Active vs. Passive Voice and how they can work together

Yesterday in class we talked in class about using the active voice in our exploratory papers-

In The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger uses 

the Passive voice as a tool

In a few the author John Green's YouTube videos, he explains the effect on the story Salinger created by giving Holden Caulfield a very passive voice.

The example John pulls from the book is in the first chapter-

"The reason I was standing way up on Thompson Hill,instead of down at the game, was because I'd just gotten back from New York with the fencing team" (Salinger 5). 

First of all, what does the passive voice do anyway? It takes the character away from the action or situation they are describing. This is not popular in a lot of fiction writing because of the distance it causes, but Salinger uses it beautifully in his character. (He sculpted his characters and thought of them also as real people, so they come across having real human qualities even through the black and white text on a page)

Next question you have, what was going on at the time Holden said this, and why should we care? He was not simply getting back from New York with the fencing team, they had to go home because they were forced to forfeit the game; Holden, the manager of the team, forgot the equipment on the subway when they got off. Everyone hated him. Because this book is told in a flashback, he had to use the passive voice, create that distance, just to make talking about his mistake bearable. Holden also uses this voice when explaining why he was getting kicked out of boarding school, fo the third time.

But then Holden uses the active voice, and present tense language when talking about his dead brother, Allie.

"He's dead now" (Salinger 43). 

"The dead do not stop being dead" John Green reminds us. There is no way of getting around that, no matter if you use a passive or active voice; nothing can bring them back. And while Holden may not want to feel the pain of making his team have to forfeit the game, he feels Allie's pain and he wants us to know it. Holden didn't even get to go to the funeral because he was in the hospital for punching out the windows in their garage, getting no closure. There is so much sadness in that and you just feel it. 

I use the passive voice a lot in my personal writing. I've been doing it for years, mostly starting when I became depressed in about 6th grade, I had never known about it to notice it, my brain did it on it's own. There was a clear shift in my writing that I find fascinating. I think that is why I like Catcher so much; Holden's dialogue mimics my own and that was and still is calming to me. It's good to know that we are not alone in our thoughts and habits. It makes them seem less harmful and absolutely bearable.

Thanks for reading,

-Kayla Audrey

I Got A New Job!!!

For a year and a half I have worked retail at the Kohl's in Joliet. I have learned a lot, especially in regards to my Marketing major, but there are many things I don't like about the job. About two months ago a friend of mine told me about an opening at this painting place in Plainfield and suggested I give then a call. I called and got an interview a few days later. I was very nervous for the interview because, in creating my portfolio of all my best works, I realized that I do not paint a whole lot, and most of my experience is with oil paints.

In my interview I met the owner, saw their location and met the artist that was leaving because she had just graduated and was starting her professional job. They really liked me and I actually got hired right at the interview! I was so excited!

Now I have been in training and the past two Saturdays have gotten to teach two children's painting classes. At their location they have four different kinds of classes; adult painting classes, wooden board classes, wine glass painting classes, and children painting classes. It's such a fun environment to work in and something that I enjoy doing so much. When I was in high school I helped choreograph my old middle school's swing choir, so I have some experience teaching and have always loved teaching.

If any of you would like to come and paint, all you have to do is sign up online at www.somuchfunpaintandsip.com It is okay if you are not over 21, there are lots of teens and adults that just come to paint and create!

- Kayla Audrey
November 2017

My Favorite Art to Create

As an art student here at Lewis I am in a few different art classes and it is encouraged to try as many mediums as possible. But here is my favorite type of art to create... 

I call them my Room Drawings

This was the first room I drew in 2014

I drew this kitchen/ dinning room scene last Christmas break

I love drawing realistic, very detailed rooms. It's fun and one of my favorite things to do. Sometimes I make the rooms up in my head and draw them. Sometimes I will go somewhere and will find myself in a random room that I just have to draw. I always like places a little cluttered or what I like to call "Lived- in". I am not very good at drawing people (yet?) so I draw the rooms as if everyone has just left. 

I drew this restaurant this past March. 

Room drawings never take long to create. I did the one above in about an hour and a half before my 9 am class last semester. I don't have a specific time of the day I like to draw; 

I draw whenever I am inspired.  

Drawing of a coffee shop on the cruise I went on in 2015.

This was one of my favorite drawing to do on location. When we arrived on the cruise ship I thought the coffee shop was just adorable and knew I had to draw it. During one of our days at sea, while my family was at the pool, I sat in the lounge across from the shop and drew it for a few hours. Other vacationers would stop and ask me about the drawing and to watch me draw. 

My favorite room drawing done in early 2015

While it is not the best drawing I have done, it's my favorite. I love all the details and its "i-Spy" feeling. I enjoy creating art that someone can look at for a long time; something you could come back to a few times and see something different each time. 

Room drawing I did in January 2017

I don't like to draw a room and then color it in; I think that looks like a coloring book and that's not what I am going for. What I have been doing lately on my drawings to add some color is to put a watercolor wash on it and then draw on top of it. 

Let me know what you think :-)
- Kayla Audrey

Bottles:: video project

Bottles video

November 2017
-Kayla

Why The Catcher in the Rye? (Part One)

I read this book at the perfect time in my life... When Salinger passed away in 2010 I was in 6th grade, because of all the news coverage and of my love for reading, I went down to my school library and asked where I could find the book. The librarian said that they didn't even have it in their catalog. I was confused, but forgot about it until freshman year of High School. Knowing that it was part of the Junior year curriculum, I put off reading it. I know for a fact that if I had read The Catcher in the Rye any earlier I would not have understood or enjoyed it. Any later, I would not have related as much, if at all.

My own little sketch of Holden in his red hunting cap

What do I think the story is about? For me, the story is about human behavior and the transition from child to adulthood. To most readers, Holden is very unlikable. But it is not an author's responsibility to create likeable character. In order to fully understand Holden Caulfield you have to had been him once in your life. (Most of my favorite books are like this) Holden is very flawed and you are waiting for him during the duration of the novel to become the hero of his own story. His complex, restricted and skewed view of the world has him trapped and, because we don't know much about his past, we don't know why or how he got to be this way.

My favorite element of the story is how Salinger gives Holden's narrative a stream of consciousness sound. It makes him more real and makes you want to keep listening. Everyone likes to hear a good story. A novel like this is not just about the story or plot, but more about who it is happening to and how their brain works. How they think, feel and relate to the people in the world around them.

I find it confusing and alarming that some people can’t identify with the story. Salinger has provided the reader with many mirrors throughout. Even now, after I have read the book more times than I would like to admit, I find myself having to pause and reflect on my own life in new places every time.

I have added onto the title of this post “Part One” because I want to write more about the symbols.I just love them, as silly as that probably sounds. 

Kayla Audrey- Week 4

Man On Wire

 

 My reflection on the 2008 Documentary "Man on Wire"

Was there one scene that stood out to you? Why, what emotions, describe it. 

The pieces of film shot from the actual wire scenes were breathtaking. The scenes where Philippe Peiti rigged and walked the Notre Dame Cathedral and the World Trade Towers were my favorite. Half of the time I wanted to hold my breath because I am seeing these images and pieces of video of this man who is 110 stories up in the air walking across a wire. It's amazing and terrifying, but there is beauty to it.  

What Surprised you about the film?

Two things surprised me, the art of wire walking of course was the first. I didn’t expect it to be an art that I found to enticing to watch. I'm not sure what it was, but I could not stop watching. The beauty of it makes you forget the danger of the act. The emotion all the people evolved expressed were also surprising. They were crying, and that's when you know how beautiful it really was to all the people there so see it in person. It’s so moving to see his friends and partners crying and weeping while explaining what they saw.

What questions do you still have after? Have any feelings popped up after? 

I wanted to know why their love story had the end there. That what was the biggest question I had at the end. Most people who ask, like all the new reporters did in the film, why he does what he does. I don’t ask that question; I get it as an artist. 

-Kayla Audrey 

As I was driving to work yesterday and thinking about what to write my blog about, I saw this SUV  that was packed with lots of bags and boxes and clothes and furniture. As I got behind them to turn right I saw that their license plate was from Florida. And in seeing that car I could not help but think about what it must have been like packing up their house, their life, everything that they physically  could and run from the storm. Driving away from your home not knowing what is going to be there when you return.

Four years ago my family's lake house caught fire while we were not there. We had to rebuild everything. I know it's only on a small scale of what this hurricane is doing to the people of Florida, but it was heartbreaking to see my parents go through the whole process of rebuilding. It is such a headache of a process; I remember my parents having to make lists of every item that was in the house, what we paid for it and how long we had had it for. You're trying to grieve while remembering every detail, fighting with insurance and restoration companies.

As I drove home from work and was passing countless gas stations I thought about how lucky we are. I could have pulled into any of those stations and without problem pumped as much gas as I needed. I got to drive home to my house and my family, eat dinner and take a shower before getting into my bed, while so many thousands of people do not get to do that tonight and will not get to for many nights. I will be keeping the people of Florida and everyone affected in my thoughts, and I hope you will too.

Kayla Audrey- Week 2

We are all scared

I don't like writing about physically writing, but I thought maybe I could get away with it once-

In class this past week when were were talking about writing being a performance I thought of this video by Hank Green on the Vlog Brothers channel;

"creating is not terrifying, but sharing the creation, or even the thought of sharing the creation is"

 I think about this a lot, and so did the author of The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger. I love writing and it's exciting getting a piece to where it's ready to be shared with others, but it's also pretty scary. I obsess over word choice and order when writing. I share my drawings and paintings more than the tings I write. Last spring I had a painting in the Lewis art show and I purposely didn't show it to my parents before. I wanted their real reaction to the piece, but as the show got closer, I did find myself getting pretty anxious about how they would react.

"…then you have the creation that matters most to all of us, and that is the scariest and most dangerous and most intimate and most beautiful creation that everyone gets to make- and you only get to  make one of them- and that's the self"

 I love this and have never really thought of the self concept this way. WE are a creation and a compilation of all the things we do and say and feel. I knew this- but never thought about it in a creative-art type of way. The older I get the more I believe in the power and beauty of choice. It's kinda like choosing what color paint to put on a canvas; who are my friends and how am I going to let them influence me, what types of media am I going to spend my time on and what do I spend time thinking about in my free time? I hope this new blog will document some of these things and become an accurate representation of myself, or as I view me.

"when you talk to a new person, you are making you inside of them" 

 Because (at the time of the post) we are currently in the second week of school, we are doing this on a daily basis! As I am meeting people and telling them about myself, what I like and how I spend my time, and I am learning all these things about them, I am participating in the creative process and letting people in on mine.

Kayla Audrey- Week 1