Short Story Tips and Resources (Group 2)

Short Stories: 10 Tips for Novice Creative Writers
Resources > Writing > Creative > Short Stories
Get Started: Emergency Tips
Write a Catchy First Paragraph
Develop Your Characters
Choose a Point of View
Write Meaningful Dialogue
Use Setting and Context
Set up the Plot
Create Conflict and Tension
Build to a Crisis or a Climax
Find a Resolution

By Kathy Kennedy, UWEC SeniorJan. 2003; edited by Jamie Dalbesio, UWEC SeniorMay 2003; edited by Dennis G. JerzJan 2007

What is a Short Story?
A short story:
Gets off to a fast start.
Generally has a limited number of characters and scenes.
Starts as close to the conclusion as possible.
Frequently deals with only one problem.
Uses only the detail necessary for understanding the situation.
Usually covers just a short time period.

Flash Animation Assignment (Group 1)

Macromedia Flash (Group 1)

Using Flash create the following short animations:

A)using texts and shape tween create a poem
B)Using Multi layers, Alpha effects and Symbols create an animation using your name and the school name
C)Using masking layer, shape and motion tweens, motion guide, drawing tools etc... create an animated Christmas Greeting card or an Intro flash Page for Notre Dame

Due date: Dec 14th, 2007

A small Ontario town called Swastika

Swastika is a small community founded in 1908 around a mining site in northern Ontario, Canada, and today within the municipal boundaries of Kirkland Lake, Ontario.

Swastika is a junction on the Ontario Northland Railway [1], where a branch to Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec leaves the ONR's main line from North Bay, Ontario to Moosonee. The Northlander passenger railway service between Toronto and Cochrane serves a station at Swastika, with connecting bus service along Highway 66 into downtown Kirkland Lake.

The town's other claim to fame is its association with the Mitford family, who owned the Swastika Mine for which the town was named. In particular, Nazi sympathizer Unity Mitford's association with the town — she was supposedly conceived there — impressed the superstitious Nazis,^{[citation needed]} to whom the swastika was an important symbol.

During World War II, the provincial government sought to change the town's name to Winston, in honour of Winston Churchill, but the town refused, insisting that the town had held the name long before the Nazis co-opted the symbol. Residents of Swastika used to tell the story of how the Ontario Department of Highways would erect new signs on the roads at the edge of the town. At night the residents would tear these signs down and put up their own signs proclaiming the town to be "Swastika".

An important figure was Christopher Macaulay, direct descendant of Thomas Babbington Macaulay, who fought to keep the name as Swastika.

History

Lucky Cross Mill in Swastika, Ontario (1918)

Swastika, Ontario was named after the Swastika Gold Mine staked in the fall of 1907 and incorporated on January 6, 1908. James and William Dusty staked the claims alongside Otto Lake for the Tavistock Mining Partnership. The Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway had an engineers camp nearby as they had to construct two railway bridges as they advanced Northward. They first used the name Swastika in their 1907 Annual Report to indicate a water tank was located at this site to meet the needs of the mighty steam trains that opened up Northern Ontario. Prospectors and miners flooded to the area and after viewing the find at the Swastika Gold Mine they advanced throughout the area. In 1909 the Lucky Cross Mine adjacent to the T&NO railway tracks began producing gold. A Mr. Morrisson started a farm and lodging alongside the tracks as early as 1907 and from there the community developed. By 1911 a hotel, businesses, etc. were flourishing and the area to the East was heavily staked and the major gold mines of Kirkland Lake were found and developed. Swastika was the main transportation link with the railway and communications centre. Churches, school classes, community groups and organizations continued to provide the needs of the residents of the area. In 2008 the small community of Swastika will be celebrating its Centennial.

Swastika: a misappropriated symbol

Reading Assignment
instructions: Read the following article and answer the following questions.

Questions:
1) Explain in your own words, what do you think the swastika mean to you?
2) How was the swastika misappropriated?
3)What are some of the meaning of the Swastika symbol? Use examples.
4)What does the Swastika mean today?

The History of the Swastika
From Jennifer Rosenberg,

The swastika is an extremely powerful symbol. The Nazis used it to murder millions of people, but for centuries it had positive meanings. What is the history of the swastika? Does it now represent good or evil?

The Oldest Known Symbol

The swastika is an ancient symbol that has been used for over 3,000 years. (That even predates the ancient Egyptian symbol, the Ankh!) Artifacts such as pottery and coins from ancient Troy show that the swastika was a commonly used symbol as far back as 1000 BCE.

During the following thousand years, the image of the swastika was used by many cultures around the world, including in China, Japan, India, and southern Europe. By the Middle Ages, the swastika was a well known, if not commonly used, symbol but was called by many different names:

* China - wan
* England - fylfot
* Germany - Hakenkreuz
* Greece - tetraskelion and gammadion
* India - swastika

Though it is not known for exactly how long, Native Americans also have long used the symbol of the swastika.

The Original Meaning

The word "swastika" comes from the Sanskrit svastika - "su" meaning "good," "asti" meaning "to be," and "ka" as a suffix.

Until the Nazis used this symbol, the swastika was used by many cultures throughout the past 3,000 years to represent life, sun, power, strength, and good luck.


Even in the early twentieth century, the swastika was still a symbol with positive connotations. For instance, the swastika was a common decoration that often adorned cigarette cases, postcards, coins, and buildings. During World War I, the swastika could even be found on the shoulder patches of the American 45th Division and on the Finnish air force until after World War II.

A Change in Meaning

In the 1800s, countries around Germany were growing much larger, forming empires; yet Germany was not a unified country until 1871. To counter the feeling of vulnerability and the stigma of youth, German nationalists in the mid-nineteenth century began to use the swastika, because it had ancient Aryan/Indian origins, to represent a long Germanic/Aryan history.

By the end of the nineteenth century, the swastika could be found on nationalist German volkisch periodicals and was the official emblem of the German Gymnasts' League.

In the beginning of the twentieth century, the swastika was a common symbol of German nationalism and could be found in a multitude of places such as the emblem for the Wandervogel, a German youth movement; on Joerg Lanz von Liebenfels' antisemitic periodical Ostara; on various Freikorps units; and as an emblem of the Thule Society.

Hitler and the Nazis

In 1920, Adolf Hitler decided that the Nazi Party needed its own insignia and flag. For Hitler, the new flag had to be "a symbol of our own struggle" as well as "highly effective as a poster." (Mein Kampf, pg. 495)

On August 7, 1920, at the Salzburg Congress, this flag became the official emblem of the Nazi Party.

In Mein Kampf, Hitler described the Nazis' new flag: "In red we see the social idea of the movement, in white the nationalistic idea, in the swastika the mission of the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man, and, by the same token, the victory of the idea of creative work, which as such always has been and always will be anti-Semitic." (pg. 496-497)

Because of the Nazis' flag, the swastika soon became a symbol of hate, antisemitism, violence, death, and murder.

What Does the Swastika Mean Now?

There is a great debate as to what the swastika means now. For 3,000 years, the swastika meant life and good luck. But because of the Nazis, it has also taken on a meaning of death and hate.

These conflicting meanings are causing problems in today's society. For Buddhists and Hindus, the swastika is a very religious symbol that is commonly used. Chirag Badlani shares a story about one time when he went to make some photocopies of some Hindu Gods for his temple. While standing in line to pay for the photocopies, some people behind him in line noticed that one of the pictures had a swastika. They called him a Nazi.

Unfortunately, the Nazis were so effective at their use of the swastika emblem, that many do not even know any other meaning for the swastika. Can there be two completely opposite meanings for one symbol?

In ancient times, the direction of the swastika was interchangeable as can be seen on an ancient Chinese silk drawing.

Some cultures in the past had differentiated between the clockwise swastika and the counter-clockwise sauvastika. In these cultures the swastika symbolized health and life while the sauvastika took on a mystical meaning of bad-luck or misfortune.

But since the Nazis use of the swastika, some people are trying to differentiate the two meanings of the swastika by varying its direction - trying to make the clockwise, Nazi version of the swastika mean hate and death while the counter-clockwise version would hold the ancient meaning of the symbol, life and good-luck.

Photomontage: hommage to John Heartfield

Creating a photomontage has, for the most part, become easier with the advent of computer software such as Adobe Photoshop, and Pixel image editor. These programs make the changes digitally, allowing for faster workflow and more precise results.

Your assignment is to create three Adbuster-like spoofs on the following Advertisements:
Abercrombie and Fitch
Gap
Nike
Hollister
any advertisements of your choice
etc...

John Heartfield and Parody Reading Assignment

In contemporary usage, a Parody (or Lampoon) is a work that imitates another work in order to ridicule, ironically comment on, or poke some affectionate fun at the work itself, the subject of the work, the author or fictional voice of the parody, or another subject. As literary theorist Linda Hutcheon (2000: 7) puts it, "parody...is imitation with a critical difference, not always at the expense of the parodied text." Another critic, Simon Dentith (2000: 9), defines parody as "any cultural practice which provides a relatively polemical allusive imitation of another cultural production or practice."

Parody exists in all art media, including literature, music, and cinema. Cultural movements can also be parodied. Light, playful parodies are sometimes colloquially referred to as spoofs. The act of such a parody is often called lampooning. (Source cited)

Adbusters

Ad spoofs

John Heartfield historical reference (Reading assignment due Monday Nov5th)