April+24th,+class+eleven

Class Eleven


 * Next reading: Chapter 8 **
 * Interviews due. **

Sharing interivews Crystallization as concept - telling stories



Reading for May 1st

After completing a 5 hour interview with “Louisa May” Laurel transcribed it into 36 pages of prose and then shaped it into 5 pages of poetry. “Following social research protocol, I used only Louisa May’s words, tone and diction, but relied upon poetic devises such as repetition, off-rhyme, sounds, meter, and pauses to convey her narrative.”


 * Transcript from Louisa May

Wee, most important to say in….terms of that is that I grew up in the South – which puts a definite stamp on what you think you are and what you think….you’re going to be. [Louisa May looks at the tape recorder] remember my origins when I hear….myself on tape – that Ladybird kind of accent – and I think, “Oh my Lord. I’m from Tennessee.” I had no idea I sounded like…that. In any event that [being Southern] shapes is and in…terms of…aspirations. I grew up in a very poor…with parents….who were uneducated but who lived in a very normal sort of…middle-class neighbourhood where we rented a house. So my….friends were not in the same situation, but no one ever…suggested to me that anything might happen //with// my life. So… when I was 12, I suppose, and with my friends – and they…really, ah very nice, wonderful friends, some of whom I…still see. I remember thinking at the time that I would…want a large number of children. || Louisa May’s Story of Her Life i  The most important thing To say is that I grew up in the South. Being Southern shapes Aspirations shapes What you think you are And what you think you’re going to be.

// (When I hear myself, my Ladybird // // kind of accent on tape. I think, oh Lord. // // You’re from Tennessee.”) //

No one ever suggested to me That anything Might happen //with// my life.

I grew up poor in a rented house In a very normal sort of way On a very normal sort of street With some very nice middle-class friends (//Some still to this day//) and so I thought I’d have a lot of children.

I lived outside.

Unhappy home, Stable family, till it fell apart. The first divorce in Milfrount County.

So, that’s how that was worked out. ||