#composition i

[cosmonautroger]

Roy Lichtenstein, Composition I, 1996

[transificationbeem]

Me, A First-Time Frehsman English Major who wants a specialization in World Lit and has been writing for over half of my life: what the fuck. What the actual fuck. These things have names. What is pre-writing. That sounds dumb. Why would I write my paper twice?! WHY DID THEY TEACH US THESE OBSCURE GRAMMAR RULES IN HIGHSCHOOL?!

Comp I:

Me:

Comp I:

Me: *starts writing paper, glancing furtively at Comp I*

Comp I, shrieking like a banshee: NO, WRONG! APA STYLE YOU GOBLIN CHILD! MODERN ACADEMIC ENGLISH, HEATHEN! REWRITE IT YOU WITCH!

Me, startled as my paper catches on fire: but...

Comp I: BUT NOTHING YOU UNGRATEFUL BASTARD CHILD

[murdochccm]

A Serendipitous Meeting - Composition 1

Murdoch Harris - September 2018

Does the rubble of burning tanks and armored vehicles inspire you to play and wise off? Well for Immo Starbreit playing soldier with friends on  abandoned tanks of  World War II  was the catalyst for his future. While the twelve-year olds were playing one of their games in the rubble, paying no heed to the dangers of war, American tanks rumbled around the corner. The lead tank stopped. The top opened. A Major appeared and asked the boys if any of them spoke English. Young Starbreit volunteered that he spoke a little. The Major told him to climb into the tank, saying he needed a guide and interpreter who knew the area. Before long Immo was acting as the daily guide and interpreter for the Americans. 

Appreciative of Immo’s help after the German defeat, the Major told Immo he was an assistant professor at Princeton and that he would sponsor him to come to America for college.

Of age and a year through college in Germany Immo sent a missive to the Major asking if he could attend Princeton. Not only did the Major say “yes”, the Major arranged for Immo’s acceptance into Princeton and all of Immo’s transportation, tuition, room and board and living expenses. Contrary to the destructiveness of World War II the serendipitous meeting between a warring soldier and a child playing in the rubble proved to be a true fortune of war. 

 After three years at Princeton and a return trip to Germany Immo acted as a liaison in U.S.-German affairs.  He later became the German Ambassador to the United States. All thanks to “wise’ing” off among burning vehicles in Berlin.   

Link to “Secondary Source Grandfather” Audio -

https://soundcloud.com/harris-familyregister/princeton-class-of-1953-story-from-a-reunion-story-not-about-a-reunion-story

Transcript of The Primary Source Audio (*inflections and cadence missing*) 

This is a story that was told to me by Emo Starbright. A classmate of mine at Princeton. What my class did was--we go on aaa after the 50th Reunion we go to class reunion in different cities--and Emo was the sponsor for the trip to Berlin. So I got a chance to talk to him and we got around to (ya know)  how you end up in Princeton -- and it was a very interesting story. He--bear in mind that during WW2 we were around 10, 11, 12 years old-- and he was living in East Germany with his brother and his mother and his sister and aaa his father was a physican who was in Berlin andn (ya know) the war was ending and the Russian were taking over East Germany and as they took over they would march the Germans they captured east and not too many of those guys got back, but on the march if anybody dropped out during the day they just go by a nearby farmhouse pull somebody out of it and put them in the line and they didn’t care whether they were a man, woman, or child, whatever. So the number would always be the same-- so his mother was getting a little nervous--& they thought they better go to Berlin. Soo ughhg before they left she told him to go out to the pasture and looks for the biggest horse and load their stuff on the horse and walk to Berlin. So he goes out to the pasture and looks for the biggest horse (ya know) ten years old what does he know  and he picks the biggest one. Well the biggest one happen to be a pregnant mare--so they’re a little rambunctious, but they loaded their stuff on the mare and they headed for East berlin. Aaah meanwhile when the Russians found anyone they didn’t like or a German stepped out of line they just hang them from a lamp-post so he said he sent a lot of time looking at dead bodies (on lampposts) When he got to Berlin. They found their dad and the city was being bombed pretty regularly by the Allies. By that age you feel like you’re immortal. So when the bombing stopped he and a buddy of his would go out in the street and they’d be some burned tank or armored car and they’d be out there playing around (ya know) playing Cowboy Indians or whatever. One time when he’s out therethree or four tanks Americans tanks came around the corner. They look down the --the guy in the lead tank looks at these two kids and says “Hey, do you guys speak english. Any of you”. Well Emo said he spoke a little english he had in school. So he said “I do”. So the the guy who was the major said “Get in the tank”. So he spends two or three weeks with the major sort of showing him around Berlin and sort out acting as an interpreter. When the major had to leave. He said “Emo you’ve been very good, and I want you to know that my regular job is a assistant professor at Princeton. And when you get old enough to go to college here’s my card. Contact me. Just he gave him his name Princeton University--professor whatever. I can there. He went one year to college in Germany and after that he sent a letter to this professor saying (yaknow) any chance you could take me at Princeton. The guy writes back come ahead, so he spent the-- I think 3 years, but could have been 2 years at Princeton and his English got quite good. So when he went back to Germany he got involved in U.S. German affairs, and he eventually, became ambassador to the US and he also become the ambassador to France. And he says “ I wouldn’t have even thought of these kind of things if I hadn’t been out -- playing around wiseing off around some burning vehicle in Berlin. So he says in some ways the war just made me. I thought it was an interesting story.

Image Citation -

Lamprecht, Gerhard, director. Somewhere in Berlin. Somewhere in Berlin, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somewhere_in_Berlin.

My Writing Situation- 

My Subject - Emo Starbrights progression from benighted boy to UN ambassador in U.S German Affairs. 

My purpose - “Expedient”- to learn from my grandfather's story abilities to ameliorate my own. “Alterocentric/Allocentric/Other Regarding” - to record my families stories in a family register for our descendants and their upbringing. 

My Intended Audience - My instructor whose putting himself in the role of my soi-disant peer/and or somebody who’s also at my level of education and life experience. 

The Sources of Information available to me - at this point in time, only a secondary source, my grandfather recounting his friends story. 

Constraints - Grandfather only source; secondhand source, who got it from main guy. 

Hook Attempts Introductory Paragraph - 

Playing about and wising off in an internecine conflict, World War II, changed a man's life. 

Vocabulary I thought about and Avoided-

Intrepid, Impavid, Benighted, Detritus. 

[olivermajor226]

As part of my comp I class, my students and I are currently discussing themes related to mass incarceration in America. Tomorrow in class we're listening to an episode of Ear Hustle. If you aren't already listening to this podcast, you should be. Produced entirely within the walls of Sam Quentin State Prison, dedicated to showing what life inside its walls is like.

[if-im-breathing-i-can-handle-it]

I need to stop procrastinating and write my essay for Composition I; the irony of it all is that the topic is "how to waste time".