UWG
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Contact: University Communications & Marketing
Phone (678) 839-6464, FAX (678) 839-6645
ucm@westga.edu
English class creates dreamcatchers
March 17, 2003
CARROLLTON, GA - Walking into the lobby of the Technology-enhanced Learning Center (TLC) at the University of West Georgia, one can’t help but notice three dreamcatchers suspended from the ceiling. This unique display showcases the “dreamy” creative works of freshmen in three English 1102 classes.
The
Native American Dreamcatcher, according to the tribal folklore, is a device
for capturing one’s bad dreams inside the web while allowing the
good ones through to the dreamer who is sleeping beneath.
Under the title “The Night and Day of Dreams,” English students changed the function of the dreamcatcher to a literature display. Students wrote their interpretations of dreams in literature, novels, poems and songs as well as their own interpretations of dreams, nightmares, personal and society dreams, and hung them from the dreamcatchers.
Alison
Payne, English instructor, said, “Students don’t get many
chances for creative expression in their college studies, and most find
that it can re-energize them for a return to more rigorous assignments.”
“Talking about our dreams may be a useful way to introduce symbolism
in poetry and fiction, often a puzzling concept to grasp in freshman literature,”
Payne added.
The reason for mounting the display in the TLC was to remind students that creative thinking solves problems and breaks ground in all fields of study; even science and technology don’t move forward without creative venture.
Payne said, “We have learned that concepts of dreaming shape our perceptions of literary texts, ourselves and our world.”
The project will be on display through March 31. For more information, contact Payne at 770-836-6837.
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