Essay Assignment: My Literary and Religious Life

Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to familiarize my students with blogging, allow them to introduce themselves, and to reflect on how literature and literacy are part of their identities -- particularly as connected to their religious life.

Instructions

• Create and post a miniature personal essay of 300 words or less through which you introduce yourself to others by telling a brief story illustrating some aspect of your own literary experience and its relationship to your faith. (Personal literary experience can include anything that has to do with writing or reading, and need not be connected to religious services, scripture, or LDS-oriented literature or events.) Do not exceed 300 words. Use Word Counter or a similar tool to check.
• Title your post. 
• Include a photo of yourself or a photo that fits the theme of your post. Do not post a general picture; use one of your own or take a new one.
• Use these labels: "posted by Gideon Burton" [insert your own name, of course] and "my literary and religious life" as well as any others that seem appropriate. (If you have trouble finding or using labels, skip it for now.)
• Read and comment on several other students' posts (at least three) 

Examples and Prompts
Read my example post on this blog, "'By My Own Hand': Journaling My Christian Life," or a previous one, "Safe Among the Indians," or look at any of these examples from past students: "Discovering God in Narnia" by Natalie Cherie; "this poetry is sexy" by Danielle Amanda; "My Lifelong Sing-a-Long" by Allyson J; or "The Public Sin that Changed Who I Am" by Tori Fawson.

Here are some prompts to get you thinking about your little essay. One thing to keep in mind with these is what kind of picture you might use to accompany the essay:

• Journal writing / reading
  How has this shaped your spiritual life? (Even when not writing about religious activities or explicitly about Mormon belief)? Has re-reading your own journal, or reading the journal of a relative, been a reflective and spiritual occasion for you? Have you felt a sense of identity with others who are not you but somehow like you?
• Letters
  As you've composed letters or email messages, or as you have received these, how has this been part of your religious or spiritual life? (Again, even if not directly associated with something like letters to/from missionaries, though that's okay)
• Poetry / Creative Writing
  Such writing need not have anything to do with your religious or spiritual life, but it can. Has this been the case with you -- either in reading poetry or composing it?
• Lyrics
  Do you write lyrics, memorize lyrics, share lyrics? Of course the texts written for hymns are a kind of lyrical poetry, but a lot of people are immersed in contemporary music (whether religious or LDS or not) and attach a lot of personal and emotional significance to such lyrics. Has this been the case with you?
• Reading history (personal, family, or church history; history in general; historical fiction).
  History can be pretty dry stuff and far away from your beliefs or spiritual feelings. But sometimes we connect powerfully with the past by way of a written history (or even historical fiction). Has this been the case for you?
• Plays
  In viewing, acting in, or even writing plays, have you felt connected to others (in the audience, in the cast, or even to the characters portrayed in the play)? Ever been involved in a church-sponsored dramatic activity?
• Social Media
  We don't think of this modern form of communication as literature, and much of it is superficial (or isn't even text-based). But if you've been involved in sharing your beliefs, even in very informal ways among your close online connections, this is a kind of literary experience with your religion. If you blog, have you blogged about your religion?