Response to class notes from 9/7

 

We focused mainly on the book “Writing Our Way Out” by David Coogan and the incarcerated men he worked with. We discussed how impactful the book was, not only as a piece of literature, but as an example of how storytelling can both educational and empowering, which I believe is an important focus of this class.

We talked about how important the structure of the book was to its meaning, discussing how splitting up the different men’s narratives not only made it easier to compare the different stories, but also showed how each writer was developing and becoming more open over time.

I think the idea we briefly touched on about nobody being completely objective is a really interesting one. I think it’s important to understand that it’s impossible to completely remove the biases and preconceptions we’ve developed as a part of our culture and upbringing. This is neither a negative or positive thing, in fact, I think that by analyzing someone’s existing preconceptions, one can learn a lot about who they are and what their life is like.

I also enjoyed the metaphor of the telephone game that Professor Dolson brought up when we were talking about the accuracy of the quotes in the book. When we played the game, the original message got distorted so it ended up being a little different from when Ana first came up with her sentence. This is similar to how the quotes in the book might not be exactly accurate to what the writers said. The sentences might have been distorted and altered in David Coogan’s mind, not by other people, but by time.

I think Nick G. made a really good point when we were discussing the importance of including the dates of the project in the introduction of the book. Nick said that the inclusion of the dates helped ground the book in realism and it made the stories inside feel more authentic and impactful.

We also talked out how important it was that both David Coogan and the reader are unaware of the men’s convictions until later in their stories. This is a good way to circumvent the potential biases we might have about the men based on their crimes.

For our upcoming writing assignment, I think the metaphor of the compost heap is a really helpful one. The idea that we’re taking quotes from the book and using them as “kitchen scraps” to then dive into the smaller details of  the text is a really strong visual.

Overall, I think this was a very productive class period. The ideas we formed and the conversations we had about “Writing Our Way Out” were very thoughtful and I really enjoyed thinking about the ways in which the book affected us.