Where I’m From: Tennessee – Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires;
I’m from rolling hills and misty mountains where bluegrass floats upon the breeze in the lands of Davy Crocket where I climbed barefoot in pine trees
I’m from hunts for fireflies and frogs on warm, summer nights where the smell of sour mash cooking could take you to new heights
I’m from porch sittin’ with PaDan where “He who steals my purse steals trash…”
I’m from Good Ole Rocky top reaching for the Summitt, spending countless hours in the gym swishing shots
I’m from fried chicken and turnip greens where the BBQ is so good yull wanna slap yo mammy
I’m from “bless your heart” and “glory, glory hallelujah” to “shit fire and save matches” and “I’ll be John Brown”
I’m from my Sunday school dresses Mimi stitched on a quilt for me
I’m from what would the Bible say and what will people think to memorizing verses every other week
I’m from campfires with friends slappin’ mosquitos and sippin’ whisky
Though the distance divides me from my life in Tennessee, I’ll never be too far from home with all these fond memories
Since I’ve lived in the same place my entire life, I have experienced a fair amount of difficulty realizing my own cultural identity. I’ve never evaluated why I do things the way I do or what makes me unique from others who didn’t grow up in the same region. This activity helped me significantly. I like the fact that it enabled me to write and to utilize a new form of technology. I feel like HaikuDeck could be used in a variety of ways in an English class. Doing an activity similar to this one where we use a writing sample from class as a prompt to elicit a creative response and to make the content personal could not only be a powerful self reflection for the students, but it could also create a connection and some personal significance with the writing sample.
LB,
I love the imagary of your poem! I have never been to Tennessee, so the pictures in your Haiku Deck and the emotions from your poem really help build my understanding of your home state.
Thank you for sharing soemthing so personal to you!
This was very well done. I liked the use of personal photos as it helps the connection between the viewer and the author become more personal. I also like how you used descriptors and quotes in it, it definitely adds to the overall completeness of the assignment. This was very cool and informative.
Thank you for sharing your experiences from growing up in Tennessee. Having never been to the South, I really liked the picture you painted with geographic and social images, quotes that imitated the accent, and social references. I definitely want to climb the Summit of Good Ole Rocky now 🙂
I’ve been to Nashville once, but this gives me a whole new appreciation for Tennessee. Thank you for sharing. I was not nearly as thorough in my presentation, but posts like yours are inspirational.
LB – I loved the details you used. I felt like I was really getting a feel of the world that you come from. I know I told you this before, but I especially love the different sayings -“shit fire and save matches!” I can almost hear these people speaking. Great Job.
This really brought Tennessee alive for me and made me want to go! You really captured a sense of place with your language and personal photos; maybe better than any other project (that I’ve seen so far). Especially now I want to sip some whiskey around a campfire, but wait I can do that here! And we have mosquitoes too.
I really enjoyed your poetry. I wanna know more now. And I’m getting nostalgic for my few trips thru/to Tennessee.