Transcripts of John+LaMotte

Why don't you introduce yourself Hey, I'm Johnny Lamotte. I went to Bishop Hartley High School, it's on the East side I'm from Columbus Ohio, grew up in German Village. I don't know exactly what I'm going to study, but I may do Political Science or Journalism. Very cool, can you tell us a story about when you were first learning to read write or compose? Actually when I first started to really get into reading, I was put into classes that specialized in kids who couldn't read very well. And in second grade and third grade. And once I got through that, I don't know what was wrong with me but once I figured out how to read, I really paid attention to details. And that's what I've specialized in for a while. And I grew a kind of an attraction to Journalism, sports journalism. I wrote for my school newspaper on Jackie Robinson and the 8th grade basketball team, it could have been anything really. And anything that kind of I thought I could make a story out of. And since I was so used to details it just kinda went from there. So that means like in 8th grade you were writing for the student newspaper. Can you tell us a story about a specific article you wrote or about a particular topic you wrote about, and like the response that you noticed from kids in school about what you were writing? Because with the, did people notice it? Or was it just something that they didn't really recognize, the fact that you were writing. They probably weren't as excited as me, but in 8th grade I was on the basketball team, and we went to the St. Mary tournaments since our school was St. Mary of German Village. Where teams from all over the state gather. And we won, and it was really exciting, because one of my best friends was known for not being able to make layups. And bunny shots, and he couldn't really shoot that well. but he made the game winning shot and it happened to be a layup. So I saw that as a really great opportunity for a writing piece. And I did, I even, as silly as it seems, I used a Shakespeare quote and I used some other things and, and I know that when it got published I was really gung-ho about getting kids to read it. They seemed to like it but it was 8th grade, so everything is magnified. It was fun. What did you do to try to get others to read it? Did you hang flyers up on the wall? No, well the journal, the teacher who was heading the journalism or the paper just gave each of us a bunch of copies. And I made sure that the friend who couldn't make the layups, I made sure he read it and made sure that the basketball team read it. But I also made sure that everyone else in my class did. I just kind of went door to door I guess, but. Awesome. Can you tell us a story about another kind of writing you've done before? When you were in High School. Did you do writing for your English classes? Or was there writing you were doing outside of student newspaper? I really grew into myself during my Freshman and Sophomore year and one thing I loved to do was poetry. In 7th and 8th grade I developed a taste for hip-hop and rap, and I listened to Ludacris and Tupac. And one thing I would do is write raps, and the thing was I would just rhyme and I wouldn't necessarily have a structure other than rhyming at the end of the certain line. But Freshman year my teacher who happened to be my principal taught us structure and poetry, foot and meter. And that's when I really started to not just write, but sort of write within a certain theme and structure. And it was really freeing to a certain extent. And I wrote poetry, I did a comptetion on speaking, reciting poetry out loud. And it was, that's what I really liked to do, was poetry. What was the structure, or the theme that you were writing in when you were writing this poetry. You said it was like freeing? Like what was the structure? I really liked to do just maybe four stanzas, and do Iambic Pentameter, Iambic, just that kind of structure. A lot of times I would use the same structure on each one. In a kind of, just because I was learning how to do it. I wouldn't experiment that well but, yeah Iambic Pentameter was... What, tell us a story about what other kinds of things you were doing in High School English classes, after Freshman year, Sophomore year. What were you doing then in English class? Can you remember? We read a lot. We wrote some poetry and we wrote some stories. My Sophomore year, the teacher was really into writing about your dreams and writing them down. And one time we had to write a paper on a dream we had. And I did and it was really interesting. Just about some girl, and I kissed her, and it was kind of strange because it was a dream so it didn't really happen. But it was fun because you get to kind of get inside yourself and see what makes that happen. Is this journal writing, that the entire class was doing? That was just a paper, just like a piece. We also wrote poetry in that class. But she never had us do journaling. How did the other kids respond to that type of class? Did they like writing about poetry? Or like were there certain complaints that the students had, or certain things that they enjoyed more than others about the curriculum? Not everyone likes poetry really. So what do you think specifically they didn't like about it? Do you ever remember, could you tell us a story about something that was like "I hate this, this is a waste, why would I do this" Or was there ever a specific complaint someone had? Some people are really literal I think, and especially with poetry they want to read between the lines they want to look into the words, and they want to try to think beyond what was there. And so since they did that, they would just despise it, and anytime we would read Emily Dickinson or Robert Frost I don't know, they just wouldn't get anything out of it. That's too bad (laughing). What were some of the other things that were going on the second half of your High School career, when you were an upperclassmen? What were some of the things that you were doing in English classes? Or outside of English classes. Is there any reading that you did that really reflected upon or really influenced your reading and writing style? Was there anything you were doing outside of English class? That you could tell us a story about? Was there another High School newspaper you got involved in? I didn't write for the, we didn't have one for a while. I did write lyrics for music a lot. Are you a musician? Yeah I play drums and piano. And did you write songs for your band or? Yeah I wrote like a few songs. One time a song just kind of came to me, and I wrote that, and I don't know how it happens but it just kind of... When you get one idea for, it was, I got an idea for the chorus. And it just kind of clicked, made sense, wrote it down, and from there I just started writing more. So one thing led to another and it was interesting. Did you, what was it about, writing, being like song, that appealed to you? I think writing a song is... Is it because it's like less formal than writing an essay, is that a appealing? I don't know if that's appealing really but I mean, a lot of the people you look up to are musicians. Not saying that when I wrote a song I became John Lennon, but it was still great to feel that I did something. Kind of like with any form of art. When you do it, even if it's not the best thing ever, part of it is so special to you and you're kind of endearing to it that it's still holds something within your heart that you click to. If you could give advice to the incoming grad students who are going to be teaching the English composition classes about how they should teach, or about how they should structure their classes. Is there any advice you would give them? Every student has a different approach to writing. Some might be the people I mentioned earlier who are really literal and dry and hate poetry, but some are totally different. And the thing is each of them has a certain path they can take to peace or to a work that is special to them. And once you recognize that you just got to keep letting them know that it's possible. Because some people might be taking a composition class and they don't want to get anything out of it. But if they make a good point, make sure they know. And make sure they think about it, because there's nothing better than being told that what you thought or what you did was great. Because then that could lead to other things, other thoughts. Who knows, a great work might come out of that. Changing views for a moment. Do you, when you write, do you write on the computer? Yeah, well, I have some notebooks that I write in, I have a lot of books. I write sometimes on the computer, I'll just have a document with just multiple pieces that I've started but never really finished. Are you good with the keyboard, a good typist, or is that an obstacle for you in your writing? It can be an obstacle because when you're typing, at least for me, it's hard to type a lot and then stop. When you're writing, it feels like you have control over it, I guess. And you can erase it and you don't have to save it, it's always there. Yeah it's different, personal preference probably, but for me I like to write down a lot. Do you have any experience using computers or other types of composition? Like web design, video editing, graphic design. Maybe Freshman or Sophomore year I did a program at the Wexner Center, and we made a video. I made a video just filming certain things, putting music to it. Could you tell us a story about your video? Well it was a cold day and we were just outside, and there wasn't really a point to the video at least I don't remember one. But we just kind of filmed it and then made artistic shots and scenic things I also used to like just messing around with camcorders at home, and trying the right things that could possibly become a little movie. And I just did that low budget, no budget actually, just at home. What would you say about composing video versus... Like what do you think are the advantages of the video format? And what are the negatives of that? Well when you're skilled at either of them then it's not too different, because what a writer is doing is sort of what someone who's directing or holding a camera or anything like that is doing. They're trying to create the scene, and if you're a good writer you can create the scene just like someone would create the scene by holding a camera up to it. You describe things that are there, things that are going to stick out. But if you're composing a project on a camera you can also look for things that maybe people wouldn't think. And you can look for different perspectives, different angles. Yeah I mean they're not too different, it's a little, one probably seems more easy to do. Since writing you just have to kind of create the whole thing without any assistance. Do you particpate in any sort of online blogging communities? Do you read blogs of different kinds, like literary blogs or artistic blogs or political blogs? Or do you write blogs, do you write your own blogs? I used to write blogs more than now, because myspace used to be the big thing, and I like writing blogs. It could be anything, I wrote poetry or I wrote just lists or little articles I guess. I'm really into blogging with music and reading record reviews. Multiple sites, Pitchfork, TinyMixTapes, Rolling Stone. But blogging wise, I'm not an expert really. If you had the option in your first year writing class to write a blog about a special topic as opposed to writing a formal essay, would you prefer to do a blog? Like a blogging format in which you and other students in the class join the same website and then created a page about that topic and then contributed to it that way? Would you prefer that or would you prefer sort of a more old fashioned, more traditional, formal essay? That's a good question. Well it's something with the GTAs. The first year writing program is considering this year. Well, I wouldn't mind doing a blog, I think that would be fun. But blogs can also be really less formal and can almost lead to people making errors and not caring about it. Or just kind of skipping to the point and not going into much detail. And yet it's also ... I don't know what it is about it, but when you're blogging, it's you. And for me I like to sort of get into it and think of ideas of how to write and draw. Because there are multiple blogs out there, but reading yours. You like having a public audience, you think that helps you write? Yeah, because they give you feedback right away. But then again they're not English professors either so. (Chuckling) But who knows, maybe some English professors are out there reading blogs. See ya.