Final Blog

For my final post I would just like to say how much this class has meant to me.  The nature of this class seems to have drawn us all a little closer than any other class!  I have enjoyed getting to know most of the class through our journals and essays.  There are a lot of great writers - and very funny people - in our class!  The class was more like therapy!!!  And I want to say thanks to Dr. Chandler! This was, in all honesty, my favorite course ever taken!  You should get paid double for the "sessions!"  Thanks everyone!

Final revision - essay3/4

Creative Nonfiction                                                                 Marjorie Papa

Necessary Evil

            I walk up the flight of worn-carpeted steps to the second floor.  Before I even open the door to the suite, the smell hits me.  It is a distinct smell like no other…and one which everybody knows, that literally smells the same to all who come upon it.  It has the ability to set me into a panic if I smell that smell in a place that is nowhere near or even similar to this place I am now entering.  I could be doing something ordinary like shopping for groceries and smell “it” and break into a brief but tangible cold sweat. 

            I walk in and smile at the receptionist, who greets me by name and tells me to have a seat, I’ll be seen in a minute.  I pick up a magazine, but don’t really see anything on the pages because I’m focused on my senses of hearing and smell at the moment.  Not even the latest celebrity news and gossip that I hold in my hands can even gain my attention right now.  Did I say focused?  Overwhelmed is the more appropriate word.  And if I’m really being honest, there is a twinge of fear.  Fear of the known…which at a time like this seems as frightening as fear of the unknown.

            Along with that off-putting smell comes that off-putting sound.  Let me clarify this, first:  I call it “that smell” because that is the only way I know how to refer to it.  I really don’t know exactly what it is.  Definitely chemical…but what the components are that exactly make it up I have no clue.  Nor do I want to.  I don’t even know exactly what useful purpose it serves while it’s anywhere near me or my mouth.  Nor do I want to.

 As for that sound…it’s unmistakable and not to be ignored.  Amid all that goes on at once in this small suite – the phone ringing, the drone of the television to the left, the murmur of 101.5 fm radio station coming from the speakers in the ceilings, even the low conversations taking place in the rooms just out of my view – I can hear that distinguishable and undeniable sound, penetrating through it all.  That high-pitched whirring and buzzing noise that sounds like a mosquito was given a loudspeaker by my ear and has the ability to pierce through me…and remind me of what awaits me. 

That dreaded instrument.  It astounds me how much pain a tool of this size can cause.  The pain that I’m not supposed to feel but I manage to anyway.  Wasn’t that “just a little pinch” I felt every single bit of a few minutes ago supposed to take care of the whole “not feeling a thing” I’m supposed to not feel now?! I realize it must seem like the needle took effect since I can feel the drool pooling in my neck…but the truth is clear when I try to gurgle the word “oww” and my body stiffens on its own: the novocaine is not doing its job.

And this is where I should change the direction of thoughts.  If I don’t, I run the risk of saying I’ll call and reschedule another time.  Hopefully it’s just one tooth this time.  I’m getting too used to it being one – oh and the one next to it is cracked or chipped or a cavity we must have missed.  It is necessary to change my line of thinking so as not to go into “fight or flight mode.” 

Which gets me to wondering about that…the sense of fear that stirs up this “fight or flight mode.”  Why is a place like this able to conjure up such a strong sense of fear?  And it is fear…why else would I feel like I should either stay and fight through this or take flight and get myself out of here.  Is it because there is a sense of loss of control?  Yes, I know I can take action to fight germs and bacteria, and not eat so much candy, and wear my mouth-guard at night so I don’t clench my teeth…but even if I were to be faithful in all of that I still feel powerless.  I have no control of the ultimate outcome – and I like to rank myself among those who would like to wield control. 

If we have to lack control, it seems we should also lack pain.  But pain comes with the territory.  Those teeny little nerves can bring a grown man to tears.  Yet we cannot, absolutely cannot, do without our teeth.  So we need to have them fixed.  It hurts, but we have to go.  Because we only get one set.  We have to put ourselves through pain in order to avoid pain later.  Are we sadists?  And here is this person, with that tool and that smell and that pinch, that willingly puts us through this pain because they are helping us.  In essence, our pain is their pleasure.  So they must be sadists, right?  It’s hard to understand how all of these thoughts are provoked and all of this pondering is brought forth by one necessary evil…

Rhetorical Analysis of Publication Venues - Handout

Rhetorical Analysis of Publication Venue                                                       Marjorie Papa

Publication Venue:  Crazyhorse

Their Mission:  “to publish the entire spectrum of today’s fiction, essays, and poetry - from the mainstream to the avant-garde, from the established to the undiscovered writer.”

Background:

·         Founded in 1960

·         Published writers have been recipients of awards such as the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award

·         Nonprofit literary journal that is funded by:

o   its subscribers

o   donors

o   the Department of English, and

o   the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the College of Charleston

“Crazyhorse is proud to announce that production for selected issues is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.”
Editors’ interests:

·         original writing that engages in the work of honest communication

·         Asking questions such as:

o   "What's at stake in this writing?"

o   “What’s reckoned with that’s important for other people to read?”

·         publishing newcomers

·         publishing established writers

·         Always on the lookout for writing that doesn't fit the categories!!!!!!

**While this journal publishes fiction, poetry, and essays, its primary focus seems to be on fiction.  Second to that would be poetry.  In the 8 issues perused, there were only 9 essays among the writings.**

Essay Issue 78:  Brandon Davis Jennings Operation Iraqi Freedom is My Fault

·         Subject matter – truthful account of author’s war perspective from Saudi Arabia

·         Voice/tone – political commentary; dry sarcastic humor; sardonic; almost bitter

·         Form – realistic; true to author’s thoughts/feelings; memories/flashbacks

·         Artistry – narrative yet also journalistic; powerful and honest

·         Length – unknown/must be a subscriber to read full essay

Essay Issue 75:  Joelle Fraser Inspiration Point

·         Subject matter – author’s third person account of a tragedy from Sept. 23, 2006

o   Told to author by a woman Brenda

§  Brenda’s son and friend died after a school dance

·         Methadone had been sold to students

§  Brenda and husband discovered dead boys late next day

§  Two students charged with manslaughter

·         Voice/tone – somber; tragic; grieving

·         Form – journalistic with times and dates

·         Artistry – third person journalistic narrative; indirect voice

·         Length – unknown/must be subscriber for full text

Essay Issue 72:  Carolyn Walker Christian Becomes a Blur

·         Subject matter – first person account from author

o   Author is a mother to son Christian, age 12

o   Christian is disturbed

§  One doctor says therapy, but no medicine

·         Christian is “eccentric”

§  Another doctor diagnoses anxiety

o   Mother and father don’t know what to do

§  Christian “sees” a man who “wants to take his soul”

§  Christian is tense and won’t eat

·         Voice/tone – stressed; no humor; desperation

·         Form – narrative as an explanation to behavior?

o   Mother’s behavior as reaction

o   Son’s behavior in general

·         Artistry – pleading for understanding using narrative

·         Length – unknown/must be a subscriber

Submission Guidelines for Writers:

·         Submit up to two manuscripts per year between August 1 and May 31.

·         accepts simultaneous submissions (a submission of the same work sent to another publication)

Manuscript Reading Process:

·         manuscript is read by three different readers

o   the editors read all submissions in their respective genres

o   a Guest Editor reads your manuscript within a 300-manuscript set randomly assigned to him/her

o   a Crazyhorse intern or Student Reader reads that same randomly assigned set

How to prepare your manuscript:

·         Send a manuscript of up to 25 pages of fiction or essay, or 3-5 poems

·         Include a cover letter

·         Welcome to send up to two separate submissions per year

o   Asked to wait until you receive a reply regarding a submission before you upload the next one.

How to upload your manuscript file online:

·         Have an online account:

o   log in through the red box

o   click "Submit Manuscript" in the red box

·         Need to establish a new account:

o   click "Login Help" in the red box

o   click "New user? Click here to sign up" on the page

·         Upload a .pdf or .rtf file only

·         no submissions accepted by mail

Publication Rights and Author Payment:

·         First North American Serial Rights to published works

o   copyright for any works published in Crazyhorse revert to the author upon publication

·         request author’s permission to feature published works or excerpts on Crazyhorse's website and in its advertising

·         Payment for accepted work

o   $20-35 per page of layout

o   *depends on annual budget and grants received

Crazyhorse Prizes:

·         The Crazyhorse Fiction Prize

o   $2000

o   Published in Crazyhorse

·         The Lynda Hull Memorial Poetry Prize

o   $2000

o   Published in Crazyhorse

***Submit your entry online or by mail

See How to Enter

See Recent Winners and Judges for last year's winners and judges