Finding Inspiration in Nature

With the beautiful weather we are having these days, it’s a good time to take your writing muse outdoors. Even a dreary February day can provide sights like the one above, which resembles a child’s drawing but was actually created by Mother Nature.* The obvious way to use nature for inspiration is to write about it, but you can also take pen and paper or a laptop with you and turn the outdoors into your office.**

The Indiana Dunes top the list of Northwest Indiana nature preserves and hiking trails that can be used for inspiration. The National Lakeshore wanders along Lake Michigan in Lake, Porter, and LaPorte Counties. The Dunes even have a state park that interrupts the national one. The Indiana Dunes State Park is located at 1600 North 25 East at Chesterton, Indiana.

Heading from west to east, here are a few other places in Northwest Indiana that can give you inspiration.

·       Hammond Lakefront Park and Bird Sanctuary, 701 Casino Center Drive in Hammond. Although the park is small, the short trail from the Hammond Marina has several great spots to sit and write.

·      Gibson Woods Nature Preserve, 6201 Parrish Avenue, Hammond.

·       Lemon Lake County Park, 6322 West 133^rd Avenue, Crown Point.

·       Grand Kankakee Marsh, 21690 Range Line Road, Hebron.

·       Taltree Arboretum, 450 West 100 North, Valparaiso.

·      Coffee Creek Watershed Preserve, northeast corner of I-80/90 and IN-49, Chesterton.

·       Creek Ridge County Park, 7943 W. 400 North, Michigan City.

·       Luhr County Park & Nature Center, 3178 S. 150 West, LaPorte.

So enjoy the weather, but don’t let it keep you from writing. Use it for inspiration, instead.

__________

*   The photo at the top of this post is © 2017 by Kathryn Page Camp. It was taken from the bike path that runs along the old Monon tracks (the proposed site of the new South Shore extension) in Munster.

** Thanks to Gordon Stamper, Jr. for the idea behind this post.

Auden and Appreciating Others' Work

by

Gordon Stamper, Jr.

 

 



During this National Poetry Month, I thought about some of my favorite poems.  One of them is Auden’s “Musee des Beaux Arts,” impressions and inspirations the poet had after viewing The Fall of Icarus by Pieter Brueghel.  It is partly a profound meditation on how life goes on, even after the events that are of the greatest personal importance to us.

In the concluding stanza, Auden reflects on the ploughman who may have heard and seen Icarus’ fall:  “. . .the ploughman may/Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,/But for him it was not an important failure.” 

As a poet, you may write something that is extremely significant for you, but unfortunately very few others ever read.  Many poets are guilty of the same thing:  they don’t read other poems, especially those of contemporary poets, their peers, or don’t make much of an effort to do so. 

If you’re guilty of this, your practical and selfish concern is that if you want to be published (and not only self-published), you should read the poetry of the markets where you send it.  When I was a staff editor for a literary magazine, I saw how many people missed the mark when it came to submissions.  For poetry, we received poems with forced rhymes and sing-song rhythm for a publication that generally published cutting edge and mostly free, unrhymed verse.  So please, read your intended markets!

Another more altruistic and intrinsic reason for reading poetry is to soak in poets’ artistry and insights, and then share them with others.  Appreciate the effort of crafting the phrase, layering their messages, using powerful imagery to impress their words into your psyche.

Poets, please keep flying, and also appreciate the efforts of the fellow flyers around you.

__________

Gordon Stamper, Jr. is a poet, co-moderator of Highland Writers Group, and a founding member of Indiana Writers’ Consortium.  He currently teaches English composition and research writing at Ivy Tech Community College and Purdue University Northwest.

__________

The picture at the head of this post shows The Fall of Icarus, a 1500’s painting attributed to Pieter Brueghel. The picture is in the public domain because of its age.



21st Century Skills and Student Reading

by

Gordon Stamper, Jr.

 

The 21^st Century Skills movement is an across-the-curriculum teaching pedagogy that has the ultimate goals of preparing students for the current job market and achieving future career success.  Two stated objectives are to improve students’ critical thinking and reading skills, and to promote creativity.  However, a recent example shows how practitioners can contradict their own goals. 

 

In Elgin, Illinois, School Superintendent Jose Torres and the school board are finalizing the decision to cut Reading classes from the middle school required curriculum.  Torres argued at a recent school board meeting that a second school hour could be opened up for electives.  Currently, only one hour is available for electives and English is already a required class in which reading skills units could be incorporated (Gathman, “Dozens Slam Change”).

 

On a news radio program, Torres also asserted that “[m]any classes in many grades focus on tales or stories” but sacrifice the reading and writing of facts needed for real world skills (Gathman, “U46’s Torres”).  School districts around the country are in agreement, feeling nonfiction should have greater emphasis in the classroom.

 

But even nonfiction needs compelling storytelling to engage a reader.  Many people read a biography to see how the hero/protagonist, who happens to be a real-life person, will overcome his or her obstacles and achieve success.  Instructors are continually being challenged to find real life stories engaging enough for their younger audiences.  The educational stakes are high as well in Indiana, as a sample comparison of ISTEP scores in Hammond bears out:  a 56.7% overall passing rate for Morton Elementary students, which drops to a 48% rate for Scott Middle School (Moxly and McInerny).

 

Too often the scapegoat for educational ills is the study of literature and those impractical liberal arts.  Many of these accusers do not realize the need for exposure to metaphor and symbolism in fiction and poetry to inspire student discussion and commentary.  Often nonfiction will lead to a “just the facts” discussion of the content and not encourage abstract thinking.  Also, students need exposure to works that are cultural touchstones.  What knowledge base for critical thinking will students have without the benefit of being exposed to the prior knowledge and wisdom that literature and more reading in general offer?

 

Yet, Torres may realize this.  What he may have needed was a pedagogical reason for making cuts, using the 21^st Century Skills tenets as justification.  Probably, this is a financial decision at its core, a convenient way to slash the budget by RIFing (Reducing in Force) a relatively expensive group of experienced, licensed reading teachers (Gathman, “U46’s Torres”).  In the meantime, a foundational part of a student’s ability to critically read and creatively think continues to erode.

 

Works Cited

 

Gathman, Dave.  “U46’s Torres seeking to explain controversial change in middle school

            reading requirement.”  The Elgin Courier-News 17 March 2014.  Web.  22 March

            2014.

 

---.  “Dozens slam change to middle school reading.”  The Elgin Courier-News 18 March

2014.  Web.  22 March 2014.

 

Moxly, Elle and Claire McInerny.  “Sortable Table:  ISTEP+ Results by Individual School.”

            StateImpact (Indiana Public Radio).  2014.  Web.  21 April 2014.



Practicing What You Preach as a Writing Instructor

by

Gordon Stamper, Jr.

 

A few years ago, a fellow educator told me how she had resented her writing students.  They occupied what could have been her writing time with stacks of essays to grade.  How dare they complete their assignments!

Soon another, more carefully thought-out, realization came to her:  could she complete the writing work she assigned them, let alone achieve high marks?  The instructor felt hypocrisy in her expectations.  She had preoccupied herself with the career necessities of creating curriculum, writing prompts, and commenting on students’ essays, yet did not allocate any other time for her own writing, fiction or nonfiction.

A turning point came when she became a little selfish:  certain times of the week became her writing times, from a few “stolen” minutes to several hours.  From this came multiple creative nonfiction essays, short stories, and two novels.  And a positive byproduct of it was that she enjoyed teaching English and writing again.  By regaining her writing voice, she saw the importance and pleasures of helping her students gain theirs.

I went through a similar “crisis” over a decade ago.  Here I was, a composition and research writing teacher who had not written anything unrelated to school work in at least three years, and I felt burnt out and discouraged.  When I saw there were writers’ groups that met regularly in our region, I gave myself permission to write for them.

Of course, I was mostly writing for myself, but a veil lifted for me as I continued my pursuits.  There is hard work and joy in creation, and it is important to be a part of helping students—at least those willing to listen and work—discover that joy.   Yes, I can still get frustrated and even a bit infuriated with student writing, but my underlying resentment is gone.  I too am a fellow struggler in the writing craft.



The Horror of Writer's Block

by

Gordon Stamper, Jr.

 

One of the writing life’s potential horrors is writer’s block.  The departure of the muse, the well running dry, the gaping void of the blank page—all could be used as descriptions for the terrifying affliction.  But this blog entry will leave the land of metaphor and look at two practical reasons for writer’s block, one unavoidable, the other utterly avoidable.

 

Life can silence your voice as a writer.  Illness, whether it is yourself or someone you love, happens.  If you have a career and/or a family to provide for, and you don’t have the luxury of writing for a living, your writing output can be significantly reduced.  If you have children and there is no trust fund to pay for the nanny, you may not be able to crank out that great idea for a novel.

 

Tillie Olsen wrote about this in her excellent nonfiction work Silences.  She was an expert on this subject, being a working class mother, wife, and political activist, and when life’s demands allowed her, an award-winning short story writer.  Olsen posited that talented working class people were burdened by demands of life and the need for income when they wanted to write, particularly women until the later 20^th century.  In her 50s and 60s, she was able to publish more works and eventually become a respected college instructor, but there were decades of gaps between her published works before the 1970s.

 

Then there is “I can’t think of anything to write about.”  This faux affliction is illustrated by Joel and Ethan Coen’s film character Barton Fink.  Assigned to write a screenplay for a “wrestling picture,” Fink is stymied and longs for his more sophisticated New York projects as a playwright.  Fink misses out on many potential sources of inspiration, including a hulking and maniacal traveling salesman who loves wrestling and happens to be Fink’s next door neighbor.

 

When you are a writer, you should be an observer.  Have a dedicated notebook, be it paper or electronic, to jot down bits of inspiration in journal or notation format. How could that nasty exchange between an angry customer and a cashier turn into a potential scene for your story?  As a poet, what kind of impression did the lone crane make on you as it flew over the busy highway? This could serve as that later wellspring of ideas when your imagination is running dry.

 

And when all else fails, try heuristics, writing prompts, and freewriting.  Reporters’ questions can help generate and expand new ideas.  Books such as the excellent Writer’s Block by Jason Rekulak have invaluable prompts to kick start writing, such as creating your own definition of words and composing an expository essay from what is happening in a photograph.  Even the old standby of freewriting can help, tossing away self-correction in favor of creation.

 

An old professor of mine who was also a pen-named romance novelist, Richard Hull, told us the writer’s adage that was passed down to him:  sit down on your butt and write.  When life prevents you from sitting on your butt, it cannot be helped.  But any other writer’s block is curable by a world full of ideas, if you take the time to observe and write about them.  Then writer’s block is not a terror anymore, just a paper tiger.

 

Gordon Stamper, Jr. is an adjunct faculty member of Ivy Tech Gary, limited-term lecturer at Purdue University North Central, a published writer, and moderator of Highland Writers’ Group, which meets in Griffith (Grindhouse Café) and Valparaiso (Blackbird Café) on alternating Saturdays.



The Power of Peer Reviewing Your Writing

by

Gordon Stamper, Jr.

 

As I begin each college composition course, I teach my students the need for peer reviewing.  They are hesitant to listen because they 1) had the partners who said or wrote "nice" or "it was great" for their in-depth writing analyses; 2) experienced the student critic who thought personally attacking the writer would earn brownie points with the instructor (it doesn't); or 3) had peer reviewers who would bleed comments or corrections on the written page, whether they were solicited or not.

 

Students are even wary after they see my "foolproof" peer review forms, which force their partners to answer questions and comment on a separate sheet, in a constructive and detailed manner.  But those who dive into the process see the value both for others and themselves as writers, and this value continues outside the classroom in the professional writing world.

 

Peer reviewing allows a writer to play the roles of critical reader and editor.  She can ascertain what parts of a piece’s wording and organization are cohesive, flowing, or disjointed.  She can see where a writer is or is not doing service to his topic with sufficient development and details for his reading audience.  Also, when prompted by her partner, a peer reviewer can help with later-stage proofreading issues.

 

Another natural byproduct is the two-pronged personal benefit for the writer.  One relates to human nature, in that when she sees what works or doesn’t work in someone else’s writing, she learns more about her own craft.  The other is when she receives a critique, she gets insight into her work that she normally wouldn’t have, perhaps having a blind spot or closeness to her own writing that the peer reviewer doesn’t have.  Yet this latter benefit is also the one that many beginning or intermediate-level writers are not willing to receive, often becoming defensive or not listening when receiving even the most constructive criticism.

 

Learning to receive criticism is a valuable part of the peer reviewing process.  As writers gain more experience exchanging comments on their own and others’ texts, they learn about what writing suggestions to keep or ignore.  Also, the wisdom is gained that even the best readers can have bad days and share off-base advice.

 

However, where does one go to get input after leaving the controlled classroom setting and entering the professional world?  As writers, we don’t outgrow the need for an educated set of eyes to read our drafts.  The shoddy peer reviews of the past should not dissuade writers from receiving valuable commentary.  All the previous points I made about peer editing still apply.  I tell my students that even the most experienced business professionals, lawyers, or writers need colleagues or editors to read their work.

 

Some have the good fortune of editorial staff and agent commentary, while others find a writer’s group or trusted set of readers.  Outside my classroom experiences, I have had the fortune to attend formal and informal writers’ workshops, and Northwest Indiana writing groups such as the late great Writers’ Expressions and the alive-and-kicking Highland Writers Group.  All have enriched my writing knowledge base.  They have allowed me to be a much more constructive and empathetic editor, and an improved writer who responds to the needs of my reading audience.

 

Please find a writer’s group or trusted set of colleagues to give a second look at your work.  The support and knowledge given can be invaluable for any level of writer.

 

Gordon Stamper, Jr. is an adjunct faculty member of Ivy Tech Gary, limited-term lecturer at Purdue University North Central, a published writer, and moderator of Highland Writers’ Group, which meets in Griffith (Grindhouse Café) and Valparaiso (Blackbird Café) on alternating Saturdays.

 

Editor's Note: You can find a list of Northwest Indiana writers' groups on Indiana Writers' Consortium's website at http://www.indianawritersconsortium.org/links.asp.