Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go. (E. L. Doctorow)
There’s this library in Mexico called El Péndulo, where you cant have coffee and its also a bookstore, so it is actually pretty cool. You can find them in various places in Mexico City, such as malls but also as independent stores. They sometimes offer courses on philosophy or creative writing, and I decided to attend one of such courses with a friend. The teacher was called Edna Aponte and she is a poet and has some published books and a webpage.
It was definitely interesting. We began by making some easy exercises on writing knowing other people , stuff life that. When it first began it was definitely a challenge. I am a very straightforward person and writing in a more ‘literary’ manner seemed strange and awkward to me, you know?
And the teacher was kind of wacky. She would make us meditate at the beginning of each session and I would just think it was a little bit pointless. She would say: “empty you mind, imagine a clear blu sky” and then we would have to imagine a place in our minds were we could be free. And I feel like most of the people going (around 10 other youngsters of whom I was the oldest) would just make stuff up for the sake of invention. Anyway when we had to do this I supposed that if I wanted a quiet place to study and free my imagination it would be something like this:
And I know it looks like the most random and childish thing ever but don’t tell me it doesn’t look peaceful. It is a hollow space in between the roots of a tree. (By the way these are taken from a movie called Tonari no Totoro or My neighbour Tororo, and it is honestly a really good movie about growing up directed by my lord and saviour Hayao Miyazaki, please watch any of his movies if you have the opportunity) Anyway at the moment I found it really hard to describe but I selected it as my place of relaxation that I could access from within my mind, and even though in the beginning I thought ‘Well this is a waste of time’ I now find myself imagining this place when I am too stressed. Which is like all the time. All. The. Time. #IBlife
At the beginning we wrote haikus and did all these activities that I thought were useless and pointless and I would have this horrible attitude with the teacher. But in the end I started to accept what we had to do more and more and in the end I went happily to class and would do all the activities that became more interesting like making pastiches (imitating a writers style of writing) and deciding if we like better novellas, stories or poems.
For the ‘final delivery’ we would have to select two of the pieces we had written and then read them out loud to all the parents and the the teacher and the organiser of the courses in El Péndulo. I chose the two pieces I found the most valuable and the ones and the ones I feel most proud of. I apologize in advance as they are in spanish and translation would vacate them of their literary meaning, although I have written poems in english which I will post alongside the texts that I wrote for the course.
Ok. The teacher gave us the task to look up a mythological character, research him or her and then try to write their story in any way we wanted, as long as it had out style and our print imbedded in it. Medusa was always a very intriguing female character in greek mythology and I decided to look more deep into her story, or stories as greeks tended to have many origins for their deities and other characters, but I decided to go with the one that I read and it lit up something in my mind. Medusa was a very beautiful woman and Poseidon raped her in Athena’s temple, the goddess got angry and went all cray cray, turning Medusa into a very ugly woman with serpents instead of hair. Then Perseus who wanted to get revenge from this other dude that wanted to marry his mother, went and beheaded her, all of course with the help of gods and goddesses because poor Perseus wasn’t a very bright kid. A story full of gambits and mischievous characters. What a great soap opera. All in all I wrote the story from Medusas point of view. This took quite some effort as I had to find the way it would be interesting and not just a simple text. I filled it with references to other things and small hints of the story, but never actually said the name Medusa. I feel it was a little bit over the top and it is a little bit heavy for those that do not know about literature, but I liked it, and I feel it reflect my style of writing, which a little bit baroque. Here it is:
La muerte solo dura por unos segundos. El cuchillo no encuentra dificultades en atravesar la piel, los músculos o cada fibra de cartílago. Las vertebras no son contrincante merecido del filo dorado de los dioses.
Lo que permanece es el dolor. El sufrimiento que surge a borbotes de la yugular, el humor rojo que se desparrama como de cántaro roto en el mármol, tiñendo las fuentes de mis aposentos, como dios escarmentando a los egipcios con aguas sanguinolentas. Ese terciopelo carmín en que los héroes se regocijan y revuelcan, imitando a Sigfrido en las lagunas dejadas por el dragón. Majestuoso reptil, hermano forzado. Si, el dolor eterno, de ser sirviente de un hombre, de permanecer en una bolsa de tela arrugada que lima los bordes del cuello cortado, dejando al aire incluso mas carne viva y sucia.
Escuché sus pasos demasiado tarde, tal vez solo el revoloteo de unas alas. Práctico escudo que protege al vil héroe. Tal vez antes mi belleza amedrentaba a algunos, ahora mi tez monstruosa solo provoca las furia y piedra de los asesinos. Mi antes hermosa faz protege a los que pervirtieron mi vida. ¿Porqué castigar al violado y no al violador.
Nunca supe si equino o gigante vivieron, o incluso si agraciada serpiente del desierto ahora atormenta a viajeros pasantes. Hijos nacidos de mi sangre, nacidos de la esencia de mi vida.
No quedo mas uso de mis ojos pétreos que salvar a doncellas de titanes.
To the next one. There is a genius of spanish literature called Julio Cortazar, and he has some of the most interesting short stories and novels. He has a set of short texts called ‘Instrucciones’ (Intructions) were he gives intructions in order to carry out simple tasks of everyday life such as ‘Intrucciones para llorar’ (Instructions to cry), but he does it in a way that it seems like an activity we have never done before. I knew the author beforehand and when the teacher showed us these little texts I was simply amazed. I found it ineffable. They were so simple and at the same time so special. I was dying to write one myself. I took up the challenge and wrote one called ‘Instrucciones para morir’ (Instructions to die) which may sound morbid but it is actually whimsical. I played with the idea of killing oneself (believe me I know how bad that sounds), and tried to take a lightweight perspective on it. What I found difficult was to make it funny but not ludicrous, so it is still real and relatable and so that people can understand it without too much effort. After a few hours I managed to finish it and polish it properly. I liked a lot how it turned out as when we were in the final reunion and I read the title I could hear all the parents inhale as in ‘OMG what is wrong with her’ but in the end they did laugh, so I’m proud of that. Anyway here it is:
En el momento en que usted decida que la hora le ha llegado, favor de posicionarse de manera sentada o acostada de manera que no deje rastros mórbidos de sangre, baba o cualquier otro fluido corporal muy salpicados en el piso. Ya en una posición mas cómoda no se angustie por los errores de su corta o larga vida, puesto que usted ya ha decidido que no hay nada por hacer para mejorar la situación. Mejor disfrute por unos segundos la cercanía de la vida al cuerpo. Cuando su alma de salga de las ventanas de su cuerpo, déjela ir. A nadie le gustan los actos dramáticos de muerte. Cierre los ojos y que descanse en paz.
In total it was 10 lectures of 1.5 hours each + the work for each piece of writing with makes about 19-20 hours of creativity. Look at all that creativity. Strangely I write poetry in english much more easily that I do in spanish so here is the outcome of that work:
Your aim is horrendous dear Cupid,
for you have shot me in the heart
and even though my blood pours out gelid
for me there is no 'till death do us part’.
It is me who suffers
why not that demon.
Its is you who blunders,
Had you a reason?
I still see him walk
and we hug and we talk
But just lies in my head
I can’t go ahead.
Why do this Cupid beloved,
Some unknown reason,
what have you discovered.
It seems like treason.
Now two years have passed,
and I still venerate him
You leave me aghast,
why him, darling Cupid,
why him.
Ok so it is quite difficult to give a context for this, but it is obvious that it is about love that is unreciprocated, and me avoiding blaming it on myself.
C: 32/50, A: 13/50, S: 23/50
Anyway enough chit-chat, that makes +19 hours of creativity with the following learning outcomes:
developed new skills (writing duh, believing that even though I might not like something in the beginning it can have a good outcome)
undertaken new challenges (I hated writing and reeading what I wrote, we were forced to read our work out loud)
shown perseverance and commitment to your activities (oh did i forget to mention the course was held on SUNDAYS)
increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth (I think I can still improve a lot but that I am pretty decent at the moment.
pixelskylines
jacobvanloon
turnnoffyourmind
blakekathryn
theartofmadeline
kianamaiart