Exercise: Setting to show emotion

Task:
In your first description, the person should feel anxious, worried, tired, frustrated, and generally negative. In your second description, the person should feel optimistic, lighthearted, pleased. You convey this entirely through the way the objects and atmosphere are described. You can't change the details of the setting itself.

 Justin:
 Looking up into nearly cloudless sky, Justin wished, for the sixth time that morning that it would begin to rain. As his father drove onto a lot so full it would take ten minutes park their SUV and walk back to the entrance,  the lines "He ain't heavy, he's my brother" were fading out. Turning the engine off, blue doors slid open and size six feet bounced upon a faded flier for Six Flags. Ripping under her feet, Caroline ran towards her brother. "Isn't this fun? Bobby said Superman is really fast!" Glancing down, he simply replied, "No," before walking ahead. While their mother reassuring her, Johnathan sprinted towards the yellow flagpole by which his son now stood, "Don't mess this up for your sister; it's her birthday, and she's been excited about this for months." Shrugging the hand off his shoulder, "You don't even remember do you? Guess I'll just sit on a hot bench for four hours, not like I can do anything else." Taken aback by the hostility, "What is that supposed to mean?" "Nothing," Justin replied, eyes toward the ground, slightly shaking his head, "You haven't listened in three months, why should you care now?"




Amelia:
Driving underneath a perfectly clear sky, Amelia began to tap her hand along the wheel as she sang along to sing along to The Hollies. Though voices were off key, their lips were upturned as her daughter joined in, "But I'm strong / Strong enough to carry him / He ain't heavy, he's my brother...." Pulling into a crowed parking lot, Amelia glanced in her rear-view mirror and said, "Looks like we'll get some exercise today, huh, kiddo?" Amber's nose wrinkled before she sneezed; then,  giggling, the newly turned eight year old replied, "Uh huh," as she nodded her head. Finishing the song's final lines, her mother blue SUV was turned off, and opened the door. Size six feet jumped down on a park flier, which tore from the girl's desire to rush towards the gate. After walking for almost ten minutes, the pair rested for a moment beside the yellow flag. Glancing down towards her daughter, she wondered how much of this trip Amber would remember in years to come. Knowing they had planned their Six Flags adventure for almost three months, she asked, "You ready?"

Extra Info:
When I wrote about Justin, I thought about a character who, as a young kid, when on a school field trip to a theme park and had gotten stuck on roller coaster. Even though it wasn't for very long, it made him afraid to go back the coaster, but he doesn't want to admit his fear. The seventy's music was chosen for Amelia's personality (though it could also be somewhat applied to Johnathan), but the particular song was to proved (a tiny piece of) situational irony in Justin's tale.

Short character sketch - Trashcan

Set out upon a road that hadn't been paved in thirty years rested a steel can lined with rust that had been passed down trough the generations. Within, a broken mason jar with the lid still screwed on was filled with the partially frozen remains of a puréed sweet potato. Beneath the jar were the torn remains of an application for part-time job at Macy's filled two weeks ago, dusted with curdled formula. Compressed, lying just beneath a lid that barely close, was a box of diapers, men's large. And just behind it, sat a tiny house that had been passed down through the generations.

At DeSoto Caverns

Class Exercise: write about returning to something from childhood and experiencing it as an adult.

 When I was a kid, my parents took me on a trip to DeSoto Caverns. I remember walking through the cave with them, touching one of the rocks (there are one or two you are allowed to touch), that it would get really dark (they turn off the lights to show you what pitch black looks like), and there would light show near the end. This past summer I was a teaching assistant for a summer program in Birmingham, and one of the field trips we took the children on was to DeSoto Caverns. As we're entering into the caves, I notice the kids are reacting differently some are a little nervous, others perfectly fine and having fun from the moment they walk in the door. So, I stay a little closer to the ones who are nervous and help get them interested. Finding shapes in wall and looking at the waterfall (which is created) helps to accomplish this. I'm enjoying learning the history of the cavern as well. Then we come to the end of the tour, when a video is shown followed by a light show, and either before or after that occurs is when all the lights go out (I'm a little excited, because I sometimes prefer low lighting (light sensitive eyes) and wanted to compare the experience to no light at all -- it was really strange, my eyes kept trying to see something), but the kids get nervous again, so I sit between them and let them hold my hands, so that they will know that even in the dark, I'm right beside them and there is nothing to fear. Lights come back on, everyone's calm, and all is well. Seeing something as an adult is rather different. As a child I as care-free and able to enjoy the moment; whereas, as an adult, I was able to experience the caves but I had to constantly keep watch of where everyone was. And this is being an adult: even if I had not gone with the intent of supervising children, there are responsibilities and obligations I still have that cannot be truly forgotten.