Playwriting contest from GOLDENTHREAD.ORG
CREATIVE WRITING
at the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts in San Francisco
Welcome! CW develops the art and craft of creative writing through instruction, collaboration, and respect. This blog showcases STUDENT WRITING and how to APPLY to Creative Writing.
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by Shanna (’12)
Volunteering can be awesome, I swear. The San Francisco Food Bank offers tons and tons of really fun and active volunteering programs – and the best part? You give three hours of your time and end up helping 18,000 people get food on their table for two weeks. It’s an amazing experience, and much better than just dropping a few old cans of tuna in the big can in your classroom during the Canned Food Drive (though you should definitely do that too!). Get ready CW – we’re going on a group field trip soon, so get your gloves and hair nets on!
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On MotherJones by Kristina Rizga
I’d expected noisy classrooms, hallway fights, and disgruntled staff. Instead I found a welcoming place, satisfied students and parents, and an 88 percent college acceptance rate.
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For all of the newcomers, Robert Reese is one of CW’s favorite Artists in Resident. He’s recently started a YouTube Channel and has created recordings of terrific poems– check out his Pablo Neruda readings!
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From Heather:
For any of you not familiar with the CRUCIAL upcoming vote on Prop 30, PLEASE read:
and pass it on!
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SFPL Teen Programs for September:
Free S.A.T. Prep Courses: Advance your score! Sign up for free classes at www.successlinktutoring.com/SFPL
(Word of Senior, Mollie vouches for the quality of the prep course. From my own experience, even if you don’t think you need help on the SAT test subjects (writing, critical reading, and math), Prep Programs teach you strategy. You learn how to set a time frame for yourself for which problems, which questions to skip, how many questions you can skip, little tricks to get you by the math section without doing any math (actually, though), the perfect formula for essay writing… The list goes on. Since this is free, you really don’t have anything to lose.)
Learn to Write an Effective Personal Essay for College Applications: A high quality essay on a college application can sometimes be the deciding factor for admission. Join Ruth Kirschner, local author, playwright, and educator to learn strategies and tips for writing an effective and personal college essays. Friday, September 21; 4 p.m. Parkside Branch, 1200 Taraval Street. Registration required: Call Dorcas at (415) 355-5770 or dwong@sfpl.org.
Ukelele 101 For Teens: Thursday, September 27; 4:30 p.m. at the Portola Branch, 380 Bacon St. Registration opens 9/6, contact Ileana at (415) 355-5660 or ipulu@sfpl.org.
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By Colin Yap (’16)
I think that from the get go, there was a nervousness in my gut about going to the movie screening. There was all the normal trepidation present of new places and new people, but there was also my own irrational apprehension of seeing a black and white movie from nineteen-thirties Germany with two experienced film aficionados. Would they do the classic thing that I always did when showing people movies I’d already seen of staring at the newcomer to see their every facial expression? Would they leave me behind in an argument about the film’s historic moments and the characters that failed in the story telling? Would I even be able to sit through two hours of angry German dialogue (which we all know is the most intense of all the German dialogues) even with subtitles?
It was, of course, an event organized by Mr. Fabrini’s Historical Film Society (which I later learned was the name of a makeshift society that sincerely wanted to have secret handshakes and code words).
The movie was The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, a historically relevant, beautifully innovative, politically wound up, and sincerely dark film directed by the pre-eminent film director, Fritz Lang. The acting in the movie was brilliant and its plot was captivating; the hosts had both seen the film many times, and their laughs often preceded the punchline. “Oh sweet, sweet Lily, my Lily,” they would say with a chuckle as the character appeared on the screen.
The two hosts were Luca and Paolo, a freshman CW and his father. I’m pretty sure if you asked any question starting, “hey, have you seen that one movie…?” they would answer with a premature nod. It became pretty clear (because they explained it to us) that the ominous sounding “society” was really just the two of them showing other people movies they liked and considered relevant. They had rules and they had passion. I don’t think the Society was ever meant to change the world through screenings of movies (wouldn’t that be kick-ass though?), but rather an attempt to show cool people cool movies and have a chance to talk about the “why” and “when” and “what” with earnest enthusiasm, not following the tragically modern trend of only ironically appreciating things.
Before the movie started, they ran us through some a slideshow presentation, discussing the historical background of the film, the artistic mind behind its execution, and the techniques used at that age of filmmaking. There was never any pressure to take notes or not to blink during the slides, only to listen, and, being a believer in the importance of context, listen I did. It was an interesting history lesson and it told some interesting facts too.
After the movie, they gave out cream puffs for dessert and asked us, their guests, what we thought of the movie. The question was asked with sincerity, like the movie’s director was in the next room waiting to jump out and pummel us if we replied with the generic, “it was pretty good.” And so I replied, “I didn’t really like the Lily character that much.” They nodded in agreement with my sentiments, then went on discussing what they’d thought about it, both having just re-watched a film for the fifth or sixth time.
I left that night unapprehensive about the “society” and its mysteries, yet still excited, feeling ready for more black and white movies and twisting plots and ominous screenplays that never cease being relevant and interesting.
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By Nick Cloud (’15)
Midori—Mykel—Olga—I greet you, my comrades! Yea, we have put them all to shame, have we not? My God, my God, but we have. Look upon us, ye low! Look, see how our spirits swell, tremble, with splendidness, see, we are arrayed in triumph, radiant more for the shadows below our eyes, sickliness and stasis of limb, which are of martyrdom, for we have made victory, victory of zeal unaccountable! Look and greet the fog, my friends, eye to its eye, for you have proven your selves’ worth and are unblemished.
We saw the feasts of the living and dead, aye, we watched living, we watched—Heimat! Fifteen and a half hours of Schabbach, from 1919–82, fifteen and a half hours of Maria, of Paul, of Eduard, of Wilfried, of Ernst, of Anton, of Anton, of Hermann, of Klärchen, of Lucie, of Otto, of Glasisch, of Häns, of Katharina, of Fritz, of Martina, of Apollonia, of Horst, of Gustav, of Marie-Goot, of Pauline, of Matthias, of Walter, of Madame de Gallimasch, of homemade sausage, of Mayor Alois, of Conneticut, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Delaware, Maryland, Maine, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Vermont, Delaware, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, Iowa, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Minnesota, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Nebraska, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington, California, and Michigan, all the first part of the great chronicle. You who have all had Doctor Who marathons, you have not had our like, you have not had the like of Edgar Reitz.
And oh! Midori, Mykel, Olga, my friends, in hereafter times we shall recall, how when sleep came at us in sheets, we four, we stood mightily together and weathered it, though it drew down like a tide our eyelids’ portcullises, with prods and coughs we kept each other awake (or in some cases perhaps succumbed briefly, but were up soon enough afterwards): how, when overwhelmed utterly by the loneliness of so many lives passing, we stood side by side in a dark line, and our pride would not let us break down: how two days we sat together, carbon-copied the same short pleasant interactions, then at breaks drank carbonated lemon water: and we shall say—
But what is there to say? There is no end of it. There are no characters in Heimat, there are only the Schabbachvolk and their lives; and these do not have the easy escape of ending, mercifully, after two hours, but they go on, and on, and on, and we are made to go on with them.
(Midori) Indeed, Heimat 1 was quite the experience. As a writer, a reader, a television-watcher, I have grown acclimated to stories– those of the set up-plot-rising action-climax sort. It’s safe to say that most of us have. Heimat was completely different, a documentary of a family’s life through the years and generations. It was the purest kind of story– a story of the living, that inspired an enduring loyalty for the people. I say people, not characters, because they are beyond serving a purpose for the sake of furthering the plot. I also hesitate to say that the movie has no plot, because living is the plot, and watching these people live out their lives is a grand privilege that I know will stay with me always.
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There are a lot of things to cover today…
First, how many Creative Writers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
I don’t know. Check the handbook.
That’s right, folks, the new Creative Writing Handbook is hot off the printing press, so to speak. Freshmen will find this incredibly useful as your guide for navigating your way through CW. Almost as useful as your amazing writing buddies, I would say. Almost.
Second, pertaining to mostly freshmen once more, here is regarding submissions. As you know, submitting three pieces of writing to a publication is a department requirement, and we have a couple of sources to help you get started. At websites like CRWROPPS and Duotrope (also listed under the LINKS column on the right side of the CW homepage), publications or contests post their submission requirements, along with a handy link for instant submission. When you get published, tell me. This is a source of pride for the department, and also a revenue source for the blog (and by revenue I mean blogpost content interest value).
Third, Heimat 1, this Friday. I’m sure you’ve received all of the emails (all of them) about the 15-hour epic marathon, and I’m going to promise right now that I will be there. So for all of you out there who would love my company in a dark, silent theater for fifteen hours (you know who you are), go.
FRIDAY AUGUST 24 RANDALL MUSEUM 199 Museum way
4:30 Refreshments and registering new students
5pm Film program
7:15 Break for soup & sandwiches
8:45 Break for dessert & coffeeEdgar Reitz’s HEIMAT 1 (1984) The first part of one of the longest films ever made (53 hours) we think the 15 hours of Heimat 1 you’ll remember the rest of your life. Most you have never even imagined seeing a 15 hr film, concentrating that much for that length of time, but this film is so exceptional and this experience so unique, we hope you’ll at least come try. We don’t expect everyone to last, and we’ll have a schedule for you, so you can know what you’ve missed if you want to come back.
SATURDAY AUGUST 25 (same as above)
1pm PICNIC Our first celebration of 15 yrs of Cine/club and 20 yrs of SF Art & Film-you’re welcome to join us even if you don’t want to stay for the film.1:30 Film program
3:30 Break for cookies and coffee
6:30 Break for pizza and salad
9:15 Break for dessert & coffeeAND FINALLY.
For tomorrow’s Buddy Check-In, please bring in an item that is of sentimental value to you to share with your Buddy. Say it with me now, “d’aaaaaaw.”
Because that was long-winded and picture-less, here is a video of Hazel talking about A-R-T. For compensation:
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Let me say that again for maximum emphasis: lockers. Lockers. Lockers.
Here is the checklist:
Emergency Card
Green Locker Form
Military Release Form (your parents DO NOT have to sign it)
Free/Reduced School Meals Application Printout
That link will take you where you need to be taken– fill out the survey, and at the very end, you should see this:
Click PRINT THIS DOCUMENT. Where the big red arrow is pointing. Bring it to Heather and voila, you are done.
And we all get lockers.
CREATIVE WRITING 