Free Write: Monkey

I want to move to fucking Montana, or someplace like that. Away from the fucking high-rises and the gas leaks of these crowded streets. I tire of the talk of insipid wisdom that means nothing, except laughing and soaking in the awesomeness that you have created, that you will pat yourself on the back for. Why is it the main priority is to make cash, cash, cash at any expense?

"Let us produce. Let us be metropolis," the high rises will say. "We will give you the luxuries you seek, but while you do so, please hold this wrench, my monkey, my tiny cog in the conglomerate machine."

In 2009, smiles are bought in the form of bubble-wrapped packages masquerading as mementos. Make your pay, have it taken away, and the rocking uncertainty evens out while you hope to find something worthwhile in the wreckage.

I keep fucking up left and right because I'm a softie pushover. I am the cog with a slight deformity, forced into the gears, teetering between "certainly sure" and "out of my mind."

"Hold this wrench, monkey," high-rises say, and I oblige.

I oblige so that I can buy books.

"Persevere, Clare."

The title of today's post comes from the novel, The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger. It comes at a point where, the protagonist, Henry DeTamble (the time traveler) and Claire Abshire (the wife) are going through a stressful time in their marriage. Here is the excerpt from said piece (don't worry, I won't give anything away):

"How are you?" I ask.

"Terrible," she says softly. "Tired." I remember. Stayed in bed for weeks. "Henry, I quit." She watches me, trying to gauge my reaction to this, weighing her intention against my knowledge. "I give up. It isn't going to happen."

Is there anything to stop me from giving her what she needs? I can't think of a single reason not to tell her. I stand and rack my brain for anything that would preclude Clare knowing. All I remember is her certainty, which I am about to create.

"Persevere, Clare."

"What?"

"Hang in there..."

And then he goes on to explain why she should stop worrying, and that all her pain and frustration will soon become worthwhile, turn into something beautiful.

Now, I don't have a Henry DeTamble to tell me that everything will be okay. I'm a solo act, and have been for a while, which I don't mind as I'm quite comfortable. But I am at that point in my life where I have a slight bit of uncertainty, frustration, stress, and worry.

I started a new job two weeks ago. I work full-time in West Hollywood. What? English majors can get jobs, really? This must be a milestone. No, in all seriousness...I started a full-time job that I'm not particularly fond of. I'm not going to complain or vent about it, because it's going to be hard to explain why. I'm aware that in this economy, I can't afford to be so picky and spoiled. I'll ignore that ill feeling in my stomach when I think about my job and my commute because I need to remember that it could be worse. It really could be worse.

Romeo said to Juliet, "All these woes shall serve for sweet discourses in our times to come."

Meaning that right now, I'm frightfully unhappy (well, was never 100% to begin with, anyway. Not yet at least.) and I feel ill when I think about going to my job, but I'm going to suck it up. I'm going to try.

Because, if you recall, I am also starting grad school. I am taking two classes:
ENGL 457 International Literature
T 7:00-9:45 pm

ENGL 652 Creative Writing Studies
Thurs 4:00-6:45 pm
This week is the first week of school, in fact. I'm going to devise a plan for organization and will post it here so I will have a written document of what I will be doing. Hopefully, if it's in writing, I will stick to it.

I work in West Hollywood. I go to school in Northridge. I live in Eagle Rock.

Now, in any other town, these distances aren't so bad. It would take me 20 minutes to drive to each destination, easy. However, this is Los Angeles we are talking about and I have drivento all three in one day, during the times I need to be at any given location and I will be traveling at peak times. I will need to be released from work early on Thursdays to be in Northridge before 4. My boss is aware of this, but has not worked out how I can make up the hours. So I will hypothesize what I might do.

Here is what I propose for this coming week 08/23-8/30, as well as a sample outline of what I will attempt to accomplish through 11/10 (when my contract at my job ends):

Sun, 08/23
8:00 pm - have clothes laid out, ironed, lunch packed, gym clothes packed, water canister filled, complete 400-level course approval form
9:00 pm - finish reading for ENGL 457 (syllabus was online, so I could start reading right away)
9:30 pm- attempt to sleep

Mon, 08/24
5:00 am - wake up
5:05 am - snooze
5:30 am - really wake up, shower
6:00 am - breakfast, coffee, get ready
7:00 am - leave for work. 2 South, 101 North, exit Sunset, until I hit West Hollywood
7:45 am - work. I will try to write 3 pieces of content for websites an hour, for a total of 15 a day.
12:30-1:30 pm - lunch
4:45 pm - release
5:15 pm - drive to Northridge. Sunset, left on Laurel, right on Hollywood, left on Highland, 101 North, 170 North, exit Roscoe Blvd, west on Roscoe until Reseda Blvd, R on Reseda towards CSUN
sometime between 6-7 pm - EAT
7:00-9:00 pm - grad program orientation
9:30 - Glendale, gym
10:45 - home, then collapse

Tues, 08/25
Much the same as Monday, substitute grad program orientation with ENGL 457IL

Wed, 08/26
Day is much the same. No class.
6:00 pm- Hollywood, gym
7:00 pm- dinner, homework, reading
8:00 - sleep in early

Thurs, 08/27
Day is the same.
2:00 pm - end work. drive to Northridge.
4-7 pm - ENGL 652
7:45 pm - Glendale, gym
9:00 pm - home, collapse

Friday, 08/28
Day is the same.
5:00 pm - end work, go home, get ready for my Friday night when I will say goodbye to Jenny and Myra, and celebrate Lainey's birthday

Saturday, 08/29
Happy birthday, Lainey!
Some time in the afternoon, drive to Northridge for Northridge Review business.
Make up the lost 3 hours from work...somewhere?
Homework, reading.
Evening: open to festivity

Sunday, 08/29
Sleep in.
12:00 pm - personal training session
1:00 pm-? Northridge Review business
Homework, reading.
9:00 - sleep

Rinse and repeat roughly the same way, minus the extra drive to Northridge on Monday.

Does anyone have advice for me to plan this better or...words of wisdom? Any help would be useful. :) Somehow, none of this could even compare to moving across the world to Korea, though, like two (and soon a third) of my friends will soon be doing. :)

Musings, Updates, and the Unclear Future

On a whim, I applied to CSUN's MA program. I had much encouragement from my professors and classmates. One--because I truly think that these people believed that I could succeed in grad school. Two--I still felt I had much to learn about my writing: the art, the literary value, and the theoretical approaches of it. I know many people think it's crazy, to go the same undergrad for grad, but I have only been at CSUN for two years and only spent about half the time truly concentrating on creative writing.

For me, this is simply a continuation. I will continue to grow as a writer in this time. Grad school will be a challenge, but I feel that it would be more on my level. I enjoy a challenge myself. I'm ambitious. In undergrad, I always liked to go the extra mile just so I could not only test my boundaries, but also so that I could set myself apart and show that I have merit. Something beyond the workshop story, but an actual literary and artistic piece that may be perhaps be a cut above, or a potential contender for greatness.

With that said, I am accepted as a conditionally classified student. I am enrolled in one class, but it's a 400-level undergrad creative writing class. O.o I haven't been able to register in any grad classes because (and here's why I mentioned I applied on a whim) I applied so late, so last minute that by the time I was able to register, all the classes were full. Now it is time to do the sit-in, beg, plead, and hope for an open spot somewhere.

In other news, I have had a short story accepted for publication. Tayo Literary Magazine is up-and-coming and is geared towards Filipino-American youth empowerment. I think it's great that this magazine coming up. It's great to read literature, see photos and artwork by Fil-Am youth. Somehow, I think that Filipinos in the arts are rarely highlighted. We exist. We are there. This magazine, though it is still fledgling, is a novel (no pun intended :P) idea because it showscases Filipinos in a way, that perhaps prior, we haven't been seen before. I'm proud of the beliefs of the editors of the magazine, what it stands for, what it is doing for the community.

In other editorial news, perhaps I've not mentioned this, but I am the co-head editor of CSUN's literary magazine, The Northridge Review for the Fall 2009 issue. We are nearly complete with the magazine, and are expecting to have a release early in the upcoming semester. :D

Now for the future. I'm not sure what will happen within these next two months. Two friends of mine have thrown a curveball into my life. They are going to Korea to teach English, as part of a special program. I'm excited for them and I want them to succeed, especially because not only is an excellent opportunity to travel, immerse into another culture, and on a humanitarian note, to teach children...but it's also a great alternative to being thrust into the capitalist real world that we call an economically faltering America. I won't lie and say to myself that I applied to grad school so that I could postpone diving into the real world because I couldn't find a job. (However, this is a topic I will further elaborate on, in terms of my longer-term future goals) I can't even get hired at Barnes & Noble, for crying out loud, despite the fact that my resume is looking pretty good now.

In any case, Myra and Jenny, are off to Korea within the next two months, and they will fulfill a year's contract to teach. They are two of my closest friends and I will miss them terribly.

And so they are persuading me to go to Korea and teach as well. -_-

Now this is going to be tricky. Stay tuned...

I'm Finished

Aha! My snobbery has faltered in these last few weeks, as I hadn't bothered to keep up the blog. This is mostly because last semester was immensely more exciting than this spring 2009 semester. Honestly, last semester I chased an unrequited crush, understood the importance and connection between literary theory and film, and wrote some of the best pieces of fiction that I had ever written in my entire life (up until that point, anyway).

The time has come to announce that I have finally graduated from college. I have that elusive baccalaureate degree (technically, in about four to six weeks, I'll have it!). The question that comes to pass is: "now what?" Shall I decorate my cardboard box to live in? A true artist would do so to stand out from all the other boxed artists lined up in our makeshift Hoovervilles bred from doe-eyed dream-chasing.

I chose to follow my passion. In these bleak contemporary mindset, which is quite often, mocking and cynical, some would question a student's sanity for even daring to go towards a direction that had no guarantees. What I see from that, rather, is character. If someone even has the gall to dare, then I applaud that person. This is a person who believes in passion, wants to shape him/herself into being well-rounded, one who yearns for artistic and/or intellectual pursuits, and wishes to experience the best of what life has to offer. Whether that be travel, helping and teaching others, entertaining, or to be daring for daring's sake, then that's beautiful.

Let us begin quickly with a short journey and what I have/have not accomplished. I am writing this mainly to humor myself, and so that I will have something to look back upon when I think of my last two years of college.

My first creative workshop at CSUN, which was approximately one year ago during a summer session, I had been grappling with the ideas and concepts of creative writing and the literary theory behind it. I didn't realize there were terms that writers needed to be conscious of. I just wrote and mimicked what I had read in books. I also visualized what I wanted to write, playing it through my mind like a scene in a movie that I would try to regurgitate in words. I hadn't realized that creative writing was much more than copying what authors wrote in books or trying to describe the movie in my mind. That, like anything, I had to break it down with fundamentals.

The professor said to us on the first day of class, "I want to unsettle you."

One of our first exercises was to write one sentence--only one--and begin building on it. It was called Burrowing. From the prof's assignment:

I had become a sentence-thinker, my whole process of writing transformed from a hard, weird struggle to describe a set of fixed ideas floating somewhere, as it seemed, inside my head, to one in which the ideas grew out of the writing in the moment of its coming into being. Charged by their own imperative and grace, they seemed to unfold as if out of the sentences themselves. This is not some literary mysticism. It is how language works, what it is.

WTF right? I was definitely un-freaking-settled the entire time in that class. She said the exact same thing I had written above (except more academic-y). This way of thinking about writing felt unconventional (yet seemingly natural and 100% conventional at the same time!). If you think about it, we do not have premeditated conversations planned in our head. When we interact with one another, or even when we think, we jump from one sentence or thought to the next. It's spontaneous.

So take one sentence. Here, I'll write one right now: She liked roses best, but only in the coldness of winter.

What should come next? Anything! And this lesson taught me how to truly write. When the words fall freely on the page, one after the other, in a completely mellifluous way, there is such rhythm and cadence that gives the writing a natural flow. Nothing will seem forced or contrived. If I never remembered another creative writing exercise, I will still always remember this one because it has shaped my writing for good.

Next sentence: The winter concealed her with its gray shadows.

Now the writer has raised all these questions. Why only roses? What's the significance of the gray shadows? Who's "she," and does she have a name? Thus, a story unfolds, easily placing layers and complexity into the narrative naturally, without trying too hard or forcing it.

So...what was the point in all of this? Well...basically, I was trying to brainstorm ideas for writing my Statement of Purpose for grad school, and it turned into this half-teaching, half-reminiscing session about one of the most awesome lessons ever learned while at CSUN. LOL. :)

Humanities Must Justify Their Worth?

In Tough Times, the Humanities Must Justify Their Worth

In this article from the New York Times, it is basically saying that because of today's economy, studies in humanities is seen as impractical because it concentrates on personal development, intellectualism, and forward-thinking. It doesn't prepare one for an actual job, like say engineering or medicine would.

At the end, the article says that humanities studies will soon be like it once was at the beginning of the 20th century: something only the wealthy priveleged will study.

This article is horrendously bleak. True: humanities studies do not prepare an individual specifically for an actual job in our society--a capitalist-based society where production and profit are valued. True: humanities is art--which never equals money in the pocket. True: humanities studies has no guarantees.

I call bullshit on the conclusion of the article: that only the wealthy priveleged will be the ones studying humanities. First of all, because of the huge surge in the middle class, and the blurring of the class divisions, we have, in America, rags-to-riches stories. Anyone can work from the bottom to the top if they so desire. Someone who has a degree in humanities, if they push themselves hard enough can become successful. It's the individual's responsibility to align themselves with success--if they so desire. Maybe some humanities students wouldn't mind living in a tool shed, surrounded by their philosophies, candles, and a crusty loaf of bread, so long as they have their books. You can't speak for every individual.

Secondly, even if (and this article smacks of dystopia for me) the humanities and liberal arts education were abolished and kept only for the rich--what kind of world do you envision? Something like in the film, Metropolis--workers, workers, and more workers? Orwellian dystopia? Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 where books are burned? No creativity? No imagination? Stifled words. Our current president is an individualist, free-thinking, forward-thinking man.

I am simply saying that the outcome of humanities studies will not just be for the wealthy. It's not entirely impractical, but you will learn more about yourself and you will craft an identity through your knowledge. Everyone is a humanist at heart, anyhow. We are not unfeeling robots. I do not fear the death of humanities.

Which Wife of Henry VIII Are You? I am Anne!

Which wife of Henry the Eighth are you? Your Result: Anne Boleyn You are Anne Boleyn, second, and most famous, wife of Henry. You are firey, smart, confident, and witty. Though not notorious for your beauty, you have a prescense that sticks out in people's minds. You will stop at nothing to get what you want. Keep in mind, though, when you get it, you have to know how to keep it.
Katherine of Aragon
Kathrine Howard
Jane Seymour
Catherine Parr
Anne of Cleves
Which wife of Henry the Eighth are you? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I am obsessed with anything Tudor. And Anne Boleyn happens to be my favorite Henry VII wife. I think everyone gets her, though, on these quizzes...

What Do You Do With a B.A. in English?

Sing along! From the musical, Avenue Q.

What do you do with a B.A. in English,
What is my life going to be?
Four years of college and plenty of knowledge,
Have earned me this useless degree.

I can't pay the bills yet,
'Cause I have no skills yet,
The world is a big scary place.

But somehow I can't shake,
The feeling I might make,
A difference,
To the human race.

Morning, Brian.

Hi, Kate Monster.

How's life?

Disappointing.

What's the matter?

The catering company laid me off.