Rachael’s memoir Hello, Hometown is the culmination of a semester studying graphic memoirs, comics that tell the true stories of their author’s lives through a combination of text and image, in styles ranging from simple cartoons to fine art. Rachael’s reflection seamlessly weaves together many experiences in her WR120 class, from studying formal aspects of the genre in Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics, to readings models of excellent memoirs including Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home and David Small’s Stitches, to the final project when students tell their own stories in graphic form.
Students compose their memoirs in two distinct genres: first, they try out their stories in class by performing oral storytelling in the fashion of The Moth live events; then, after feedback from me and their classmates, they adapt their story to graphic form. Many students find this transition from oral to visual more challenging than they expected, but in the process they gain a deeper understanding of each genre. Rachael eloquently explains, “I focused more on my thoughts and feelings in my oral storytelling presentation and less on concrete scenarios that were easy to visually render. I eventually understood through the revision process the extent to which the graphic memoir genre utilizes the comic medium to portray immediate experiences instead of merely describing them as one does in oral storytelling.”
Rachael’s memoir and reflection will be useful models not only for classes focusing on graphic genres or on transitions between oral and written or drawn narrative, but for any classes teaching the multi-source paper. To use Rachael’s work as a teaching tool, consider the following exercises:
A) Showing vs. Telling. Begin by asking students to read Rachael’s reflection and then discuss her observations about the differences between oral and visual storytelling. Next, in pairs, students will take turns in the following roles: one student will tell a short story from their own life (5 minutes or less) while the other student draws a picture of what they “see” in their mind as they listen to the story. After both students have had a chance to tell a story and to draw, they can share their drawings and discuss how their experiences with the different genres compare to Rachael’s.
B) Problem Solving. Rachael knew from the beginning that she would open and close her memoir with parallel scenes of her looking at the Houston skyline, but as she explains, her struggle was with what came in the middle: Rachael had to convey to her audience how she felt after her move to Hawaii – not in retrospect, but how her character felt in the moment. Ask students to read Rachael’s graphic memoir without page 4 (the new panels she included in her revision to solve this problem). Ask students how they would address the challenge that Rachael faced in her storytelling, asking for concrete suggestions they would give to this writer in a workshop. Then, students can read Rachael’s graphic memoir with page 4 included and discuss how it changes the impact of her story.
C) Juggling Voices. One of the strengths of Rachael’s project is her confident handling of multiple sources in the reflection. Students could read her reflection, highlighting every moment when she brings in another voice. Discuss how Rachael acknowledges that voice before responding to it, how she attributes each idea to its source, and how she integrates quotations and paraphrases into her sentences. Ask students: does Rachael retain control over the voice of her essay? Would students have done anything differently?
— JESSICA KENT
WR 120: First-Year Writing Seminar