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Three posts from this page will be included in my final assignments as informal assignments.
I worked on most part of the writing by myself, but when I write the specific scenes, I wrote this talking with my teammates. I think it worked for me. Talking with them reminds me clearly of the days and the feelings I used to feel while I was practicing with them. Also, I sometimes talked with my host mother to determine which words or phrase to use to show the scene of different culture in English. The most difficult part for me was to tell the feelings or to show the scenes that are not familiar with the audience. This is a story when I was in my country and the values or the way of thinking is different, so there are no phrases to express some feelings or ideas. To overcome this, as I write before, I talked with my host mother. I managed to explain the idea and she gave me some advices to express them better. It helped me a lot, but I think I have to make it easier to understand by putting more feelings or conversations. Also it was hard to reduce the amount of the writing. I had to choose the parts which I needed to express the hiraeth, but the focus easily got off and I ended up choosing the part I just liked. So I have to think about it again. I started this project at the day it assigned and finished in two days, but I completely changed it after the next class and finished in four days. I believe that it was good that I took more time to write the second one. After some while, the writing I had written sometimes seemed strange, so I fixed it. And I did this project in library after the classes I had, which I think was good too. I was rarely destructed by anyone and I wouldn’t be sleepy. The reason why I chose this Hiraeth is this is the days I miss the most and used to feel comfortable. I will adapt/revise my writing process for the future revision of the Hiraeth revision by following this new six writing process.
(415 words)
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About 60 years to 30 years ago, there were a lot of stores that sells wide variety of snacks in very cheap price in Japan. They could buy snacks at the price of about ten cents, so children used to go there like every day with their little allowance. They could get one more if they god a lucky ticket in the snack they had bought. The stores were often run by old women, and children enjoyed talking with them. The stores were the place to meet and hang out with friends for the children. For the people who spend their childhood there, these stores are the home to which they cannot return with a lot of memories of their youth.
Because of the spread of supermarkets, the number of this kind of stores has decreased a lot. We can buy the same snacks in supermarkets or convenience stores. However, there is no conversation between customers and the staffs, and it is no fun for children to hang out there. This picture is a store that opened recently. There are a lot of snacks that the stores in old days used to sell although they are not as cheap as they were. The retro design of the store reminds us of the old days. And the customers can talk with the staffs there. The reason why I think this picture is the example of “Hireath” is that this store is the result of people’s longing for this kind of stores and the memories there. Even though they cannot get back to the days, people go to the store to feel the taste of the memories. In fact, the customers are mainly middle-aged people (around 30s to 60s) and their children or grandchildren. (303 words) “Hajime!” (*1) With the captain’s yell, the practice (*2) started. Everyone shouted and hit each other. Older students taught how to do well to younger ones, and younger students followed older ones. Same as every day, but everyone was more powerful because the next day we would have a big tournament. I was one of the girls’ members of the tournament, so I was also more enthusiasm than ever. After warming up and practicing basic technique, we had some practice matches. At first, I did with a senior student, who was one of the members of the tournament. As soon as the match started, I noticed he was not like every day. He was more serious than ever; he didn’t go easy on me even though I was a girl. “How can I hit him?” “What is he going to do next?” I was struggling in my mind, but I couldn’t hit any parts of him. I ended up being crushingly defeated, but I enjoyed it. I felt like I became stronger through this one match. I had a few more exciting matches and took a break. Then, the hardest part of the practice started. I started it with full energy. I felt short of breath. It became harder to raise my arms. I wanted to give up. At that time, a junior student came to me and said, “Gambare!” (*3) with a big smile. He must have been tired too, but he encouraged me. I felt refreshed and surprisingly, my body came to move better. Looking around, there were a lot of teammates who was almost giving up. I went to them and did the same thing as the older student did to me. Like that, we all came over the hard practice. Working hard with my best with my teammates whose goal was same as mine was the best experience that I had. However strong I wish to return to this “home”, I can’t. Because we are not teammates anymore and our goals are different... (336 words) (*1) Hajime – Japanese word which means “Start”. (*2) the practice – the practice of kendo (Japanese swordsmanship. Players fight each other by hitting the opponent’s head (men), arm (kote), body (dou), and throat (tsuki) with a bamboo sword.*the Youtube video link) I was in the kendo club at Osaka University (*3) Gambare – Japanese word which means “Hang in there” in this situation. Japan nationals of kendo (2015) “Hiraeth – a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was; the nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for the lost places of your past.” To me, this means “Hiraeth” is to long for the places or groups that you used to feel comfortable to be in but you can’t be in anymore, or that you wish you had been in.
When I first heard this word, I thought about my grandfather. He was in a nursing home since I was five because he had dementia and passed away when I was ten, so I have few memories with “real” him. The only scenes I remember of him are when he couldn’t do anything by himself, when he didn’t remember about everyone, and when he was lying on the bed after he died. However, I know a lot about him. Everyone, especially my mother and my grandmother, tells me about him. He was always smiling. He liked the women’s bottom. The soup he used to cook on the new year’s day was good. He could drive a truck. He loved eating sweets. My mother told me that she used to eat sweets with him at night. This is what I like to do with my mother. We eat sweets in the dining room and talk about a lot of things like my school days, her job, my father, and my sisters. Even after I moved to America, we do this through the phone. So I thought what it was like if my grandfather hadn’t died and we could eat something sweet and have a lot of conversation. This story can be the topic of the yearning for “a home which maybe never was”. Next, I thought about “a home to which you cannot return”. I have many moments that I want to return, but the strongest memory is the days in the kendo club in Osaka University. For the four months before I left Japan, I was in the university. I had practiced it for six years before going to the university, so I wanted to continue it and find the place to practice, but I didn’t think I was going to be close with the teammates. As I spent the days with them, however, I came to feel comfortable to be with them. The older students taught me a lot and often took me to dinner. I hanged out with the freshman students like every day. More than anything, we came over the hard practices and went through the joy of winning the tournaments. The last day I spent with them is the strongest memory; the last practice, the party the freshman students held for me, the presents they gave me, and the moment I said good bye to them. I still keep in touch with them, but we are not teammates anymore, so this can be the topic. (485 words) I had never tried to climb this mountain. The reason is simple; it seemed tough. But now, after 18 years of avoiding to challenge, I started to climb it. I made up my mind because I thought the time had come. However, the journey was much harder than I have ever expected. My leg hurt. My heart was beating. I couldn't breathe well. Then I found a small house. I went there to ask for a help.
"Hello..?" I walked to the door and said. "My name is Katsuki and I'm climbing this mountain.." “Come on Katsuki, let’s have dinner!” someone said. They introduced themselves. Then I realized that they were the writers who had been introduced in an essay called "The Dairy Writing Routine of Great Authors" by Maria Popova; E. B. White, Jack Kerouac, Haruki Murakami, Don DeLillo, William Gibson, Susan Sontag, and Simone de Beauvoir. “So, what’s wrong with you?”, one of them asked. “I don’t know how I can improve my writing. First of all, I can’t concentrate on my work because of the destructions.” White said “A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper,” and smiled, “The members of my household make all the noise and fuss they want to. If I get sick of it, I have places I can go.” Then, Kerouac looked at me and muttered “If you have no home, make a home out of your hotel room or motel home or pad: peace.” Thanks to these two men’s words, I came to think that I have to do something proactively to set the conditions. After a little silence, Murakami started to talk. “I keep my routine every day without variation.” “The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it’s a form of mesmerism. I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind.” “Then, what kinds of routine do you think is going to help me?”, I asked. DeLillo said, “I write about four hours and then go running. This help me shake off one world and enter another. Trees, birds, drizzle – it’s a nice kind of interlude.” Some were nodding. “For me,” Gibson said, “Naps are essential to my process. Not dreams, but that state adjacent to sleep, the mind on waking”. I was surprised that even such great writers need diversion from writing. Then, it is natural for me to feel tired and need some rest while writing, I thought and asked “How about the way of writing? Do you do anything special to make a good writing?” “I write with a felt-tip pen, or sometimes a pencil, on yellow or white legal pads, that fetish of American writers. I like the slowness of writing by hand,” Sontag expressed her preference. Beauvior said “If the work is going well, I spend a quarter or half an hour reading what I wrote the day before, and I make a few corrections. Then I continue from there.” Many of the authors agreed with her. A lot of writers seem to do this way. Thanks to them, I felt refreshed and leave the home. I know the top of the mountain is far away. But I'm going to keep climbing because I know the way that people who are in the much higher positions have taken. I don't even know the top really exists. But I'm going to keep climbing because as I go higher, the view would become more and more beautiful and shining. (584 words) Carolyn Chute explained her life as a person as well as a writer in her essay “How Can You Create Fiction When Reality Comes to Call”. Her life as a writer is interrupted by the life as a wife, a dog owner, and so on. Like her, I am destructed by the life as a college student when I’m writing.
The first destruction is my mother’s (or my host mother’s) screaming “Dinner’s ready!” Of course I know she cooks for me, so I must prioritize dinner more than my writing. The next interruption is tiredness. I have classes from early morning, so that in the afternoon, when I usually write, I am so tired and sleepy. The last and the biggest destruction is my friends’ talking or texting to me. Relationship between friends is one of the most important things for students, so I sometimes can’t stop them and end up talk with them. I mentioned some destructions that I have encounter while writing. Then, how can I avoid these interruptions? In “6 Ways to Be a Hemingway-Level Productive Badass”, the author Drake Bear listed 6 ways that Hemingway did to avoid destructions. For me, the following things are the way to avoid them.
(451 words) In "Why I Write", George Orwell insists that there are four great motives for writing; "seer egoism", "aesthetic enthusiasm", "historical impulse", and "political purpose". Joan Didion states in her essay "Why I Write" that she writes because she can understand the things in her mind through the process of writing. From her essay "The Making of a Writer: Listening in the Dark", you can assume that Eudora Welty became a writer because she wanted to give stories that the readers can experience as if the stories are really happening to them. What about me? Why do I write? Of course I write essays as assignments of my classes, but that is because teachers require me to do so. Otherwise I won't be able to earn credits or get high GPA. However, assignments are not the only thing I write. I often tweet on twitter and post on Instagram. I sometimes write a diary. These are independent actions. No one tells me to write. Then, why do I write these things?
I think the reason why I post something on social media is that it is one of the ways to help people to know me better. I am not good at talking. I often think to much before say something and end up missing the chance and saying nothing or saying something simple, innocuous and meaningless. Therefore I can't express myself orally very well. However in social media, I have a lot of time to think before posting, so that I can show everything I want to express. In short, writing is sometimes a way of expressing myself. I write a diary when I experience something that stimulates my mind. For example, I wrote a diary when my friends had a surprise birthday party for me, when I graduated from high school, and when my grandmother died. That is because I don't want to forget the moments, memories and the feelings. When my friends held the party, I was really happy and I wanted to save that moment and feeling. When I graduated from high school, I was grateful to my friends, teachers, and parents and I didn't want to lose that memory. When my grandmother passed away, I cried a lot. I wanted to get over the experience, but I didn't want to forget about her. As you can see, I write to remind myself in the future of the experiences that moved me deeply.. In conclusion, writing is a way to tell people about myself and a way to keep moments, memories, and feelings alive. Although I hadn't realized, writing has always been a part of my life. I don't know if my writing has influence on others, but I know that it is definitely helping me. (464 words) |
Katsuki Iio
Born in Osaka, Japan in 1997. Archives
December 2016
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