that led to your family coming to Alabama. Or maybe you want to write about your parents' courtship. Whatever it is, pick something that gives you a plethora of source material: pictures, interviews, places to visit, books to pore over.

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The Last American Man Option: Profile an interesting person who has a unique story. This may be someone you know well, or it may be a friend or relative of a friend (as was the case with Eustace Conway and Elizabeth Gilbert). The key here is in how you define "interesting" and "unique." For instance, all ASFA students would (IMHO) fit the bill simply because they attend a unique school in an interesting context. In that example, you might end up writing as much about ASFA and Birmingham and Alabama as you write about your interesting person -- as Gilbert ends up writing as much about American history and ideology and the idea of manliness as she does about Eustace Conway.

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As always, these are broad guidelines. If you're really excited about an idea for an essay that doesn't fit this mold, run it by me. I'm almost surely going to say yes, and I might have some suggestions and advice on how to proceed.

The other possibility is that you combine features of the different options into one essay project -- it strikes me that the above options are not at all mutually exclusive.

Aim for between 2000 - 3000 words. Probably not less, perhaps a little more.

Keep all three toolbelts in mind.

Please note your conference draft due date under "Second Quarter Conference Draft Due Dates" in the right hand column. Oct 17 is the first due date...not too far away.

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