Summer Writing Boot Camp - Loop Campus

Invite your undergrad and grad students to the summer SNL Writing/Incomplete Boot Camp on Saturday, August 1st from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Loop! Walk-ins are welcome, but students may also register by emailing snlevents@depaul.edu. Click on the image below for more information.

Students should bring a flash drive, their copy of the incomplete contract if needed, and all prior assignment preparation—including research material, assignment instructions, and assignment writing format (APA/MLA).

Yes, And…Not Just For Improv Anymore

by Steffanie Triller Fry

The Jesuit priest Anthony de Mello prayed that “Peace is only found in yes,” (qtd. in Manney 108) but these days it can be so much easier to say no; as in, “No I won’t consider thinking about this from another perspective.” “No, I’d rather watch CSI Miami/LA/Chicago/St. Louis/Naperville (you get the picture) than revise my paper for your class.” “No, I just don’t see how I can further develop this topic.”

Sound familiar? Students are great at saying no. But if you’ve read Tina Fey’s Bossypants, you know that she claims that the rules of improvisation will “change your life and reduce belly fat” (more so the former than the latter). The first of these rules is to agree. Say yes. The second rule is to “add something of your own” (84).

Saying yes starts with thinking yes. And while I’m not suggesting that Yes, And will change your life, I do think that it can change the way adult students think about the writing and thinking that they do during their college career.

As one of my students put it, Yes, And works like this:

Imagine you’re onstage and your scene begins at a party. Your partner says, “What a great party. Hey, there’s a gorilla.”

Picturing yourself there, you might hear yourself think, “I don’t know what to do with a gorilla … how does a gorilla fit in this scene … will this ever work as an idea?” To deal with this doubt, you might get a short laugh by saying out loud, “That’s not a gorilla … that’s her husband.”

The thing is, now you’re starting over. You’ve lost the trust of the person you’re on stage with, because you said “no” to them. The audience feels fooled, because they heard that one thing and started to picture it, then had it changed on them. Nobody is comfortable. Let’s try it again.

“What a great party. Hey, there’s a gorilla.”

“Yeah, and he’s making some killer Manhattans.”

Yes, there is a gorilla. And he’s putting those opposable thumbs to work as a mixologist. Your mind, and perhaps the audience’s mind, is starting to go places. You might start picturing the gorilla is wearing cuffs and a collar while working the shaker. Why is there a gorilla? Are there more animals working this party? Will the host enter and fill in more of this picture about the unusual catering? These possibilities have opened up because you said, “Yes, And”…

When you are writing, your writing voice is your scene partner. Say “Yes, And” to yourself. (Meyer)

Peter Elbow said that the “freewriting muscle” not only brought one to a “more intense state of perception” but also to a heighted awareness of “language production” (43). Tina Fey (had she become a writing theorist rather than a comedy writer) might add to this that getting writers and thinkers practicing the idea of Yes, And can help them think more critically and develop ideas and papers more fully. Patricia Ryan Madson writes in Improv Wisdom that “saying yes gets us into heaven but also into trouble” (27).

Ryan Madson teaches theater, but her book is written for anyone who wants to think about how the rules of improvisation can apply to their own life. She bases much of her thinking on the ideas of Keith Johnstone, a revolutionary educator and theater teacher who wrote Impro and Impro for Storytellers, awesome texts for any educator looking to glean more thought about storytelling out of their students. Impro for Storytellers in particular is full of improv exercises that can help students practice answering the question, “What comes next?” Here is one exercise from Johnstone and one from Ryan Madson that instructors of any subject can adapt to their purpose:

·      Yes, But: Two students sit in chairs opposite one another. Student 1 asks questions; Student 2 provides answers. Student 2 must answer “Yes, but…” to each of Student 1’s questions. For the first round of questions, Student 2 should pause and think before answering. For the second round of questions, Student 2 should answer without thinking. Repeat the exercise, using “Yes, and” instead.

When students are forced to answer “Yes, but” they are practicing what Johnstone and Ryan Madson call “blocking.” Blocking happens in the example above when the scene partner says, “That’s not a gorilla…that’s her husband.” This exercise first forces students into these dead ends, and then, by changing the “but” to an “and,” lets students practice continuing on with the story, thought, experience. Moreover, they don’t think before answering because Johnstone believes that students are less likely to block when they do not think about what comes next, but let it happen unconsciously.

·      The Proverb Game: Invent a new proverb by speaking it one word at a time. This works best when students are sitting in a circle. The first volunteer begins with any word. Go around the circle, each student filling in the next logical word that comes to them. When the proverb comes to its natural close, all participants should press their fingers together and chant “Yes, yes, yes, yes.”

Ryan Madson believes that blocking primarily happens because we need control. Control of our lives, control of our stories, control of what comes next. This game helps participants to practice giving up control. (Try it as a warm-up exercise before freewriting).

Getting students to play with the idea of Yes, And may not help them reduce belly fat, but it may invite them to enter into more complex ideas and details than they might have investigated on their own. On second thought, maybe it will change their lives. It’s worth a try!

Works Cited

Elbow, Peter. “Toward a Phenomenology of Freewriting.” Journal of Basic Writing 8.2. (1989): 42-71. Print.

Fey, Tina. Bossypants. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2011. Print.

Johnstone, Keith. Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre. New York: Routledge, 1979. Print.

---. Impro for Storytellers. New York, Routledge, 1994. Print.

Manney, Jim. An Ignatian Book of Days. “June 2.” Chicago: Loyola Press, 2014. 108. Web.

Meyer, Jason. “The Force of Improv: Yes, And…” School for New Learning Month of Writing Challenge 2014. Digication, n.d. Web. 2 July 2015. https://depaul.digication.com/snl_month_of_writing_2014/The_Force_of_Improv_Yes_and...

Ryan Madson, Patricia. Improv Wisdom: Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up. New York: Harmony, 2010. Print.

Congrats to 2015 Writing Showcase winners

At the School for New Learning's Writing Showcase LIVE event on May 14, this year's Writing Showcase entrants read from their work and engaged in a roundtable discussion on their paper topics, which included Alzheimer's in the Latino community, Italian-American political leadership in Chicagoland, and personal and spiritual growth during SNL's Tanzania Study Abroad trip. Click here to see posters of entrants' writing that were displayed. A special thanks to Kamilah Cummings and her sister for creating these beautiful posters.

After careful review of the entrants' submissions, the SNL Writing team determined this year's SNL Writing Showcase winners (in alphabetical order):

Jackie Bates: "To Autumn"
Mary Dean: "Taking Ownership in Wellness Through Holistic and Integrative Mental Health"
Maria Gallegos: “Empower the Latino Community: Improve Alzheimer’s Outreach"
Donna Kman: "Walkable Communites: Are Baby Boomers Changing the Landscape and the Demographics of our Communities?"
Henry Kman: "Why do Seniors Retire outside their Native Country?"
James Scalzitti: "Italians vs. Themselves"

Their full papers are available at the SNL Writing Guide website: https://snlapps.depaul.edu/writing/WritingShowcase.html Please join us in congratulating these winners as well as all of this year's entrants, their instructors, and their mentors. We are proud of all of the wonderful writing and work you do, and we thank you for your ongoing support of the SNL writing community.

P.S. It's not too early to submit to next year's Writing Showcase (due April 1, 2016): https://snlapps.depaul.edu/writing/WritingShowcase.html

Last of the spring writing boot camps (June 6 - O'Hare)

Remind your students that they have one last chance to attend SNL's writing boot camps this spring term:
SNL Writing Boot Camp
Saturday, June 6, 9:00am-1:00pm                     
O’Hare Campus, 8770 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.

Printers Row Literary Fest 2015

The Printers Row Literary Fest is considered the largest FREE outdoor literary event in the Midwest.  This is a two day showcase from June 6-7, in the South Loop of Chicago. Over the years it has expanded from Dearborn Street to Polk Street. Printers Row Literary Fest was founded in 1985 by Near South Planning Board to attract  visitors of book lovers to the Printers Row Neighborhood.

Last year The Chicago Tribune celebrated the 30^th Anniversary of Printers Row Lit Fest. The festival included more than 400 authors,  book sellers from across the country, performers, and presenters and over 125,000 attendees who enjoyed author discussions, musical performances, book browsing and much more.

According to printersrowlitfest.org here are a few featured writers this year, 2015:

"Ian Belknap is Founder and Overlord of WRITE CLUB. He is author of several Bring Me the Head of James Franco, That I May Prepare a Savory Goulash in the Narrow and Misshapen Pot of His Skull."

"Jabari Asim is the author of many works of fiction, nonfiction, essays, poetry, and drama. He is currently the executive editor of The Crisis, the official magazine of the NAACP. "

"Kevin Coval is the founder of Louder Than A Bomb and the Artistic Director of Young Chicago Authors. He teachers at The University of Illinois-Chicago. This is Modern Art the play he co-authored- premiered at Steppenwolf Theater in the winter of 2015. His newest release "The Breakbeat Poets" comes out on April 4th."

"Nelson DeMille is a former U.S. Army lieutenant who served in Vietnam and is the author of eighteen acclaimed novels, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers "Night Fall", "Plum Island", "The Gate House", "The Lion", and "The Panther"."

Come support literacy and literary endeavor! For more additional information about this event, check out: printersrowlitfest.org

Writing Showcase Live, Tonight! 6-8pm

Boot Camp Sessions

Writing Boot Camp

Sponsored by School for New Learning Student Association (SNLSA) and SNL Writing

Get your assignments completed!!

Do you have an incomplete grade? A final project that is dragging on?

Finish your assignments including ILP, AP, Capstone, or AIP through Writing Boot Camp.

Attend one or more free, faculty-led sessions.

Program is designed for SNL students who currently have an incomplete grade on their Transcript or students working on writing assignments.

Sessions are set up to increase the likelihood students will complete

necessary courses to obtain a degree.

Sessions offer a supportive academic environment, writing assistance, and help with library services so that students can get assignments completed.

Session Dates:                                  

Saturday, May 16, 9:00am-1:00pm                     Naperville Campus, 150 W. Warrenville Rd., Bld. 200

Wednesday, May 20, 5:30-9:00pm                    

Loop Campus, Daley Bldg., 14 E. Jackson, Lab 1325

Wednesday, May 27, 5:30-9:00pm

Saturday, May 30, 9:00am-1:00pm                    

Oak Forest Campus, 16333 S. Kilbourn Ave.

Saturday, June 6, 9:00am-1:00pm                     

O’Hare Campus, 8770 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.

To Register: Email your name, DePaul ID# and the incomplete course title(s) you wish to work on to snlsa@depaul.edu at least 3 days prior to your desired sessions (messages to this email are reviewed by DePaul / SNL college faculty and staff only)

Items to Bring to Session(s):  Please bring a flash drive, your copy of the incomplete contract, all prior assignment preparation, including research material, assignment instructions, and assignment writing format (APA/MLA). Please let your faculty mentor know you plan to attend.

Benefits of earning a degree are endless, current researchers note:

ü High correlation between earnings and individuals with a degree

ü Increased civic participation among individuals with a degree

ü Happier marriages / decreased divorce rates among individuals with a degree

ü Pervasive sense of accomplishment / better overall attitudes in individuals with a degree