THE WRITERS’ FORUM Page 8

Printed by TAMIU Copy Center

Poet’s Pen

“Dust” Jonathan Martínez

In my grandmother’s trailer, draped under the looming mesquite trees, the booms of Christian reckoning

blare out from the 34-inch Sony plasma screen. The hi-def glow, like auroras,

grasps for the attention of the inattentive. Their tongues roll and click, clack chisme—

jungle sounds in South Texas. As they banter, they don’t see

behind the modernity. There hangs a forgotten crucifix—barbed-wired,

smothered with tufts of human cells. A Daddy long-legs is in worship.

It spindles a sticky shroud across Christ, rusted and offers little bee, tangled, struggling.

Still the booms and hallelujahs echo, unnoticed.

A publication of the Texas A&M International University Writing Center

http://www.tamiu.edu/writingcenter

Volume IX Issue IV March 2010

Writers’ Forum “Write here! Write now!”

The

In this issueIn this issue How to find writing jobsHow to find writing jobs

New tutors!New tutors!

Trivia to impress friendsTrivia to impress friends

The Word of the MonthThe Word of the Month

Anagram funAnagram fun

A review of the latest Van A review of the latest Van Damme filmDamme film**

And more!And more!

*Yes, we’re serious.*Yes, we’re serious.

Yajaira Chavez used our services and got ahead. What about you?

“Along Came a Spider” by Alejandra Ovando and Michel Martín del Campo (pencils and digital media)

TTTH EH EH E WWWR I T E R SR I T E R SR I T E R S ’ ’ ’ FFFO R U MO R U MO R U M

A publication of the Texas A&M International University Writing Center

Volume IX Issue IV Page 2 THE WRITERS’ FORUM

Writing Center

Location

Dr. Billy F. Cowart Hall 203

Hours

Monday – Thursday

8:00am – 8:30pm

Friday

8:00am – 3:00pm

Sunday

1:00pm – 6:00pm

Phone Numbers

326-2883 - Front Desk

326-2884 - Helpline

Director

Kimberly Thomas

326-2885

Associate Director

Destine Holmgreen

326-2907

Office Coordinator

Taryn Shehab

Forum Editors:

Jonathan Martínez

Michel Martín del Campo

Mary Muñoz

“Write here, “Write here, “Write here, write now”write now”write now”

Putting Words

to Good Use By Michel Martín del Campo

How many wanted ads list “English de-

gree” as a prerequisite? A lot of people ask me what my degree is for other than teaching or getting a Master’s degree. Unless I write that best-selling novel or get a job as a journalist for a magazine or news-paper, my financial options look limited. Right now, I tutor and teach, but a year ago, things looked bad.

I had a full-time job working as a speechwriter. It was good work, but everything I wrote was someone else’s idea, and in the end, I was a glorified typist. There was no creative pro-cess to challenge me. Worse, I moved across the country and had bills and new debt that arrived in my mailbox faster than I got paid. While look-ing for weekend jobs to supplement my income, I found a Craigslist ad asking for freelance writ-ers. I’d seen ads like that before. For a writer, they’re the equivalent of the Nigerian prince scam. They usually lead to sponsored websites for get-rich-quick schemes. Out of sheer desper-ation, I followed the link and, thankfully, ended up with a new source of income.

Freelancing is the closest thing for a writer to being a wandering gunslinger. This was what I’d been waiting for. I was surprised at the demand for freelancers. Companies have experts, highly-paid professionals in a variety of fields, but they lack proper writing skills. At any time, internet companies need content for their sites to attract Google hits. Lawyers, businessmen, and even people who just want someone else to check a manuscript look for writers. Many peo-

ple and companies demand writers. Clients did-n’t see me as some drive-through editing service, either. Because of the feedback from previous customers, my employers respected my opinion. The writers are in charge…

In just two weeks, I signed my first free-lance contract: developing a speech and presen-tation on how to quit smoking. Total pay for fourteen hours of work over two weeks? Three

hundred dollars, or a little over twenty dollars per hour. A few weeks later, I got a job editing a novel. In one and a half weeks, I made an-other thousand dollars. Most jobs are smaller,

such as a company needing a few dozen short articles written for its website. This can pay from fifty to a few hundred dollars, depending on the amount and quality of writing. As a student, or even a full-time worker, it’s a great way to make some extra money since you can work when you have a free hour or so.

It’s not difficult to get started. You can look for these jobs on Craigslist, but that’s a hit-and-miss. I use a website called Elance. You pay a small monthly fee, then you browse the thou-sands of jobs posted every month and apply. It

takes time to make a name for yourself, but the web-site actually has a counter of how many jobs you’ve gotten, how much you’ve earned, and a feedback system that lets your cus-tomers leave comments for future jobs. Best of all, I don’t have to worry about writing contracts or

(Continued on page 4)

“Freelancing is the closest thing for a writer to being a wandering gunslinger.”

Volume IX Issue IV Page 7 THE WRITERS’ FORUM

In one word, what is your life? Sorry, I need eight words: Here and Now.

Name: Lorraine Ramírez WC Word-Warrior name: Bent Tree Planet: Little bit of Mars… little bit of Venus Species: Taurus Classification: Graduate student Major/Minor/Field: BA English, minor Art History. In progress: MS in Psycholo-gy You are in a time machine. Where do you go and why? Back to the late 1950s so I can party with

Elvis. Any pet peeves? When needing, requesting, or telling something, rather

than being direct, it turns into this dance of words. Eventually, the point will be touched upon. It’s fluff—all fluff. And remov-ing the fluff is nice.

What can you do that I can’t do better? I can go into thorough detail about the latest Blackberry

smart phones, why they are awesome, specs, details, and prob-ably convince you to buy one.

In one word, what is your life? Kaleidoscope.

(Continued from page 6)

Pretty Damme Good By Mike Herrera

I assigned my English 1301 students the anonymous essay “Soup,” which appeared in the New Yorker, and told them it inspired the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld. “What’s Seinfeld?” one of them asked. Nobody knew, and if you think that made me feel old, imagine me trying to explain who Jean-Claude Van Damme is. If you were born in the 80’s, you remember a time when his movies went to theaters, and if you’re ever nostalgic for that time (a time when action movies didn’t

look like video games), you’ll be glad to know that Van Damme is back in a movie named after him, JCVD.

This is art imitating life and doing so unflinchingly. Van Damme plays himself: 47, struggling to find work, about to lose custody of his daughter. After losing a role to Steven Segal, a blow to the ego from which I don’t think any man could ever recover, he flies back to Belgium to regain his com-posure (and scrape up some cash). He walks into a post office—post offices function as banks in Belgium—and becomes one of the hostag-es taken by half-witted bank

robbers who convince the media that the Muscles from Brus-sels is the robber. All the while, the armed villains taunt the former on-screen tough guy: “You want to kick me?” asks one of them. “Go ahead. I dare you.”

A premise like this could easily get cheesy. The temp-tation to take an 80’s action star playing himself and get him into “real” fights would probably be too much for a director of the American mainstream, which is why movie fans will appre-ciate that the story comes from small-scale foreign cinema rather than Hollywood. Director Mabrouk El Mechri stays deliberately minimalist with the action; in fact, when there is violence, it’s usually Van Damme getting slapped around. They can’t hit him nearly as hard as life has, though. A scene in which one of the robbers asks him to kick a cigarette out of someone’s mouth and Van Damme does so half-heartedly to polite applause is a touching metaphor for how far he’s fallen.

Fans of his earlier work will notice that as his career and fortunes fell, his acting ability seemed to have risen. If you thought Mickey Rourke played redemption in The Wrestler, just wait until you see Van Damme’s wrenching monologue. No joke, you will be sur-prised; his prior body of work fails to compare to this two-minute scene.

It never opened in Laredo, but it’s well worth looking for. Watching JCVD on DVD, you might find yourself saying, “WOW.”

Volume IX Issue IV Page 6

THE WRITERS’ FORUM

Tutor Introductions By Mary Muñoz

The light radiating from its face is blinding. Its me-

chanical breath is stifling. The little symbol of cruel madness is blinking like the rhythm of the time bomb impaled in the back of your skull. Time melts, and the end is nigh. The paper is al-most due! Fear not, my fellow students, for our campaign of valiant word-warriors has burgeoned. We bring forth the mighty Ram-inator, Mighty Meggie Melanippe, Lord Noon Great, Nikoyaka Itsumo, and Bent Tree. Let’s defuse the bomb!

Name: Ramiro Montoya WC Word-Warrior name: Ram-inator Planet: Dune Species: Ram Classification: Senior Major/Minor/Field: Communications major You are in a time machine. Where do you go and why? I would go to the future to see how things turn out. Any pet peeves?

Wishy-washy people who don’t know what they want. What can you do that I can’t do better? Absolutely nothing! In one word, what is your life? Adventure.

Name: Megan Elizabeth Nieto WC Word-Warrior name: Mighty Meggie Melanippe Planet: Saturn Species: Pigs Classification: Junior Major/Minor/Field: English Grades 8-12 You are in a time machine. Where do you go and why? 19th century England or France to meet Oscar Wilde. He was funny and smart, and I bet it would be awesome to talk to

him for an hour or so. Any pet peeves? Bad drivers. I love to see people get pulled over when

they’re driving badly. I’ve even called the cops on drivers who were swerving (and probably drinking).

What can you do that I can’t do better? My fiancé and I have a long-running Scrabble competition.

I win all the time (well…usually). If I don’t win, I get really grumpy until the next time we play.

In one word, what is your life? Busy.

Name: Roland Ortegén WC Word-Warrior name: Lord Noon Great Planet: Big Momma Earth Species: Drosophila Melanogaster Classification: Unclassified Major/Minor/Field: Art/Education/Potter You are in a time machine. Where do you go and why? All the way back to around question # 2 where I thought it would be cool to make my WC Word-Warrior Name an anagram

of my real name. Clearly, I managed to disgrace the meaning of the words “warrior, anagram,” and “cool.”

Any pet peeves? Peeves don’t make very good pets. What can you do that I can’t do better? Listing all things I am superior at would require too much

space, but a few I can think of are cooking Ramen noodles, completely ruining the sad moments in movies, recalling ran-dom Saved By the Bell trivia, enjoying a nap in the middle of the day, and playing Mario Kart.

In one word, what is your life? Antidisestablishmentarianism.

Name: Alejandra Ovando (at least that’s what it says on my collar) WC Word-Warrior name: Nikoyaka Itsumo… It means “smiling always,” which you will find me constantly doing, unless someone touches my onions. I warn you: do not touch my recently-from-the-grill-that-is-roasting-carne-asada-and-thus-has-absorbed-many-flavors-spritzed-with-lemon onions. Planet: I’m from the planet of Fuzz, where normal people are weird and weird people are normal.

Species: Technically, I am a human, but on certain days, I cease to be human and become… Barbara Streisand!

Classification: Sophomore. Major/Minor/Field: I am going to be a librarian. I want to

work at a school and if possible, live in a library. I will sleep on a book bed. Yes, I am going to live the dream.

You are in a time machine. Where do you go and why? Feudal Japan, where samurai were the norm, and honor

had many physical forms… and if I cut my hair off, I would make a very pretty man.

Any pet peeves? Animals or people scratching constantly because it makes

me scratch as well… and I have the scars to prove it! What can you do that I can’t do better? I can’t contain my enthusiasm.

(Continued on page 7)

Deleterious, [del-uh-TEER-ee-us] adjective

Definitions: (1) Hurtful or injurious to life or health; noxious

(2) Mentally or morally injurious or harmful

Related forms: adv. deleteriously,

noun deleteriousness

Synonyms

Injurious, pernicious, unhealthy, harmful, baneful.

Antonyms

Aiding, assisting, helpful, beneficial, healthy, benign.

Brief Word History

The first recorded use of deleterious was in 1643 in Sir

Thomas Browne‟s Religio Medici 11§ 10: “They were not deleteri-

ous to others onely, but to themselves also.” Deleterious is derived

from the Latin deleterius, meaning “noxious, hurtful.”

Sentence Usage

Only after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes did Samu-

el realize his eating habits were deleterious.

Example in Poetry

Here I must leave him, for I grow pathetic,

Moved by the Chinese nymph of tears, green tea!

Than whom Cassandra was not more prophetic;

For if my pure libations exceed three,

I feel my heart become so sympathetic,

That I must have recourse to black Bohea:

„Tis pity wine should be so deleterious,

For tea and coffee leave us much more serious. (IV.lii)

—from Lord Byron‟s Don Juan

Information retrieved from Dictionary.com; Roget’s A-Z Thesaurus,

copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing; and The Oxford English

Dictionary, copyright © 1989 by Clarendon Press.

It’s the Word of the Month

Volume IX Issue IV Page 3 THE WRITERS’ FORUM

By Megan Nieto

Big, Bad Certified Tutors By Jorge “Coco” Martínez

If the need ever arises to jump out of a mov-ing vehicle, remember this rule: for every ten miles per hour your car is going, you experi-ence the equivalent of jumping off one story of a building. In the highly unlikely situa-tion where my car mal-

functions, I’m jumping. I’m not one to advocate stunts like these (although the

information could prove useful), but at least I have your atten-tion by means of an introductory hook, one of the many tech-niques we Writing Center Consultants—no longer tutors—specialize in showing you. After all, we are certified to do so. You may have heard that the Writing Center is now a CRLA-certified service, but what does it mean? Allow me to explain. CRLA stands for the College Reading & Learning Asso-ciation, and it is made up of consultants, mentors, tutors, and other student-oriented professionals dedicated to assisting stu-

dents with their learning needs. In order to earn a CRLA certifi-cation, we must endure rigorous training not only in our field of specialty, but also in auxiliary aptitudes including interpersonal relationships, interactions within diverse communities, stress management, and many other modules aimed at shaping the trainee into an able-skilled professional. That, apart from being a highlight on our résumé, assures students of our dedication toward helping others become better learners. Trust us. Before totally flipping out on an essay to the extent of self-injury by pulling a bail on Loop 20 (six-story fall), remember that a consultation at the Writing Center beats a trip to the hospital. To learn more about the College Reading & Learning Associa-tion, please visit its official web site at http://www.crla.net.

Volume IX Issue IV Page 5 THE WRITERS’ FORUM

DID YOU KNOW? By Liliana Saldaña

Miguel De Cervantes, Gabriel

García Marquez, Rudyard

Kipling, Ian Fleming… all

famous male novelists, but

Mirasaki Shikibu, a Japanese

noblewoman, wrote the

world’s first complete novel,

The Tale of Genji, over 1,000

years ago; it is considered one

of the finest ever.

Johannes Gutenberg is

often credited as the

inventor of the print-

ing press in 1454. How-

ever, the Chinese

printed from movable

type in 1040. Guten-

berg was unaware of

the Chinese printing

methods.

Ernest Vincent

Wright's 1939 nov-

el Gadsby has

50,110 words, none

of which contain

the letter "e."

Samuel Clemens wrote under the pen names Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass, Sergeant Fathom and W. Apaminondas Adrastus Blab

before switching to the name that would bring him fame:

Mark Twain. Ian Fleming, creator of Brit-ish secret agent James Bond, also wrote the popular chil-

dren's book Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the Magical Car.

When Goldilocks made her

debut over 100 years ago in

the famous children's fairy

tale, The Story of the Three

Bears, her name was Silver

Hair; from that, she became

Golden Hair and finally Goldi-

locks.

The inspiration for the popular

16th century nursery rhyme

“Little Miss Muffet” was Pa-

tience Muffet, daughter of the

poem's creator, Dr. Thomas

Muffet, an entomologist who

wrote about spiders.

Before settling on the

name Tiny Tim for Bob

Cratchit's crippled son

in his book, A Christmas

Carol, Charles Dickens

considered Little Larry,

Puny Pete, and Small

Sam.

Five of Shakespeare's heroines dis-

guise themselves as males: Rosalind

in As You Like It, Julia in Two Gen-

tlemen of Verona, Portia in The Mer-

chant of Venice, Viola in Twelfth

Night, and Imogen in Cymbeline.

Trivia from: www.didyouknow.org and www.triviafool.com

THE WRITERS’ FORUM Volume IX Issue IV Page 4

A SANG RAM

MAG RAN AS

ANAGRAMS By Roland Ortegón

ANAGRAMS – a word or phrase formed by reordering the letters of another word of phrase (ān'ə-grām' ) Example: SATIN is an anagram for STAIN.

1. Metallica titled a 1984 song with the same name as this

American author’s well known 1940 novel.

GERMYN HATESWINE 2. This American female author, best known for The Color

Purple, also wrote Possessing the Secret of Joy, which moti-vated Tori Amos’ song entitled: “Cornflake Girl.”

LIKE WARLACE

3. Invisible Monsters, by this same novelist who wrote Fight Club, was influential in Panic at the Disco’s 2005 song, “Time to Dance.”

CIA KUN PHU CHALK

4. Radiohead’s “My Iron Lung” was influenced by The Crying

of Lot 49, a novel from this author.

SHYCON PHANTOM 5. Popular gothic and religious themed writer, Anne Rice, had

an impact on Sting’s “Moon over Bourbon Street” with her very first novel published in 1976.

WHIMP RIVET HIRE WAIT EVENT

6. Bruce Springsteen’s “The Ghost of Tom Joad” is based on

this book written by John Steinbeck.

SOFT GRAPHWARE 7. “Song of Joy,” by Nick Cave andthe Bad Seeds, was inspired

by this classic selection written by 17th century English po-et, John Milton.

DATA SPOILERS

getting cheated out of pay. The site already has templates for contracts. All I’ve ever had to do was fill in the blanks with dates, jobs, names, and how long the project would last. Elance verifies the em-ployer actually has the availa-ble funds before the job even starts. The company handles the logistics while I handle the writing. They take a small cut from my payments, but it’s in-consequential since most of it goes to my starving-artist bank account.

As a writer, you dream of having the freedom to do what you love and make a living out of it. That’s what freelanc-ing gave me. I’m in control. I take the jobs I want, when I want them. It’s not a full-time job, at least not yet, but for anyone who needs a little extra cash or wants to gain experience work-ing with various companies, agencies, or individuals, freelanc-ing opens up a brand new field of employment.

Plus, I get to refer to myself as “Tutor, teacher… free-lancer.” Makes me think I’m cooler than I actually am.

It’s the little things in life…

(Continued from page 2)

Used with permission : http://www.inkygirl.com/about-my-comics/