Creative Project

Creative Project Humanities 150 (Due Tue Feb 15)
Creative Project/Reflection: 3-5 page (or equivalent) creative project, 2-3 page process reflection (50 Points each)

For this assignment, you must construct a creative project that reveals an “outsider” point of view. Consider the ideas we’ve discussed about power and identity when creating the character(s) and/or point of view for your project. What specific elements of the character’s identity contribute to him/her being an outsider? What sort of institutional power or societal pressure has contributed to the character’s outsider identity.

The idea of an outsider may connect to traditional identity elements such as race, class, gender, and sexuality, but that is not required. The identity of an outsider can be created by placing the personal details of a character’s life in stark tension with the dominant ideology of the surrounding community. Feel free to be an metaphoric as you would like.

Consider using elements of the character’s identity as structural elements in your project. Remember how Allen Ginsberg uses the length of his breaths and jazz phrasing to create line breaks. Remember how Sandra Cisneros uses very short scenes and shifting points of view to mirror the gossip and soap operas that are important elements of the Cleofilas’ life and identity.

Potential Formats:
Short Story: 3-5 pages, from the point of view of an outsider.

Five Minute Play: 3-5 pages, use multiple characters to create the “community” then expose an outsider’s experience in that community.

Video: 3-5 minutes, consider co-opting a traditional television form such as a commercial, newscast, infomercial, talk show, reality show, etc to establish a dominant community and/or expose an outsider community.

Poetry: portfolio of 4-5 poems that reveal an outsider’s point of view.

Performance: 2-3 pages. 3 minutes. Write, memorize, and perform a short monologue from an outsider’s point of view.

Music: 3-4 minutes. Write and record or perform a song or audio collage that exposes an community’s dominant ideology and/or portrays an outsider’s identity.

I am happy to consider other formats for the Creative Project if you have something specific in mind. Just talk with me first. You are welcome to work in groups, but you must each write your our Reflection.

Reflection: In 2-3 pages, describe what you were trying to accomplish in the creative piece.
Explain how you created your project. What did you do to establish a community and/or a dominant ideology. How did you create the outsider point of view? What are the specific personal elements of the character that make her/him an outsider? Describe the specific ideas or feelings that you hope to elicit from your reader or audience.