Today's Writing Exercise:
-Step One: Write statement about The Wire in “your own” voice.
-Step Two: Translate the statement into a more formal or stuffy voice register. The more you can exaggerate, the better this will work.
-Step Three: Translate the statement into some form of slang or more colloquial language. Again, try to exaggerate.
-Step Four: Identify at least one word from the “formal” statement and one word from the “slang” statement that provides value-added.
-Step Five: Write a revised statement that attempts to integrate elements from all three voices (step one plus the value-added elements from two and three). Use whatever signals or markers you deem appropriate.
-Post your Step Five sentence in the comments below.
Sample: This was one from class but I am pushing the exaggeration even further.
1. Many of Marlo's decisions violate the code of the streets. People who try to point this out to him usually get murdered.
2. The entrepreneurial young ruffian Marlo demonstrates neglect of the etiquette that pertains to his environment. Fellow community members and dealers of narcotics alike can be seen demonstrating outrage with respect to his actions, but ironically this only results in the continuation of his diabolical murder campaign.
3. Marlo don't follow no code. Kill when he pleases and when people try to step to, he just get more bodies.
3. Marlo don't follow no code. Kill when he pleases and when people try to step to, he just get more bodies.
4. community, ironically, outrage, pleases, bodies
5. Many of Marlo's decisions outrage the West Baltimore community. Ironically, this only leads to more "bodies" as we see that it may please him to violate the code of the streets.
Reminder: Watch 5.5-5.6. Haley and Roconia have the final two SAW.
Reminder: Read the Jones article and read the Marshall article if you didn't get to it last week. Heads up to AAW 31-35.
This is Just Amazing: Taking the Dickens connection further, these guys wrote a fake literary analysis of a book called The Wire that was supposedly published in the 1840s. Complete with quotations of real show dialogue and illustrations of Omar walking through Victorian London.
SAF Sample 1: This essay about Omar & Bunk's first encounter is pretty close to what I envisioned when I wrote the assignment. It keeps to a focused thesis and mainly to one scene that fits well with this thesis. The grade was A-.
SAF Sample 2: This essay about Bubbles shows how it's possible to use scene juxtaposition to create more of a character analysis; I'm sure the temptation to do this will be extreme now that we've made it to Season Five, but it needs to be done carefully. Another A-.
SAF Sample 3: This one comparing Omar to a Cirque du Soleil performer shows you how wide the possibilities are as long as you fulfill the basic goals of the assignment. Another A-.
AAF Sample 1: This essay represents a successful rebuttal of Harvey's main point and many of his sub-arguments, but as I've said this is not a specific requirement. It relies mainly on evidence external to The Wire. The grade was A.
AAF Sample 2: This essay focuses on a specific part of the Brooks article, and then goes further in that direction. It relies mainly on evidence internal to The Wire. The grade was A-.
AAF Sample 3: This essay uses the Klein article as a starting point for its own critical question about the concept of "honesty" in fictions, which it then links to reality TV. The grade was B+.
Note these are not necessarily the best essays, nor should you emulate all of their features, but I think they are good models for forming and developing a thesis for these two assignments.
Upcoming Schedule:
-Wednesday 3/30: Discussion of gender on The Wire, introduction & thesis workshop
-Monday 4/4: Reactions to Season Five conclusion, Viti & Beliveau articles, continuation of our discussion about disciplinary writing rules
-Tuesday 4/5: 11 of you will have your first draft essay due in the afternoon.
-Wednesday 4/6: Group workshops focusing on transitions (They Say I Say ch. 8) and metacommentary (They Say I Say ch. 10). 23 of you will have your first draft essay due before the start of class.
-Thursday 4/7: 11 of you will have your first draft essay due in the afternoon (those 11 are the people doing AAW 36-46).
The creators of "The Wire" seem to pursue the lives of their male characters while, at the same time, fail to include information about their female characters that could possibly produce supportive plot details.
ReplyDeleteMarlo has Proposition Joe killed because he got in the way of Marlo's dealings with the Greeks.
ReplyDeleteAlthough true acts of generosity are few and far between in The Wire, they do exist, such as when Michael invited Duquan to "crib" with him and his little brother Bug at their new house.
ReplyDeleteNo matter how he tries to suppress it, McNulty's deviant side always comes to the surface and gets the best of him
ReplyDeleteSocial promotion, which allows children to progress on to the next grade even if they are not prepared can actually hinder their education in the long term.
ReplyDeleteIn the final season of The Wire, it is very unfortunate as a viewer to witness the main character Jimmy McNulty revert to his old habits of alcoholism, being unfaithful, and an inability to differentiate work from life.
ReplyDeleteThe Wire carefully attempts to extend its plot to a variety of viewers, any street person, law enforcement official, political official or journalist could relate to the plot and/or its characters. The Wire is for everyone.
ReplyDeleteThe Wire slowly develops totally different roles in one character, Micheal, to be a father who takes care of his brother, Bug, and to be a drug dealer to murder people in the game.
ReplyDeleteDue to the school systems' inability to accommodate the needs of their students because of the lack of experience and funding, the students are often neglected, treated like second-class citizens, and some resort back to being soldiers in the game.
ReplyDeleteThe Wire simultaneously explores the different roles characters play throughout the show. For instance, in season four characters like Dennis “Cutty” Wise and Bubbles took up parental roles. Dennis being a former soldier of the drug-game began mentoring children of the streets by introducing them to boxing. While Bubbles took a homeless child named Sherrod under his wing and encouraged him to continue his studies and attend school. The significance of this is both Cutty and Bubbles tried to stray children away from the drug-world, that they once belonged.
ReplyDeleteThe Wire has many parallels and connections that are evident in all five seasons.
ReplyDeleteThe similarities between the corrupt police department and the dishonest reporters at the Baltimore Sun amaze me.
ReplyDeleteIt is ironic that Herc is the character to fall into a job with Maurice Levy, especially when considering his level of intelligence.
ReplyDelete