WRITING ASSIGNMENT In this essay you will create your own myth about the origin of the world,

and the origin of good and evil. Myth is an essential part of culture, and creation myths are the most basic expressions of reasoning about the world we live in. For example, in the Bible the story of Adam and Eve defines the reasons the human race experiences pain, shame and evil. Note that the Indian myths you read in class also deal with these essential ideas. Your task will be to create a myth that explains the reasons behind the existence of good and evil, or any other idea you think is important to the civilization. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: At this point in your writing dont be too concerned about correctness of expression. This concern usually constricts a writers expression. Make you myth imaginative, but at the same time make sure its believable. Myth is important when it relates to the human condition. Research some other creation myths that may be useful to your own creation.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT You have read an account of a witch trial from the accusers point-of-view. In this essay you will write an account of the witch trial from the point-of-view of the person accused. You should think about what it must have felt like to be accused of actions that you didnt commit, or to be thought of as a witch and a person aligned with the devil. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: Try to go inside the mind of the accused. Think that persons thoughts and describe that persons reaction from the I point-of-view. In writing, its called using that persons voice. Be descriptive. Because you are talking about suspicions and superstitions, try to convey to the reader the sense of place and time. Again, dont be too concerned about grammar and punctuation, This may hinder the expression, and, in fact, take away from the feeling of reality.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT In this assignment you will write your own DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE from whomever you think is oppressing you. For example, you may want to write a Declaration against (or for) teenage rights, or childrens rights, or animal rights, or, for that matter, personal rights. You will follow the structure of the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE by having an introduction that declares first a general purpose, then secondly a specific purpose. You will follow the purpose with a list of accusations or propositions that support your opening declaration. You will conclude with a statement that begins THEREFORE THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: You must follow the structure. An argument for or against something must be well reasoned and logically organized. You will also want your grammar and punctuation to be correct, so have your grammar and punctuation double checked. Try to present a declaration that you would actually follow or believe. Note the 14 precepts that have been presented to you in class. Each is clearly stated and has a specific purpose.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT In this assignment you will write a FOLK TALE for today. Remember a folk take is usually a story created for the common people. They usually relate events that are fantastic and unrealistic, but has a general moral ending. The characters usually represent certain qualities or emotions such as HATE, GREED and even LOVE. Create a character, or characters, that fit into the contemporary world. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: List qualities your character had that can be described in the story. Create a setting with details. This will ensure that the story has a contemporary sensibility. For example, if the story took place in Miami, you should include details about the city and its environment. Be creative with your writing style. Dont worry about grammar or punctuation. In fact, if the story were told by a Mountain Man, the style would sound southern.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT In this assignment you will write a horror story. You will create a story that will attempt to achieve a single effect such as a horrifying moment of discovery. Your plot line should be created to achieve this effect, as well as every character in the story should be guided toward this effect. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND A horror story doesnt always rely upon realistic details for its effect. For example, a ghost can often be described in unrealistic terms. However, the details should be exact and picturesque. Create a character who has a weakness that can be exploited. For example, a person who is afraid of the dark is a person who can be frightened in an exaggerated manner. You may want to use the device of a frame story, allowing the frame to provide the setting and create a specific atmosphere. An example is a group of people around a campfire who decide to tell a scary story.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT You will write an idea essay that discusses the advantages of conforming or not conforming to societys expectations. This essay will attempt to take a strong stand one way or the other. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND First write a draft that explains you ideas. Use Emersons ideas as a form of support to either attack or defend. Look over you essay and revise any points that may be unclear and unsupported. Follow a format. For example, structure your essay to include the following: INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH THAT EXPLAINS THE MAIN IDEA YOU ARE SUPPORTING OR NOT SUPPORTING. A FIRST PARAGRAPH EXPLAINING YOUR FIRST REASON FOR SUPPORTING OR NOT SUPPORTING YOUR IDEA. A SECOND AND THEN A THIRD PARAGRAPH THAT PRESENTS FURTHER REASONS BEHIND YOUR SUPPORT OR LACK OF SUPPORT. A CONCLUSION THAT SUMMARIZES YOUR REACTION.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT This is another idea essay in which you will compare and contrast the attitude towards human nature as expressed in Hawthornes The Ministers Black Veil with the attitude expressed by the Transcendentalists. This essay requires you to absorb information and then reconstruct it in your own manner. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND Review your notes on the major Transcendentalists ideas. Take notes on the attitudes expressed in the story. Organize by corresponding points of comparison and contrast. Make sure you support your ideas with quotations from the story. Revise your ideas for clarity of expression.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT You will write an Allegory in which you will create a lesson that could be taught to your peers. First determine the lesson that your allegory will teach. Then develop a plot using characters and events that have symbolic meanings. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND An allegory can be used to put forth your own view of the world. Often, people complain about young people having few morals o social concerns, thus, a lesson to be learned could revolve around a young person who has to learn the hard way. Thus, a moral. Dont worry about details but do create details that enhance the moral of the story.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT College applications almost always ask candidates to write a brief autobiographical essay describing an important experience. In this essay you will write the college essay. You will think about the impression you want to make on the admissions committee. Then decide on the experience you want to describe. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND Make a list of the important details related to the experience. Describe the ways in which the experience affected you and what you think it reveals about your personality. Think about the admissions committee reaction to your essay and wether you have created a favorable impression.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT You will write a fictional story on any subject, however, the story must be set in Miami and include a number of local details that create the impression for the reader that it is Miami and no other city. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND Detail. Detail. Detail.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT Write an essay in which you compare and contrast Edward Arlington Robinsons poetry with that of Edgar Lee Masters. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND Note the similarities and differences in style, theme, and choice of subjects. Write a strong thesis statement. Use passages from the poems to support your argument.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT Imagine that you are downtown in a major city during rush hour. Suddenly a women walks toward you, holding a bag. She meets your eyes, smiles, hands you the bag, and says Here you go. Before you can say or do anything, she turns and walks off. Write a piece that begins with or otherwise includes this scene. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: There may not be a human baby, living or dead, in the bag. You can refer to yourself, to someone else, or to a character of your own cartoon. The city can be any real or imaginary one. It can also go unnamed. The piece does not have to end revealing the content of the bag. In fact, what is in the bag may or may not be of importance.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT Imagine that you are browsing through an old family album, looking at photographs, clippings, and other memorabilia. Suddenly you spot something that surprises you. Write a piece that begins with, includes, or takes off from this situation. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: Once again you can refer to yourself, some other real person, or a character of your own creation. You are missing the point of the exercise if you simply write something like Dorothy turned the page and saw, to her surprise and disgust, a flattened Hostess Twinkie, etc. On the to her hand, if you wind up writing (for example) a piece about how much Dorothys son, Martin, had loved Twinkies as a child and what Martin had written to her in his last letter before he was declared missing in action in war, then.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT Write a piece that takes place in one of the following locations: A PARKED CAR A PHONE BOOTH A CLOSET A WALK-IN REFRIGERATOR OR FREEZER THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: The piece can take place partly in one of the above locations and partly elsewhere. Do not simply write a description of one of these locations. Something must happen in your piece. If you can base your piece on an unusual use of one of these settings, such as a walk-in freezer full of strange costumes, then you will likely turn out something good.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT Think of some of the incidents, events and experiences in your past that were painful to you, either physically, emotionally, or both. Pick one of these incidents that you still recall clearly. Ideally, it should be painful enough to be important to you but not so painful that recalling it troubles you. Write up your incident from beginning to end, bringing in whatever background or details are necessary, but leaving out anything that is not strictly pertinent. The event may have taken only ten seconds, or it may have happened over the course of months. Be as truthful and accurate as possible in reporting what happened. Report what you did, said, heard, and saw, but do not report how or what you felt. Dont say, Id never felt so bad. Simply go through the incident, step by step, just as it happened to you. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: Tell your story as directly, as simply and as straightforward as possible. Dont try to add any extra emotion or atmosphere. If you wish you may write the piece in the third person with he or she, or you may even make up a character.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT Write apiece in which someone or something goes too far. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: Going too far can be taken literally, in terms of distance, symbolically, in terms of overstepping social, legal or moral boundaries. Someone can refer to more than one person.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT Write a piece in which a man or a woman empties a bucket. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: What is in the bucket may or may not be important or significant. It is not necessary to make a mystery out of what is in the bucket, though you may do so. There has to be some point, plot, or effect to your piece. Emptying a bucket should not be the only thing that happens. If you wish, more than one person can empty the bucket, or more than one bucket can be emptied.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT Write a piece that involves one of the following pairs: A DEATH AND A COAT A MOUNTAIN AND A LIGHT A HOUSE AND A SCENT THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: If you want to write about a death and a house, or a mountain and a scent, do so. Feel free to use any definition of any of these words that you like. A coat could be a coat of paint, the house could be a jailhouse, etc. Events or objects can appear off stage. For example, you might speak of someone having just bought a home, rather than actually showing a house in your piece.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT Write a piece that takes place in a waiting room. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: Part of the piece may take place in another location, or in several other locations. The waiting room can be in any location you choose. If you like, you can define waiting room as any room or area where one or more people are waiting for something.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT Write about a dream (or dreams) you had, however, create a story using the dream as the center or motivation. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: Be as detailed as you can. Dreams are often great sources for larger fictions.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT Listen to Peoples conversations. Write down any quotes that impress you. When you have accumulated five or more of these select one that you can use as the basis of a piece of writing. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: Each quote must be taken from an every day situation, not the movies, TV, or radio, etc. The quote that actually gets you writing does not have to appear in your piece at all. You may modify any quote as you wish.

WRITING EXERCISE Write a piece that begins with the words If I took you or If I let you or If I showed you. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND If you prefer to have these words appear somewhere other than at the beginning of your piece, thats fine. If you wish, instead to begin your piece with the words If you took me or If you let me or If you showed me.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT Write a piece about or involving one of the following: ROCK FORK COACH LEAF FIRE STICK

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: You may use any legitimate definition of any word. For instance, ROCK can refer to rock music, etc. Dont simply describe a rock or a fork. There should be some point or significance to your piece; something should happen in it. Your rock, fork, or whatever does not need to be central to your piece. It can appear only in a single line or sentence if you wish.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT Write a piece that takes place in a hospital, a police station, bus stop, or cemetery. Part of the piece may take place elsewhere if you wish.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT Write a piece that involves or make use of three of the items below: A ball A flower A thunderstorm A flag A green house Fire

WRITING ASSIGNMENT Write a piece that takes place in a time other than our own, a culture other than our own, or both. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: The culture may be mythical or imaginary if you wish. You may write about the gods of Ancient Greece, the people of Mu, Druids, aliens, dolphins, or even the lives of ghosts. Another time means before 1900 or after 2000. Another culture means a culture markedly different from the one westerners have lived in during this century. If you dont know enough about a culture or period, fake it.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT Write a piece that could have one of the following titles: Around Here. Going Under. The Fourth Night. Open Houses. The World Inside. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: If, as you write, you realize that your piece no longer fits well with any of the four titles above, dont try to force it to fit. Once your piece is finished, if you can come up with a better title, use it.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT Write a piece that begins with one of the following sentences or lines: I couldnt feel a thing. There are cars parked all over the lawn. It was him. No one I knew had ever seen him before. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: You may replace him with her in either of the last two options above. If you prefer to use one of the above lines in the middle or end of the piece, feel free to. If youd like to make up your own opening line, do so.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT Write a piece about a black box, or involving a black box. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: The black box can be any size or shape. The box can be real or imaginary. What is inside the box may or may not be important. The box can also be empty.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT Write a funny piece in which someone opens a mailbox, and/or a completely serious piece in which someone gets hit in the face with a pie.