Writers Seminar 2018: Shane Koyczan
Talk Show
H1- Tim
H2- Emily
SK- Paxton
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H1– Hello and thank you for tuning into our show this afternoon. We have a real special guest for you today, Shane Koyczan!
SK– Hey! Thanks for having me!
H2 – So tell us a little bit about yourself.
SK– Well, I was born in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, But I grew up in British Columbia. In 2000, I won the Individual Championship title at the National Poetry Slam and I’ve been writing poetry and spoken word ever since. In 2010 I performed a poem called We are More, about being Canadian, for the Vancouver Winter Olympics.
H1– So as a poet who writes about subjects such as bullying, do you have any personal experiences that you base your writing on?
SK– I got bullied a lot when I was a kid, and because of that I thought for the most part that I didn’t really have a childhood – I had to grow up so quickly. And it hasn’t been until recently that I’ve been looking back at what happened in my childhood.
H2– So what are some of the books you have published?
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SK – A few of my books include: Stickboy, Visiting hours, To This Day, and Our Deathbeds Will Be Thirsty and some others as well..
H1– What advice would you give to young writers?
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SK– That you aren’t meant to be indestructible. You’re meant to build a better self, using what you can salvage from every time you’ve been destroyed. You should explore that sentiment, right down to the use of the semicolons.
H2– Why do you write? What drives you?
SK– Part of it is therapy. Part of it is just getting down “here’s what I’m actually thinking” out there on paper. It’s almost like a diagnostics test. It’s me getting my feelings out there so I can look at them on them on the page. I love the creativity of it. I love being able to be concise about what I’m thinking or feeling in a way that is creative. The thing about poetry is that it comes from parts of my life, but I like to write other things as well. I like to write science fiction. I like to invent things.
H1– What a wonderful way to look at writing. Well, that’s all the time we have today so once again, thank you for coming onto the show and inspiring young writers everywhere.
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Talk Show Over
Typicality –
Subject matter- Bullying, Suicide, Cancer, etc.
Style- Spoken Word, Imagery, Metaphors, Narrative, Hyperbole
Form- Oral literature and poetry
Themes- Being one’s worst enemy, Beating the odds, Death, Love conquers all, Disillusionment and dreams, Emptiness of attaining false dreams, Facing reality, Rebirth
Annotation- (5-10 Minutes)
All of our stories start and end here.
We are sheltered within an atmosphere that has given us every single breath we will ever take
Every monument we have ever made has come from the flesh of our planet.
Water like blood, skin like soil, bones like granite
It is not a myth, there is no debate, facts are in
Fact is, there’s never been any question.
We are facing crisis.
We dismiss the truth not because we can’t accept it, but because having to commit ourselves to change is a scary prospect for anybody.
The most alarming part of the statement ‘we are facing crisis’
Isn’t the word ‘crisis’,
It’s the word ‘we’.
Because those two letters take the responsibility away from one and rest it squarely on the shoulders of everybody.
We are Atlas now.
But our strength will come from finding a way to share in shouldering the responsibility of turning the impossible into somehow
Somehow, we will do this.
Argumentation: Humans can and SHOULD unite any common goal regardless of our differences.
Rhetoric devices:
Diction
(We, our, responsibility)
Allegories
(Atlas)
Alliteration
(Water like blood, skin like soil, bones like granite)
Emulation- (5-10 Minutes)
Remember how we forgot?
Remember how no one ever really died in the wars we fought?
Because each gunshot came from our fingertips and we never really kept them loaded just in case.
Cause each enemy was a friend and none of it was about oil, religion, or land.
Remember how we used to bend reality?
Like we were circus strong men.
Like our imaginations were in shape then.
Like we were all ninjas trained in the deadly art of “did not”.
Like “I totally got you” “Did not”
Remember how we forgot?
Remember how our parents told us never to look directly into the sun.
And how we were their son.
And so we never looked directly into the mirror, in fear that we would go blind.
My Emulation
For four years we lived under one roof
Every advisory we are forced to attend for the sake of our scholarships.
Every Marshall rant or an Andrew’s analogy that stuck with us even after our diplomas even when we thought it was over.
But in reality it never will be.
We hold memories forever and the memories we remember experiencing together make bonds that are longer than forever.
Sure a guy named Tim got a 40% on a bio quiz on cellular respiration, but the thing is he doesn’t even remember what that is.
He remembers the bonds he made and the little things he has to be grateful for.
We should all share his perspective.
Be like a Tim, but never forget to be a you.
Only you can do that and no institution will ever teach you that.
Overview-
This writer is significant to us because;
He speaks out on issues that are normally not shown to the public
He rose above his bullies and strives to never become them
He lets others know that they are not alone in their battles
That whatever you feel is normal and not to be ashamed of
He has such a gift with words
Gives you a different perspective on life
