Narrative Visual Perspective in English

Narrative 2- English Projects

Listener Lyric Essay

A project that we kind of continued into the semester was the listener lyric essay. This essay was about listening to other’s stories about their identity and representing them in a narrative, using a second person type of writing.  Having written something from the last unit, about my dads experience moving here from Mexico to United States, I took some feedback and revised the essay accordingly. The final essay is below.

 

You step off the Greyhound, and you are nearly 21 years old, with a technician degree and strange, foreign streets in front of you. You’re overwhelmed with the sensation of uncertainty, but you feel safe. Your family is waiting for you.

 

Your dad, though you haven’t seen him for years, has been working silently but diligently in the United States. He is commended for his punctuality and effort, so he is rewarded with a green card, for him and the rest of your family. As soon as you step off the bus you go to sign the papers so that you can begin living in the United States. But since you don’t know the language too well and you don’t have experience in your field, you have to start from the bottom. You don’t mind, since you have a lot more opportunities than you do in Mexico. You start working right away.

 

You’re washing dishes and cleaning tables. Your brother in law works in a restaurant, and he was able to get you this job as a busboy. Wiping the counter clean, you hear an elderly man call you. 

 

His mouth moves,

 

But the noises are indistinguishable.

 

You can’t understand his words. No one else is around to help. You’re only able to give him a blank look of confusion. He starts to realize your dilemma.

 

He responds with an understanding tone, yet he repeats 

 

those odd words 

 

that don’t translate in your head.

 

“What?” You try to respond with the limited range of vocabulary you have, still unable to distinguish the sounds.

 

He speaks again and points to the machine, the coffee machine. The gesture finally clicks in your mind and you pick up his empty cup. He points to the kind of coffee that he wants, and you struggle a little, but he seems to understand your struggle. You finally hand him the cup of coffee, but he doesn’t drink from it.

 

“You know, I’ve been watching, you’re doing a good job… just uh- 

 

you need to speak English.” 

 

You are able to pick up on what he’s saying, and you nod. “Yes,” you reply. He speaks again.

 

“Just remember this phrase, I want you to learn this. Just repeat it: 

 

if you want to do it, 

 

you can do it.” 

 

So you repeat it for him, 

 

“If you 

want to 

 

do it, 

 

you can

 

 do it.”  

 

It’s the first phrase you learn. The words come out a lot more different from your mouth than his, but he looks to be satisfied.

 

“Just keep working hard, and I’m sure you’re going to do better, and you’re going to make it. Just remember that, what I showed you, what I taught you.”

 

You take up a new job as a janitor, and you’re put to clean restrooms. You haven’t mastered the language yet, but you can clean the bathrooms really good. You leave it spotless and fresh every night, and your manager starts to notice. He praises you and offers you a promotion to work and supervise in the night crew, and report to him.

“I don’t 

speak English 

 

very well,” you tell him. He gives an understanding smile.

 

“That’s okay. We’ll manage to understand each other.”

 

You go to school to learn English, but it’s hard to focus. You’re working two jobs, sixteen hours a day, and you have to drive your sister to school. You sleep very little between the homework and all your responsibilities. 

 

You quit school after a couple months, deciding to experience the world beyond the books.

 

Wearing a uniform, keys jingle as you park the cars in the hotel’s lot. You blink and you are removing the sticky tape from your fingers and using it to seal up the box, dropping them off in the van. It doesn’t last for long. You finally find your place working as an electronic technician, as time progresses you have a warmer, less timid approach. 

 

Someone mentions the weather to you. You respond, 

 

and you ask them out 

 

for a coffee sometime.

 

 

 

A small chickadee bird on a thin tree branch
On a Limb, by Nancy Merkle. Created with professional grade oil paints on a 6×6 inch stretched canvas.

Transcript

Here is a little excerpt of my transcript of my interview with my father.

This is the screenshot in google docs.
This is the screenshot in google docs.
This is the screenshot in google docs.
This is the screenshot in google docs.

Touchstone Research Paper

Introduction

For this project we were asked to select a touchstone artist, that is to say an artist that greatly influences us or will in the future, for our Zenith project at the end of the year.  I am interested in doing an animation type of project, and I am into the cartoon band Gorillaz, so I tried to look for something in that direction. We were then asked to look at a piece of work by the artist we had chosen and analyze it. I looked at the music video, “Feel Good ‘Inc.'” by Gorillaz, since I was able to find a lot of discussion surrounding that topic.

After a lot of research, and formatting, I finished the paper, which is below.

Title Page
Title Page
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Page 6
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Page 11
Bibliography
Bibliography

I learned more about formatting in Chicago style, which was tough because of the citations, but I did pretty okay. I really liked researching something that I liked and was interested in, which made the process of writing the paper easier, since I had more to say. Overall, it didn’t turn out too bad.

Reflection

This unit was illuminating in many ways, from learning around the people around me to learning about something I like, and examining that in a more critical sense. I think that those skills will really help me notice the world around me and analyze everything I consume, but also help me in expressing my own stories in a new and creative way.