I completely forgot but posting anyways end of semester feedback

I'm glad I decided to take this course, I can say I definetly say I set the bar higher on a personal level compared to the writing I've done previously, in terms of length and story itself. I've mostly written just poetry and music related, so most of what I've written in the past didn't include so many different characters and scenes. I really enjoyed the reading we had in the last class I think it was amazing listening to everyone and being listened to aswell. Some stories gave me goosebumps by how great they were, I think what fueled the fire in these stories also were the authors reading them. It's like I could feel it in myself reading my story but witnessed it in everyone else also as they read. All of sudden these characters that we've all been sitting with for so long got to be brought to life. We pictured them in our minds and all but during the reading it's like we were acting them out live. So it was awesome to observe that change . I felt like I knew my character even more in that moment.The whole Class I was doing my best to truly listen to everything . The change in pitch and tone that we all do as we read, sing, conversate in the moment. The emphasis placed on certain sentences, dialogues, or even words. I even began to close my eyes at certain times as I do with music, honing in onto one of my "senses". Some of my classmates tapped me thinking I was sleeping, only to find me really into a story someone was reading. My plans for this summer are to write songs. I also plan on performing music at various open mics, bars, subways  and really just anywhere. I will focus on performance and creating original work. I will probably do poetry readings aswell. I think everyone's stories were amazing although unfortunately I wasn't able to listen to the last one, I'm sure it was great aswell. In moments like that I look around the room and find us all creators, it's like I was eager to hear what everyone had to say, aswell as honored to share what I had, we all contributed something to each other it felt like.

Saying goodbye

Our last class was bittersweet it was a real eye opener for me of how talented our class was as a whole with creativity. I really enjoyed eating and enjoying stories it was one our best class meetings yet, even though I was tremendously nervous to read my story knowing that I shared dark story ideas with my fellow classmates made it really easy. Taking this class was a real and amazing experience. I really enjoyed the story that a female classmate wrote I'm sorry I forgot her name but she wrote a story with two different endings which I really enjoyed its nice that she did a alternative ending to give the different types of readers an ending they might like it was amazing. This semester I really learned to open my creativity and expand my thinking process I really enjoyed some of the reading and it gave me ideas of how to write my own stories, I believe it made me a better writer.

Sayonara

I will have from this English class good memories that will last forever. All the stories that were read the last day of class were amazing. All of them came from our own inspiration. I want to Thank you Professor Talbird for helping us to bring out our abilities and your encouragement. I might not remember all the names of all the classmates of English class 221 Spring 2016 but I will remember your faces. I might still see a few of you around the hallways in the fall 2016 here in Queensborough. For those that are graduating I wish you good luck in your future endeavors . I wish you all a healthy and happy summer.

So long

These past few months have been better than I could've asked for. When I picked this class onlinr I thought to myself,  "I have no idea how this class is going to be. Will I even like it?" well now i can honestly say this was my favorite class. As for my original group of Charles, and Christian, I give you guys credit for being able to deal with me. Gotta give credit to the professor for being the Matchmaker lmao. I apologize again for the 20 minute reading. It was a longer 5 minutes than I thought 😁. Professor you have some great teaching techniques. Since day 1 you've proved to love your job here. Love you all. Hopefully we'll run into each other people.
P.S.
     RIP Isaiah

Nice Job to All from the last class & party

I will start from the beginning with the obvious...

Messi Gatorade by
Mr Abraham, excellent story, excellent use of props; wearing the shirt as well as the audio/video presentation!!!  You set the bar pretty high!!!  Nice job dude!  Your opening forward dedicating to your group, thanking the class and the professor or spoken like a true gentleman!

Christian "Quinn's Journey"...
It's always good for us to check in on Quinn in our little group in the corner with me you and Eddie as the original three… Although Quinn has seen better days but for you Christian the best is yet to come!

The Angel, named Love
"All Angels have a Real Name"
Beautifully Written & Presented!!!

Christian
"War Hero" You impressed me bro!!! Hard work does pay off!!!

The Strength of a Survivor Story
Rose, Beautiful, poignant and inspirational... Keep in touch

Nods to:

Ruth's waitress and the customer
Catchin a Rap & making a date

Western Body Eastern Mind
Ravi

"I would kill to stay alive"...
Please Stop killing Mermaids

Let's shoot the "Booger Goblin" with a "Snot Rocket"

Daphne's Bloodlust continues?
A poignant survivor story, attention grabbing and well written but surprisingly less deaths from Daphne, LOL

Pam
Never let a man see you cry...
which Annie song was that again?

Ingrid
"There is no such thing as a hopeless situation"

Kadija silent offering
The trouble ... ??
Where to blow it" How does that African saying go again?

N.O.W.
EDDIE
The story with only 3 letters but 18+pages, read in only 5 minutes...?  I want to work in a hotel in the hospital business but now I wonder if it safe?

     As I finish the last of the treats from the party and my last cupcake (thank you Pam & Fam) I realize that I had a Great Semester with my English Crew!!!
     You guys and Gals not only work hard but you poured out your hearts in the stories that you shared!!!  Thank you classmates!
      This class made me read, but not by force.  This class made me write, so much I stayed up many a night.
       Other classes claimed to be "writing intensive" by sneaking in a paper at the midterm or the final.   None of them compare in comparison to this course.
       None of this is a complaint, my gratitude is because I was able to empty my mind and pour out my heart without restraint.  I don't know if I could do it again, but from the semester I know I benefited in the end.

Thank you Professor Talbird!
 Thank you fellow classmates!
 It was an honor to share the semester with you all!
 Sincerely,
Charles
PS I invite you all to keep in touch if you are on Facebook, either please follow me or friend request me:  Chuck Kellerman "I am Iron Man"

A professor to remember

Despite my dislike for writing, this class helped me prove that I'm not as bad of a writer as I thought.  My grammar still needs a lot of work and we know I love run on sentences.  I want to thank you Professor for finding a talent in me that I haven't explored.  This class was amazing.  After taking such an extremely long break from school this class made getting back into the swing of things enjoyable.  I've stepped outside of my comfort zone, attended a book reading, had my story distributed to the class as part of a lesson and shared my opinions of stories on a public blog site.  I would have never done any of these things without you telling me my grade depended on it. lol.  But, thank you for helping me grow as a person.  By the way I got accepted into Queens College and may take another writing class as an elective.

A sweet fairwell

I just want to thank everyone for this experience.  It has been a pleasure to meet every single classmate.  I always find it amazing when people of all different cultures and characteristics meet.  The laughs the experience will not be forgotten.

"Bitter Sweet" Goodbye...?

     This class was the "surprise class" of this semester that I didn't know that I needed to graduate and had no idea I would be able to handle and enjoy as well. 


     I can NOT believe how much reading and writing was accomplished... 
I don't know how you (Professor Talbird feel about us) or others in the class feel about themselves but I can say that I exceeded my own expectations by not only keeping pace with the courses' workload but also liking it!!!... except for that one story..."The Fugue"... Maybe I will give it another chance over the Summer (after the Summer Session in June).

To my fellow classmates and Professor Talbird,

     Thank you for a Great Class and a Great Semester!
Good Luck on Finals, Have a Great Summer!
Best Wishes to you all in your Future Endeavors!!!

Sincerely Yours,
Charles


PS I will be "graduating" in June but not going to Graduation as I booked a Last Minute Cruise :-)
That's a prophecy fulfilled as I have been writing about cruises all semester, LOL.  "I'll be back" just in time for Summer Session I and will be taking Acting I (AM) and Intro to Social Work (PM) to finish up my Associates Degree "officially" June 30, 2016.  The "plan" is to transfer to Queens College... more needs to be worked out as far as "majors" or careers are concerned...
If you keep in touch, I will keep you posted...

Story and film

I mentioned that I liked the last class. But I also liked the class before the last one. When I was following up through the story while it was being read I didn't quite get the whole story. I felt like it was cut into sections like chapters. I don't know if I heard wrong or if that's how it was kind of written. But when I heard so many I injuries going on including the graveyard and the baby rabbits that were killed and just the language of the characters made me sound that the story was trying to give a dark perspective. Their conversations sounded irregular and I asked myself where was the author going with this. But when I saw the film and everything was played out, I had exactly no idea that all of that was being described in the story. Yes the words were being said exactly like the one in the text but the characters were humorous and not gothic like, like the one in the story.

Last class

I thought that the last class was great. We all got to eat great food and great snacks. I listened to everyone's stories. There were some that were quite long that I lost myself in the process and I would try to get myself back up again to listen. All stories I heard were really great and creative. There was one about some guy that worked in some kind of job which I forgot what it was about but I found it quite funny because of the artist's saying he was referring about. I pretty much remembered all the really long stories. Not word for word obviously but because they were so long. I also like the mermaid story that one made me laugh when all of sudden she says that they're Mexican. Comes up with a Hispanic name. It was unexpected and funny. I also liked the story about the Angel. The way how erverything was being described was unbelievable and so touchy, and artistic in a way. But I thought everyone did good with their stories and participation. Not one did bad.

Last Post on Blogger... Maybe.

I am actually kind of sad that we won't be seeing each other Tuesday nights anymore. I honestly did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did. I was kind of nervous the first few days when I saw how well a few people wrote. But we all did learn how to improve our writing. Some definitely gotten really better. 

During our last class readings, it was interesting to see how many people wrote about a similar topic or issue. I definitely thought it was nice to read our own writings. 

As for the summer; well I'll probably just pick up an extra summer job and try to work on my paintings. I am looking forward to reading a few books that my classmates had told me about. Next semester is going to be my last at QCC. So i'm pretty excited.

Other than that I wish everyone well and good luck for your finals! 

Lets stay in touch!

Maybe we shall revisit this blog if it's still around. :) 

Thanks professor for everything!  

Reflection

This was one of my most memorable classes till date. Despite the tremendous amount of writing that was required, it has helped us to create stories, get feedback from our classmates and explore our writing skills. Last night's class was bitter sweet. Having a farewell party was wonderful. Thank you Professor. Congrats to everyone that read last evening, I know that we all feel delighted to share what we wrote for others to hear.

The reading started off inspiring with the clip that Abraham Spiegel played for us.

Followed by one of Christian McKinzie’s story, I loved the picture he painted for us, the descriptions were excellent. His story was suspenseful. I personally liked how he wrote the story and the conversation between the characters; Quinn and the doctor. It was really cool for him to also add that Quinn got upset with the doctor as if he wanted to blame someone, it added good real content to the story. I had a conversation once with Daphne and I knew that she took great pride in perfecting her stories. She always explores and go beyond the simple expectations and tap into challenging twists and turns, sure enough she presented us with a story that had two different point of views. Her description of physical abuse seemed professional as if she was at the level of writing for a TV series. Ruth stories are always impeccable as well. Cristian Ramirez’s writing skills reminded me of stories in BASS.

I liked the books we read, we started off light and then got to the long stories. The “rawness” of the words in the stories gave us the liberty to say what we wanted in ours. I am not sure what book I will be reading this summer, but it might be The Law of Attraction after being reminded of how great the book is in Ingrid’s story.

Thank you classmates and most of all Professor for making us brighter. 

My thought on the class

Honestly I got a lot more out of the class then I thought I would. I had a great time sharing stories with out her class mates. The project was an amazing idea! I plan on going back to the KGB bar very soon. I got o see a creative side of myself that rarely gets exposed. I feel like I have a little bit more courage to share my ideas in an open forms.

Over I ajourd the class and would recommend it to anyone interested in opening your mind.

Video Clip intro for reading presentation today for the ones who miss it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtLlmL-mxaI

Hope you had the time of your life

Well today was the last day and I'm saddened that some of you i wont be seeing again. This class has giving me so much life and rekindled my creative spark i lost a few years ago.  To be quite honest when Tuesday rolled around i knew that i was looking forword to fiction writing class.  My writing has improved and it's still getting better ; with time i can get closer to my goal of being a sportswriter. There are a few people i want to thank First to professor Talbird for being our captain on this voyage sailing the sea of creativity in fiction. finally, Cristian, Ravi, And Perla for being great motivators and helping me along through this class also being honest not holding back . Today's reading was at times comical, sweet, moody and weird. The story that really impressed me a lot was Needles by Ingrid ; i felt the story was realistic and hard. My interpretation of the story is no matter what life throws at you ;  you fight, fight fight and fight more and never give up hope. Hope is a strong force it can give you strength to move along the path of discovery. The part that really got to me was when Liz wrote a note and left it inside the book named the secret and says "Mom this book help me to get back on track now it's your turn". in the moment i said to myself that is very deep and emotional. Everyone it was an honor and a pleasure to be alongside you guys and hope down the road to see you soon. Adios

I want to challenge the class with their interesting and great work.  Last week when we saw specifics from a book be presented almost verbatim in a movie that was viewed by so many people.  It was a perfect inspiration for the professor to bring the rationale to the class that writers' work does get published, read, reread, shared and sometimes turned into film.  Maybe it is you in this class whom will have your finished work produced for the screen.  Good luck in your future endeavors.

In our evening's readings there were a few of them that were written very graphically.  It was perfectly ok and done in a way in which it made the reader have empathy for the victims.  I had only in the past had experience with those stories as myself as the reader.  It seemed to be so much more dramatic when it was read by the author.  The stories although with different characters and plots reminded me of the story the Color Purple.  In that play the audience is moved and influenced by the violence that is portrayed on especially one particular woman.  These stories are so necessary to be written and read, not every household and human is peaceful and through these writings a perpetrator may one day change his behavior.

Finishing Up...

As we finish up, I'd like you to take stock of what you've learned this semester and think about what you'd like to keep working on regarding your reading and writing skills. You may post whatever you'd like here about the class, about your experience(s) in the class, about what you've learned, what you'd like to continue to learn, about the books we've read, the activities we've participated in, etc. I'd also like you to respond to your classmates' readings on Tues 5/17. Which readings did you particularly like and why? Feel free to share anything else w/ us that you'd like (summer plans, what classes you're registering for next, books you hope to read this summer, etc.).

Thanks for your participation on the blog and in class this term.

best,

jt

The Largesse of the Sea Maiden

This story was a little hard to read. It jumped around so frequently that I eventually put down the book and came back several times over. I tried thinking of ways that I would find it more interesting and though of other books or even short stories that would make me want to continue reading. I thought of  The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury, which happens to be a favorite.  Now the illustrated man was never something I found hard to read, but I had read certain stories in a different order to see if it changed the way I read it. I used this on the Sea Maiden and found that it did change the way the story came across. Initially I thought that he was severely depressed and bitter about the short comings in his career. after rearranging the piece and reading it several times, I have come to the conclusion that he is actually very much content in what he is doing. and that he is perhaps only dissatisfied with his inability to want more. and I mean want more in the general sense  like more from work, relationships; more for himself. If I could describe him in very little words. it would be a man without much to complain about. but I can also say that when you don't have much to complain about you always do seem able to find something that makes it the slightest bit dissatisfying.

About my aunt.

The opening of About my aunt describes a woman, Kiki, That had essentially left her family for a man in Istanbul. there, she seemed happy and had seemed very likely to stay there. She had been described somewhat rebellious and aloof, and her family had been described as individuals that were supportive though highly opinionated about every little thing.  eventually we find that Kiki and her niece are two of a kind. Both were equally satisfied with their lives and openly judgmental of the way each lived their lives. The beginning and end of this particular story were closely linked in the comparison between Kiki and her Niece. They both were what you'd consider rebellious, private and stubborn. They make there own decisions regardless of the views of their family; for better or worse. and they plan to make the best of it. I think, this is why they seem so content with the specifics of their lives.  they have lived in almost the same way but in two completely separate eras. I think the differences are too vast for them to see.  Personally I  think there is far more to the story. Something larger, or maybe even a little more surprising? I felt that in the end the story was missing something.