Kristen and Briana's Lesson 1 for Commedia Unit!

Lesson One – Commedia

Grade:  11^th or 12^th, advanced Acting

Materials Needed : Images of characters and Commedia handout

Educational Objective:  Students will demonstrate their understanding of Commedia characters by performing scenes and answering questions.

Laura and Kirsten's Lesson

Lesson Three:

Understanding Creative License

Written By:

Kirsten King and Laura Masterson

 Unit:

Be Your Own Arthur Miller

Level:

Advanced Theatre

National Standards:

Content Standard #2: Acting by developing, communicating, and sustaining characters in improvisations and informal or formal productions

Content Standard #5: Researching by evaluating and synthesizing cultural and historical information to support artistic choices

Content Standard #7: Analyzing, critiquing, and constructing meanings from informal and formal theatre, film, television, and electronic media productions

Content Standard #8: Understanding context by analyzing the role of theatre, film, television, and electronic media in the past and the present

Educational Objective:

Students will demonstrate their understanding of how, when, and why you would use creative license by analyzing film clips, and using these principles to change the story of both a historical figure and a current event.

Materials Needed:

Three to five movie clips that demonstrate how filmmakers changed historical fact to make the story more appealing to an audience. Examples: Pocahontas, Finding Neverland, The Social Network, Argo, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, etc.

Handout with questions to discuss.

Article from The Daily Beast illustrating which parts in The Social Network weren’t accurate.

Hook:

Discuss the movie Hook, perhaps displaying the movie poster, talking about how the movie differs from the class Peter Pan story.

What did they change?

Why would they have made these changes?

What did these changes add to the movie?

Transition:

Speaking of Peter Pan, the students are going to watch a clip from another movie that changes/alters the story of how Peter Pan was written.

Movie clip: Finding Neverland (starting at 1:28:32) J.M. Barrie has brought the performance of his new play to the living room of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, as she was too ill to attend the opening night performance. The movie shows Sylvia walking into “Neverland” and then it cuts to the next scene at her funeral.

What they changed: Sylvia wasn’t too ill to attend the opening, and she did not die that evening during a private performance in her living room. She went on to live for another six years.

It is likely that the students won’t know the true story, and why this is different. Discuss the differences in the movie and real life.

Why would they have made this change?

Is it okay that they did this, even if it isn’t historically accurate?

Activity:

Pass out strips of paper to partners with the following questions on them:

            What happened here?           

            How is this different from what really happened?

            Why did they make this change?

            How did it help/hinder the telling of the story?

Movie Trailer: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (on youtube) the movie trailer shows how as a young man, Abraham Lincoln became a vampire hunter.  

What they changed: As far as we know, Abraham Lincoln did not hunt and kill vampires.

Movie clip: Pocahontas (starting at 1:05:17) The Native Americans and the settlers have decided to go to war. Pocahontas goes to Grandmother Willow for some advice, she realizes what she has to do and rushes to stop her father from killing John Smith. She throws herself on top of him to save his life and says to her father “I love him.”

What they changed: Pocahontas did not have a romantic relationship with John Smith. She was ten or twelve years old when she met him, and they were strictly friends. She did at one point save his life, but not because of any romantic feelings between them. Disney ignored this fact to make it a better story.

Discussion:

After each movie clip, students will get with their partner and discuss the answers to the questions listed above. We will then as a class talk about questions.

Students will then have to think of another movie they have seen that takes creative liberties with historical events. Each student will tell the name of the movie in small groups, what was changed, and why.

Activity:

Have students choose a different partner, then instruct them to think of a famous historical figure. They will need to rewrite history and change something in that character’s life. Give them a few minutes to come up with something, then have partners come up to the front of the classroom and act out what they have changed. Who did you choose? What did you change? Why?

Discussion:

Have students read The Social Network article, or pre-chosen portions of it. Students will then discuss how this is different from the movie clips we watched previously.

The story they have changed isn’t ancient history. It is something that was happening then, very recent, and they still changed it to make it more interesting or better for an audience.

Why did they make certain changes?

How did the changes make it a more compelling story?

Assessment:

Students will go home and choose a current event (or they start it in class if they have time left over), something that speaks to them, and bring a newspaper clipping or computer printout of the article to class next time. They will need to, on a separate sheet of paper, detail three changes they could make to the story, and why.

Article:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/09/30/the-facebook-and-zuckerberg-in-the-social-network-arent-real.html

Handout - one per partnership

Discussion Questions:

What happened here?           

How is this different from what really happened?

Why did they make this change?

How did it help/hinder the telling of the story?

Amelia and Sarah's Lesson Plan

Sarah Kron

Amelia Dunlap

457 Lesson Plan

Unit Title: Shakespeare through Taming of the Shrew

Unit Objective: Students will demonstrate their understanding of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew by performing a collaborative documentary theatre-style scene from the play, in groups.

Class Level: Advanced (11th-12th grade)

MLE Core Principles:

1. Media Literacy Education requires active inquiry and critical thinking about the messages we receive and create.

2. Media Literacy Education expands the concept of literacy to include all forms of media (i.e., reading and writing).

6. Media Literacy Education affirms that people use their individual skills, beliefs and experiences to construct their own meanings from media messages.

Theatre Core Standards:

CONTENT STANDARD 2: Acting by developing, communicating, and sustaining characters in improvisations and informal or formal productions

CONTENT STANDARD 8: Understanding context by analyzing the role of theatre, film, television, and electronic media in the past and the present

Lesson 2: Language & Conversational Shakespeare

Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to understand Shakespeare’s language by performing a short scene of Shakespearian dialogue.

Completed Readings: Taming of the Shrew Acts I-III National/Core Standards for Theatre:

Hook: Modern Music

• Random modern music playing as students enter room (“Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” by Will Smith, “Stronger” by Kanye West)
• Let students settle into class & listen, then switch to clips and call their attention to listening closely. Use whatever music is popular for your demographics
• Discuss:
• What is each song talking about?
• How do the artists express their meanings?

Step 1:

• Random groups: let them choose a random idea (from index cards) and have them come up with a song/rap/rhythmic poem (i.e. "awkward first date", "waking up late and missing a midterm", "meeting the man of your dreams", etc.)
• Let groups perform their rap/song/rhythmic poem
• Discuss:
• How did you communicate meaning through your raps/poems?

Step 2:

• Pass out excerpts of Shakespeare Scenes from Taming of the Shrew
• Play congruent clips from 10 Things I Hate About You
• Discuss:
• What are the similarities and differences between the language and means of communication between the text and film?

Step 3:

• Pass out a short modern dialogue scene and have 2-3 volunteers cold read it
• Pass out a short Shakespeare dialogue scene and have 2-3 more volunteers cold read it
• Discuss:
• How can we make Shakespeare's language more accessible as we speak it/perform it?
• In same groups as the rap have them practice for 10 minutes and then perform their 1-2 minute scenes for class

Conclusion:

• Give students 10-15 minutes at the end of class to work on final project performance

Ashlyn and Lindsey's Lesson Plan

Ashlyn Anderson

Lindsey Rogers

Lesson 5: Audience

Grade level: Advanced English (11th or 12th grade)

Time: 80 minutes

Lesson Objective: Students will demonstrate their understanding of target audiences and media messages by analyzing examples and applying new concepts to their development of scenes from Twelfth Night.

Essential Questions:

• What elements of a text are most likely to reach a target audience?
• How do artists and producers select target audiences and tailor their production to successfully influence their consumers?
• How do artists and producers manipulate media messages in their work?

Core Standards:

Theater:

Analyzing, critiquing, and constructing meanings from informal and formal theatre, film, television, and electronic media productions.

English:

Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.

Core Principles of Media Education:

Media Literacy Education requires active inquiry and critical thinking about the messages we receive and create.

Media Literacy Education affirms that people use their individual skills, beliefs and experiences to construct their own meanings from media messages.

Materials Needed:

• slips of paper with Catchphrase, Pictionary, and Charades clues printed on them
• video clips from TV commercials
• printed magazine advertisements

Sources:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i2QZM_WLss
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DfI4FtJdUA
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6KZGdf_SCE
• http://www.youtube.com/user/PoweradeUS?v=ywfIREWf6Bw
• http://171.67.24.121/tobacco_web/images/tobacco_ads/doctors_smoking/more_doctors_smoke_camels/large/camels_doctors_whiteshirt.jpg
• http://behance.vo.llnwd.net/profiles15/303100/projects/1063105/6f5ac6e45f4f4a71ea22145a52c34866.jpg
• http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1419/1372323627_9228996709_o.jpg

Instruction:

Step One: Intro/Hook

Distribute cues on strips of paper to individual students. Direct them to go in numerical order and follow the instructions on the paper. Begin by saying, “Who has number one?”

1. #1 Charades: Get your classmates to guess this clue without using your voice or any other materials. Only use your body to act it out silently. Your clue is X
2. #2 Pictionary: Get your classmates to guess this clue without using your voice or any gestures. Only use a marker and the whiteboard. Your clue is X
3. #3 Catchphrase: Get your classmates to guess this clue without using your body gestures or any other materials. Only use words to describe the clue without using all or part of the word in your descriptions. Your clue is X

Step Two: Instruction

Were they able to guess the clues? Why or why not? Ask the students what strategies were successful in helping them guess each of the clues. Explain how the interpretation of messages can be influenced by partakers’ individual backgrounds and experiences. What happens when there’s a disconnect or miscommunication?

Step Three: Class Discussion

Because TV commercials are trying to sell a particular product or idea, they are constructed with target audiences in mind. Producers make critical decisions in order to appeal to their target audiences. Let’s watch these commercials and discuss what the target audience is for each commercial.

What aspects of the commercial make you think so?

What is especially effective for the target audience?

Step Four: Group Discussion and Presentation

Spread out magazine advertisements on a table. Divide students into small groups or pairs. Have each group select a magazine ad that interests them. Give the class 3-5 minutes to analyze the media messages in their chosen magazine ads. Ask them to be prepared to share their findings with the class. They should look for the messages in each ad that the advertising company would like their target audience to get from the images, i.e. “This will make you attractive,” or “This product will help you make friends,” etc. Give each group 2-3 minutes to present their ideas and answer questions about the specific qualities of the ad.

4. Which design elements, slogans, celebrities, or appeals are present to promote the media message?
5. Is there a chance this message could be miscommunicated?
6. Is this media message more effective for some audiences than others?
7. What prior backgrounds contribute to the interpretation of these media?

Step Five: Group Work

Give students the remaining time (approximately 30 minutes) to work on their scene from Twelfth Night. During this time, students should be focusing specifically on what they are going to do to reach their audience (their classmates). While working, students should consider the following questions:

1. What is your scene’s target audience?
2. What are ways you can reach your audience? (Keep in mind things such as costume, language, bringing in pop culture, etc.)
3. What two things are your group doing to reach that audience?
4. If successful, what media message will your audience get from your performance?
5. Do you see any potential problems in reaching your audience?

By the end of their time working together, students should have not only made progress on their scene, but should have come up with at least two things they plan on doing in their scene to reach their audience. Before leaving, groups need to turn in a sheet of paper with the two things they plan on doing listed and why they think adding these two features to their production will help them more successfully reach their audience.

Step Six: Assessment

Students can be assessed on their completion of the blog response prompt:

Today in class we discussed audience. In your groups, you should have figured out at least two things you plan on doing in your scene in order to reach your audience (mainly, your classmates). Now, to show that you understand the things we talked about today, pick one of the following audiences (listed below) and pretend that you are performing your scene for them instead. What would you do differently to reach this audience? What would you do the same? Answer these questions and then, like we did in class, come up with two things in particular that you would do to reach this audience. Post is due by midnight.

Pick one of the following audiences to write about:

1. Your grandparents
2. Pirates
3. A classroom at Hogwarts
4. The animals on a farm
5. A preschool class (kids ages 3-5)

Pictures (MEDIA) for Creep story.

Unexpected Events . . . Two Moments

Worst Date MASH UP STORIES

My worst date was Valentines Day two years ago.

So my old roommates little brother got back from his mission and he asked me out. I thought, sure, why not? Because who doesn't want a free dinner? He said that he wanted to take me to a Hale Center Theater show..okay!

I had been dating this guy for a few months at this point. So we had this big date planned, it was supposed to be a surprise, I didn’t know where we were going. And we ended up driving out to his family’s cabin at sundance, and he had brought Paranormal Activity 2 to watch. So, very romantic.

The drive was like and hour and a half, and we got there a little late, but it was good. The show was great, up until the second act where I started getting that "he's going to hold my hand" vibe,

Twenty minutes into the movie, he is dead asleep. He is actually snoring. I wake him up to tell him I have to go to the bathroom and he then tells me that I actually need have to go outside because his family shuts off the water to their pipes in the winter so they won’t freeze. Apparently that’s normal.

So I was gripping the program in my hands for dear life, and I'm like, "don't touch me! Don't touch me! Don't touch me!!" and he still reaches over, takes my hand away from the program, and holds it. First date. Blind date. Not okay.  

3 Monologues

Alexandria:
Sooo....I sorta have this missionary that I'm waiting for. Yeah...*giggles* But anyway! The day before he left, I went over to his house to say goodbye and we were hugging and crying and I kissed him and stuff and I got back in my car, ready to leave...and I backed into his mailbox. His mailbox is brick, and I knocked it over...yeeeeaaahh. Didn't scratch the car, but I knocked over the mailbox, and he made me stay there until his parents got home! They were really mad. So...I didn't exactly get to say goodbye to him in the most romantic way, but at least I got to spend more time with him....

Isabella:
So me and my family were like...crossing the street, and I was the last one in line. Right as I was in the middle of the crosswalk, I dropped my purse. So I went back to get it, and I like...fell on my butt! I don't even know how I did, like...I was rolling on the ground and my hair was in my face and like...traffic was backed up and it was really embarrassing, but luckily nobody in my family saw.

Kristen:
So my old roommates little brother got back from his mission in August, and it was October...Yeah, he was fresh off. He asked out my roommate, but she was too busy, so she told him to ask me out. I thought, sure, why not? Because who doesn't want a free dinner? So we started texting back and forth and he said that he wanted to take me to a Hale Center Theater show, no biggie. So he lived in Murray, I lived in Provo, and the theater was in Salt Lake...so he drove all the way down, picked me up, and drove all the way back up to Salt Lake. The drive was like and hour and a half, and we got there a little late, but it was good. The show was great, and then we hit intermission.

At intermission, he wanted to take one of those pictures with me. You know? The kind where you hold the camera yourself and his arm was around me...and it was kinda weird, but I was like...whatever. So the second act starts, and I was getting that "he's going to touch me" vibe, so I was gripping the program in my hands for dear life, and I'm like, "don't touch me! Don't touch me! Don't touch me!!" and he still reaches over, takes my hand away from the program, and holds it.  now, I'm thinking to myself, "We've still got the rest of the play, dinner, and the drive home. Uh-uh". So I leaned over and said to him, "thanks, but that's a little too fast for me" and he was like, "Oh! Sorry!" and he let. Go.

So then dinner. For some reason, seeing the show 9 to 5 makes me go back into my southern accent...so I had a southern accent during dinner which made me look like this dumb blond bimbo. So that was...cool. To make matters worse, the waiter was flirting with me and  this kid kept pointing at things with his lips.

...Let me explain that. On his mission, a social custom was to point at things with your lips, so during the whole dinner, he's pointing at things with his lips like...*demonstrates* and it was so...eugh! It was just weird.

So finally he drives me home, and he asked for a second date. We went to the freshman dance here on campus where I made a great effort at giving off bad vibes. It must have worked because that was the last date I ever went on with him.

My Monologues!

So when I first met Jordan I kept saying to myself I'm not gonna date him, I'm not gonna kiss him because he's leaving. It was the beginning of the summer and he was leaving in a week for his internship in LA. You know I think we all think we know how things are gonna go in our lives, and our relationships and that we have self-control, but then we don't. He had asked me to dinner or something I can't remember for Monday and I was like okay....I was kind of hesitant. Because the night before we were also going to watch Fiddler on the Roof  so I didn't know if this was all supposed to mean something, but I was like Fiddler on the Roof, that's harmless right? I mean it's a 3 hour Jewish musical. Well, I guess it's about love, but it's arranged marriage. And we were going to watch it at his grandpa's house, WITH his grandpa, so- harmless. So Sunday I go over and I get there and he opens the door and he' standing there still with his church clothes on, and his sleeves sort of rolled half way up and he's smiling at me and looking literally like Jim Halpert in the flesh and I was like...dangit. So we're watching the movie and he sort of has his arm around me and I'm like whatever nothing's going to happen, I'm not gonna kiss him he's leaving in a week. And then he says, I mean I don't remember it this way, I don't believe that, but he says that after the movie (after his grandpa had gone to bed) that I kissed him. I don't think that's true. It was mutual. So yeah, I have no self-control.

Once I was working on my friend's movie musical and I was the production designer. And as the production designer you worry about colors for the sets, and costumes, and props and make sure that everything looks good and right together, and that it has the right feel for your film. So we were about to shoot this dance scene that had like 6 couples or something and one of the girls was missing. And nobody knew what to do and then finally I remembered that I had this dress in the back of my car from this wedding I just went to so as the good production designer that I am I spoke up and told them that actually I had a dress that would work perfectly in this scene that was the right color and style and everything and then they put me in the movie. So there I am dancing with these people who have been practicing the choreography for like 6 weeks, or a few months and it's like step, turn, jump into this guy's arms and sing! Well, of course they weren't going to use my voice, but I told the director to just put me on the end so I wouldn't stand out. And this poor guy that I was dancing with had to deal with me stepping on his feet and stuff, and the director, who's my friend, thought it was funny so I'm actually in the final cut of the film even though i'm on the end! Sometimes you wanna be back stage as a production designer, but then sometimes you end up dancing on stage in a musical.

So I asked Sariah's dad to lunch because I anted to ask him for his permission to marry her. So I called him and we're planning to go on Saturday and I'm nervous but I'm ready. And then Saturday morning at like 9 or 9:30 Sariah calls me and is like well my dad just called me and told me that he wants me to go to the temple with him so I don't know, I think lunch is going to be late. And I was like ok, that's fine. You know that actually works out better for me because I have a huge assignment due at 6 so yeah that's fine, that sounds great. So I go back to sleep. And then I get another phone call about five minutes later from her and she says   well, actually, my dad says he wants to go to the Mt. Timpanogos temple with all 3 of us, and he wants us to be there in 30 minutes. Soooo I say ok. What else could I say? So we go and meet at his house and he drives us to the temple. And on the way there he's playing this conference talk and it's a really great talk, and super spiritual, but it was called "What to look for in your future spouse," by Gordon B. Hinckley. And it's so awkward! And I don't know what to say and I'm guessing that maybe he wants to talk about it when it's over because it finishes up right as we're getting to the temple, but he doesn't stop for us to talk about it, he just gets out and starts walking up to the temple. And so Sariah goes in to do baptisms and we go to do endowments and so I'm assuming that he wants to talk in the temple and that we'll talk about it once we're int he celestial room. Because we all know why I was there, and what I wanted to talk about, and why I had asked him to lunch so I figured he just wanted it to be a spiritual experience, which is great! That's fine. So I walk into the Celestial room and he's praying so I sit down next to him and wait for him to finish and ask soon as he's finished I'm about to open my mouth and say, "So Greg," right when he says, "Alright! Let's get going Sariah is probably waiting." And I'm like what??? Are you kidding me? What's going on? I thought we came here to talk about me and Sariah! So I have no idea what to do or what's going on. So we get in the car and Sariah mentions that she's really hungry and Greg says, "Well Alex is still taking me to lunch!" You know he's kind of a jokester, but we were all going to go to lunch together. And so the car is silent and I'm in the back seat and Sariah is in the front and then her dad says, "So what did you guys think about the conference talk." And I'm like well. Now's as good a time as any, I guess. So from the back seat I was just like Greg, you know I love Sariah, I love your daughter and I want to marry her. And I wanted to get your blessing first and hear any advice you have for us. And he was really nice about it and we all 3 were at the Olive Garden and he was asking me lots of questions, and giving us advice about being married. But I got the blessing.

Kristen's Monologues

Monologue 1: 

So . . . um . . . . yeah (Flick hair)There was this time we went to Mamaw’s house and when we got there my mom and Dad wouldn't let us go in a certain room.  And I thought why not ? and then I heard this clippity clack and Riley came running out, and I was like a PUPPY!!!!!!!!!  He was really little and cute but at first I was scared he would bite me but I am glad we have him because he keeps me company and is fun to play with. 

 Monologue 2:

Well I don’t really know one, except for the time Mom was like it was going to be okay, but it wasn't.

It was dark and raining outside and storming a little, and around 6 o’clock Riley, our dog, had to go to the bathroom.  But he won’t go outside by himself in the rain, but I was scared to go outside because it was storming.  But Mom was like, it will be fine just take the umbrella out so the Riley will go to the bathroom and not get wet.  So I was like, but what if I get electrocuted with the umbrella, and she was like you’ll be fine and I was like okay I’ll go.  So Riley and I went out and it takes forever for him to go to the bathroom and I didn't want to be out there, and right after he finishes going to the Bathroom there was this huge flash of lighting that lit up the whole sky and then this loud clap of thunder.  It was like a loud boom, you know like boom, it sounded like . . . boom.  So I dropped the umbrella and I ran back through the garage to go back inside.  And Riley is bouncing behind me because he is little and trying to keep up with me because I am running so fast and I get inside and fall to the ground because I am so happy to be safe, and I was like See mom I told you it wasn't safe out there!

Monologue 3:

This was last year, and I wanted to go and visit my daughter Kristen in Utah.  Her cousin Emily was already planning on going so we decided to go together.  Emily had told Kristen she was coming but we wanted it to be a surprise that I would be there too.  The problem was Emily and I were flying standby.  Flying from North Carolina, we struggled getting seats to fly from Charlotte to Phoenix but we both made it.  The flights were even tighter from Phoenix to Salt Lake, but Emily got on one and I was stuck in Phoenix.  The other problem was Kristen usually calls me during the day, but since I was sitting in air ports where the speakers were really loud and she would guess where I was, I had to ignore her phone calls, which she thought could have meant something happened to me.  But Emily kept contacting Kristen letting her know where she was and when she would hopefully arrive in Utah.  The other problem was Kristen was watching a high school play for a class and kept having to leave the play to talk to Emily to try and find her a ride to the air port.  Luckily I caught a plane to Salt Lake, picked up a rental car and Emily told Kristen that her Uncle was just going to pick her up and she would drive to Provo to meet her in the morning.  It’s was around 8:30 in the morning and Kristen was getting ready to go to class when we knocked on her door.  She opens the door and her face is priceless.  Emily is standing there with a video camera and Kristen first looks at her and then sees me.  Her mouth drops open and her hands  hit her face and then she slams the door!  Kristen reopened the door and immediately gave us both hugs, she was just so shocked to see me.  For the rest of my life I will remember her reaction and I was so happy I got to go and see her!

Monologues

Aubree

i like dice
I'm from Vegas, so yeah you know
i like to roll them because I make little games with them
I have these dice, all kinds of colors, blue, green, yellow.
I would make little stories with myself
tell me stuff about my future husband and my children my house
If I get a 3 I get a boy. If I roll a four I get four kids
I would make them really detailed. I have 3 die. I would roll all 3. If 2 were the same number I'd have twins. more than the odd one out--identical. less than odd one out --fraternal.
Multiple dice mean I have more options

I Loved it when I was little.
I once explained it to my aunts and uncles and they were like you're so smart and I was like I'm only 3!
Yeah, I like them and they were consistent too!
It's fun...it's like terro cards for my brain
My mom calls them my autistic moments

Alex.

Mr. Clown was my tuppy. He was given to me when I was baby by my gramma Lou. gramma on my dad's side. and I loved mr. clown. he was my buddy. we did lots of stuff. but I would play with him so he would interact with the barbies and like kick them. so he was way bigger so he would always dominate the GI joes so they would fight. Little boy stuff. cuz boys like fighting.
He has a little rattle inside him so he had a rattle and you could shake him and stuff.
he was gund G-U-N-D. gund. Cuz that's anice brand stuffed aminal.

And I sucke don his hair. he has 5 little hair from out from underneath his hat. I probably bit him off cuz that's what you do. Then I sucked on his hat. Kind of like when you're a kid and you suck on your collar. So now his hat is kind of like pehc  like a flame. like fire.

he was manufactured in 1986 so he was always older than me. We did adventures together. nothing out side, but we would do stuff.

His body was half blue and half yellow. His arms were red. Arms and legs. His hands are little white nubs and his feet are bigger..little..yellow nubs. And he had a little polka dot frilly thing around his neck. Not a tutu but a little clown frilly thing. And his head is yellow. his whole head is yellow. So it's like he's got a hood on, more like a skin-tight suit so his face is white, but his head is yellow. and a little red triangle hat. anyway yeah, mr. clown.

Alex Avila.

When I was little I got a Paddington Bear. He was my friend and I liked him a lot. I got it for Christmas or something. Then when I was older--like 6 or 7--my sister got a notebook with a Paddington bear on it. So I found it and kept it because it had a Paddington bear! And she never knew what happened to it. The end.

Three Monologues - Sarah Kron

I have four stuffed polar bears and I take them everywhere with me, so they move with me to my different apartments, they go back home with me, (laughs) and I do this because I grew up in a family with lots of kids and I’ve always had like a little person in my bed. So, I do still sleep with my stuffed animals because I cuddle with them every night and sleep with them because I just need something to cuddle with. I got my first one when I was…five years old; I won it in a raffle. I was at the mall and there’s like thousands of people there and everyone had a raffle ticket and the only item I wanted was the polar bear and I happened to get it. And then…I just kept collecting them as I go along. Because one of my goals in life is that I do want a baby polar bear. As a pet. (laughs) Always and forever.

Yes, I’m 20 years old and I still sleep with my baby blanket every night, I actually have a hard time sleeping without it. It’s pink and it’s little and…I like the way it feels…o-on my face… (laughs), it’s very comforting, actually, you can ask all my roommates, I like hold it up to my face because it’s a comfort to me and it’s actually my pillow – I don’t use a pillow – but I use my baby blanket, and I’ve had it as long as I can remember and (sighs). My parents periodically try and take it away from me and hide it…it’s gone in the trash can before. And actually, yesterday, my roommate put it in – hid it in her food cabinet and I didn’t notice until I was going to steal something from her and then I was like, “Heyyy…that’s my baby blanket!” And I will have it on my wedding night. Probably.

I realize this might seem kind of odd, but it’s really special to me. My grandma – my abuela – passed away when I was like five years old, really young. I can’t explain how close I was with her, how much I loved her, even though I was so young. I’ve never really been that close with my other grandma – the one on my dad’s side. But on my mom’s side, I’ve always been close with that grandma. My abuela. And yeah, even though she was Spanish, I still called her grandma. My Grandma Adelina. (smiles) Anyway, I always loved going to visit her with my mom, so when I found out she passed away, even though I was only five, really young, I really felt it. I really missed her, you know? So my mom got me this little bendable lamb bookmark thing, I was obsessed with reading and bookmarks. And this little bookmark was really soft, like a lamb, and even had those little arms that you could bend back and forth, and you could bend it in half, too (shows this). Anyway. I put it on my desk, right perched up next to my scriptures, like this little lamb was sitting down, leaning against my scriptures, folding its arms. My mom always told me my Grandma Adelina was my guardian angel. And now I understood that a little better, because I had my little lamb, kinda symbolic of my Grandma I guess, sitting there on my nightstand, watching over me. I don’t keep it by my desk anymore, but I’m pretty sure I have it somewhere. I just don’t need the lamb to remind me of the fact that she’s watching over me anymore. Now I just know.

Lindsey's Monologues

Ryan

An object that’s important to me is my pink—no wait—purple bowl. I’ve had it for ten years and took it with me on my mission and now I have it here with me in college. I eat in it all the time. But I like it because it can hold lots of food. It’s not too big and not too small. It’s Ryan size. Except for when I eat oatmeal. I use a bigger bowl for that. Before, though, I used to eat my oatmeal in this purple bowl when I ate oatmeal with soy milk (but now I don’t do that because there’s too much estrogen in soy milk) but I liked it because it has this lip and I would fill it up to the top with milk and none would spill out. But, like I said, now I don’t drink that. My favorite food to eat in it is probably brown rice and vegetables just because it’s a comfort food. I’ve eaten it so much now that if I go several days without eating it I miss it. But the bowl—the bowl I didn’t get it from anywhere. I stole it from my brother’s birthday part. That was twelve years ago! It was holding candy in it. I stole it from him and have loved it ever since.

Betsy

My blanket. I got it from the hospital. I went to the hospital because I was getting reconstructive surgery on my face. I had been working at a camp as the cook’s assistant, just spending the week helping out and having fun. It was really fun. But me and the other cook’s assistant, who was my cousin, went out wandering around one day and we went bouldering. We were just climbing around and one of the rocks broke and fell on my face. It was huge. It broke off my cheekbone, shattered my eye socket, and broke the bone by my eyebrow. So I had to get reconstructive surgery. The lady who brought the blanket was from project Linus—that’s why sometimes I call it my Linus blanket. Project Linus is this group, organization, type thing where they make blankets and bring them to kids in the hospital. When the lady came in the two of us sat and talked for a little while. She asked me why I was there and I told her a little bit of what happened. And then she gave me the blanket. When she gave it to me, there was a poem that was with it. It said…oh, gosh, what’d it say? I lost it, which makes me sad, because I didn’t want to lose it, but it said something like “wrap this around you and it’s like getting a hug.” That was five years ago.

Kelly

Uhm…An object that’s important to me? Hum…let me think…probably my journal, just because it has all my memories and thoughts and my history. I’m not an avid or dedicated journal keeper by any means—I only wrote in it maybe 20-30 times my whole mission. It’s kinda one of those things that’s last on my to-do list, but I do do it every once in a while. It looks like…Uhm…It looks like—this! It’s just a brown leather with the words…what are the words? Uhm…let’s see…I think just something like “Holiness to the Lord”,” written on it, you know. I got it from my girlfriend’s brother three-and-a-half years ago when I joined the church. At first, it was really weird. Because people who aren’t LDS don’t really keep histories or anything like that…It felt kinda like a girl writing everything down. When I first got it, I didn’t know what to write. I would sit down and more of, you know, just write the things I did. It was like when I started, it was more like I was writing the big plates of Nephi and then slowly I got to writing more of the small plates. You know, more personal, meaningful stuff.