What am I doing differently while reading this novel?

I am doing something I don’t typically do when I read; I am attempting to read this story on an Ipad. Typically, when I read, I like to read books. To me, there is nothing better than holding a book in your hands and being able to mark it up. The concept of reading a book electronically is completely new to me. I may invest in a physical copy of the book because so far I am not enjoying this way of reading and I think it actually hinders my experience.

I read novels differently than I do short stories. I think that when I read short stories I like to look at the little details, whereas when I read a novel I am thinking about the bigger picture. I am paying more attention to the characters in this novel than I have in any of the short stories we have read. The wonderful thing about novels is the depth that can be reached in character development.

I like novels in part because I feel like I can just sit down and enjoy myself while I am reading. I am fully able to immerse myself in a novel in a way that I cannot with a short story. I feel a sense of accomplishment when I finally finish a novel.  

Similarities Between Adichie's "Tomorrow is too Far" and "The Thing Around Your Neck"

Being able to hear Adichie’s voice has significantly shaped how I read her stories. While I am reading, I hear her telling the story and it has definitely enriched my experience. I enjoy her stories possibly the most out of any that we have read. I think she has a very different way of telling them and I like to find stories that deviate from traditional methods of storytelling.

I found many similarities in the stories, but the one that particularly stood out to me was the second person point of view she uses in “Tomorrow is too Far” and “The Thing Around Your Neck.” While it is true that both stories deal with complicated family dynamics, it is also true that both stories are able to draw the reader in better than any of her other stories (in my opinion). This style immediately inserted me into the story and made me feel as if I was a character. I find this method of storytelling interesting because I always feel as if there is something that I am trying to figure out towards the end of the story. The revelations that occur happen as if they are happening to the reader in real time. This is very effective in evoking emotions in the reader. For example, Nonzo’s death in “Tomorrow is too Far” allowed for multiple things to be revealed about the characters because of the second person narrative. I never knew what was going to happen next while reading.

While these stories may have stood out to me, I think that all of Adichie’s works are great in their own right.

Nollywood

Nigeria has a surprisingly successful movie industry. It is the second largest producer of movies in the world, behind Bollywood and ahead of the United States. What differentiates the Nigerian movie industry from others is that the films they produce typically have small budgets; they will film for a mere ten days and have a budget of $15,000. Currently, it is a $250 million movie industry.

Nollywood grew in popularity in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s when crime was rampant. This caused public venues such as movie theaters to close because people were afraid to go out. Laws limited some states from showing many programs on television. Foreign video importation was also limited at the time due to laws so some states would show local theatre productions on television stations. 

Living in Bondage, a movie that came out in 1992, is credited as being the film to start the Nollywood craze. Kenneth Nnebue, owns the studio NEK Video Links, which created the film. He had extra imported videocassettes and used them for filming. This inspired other potential filmmakers to produce these “home videos.”

Since then, technology has vastly improved, but the films still go straight to DVD. However, each year between 500 and 1,000 films are released. On average, a film will sell 50,000 copies.  

Nigerian filmmakers are very determined despite the multiple issues they encounter while filming. The locations frequently have some environmental problem including local criminals, power outages, and pollution.

A huge part of Nollywood’s success is the use of English in its films. This allows for a wide and international audience to be created.

Nollywood films tend to focus on modern issues facing Nigerians including religion and religious diversity, HIV/AIDS, prostitution, comedy, and the occult.

The biggest competitor to Nollywood films on the African continent is the Ghanaian film industry. They often collaborate, which confuses Western viewers, who sometimes think the two are the same. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Nigeria

http://www.thisisnollywood.com/nollywood.htm

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/23/showbiz/nollywood-nigeria-audience-popularity/index.html

The Most Random Observations I Have Ever Made

Alice Lloyd is so modern, but what will it look like in 20 years? Will it resemble the hallowed halls of Mary Markley, a dormitory now renowned for its cockroaches?

The chairs in Lloyd are so modern and plush. For someone fighting off sickness, it is the perfect place to sit and ponder, waiting for their symptoms to reside. I wonder when I will ever get over this cold. I have had it now for three weeks and want to aggressively punch myself in the face every time I get up. This is irritating for so many reasons: I want to immerse myself in college life and my school work, but all I want to do is go sleep in my childhood bed and have my mom bring me soup. Is that bad? I think I might go home this weekend and take a visit to the doctor.

But the chairs… they are so soft. I could easily fall asleep in any of these and never get up. It is such a wonderful thing being able to sleep in Alice Lloyd, where they have air conditioning and the rooms aren’t the size of a holding cell.

The people who walk in and out of the main entrance are so interesting. I have never seen some of these people and I have now lived here for a month. I wonder how many people I will know in a year after being here.

If we’re being honest here, I don’t know if I love the modern look of Alice Lloyd. Sometimes it seems almost too modern and I feel like a dorm needs to be a little rustic. Not that I’m complaining, I shouldn’t. I know so many kids who would cut their right arm off to be in here. Why, specifically, the right arm? Why not the left arm? What’s so important about the right?

How many people who are in this dorm are not in LHSP? I see soccer players occasionally, but it’s hard to discern who is actually a member of the program and who is not.

I have seen six alumni or donors walk through here uttering, “it’s amazing!” “amazing!” “Is this really a dorm?” “back in my day you never would’ve seen a dorm this nice.”

These tours must be a regular occurrence during the day and I must just not be around to see them. I should hang out in the lobby more often.

Oh boy.

This is the most random compilation of sentences I have ever written. 

Writers on Writing

“You still have to make something really, really good. That’s the nut of it all. And the more time you spend ‘cultivating relationships,’ the less time you spend creating meaningful art. One of those things will do more for you than the other.”
-Stephen Elliott

“Rewrite everything. Even letters.”-James McBride

"Never be ashamed of your subject, and of your passion for your subject."-Joyce Carol Oates 

“Get a kitchen timer. Writers are ingenious at redefining what qualifies as doing work (‘If I just spend this morning cleaning my desk…’). A kitchen timer tolerates no such nonsense. Set yourself a daily writing quota (as little as a half hour is fine at first), set the clock and get to work.”-Ben Dolnick

Work on a computer that is disconnected from the internet.-Zadie Smith

"If writers haven't taken leave of their senses, they also want to stay in touch with us, they want to carry news from their world to ours."-Raymond Carver

Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, and not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style. I am not urging you to write a novel, by the way — although I would not be sorry if you wrote one, provided you genuinely cared about something. A petition to the mayor about a pothole in front of your house or a love letter to the girl next door will do.-Kurt Vonnegut

"Don't be discouraged! Don't cast sidelong glances a, and compare yourself to others among your peers! (Writing is not a race. No one really "Wins." The satisfaction is in the effort, and rarely in the consequent rewards, if there are any.) And again. write your heart out."
-Joyce Carol Oates

My thoughts on "Politics and the English Language" and "The Science of Scientific Writing"

Given what is going on in the world today and particularly our country, I think that George Orwell’s essay “Politics and the English Language” holds particularly true. Often politicians like to make their people feel inferior or manipulate their lack of knowledge in order to get ahead in their political ambitions. This is shown in political writings with politicians choosing complicated words and metaphors to get their points across. This confuses its citizens who then become misinformed in the process. Orwell is arguing that these writings should be in their simplest form.

This really struck a chord with me (hah) because I think that in college, students feel pressured to make their writing sound extremely academic and will just end up creating more difficulty than is necessary or worse, jargon. As I am learning to become a better writer, I will keep this in my mind and try not to use elaborate speech. Simplicity is sometimes more important when writing.

In regards to Swan’s piece, “The Science of Scientific Writing” I felt hesitant to read it because I am so absolutely scared of science. It was actually my worst subject in school and I always had difficulty understanding the texts. This piece really resonated with me however, because it taught me how to think about structuring things in my writing. I think that the basic formulas of writing are often not reiterated enough in schools. While I do cringe at the word science, I think that this piece breaks down the process of writing and what it takes to be a good writer.