Journaling Through the Ages

Joy Lewis-Méndezlewismendez.joy@paideiaschool.org

http://python.paideiaschool.org/~lewismendez.joy/

Journal 1

– What is a journal? What is a diary? Is there a difference between the two?

– What is the goal/point of a journal / diary?

– Have you ever kept one? – Have you ever read anyone else’s?

Small group discussion Class discussion

From Diary of a Wimpy Kid: A Novel in Cartoons by Jeff Kinneyhttp://www.funbrain.com/journal/Journal.html?ThisJournalDay=1&ThisPage=1

From : http://www.byub.org/ancestors/records/family/intro1.html

Of all the texts in the world, handwritten or printed, few are treasured as much as diaries or personal journals. We enjoy reading the journals of notable people like George Washington and Charles Lindbergh, and the famous diaries of obscure people like Anne Frank and Samuel Pepys. In family circles, we cherish an old diary passed down to us by a grandparent or other forebear.Diaries come in a variety of forms -handwritten and typed, legible and illegible, narrative and shorthand, tall, tiny, thick, skinny, and of various colors of paper, ink and bindings. Their entries are impersonal, deeply emotional, mundane, exciting, aloof, conceited, literary masterpieces, and barely literate. There are long and detailed entries as well as brief ones, regular as well as irregular ones, and gaps and interruptions lasting days, weeks, or months. Some diarists penned thirty or more volumes during a lifetime; others wrote only a few pages.Two myths about diary-keepers are popular: first, that diaries are mainly the work of adolescents; second, that journal-keeping is primarily a female activity. To the contrary, library lists of published and unpublished diaries show more adult than juvenile diaries, and more men's than women's. Journals are personal thoughts penned by young and old of both sexes. Anyone who can read and write is a potential diarist. If you're truly fortunate, someone in the preceding generations of your family may have left such a trail. If not, it's still possible that someone who knew your ancestors may have left a diary that makes mention of them or, at least, gives a flavor of life in their time and neighborhood. Better yet, consider keeping a journal yourself to leave a family legacy of your own. "We've provided some journaling resources to get you started". You descendants will be grateful!"

Diary Quotes It's the good girls who keep diaries; the bad girls never have the time. --

Tallulah Bankhead

Keep a diary and one day it'll keep you. --Mae West

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train. --Oscar Wilde

The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another, and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it. --J M Barrie

Diary, n. A daily record of that part of one's life, which he can relate to himself without blushing. --Ambrose Bierce

Painting is just another way of keeping a diary. --Pablo Picasso

What is a diary as a rule? A document useful to the person who keeps it, dull to the contemporary who reads it, invaluable to the student, centuries afterwards, who treasures it! --Ellen Terry

Definitions…?

diary [Lat.,=day], a daily record of events and observations. The diary derives its impact from its immediacy, requiring each generation of readers to supply its own perspective. The earliest diaries extant are the Roman commentarii—household account books, senators' speech notebooks, and Caesar's account of the Gallic Wars. Diaries are of particular interest to historians because they depict everyday life in a particular place and time, often illuminating important historical events. Examples of such diaries are the Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris, written by an anonymous French clerk from 1401 to 1431; accounts of daily life in the American colonies by William Bradford, John Winthrop, William Byrd, and Samuel Sewall; Anne Frank's diary (1947, tr. 1953), an account of the early days of World War II by a young German-Jewish girl who died in a concentration camp; and Harold Nicolson's diaries (1964–68), which treat the world situation from 1929 to 1962. A particularly unusual diary is that of the painter Eugène Delacroix (covering 1822–24 and 1847–63), which contains many extraordinary drawings. Among the many diaries of literary and psychological interest, the greatest is probably that of Samuel Pepys. While presenting a detailed portrait of life in 17th-century England, the diary also renders many charming and humorous incidents, the product of Pepys's observant eye and delightful style. It records, for example, the New Year festivities of 1666: "Then to dancing and supper and mighty merry till Mr. Belt came in, whose pain of the tooth-ake made him no company, and spoilt ours." Other important literary diarists are John Evelyn, Jonathan Swift, Dorothy Wordsworth, Jules and Edmund Goncourt, Charles Baudelaire, André Gide, Franz Kafka, Virginia Woolf, and Anaïs Nin, whose 126-volume diary represents her efforts to "unmask the deeper self," so that it might be studied by psychiatrists.

From: http://columbia.thefreedictionary.com/diary

Just some of the Famous Diary/Journal Keepers

･John Adams ･John Quincy Adams ･Louisa May Alcott ･Jim Carroll ･Lewis Carroll ･Kurt Cobain ･Ralph Waldo Emerson ･Harry S. Truman ･Marianne Faithfull ･ Anne Frank

･Allen Ginsberg ･Franz Kafka ･Frida Kahlo ･Courtney Love ･Alanis Morissette ･ Joyce Carol Oates ･ Samuel Pepys ･ Sylvia Plath ･ Sir Walter Scott ･ Henry David Thoreau Leo Tolstoy

Required Materials

NO BOOKS Copy pack fee of $10 due tomorrow

1. Small 3-ring binder2. 3 tab dividers (Journals,Notes Readings)3. Paper, pen/pencil

This course consists of…

READING– You will have nightly reading assignments that you MUST

read and be prepared to discuss and write about every day. DISCUSSING

– Your active participation is ESSENTIAL to your success in this course.

WRITING– You will be journaling on paper (journaling) and online

(blogging) on assigned topics. – You will be interacting with each other by commenting on

each other's blogs PRESENTING

– Each of you will do one 10-minute presentation on the biography and background of an author/work.

– You must also prepare a handout for your peers.

A typical class day

15 min. Journaling 30-45 min. Discussing

5 min. break (maybe)

30-45 min Blogging 15 min. Presenting

Homework: Reading assignment Additional Weekend Homework: Reading all of

your classmates’ blogs from that week and responding to TWO

My website

http://python.paideiaschool.org/~lewismendez.joy/

You can access it directly or through Teacher Pages (@Paideia).

Contains your calendar, homework assignments, links, handouts and other important documents (like this PowerPoint).

Readings (excerpts)

1. The Diary of Samuel Pepys (16th Century) English 2. The Lewis and Clark Journals (1804-1806) American 3. A Writer’s Diary (Virginia Woolf) (1918- 1941) English 4. The Diary of a Young Girl (Anne Frank) (1942-1949) German 5. Windblown World (Jack Kerouac) (1947-1954) American 6. The Diary of Frida Kahlo (1944- 54) Mexican 7. The Motorcycle Diaries (Che Guevara) (1951- 52) Argentine 8. The Journals of Sylvia Plath (1950- 55) American 9. The Basketball Diaries (Jim Carroll) (1960’s) American 10. Educating Esmé (Esmé Raji Codell ) (1992) American 11. The Diary of Ma Yan (2001-2002) Chinese 12. Various blogs