April 23, 2012: LAF and Junot Diaz Extra Credit Assignment
Please create a post explaining your reactions to seeing Junot Diaz read at the City Tech LAF on our Course Blog. I am interested to know what you thought of the event and how hearing Diaz read may have changed your understanding and impressions of his work. Feel free to post photos, audio files, video files, links, etc.
Sundas Zafar
Professor Rodgers
ENG 2001-5540
Assignment 1
1. Introducing Myself
My name is Sundas Zafar and I live in Corona, Queens. It is my third year studying at City Tech and my major is Computer Engineering Technology. Over the summer I reread Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows because I wanted to refresh my memory before I saw the corresponding movie. I read daily articles that are covered on AOL news as well. My favorite genres have to be horror because of the thrill. However, I find it very difficult to find a good horror novel. One of my favorite books that were ever read aside from the Harry Potter series was The Prisoner by Cade Merrill because it was one of the few horror books that kept my heart rate up.
2. Three Questions About the Syllabus
a. What are you looking for in a well written paper?
b. Is the Special Topic Essay going to involve using research or is it going to be on a specific text?
c. Do you revise student’s essays or is there a peer revision session?
3. Three Questions to Help Get To Know One Another
a.What activities do you participate in on your spare time?
b.What real world topics do you like learning about?
c.What goals are you focused on as of now?
4. Reviewing the Texts Used For Class
a. I have reviewed the texts for this class and I think they are going to be very interesting. I like reading short stories because I feel like they are a good way of discussing main ideas and themes rather than whole novels. There are also many familiar authors of the short stories, which adds a greater level of interest. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao catches my eye as well because it is about a lovesick boy. I feel many people can relate to being lovesick therefore I want to see if the story can relate to someone I specifically know.
b. Texts that are useful would probably be the 10 Things You Need to Know About Writing and 10 Things to Write About by Johannah Rodgers because it helps simplify several important points when it comes to writing. The parts discussing revision is specifically important in my opinion because I believe my essays would improve greatly if I could improve my revision. Also, the common writing errors are always useful when it comes to writing properly.
c. I was just curious to know if there is going to be a list of the specific texts we are supposed to read just in case anyone wants to get ahead in the reading.
5. What is fiction and why should we read it?
Just like the saying “there is no light without a dark” there can’t be a non-fiction genre without a fiction genre. Fiction is any story or statement created by an individual and is not a documentation of a scenario in real life. The word documentation is what sets fiction and non-fiction apart because non-fiction work discusses true facts and events that actually occurred. A fictional story is one whose plot and characters were created by the author. I know from experience of reading the Harry Potter series that fiction is the workings of an author’s imagination.
Even though fictional stories aren’t documentations of true occurrences they are important to read for several reasons. Fiction is more interesting at times because it is different from reality. I personally realize that from fictional stories my mind tends imagine more vividly to put myself into the story. Also, fiction is important because I feel the world goes farther because of it. Being a Computer Engineering major I know that someone’s fictional ideas can maybe influence something to be created in real life. There are endless possibilities with fictional stories. I’ve read stories such as Lord of the Flies that made me realize how humans can become barbaric overtime being stuck in a tough position. Even though that can be seen in real life, I believe books like Lord of the Flies are written in ways that have a greater impact on an individual. Fiction is important to read because with non-fiction one can’t go any farther from the truth, however, a fictional story can be written in any way as long as the desired purpose is achieved.
Just left the Literary Arts Festival and unfortunately I accidentally deleted about 12 minutes of footage I recorded of Junot speaking. Nonetheless, from the very beginning of his speaking, the audience came alive with a multitude of reactions. From heavy laughter to appalled faces from the crowd, references to “be-nutted condoms” and graphic sexual activities to comments of gratitude like, “Thanks for coming out tonight. It’s a Thursday night in Brooklyn there’s a whole bunch of crazy shit you all can be doing right about now.” Junot, who is in my opinion very talented from what i’ve heard and read so far, held mostly everyones attention throughout.
The LAF (31st annual) event was a great experience even though I was not able to stay there until the end because I had to attend my class. I missed when the special guest Junot Diaz spoke to the audience. However, I liked the story one of girl/women presented at the beginning of the event, it was really nice the way she present herself throughout the presentation. The atmosphere was really awesome because most of the people at the event was excited. Overall, it was a good experience however, I wish I could have stayed there until Junot Diaz’s presentation.