Saturday, February 22, 2014

LANDING THE HELICOPTER

LANDING THE HELICOPTER

I’m floating in space in a helicopter, somewhere between the sun and the earth.  About all I can about my home planet is that it’s a blip of light, like the illuminated tip of a fingernail. It seems, when I reach my hand toward it, as if I might be able to hold the whole earth between my thumb and index finger.  But, of course, it’s an illusion—I’m only squeezing stale cockpit air—a false sense of control, to think I could hold a planet in my hand.  Even the image of the earth entirely disappears between my finger pads.


It’s quiet here.  The rotors have no work to do because there is no gravity to resist.  No sound, other than the vents and my own breathing.  No smell other than the accustomed ionized air.  Little motion.  I am utterly alone.  Utterly trapped.  Once my supplies diminish, I will have no recourse but to expire. 
            Better descend toward earth, while I can. The cockpit fills with the sounds of chattering instruments and the thump-thumping rotors. A million miles away, I notice colors—the blue of oceans dividing the mottled green and brown lands, the white, paisley shaped patterns of clouds.  I have a lot more to say about the earth.  There’s North America on the upper left, South America to the lower right.


             I want to go home.  So I steer my chopper over the United States.  I’ve lost my view of South America and most of the Atlantic, but there are the two crazy zippers that are the Rockies and the Appalachians.  And the Great Lakes reach into the continent like a ragged umbrella or a monster hand.  And, hello, the states are not divided neatly into alternating red or blue splotches. 
            At 62 miles above the earth, I hit the Kármán Line—where the earth’s atmosphere hits outer space.  My craft is shaking, my instruments rattle, I feel as though I’m going to explode into smithereens.  But what safety do I have with dwindling supplies?  Better to disintegrate in an instant than to freeze, suffocate, and starve out in space. 
            I survive the re-entry.  I descend over the trickle that seems to be the Mississippi River.  As I veer south, I lose the monster hand to the north.  The waters widen.  I descend over Louisiana.  Zoom in on New Orleans.  And here are the streets, like the grids on a digital chip, the buildings rising like bristle, the sunlight glinting off glass.
            In time, I land—the whip of my chopper blades scatter a stray plastic bag, like jellyfish on a mission.  The gravity tugs hard on me—come on down. It will take the most fuel and concentration, now, not to land hard.  I’m still spinning my rotors.  I can hardly hear for the roar of thrusters.  I’m dizzy with anticipation and fear.  I have been out in space, too long.
            Then the thud.  Solid ground below me.  As the chopper blades whip to rest, my ears feel as if they are stuffed with cotton.  I have trouble focusing, so unused I am to stillness.  But I’m OK.  I can let go.  No chugging engine, no spinning wheels, no fear.  I push open the door, against hard suction.
            A gentle breeze, wafting with the sweet smell of—yes, gumbo.  There is life here.  Out of the cramped helicopter and zero gravity, it will take me some time to reorient myself.  But oh, how much to experience with my ears, eyes, nose, tongue, skin.  Although I can’t seem to hold the entire earth between two fingers, I am happy to hold what I can—a greasy potato chip, the slight moist of a warm palm held out to me.  All of my body—held and holding what is real.  Just look at this feast for the senses:


                 “Land the helicopter,” I tell myself and my student writers and readers.  There is a false sense of power in interpreting the world from the far distance of generalities and abstractions. “But if I don’t write about the whole play, cover every aspect, I won’t be able to get five pages out of it.” That’s like saying, “I have to write about the USA, France, and Kenya to fill up five pages.” Instead of writing a general paragraph saying things about Shakespeare that everyone knows, anyhow, I land my helicopter on the first word Horatio says in the Hamlet—“Friends”—and let that word lead you through how Horatio is a friend in the play. I’ll have only ten lines to write about love, in general, before realizing that it’s all clichés; and that I’m straining to find more words; and that I’m writing to get it over with. I write, instead, about feeding my ailing mother her favorite Kozy Shack chocolate pudding, how I choose a red plastic spoon because she’ll be able to see it and it will be easy in her mouth, and so on, until I wipe her lips—with what? I’ll have to specify.

            And, yes, I have to relinquish the sense of power that comes from the illusion of holding the world in my hands. And I have to take courage to confront my fear of  nothing to say, just as I had to weather the fear of exploding as I entered the Kármán Line in my helicopter. But rather than “spinning my wheels” in the la-la of blah-blah-blah empty, ungrounded talk, I choose the life-supporting particulars that sustain, nourish, and validate. All that coming home, being real, and belonging—the soft hemlock trees waving their tops to me from my window, the gurgle of my humidifier, the clicketying and the soft edges of these keys.

            How are you landing your helicopter?




© 2014 Susanna Rich

102 comments:

  1. Well I never really landed my helicopter before. I never relinquished power to someone else before, except my best friend, and that was when we were on vacation. I always kept control because I wanted things to happen in my way. But it is true you should sometimes let things happen in their own time. Like for example I am still searching for that guy who is my true love, and I keep forcing these meetings between guys, and every time they turn out to be the wrong one. So maybe I will let God guide me, and let things happen in his time. And in this situation I think I will land my helicopter for a while, or as the saying goes let someone else do the driving for a while. Instead of getting into the driver's seat get out of the driver's seat.

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  2. As I read this post, the first thing that came to mind was that I may have been looking back at my life, like one of those out of body moments I have read about when a person is close to death. Then a quote came to mind: "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways—with champagne in one hand and strawberries in the other—body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming, “Woo hoo! What a ride!” The thrill of life gets me every time. The post had me “high on life” and seeing that there are times in my life which had a downward spiral, but most of the time it was climbing ever higher and beyond the atmosphere’s limit.

    Since I have never actually been in a helicopter (and have no desire to be in one), I can only imagine what my helicopter landing would be like: My helicopter landing will be rough, yet smooth. Just before landing would be the hard part—the rough part—bringing me down to earth with turbulence and perhaps a hint of pteromerhanophobia—the fear of flying, or maybe it's more a fear of crashing. The landing itself will be like landing on a big fluffy pillow, so that I sink into it with ease, all tuckered out and ready for a slumber. If I awaken from that slumber, I would, no doubt, be up and ready for action in no time at all; ready for wherever life takes me next. I’ll be ready to reach the next high point in my life, even if it means that for every two steps I take, I have to take one back. I will eventually get to where I am going, but I just have to have the patience to get there.

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  3. Without going too much into a story of mine, I landed my helicopter when I chose to educate myself. This may seem quite broad but further inquisition revealed that I was alone in my decision. When I decided to go far away from my comfort, home, family and friends, I had individuals tell me I was stupid for going away. They actually said I was stupid for wanting to pursue a dream that I thought wasnt befitting for me. But against all odds, I dared to venture into the unknown, alone and it turned out to be the BEST thing that ever happened in my life. It was moving to Vermont for culinary school.

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  4. My mind is always in space so landing the helicopter is like trying to convince your brain that you need food and water to live. I mean when i write i am gone from earth to out of space, i am free to be myself in another world where if anyone else do not understand what I'm saying, i don't really care. so i use to think, I was in the mind set of my poems, stories, and creative style was for me myself alone. However, being in Dr. Rich class has taught me not only the importance of landing the "Helicopter" but also the importance of sharing my thoughts, feelings, work, and creativeness to my readers to the point; where they not only feel my pain but to the point of why should i care what everyone else thinks. I've learned by landing the "Helicopter" that it makes it okay to cry, and to make other people cry because what I'm writing is me its who i am and this in return can help someone else. so for me landing the "Helicopter" has become a way to express who i am and to identify the true me.

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  5. It is quite scary to begin a journey without the safety net of your helicopter. It is something I am learning everyday, every moment I write. Dr. Rich has made possible this kind of transformation (though she would say that I alone made it possible). Traveling in our helicopters is something we have been taught to do. it fills up. It satisfies. It gives the sufficient energy; but it doesn't deliver real substance.
    Staying in the feeling of our experiences; the smells; the colors of what we see and touch, allows us to stay true to ourselves and not belong to someone else's expectations.
    Creative writing seemed impossible for me to discover in myself when I first started Dr. Rich's class. I was all exposition, and was proud of it too, But with practice, much editing and lots of journal writing to feed the thirst to stay grounded, I know for sure now that I on my way to keep my helicopters on the ground.
    In addition,the opportunity to have others comment on the on-going writing of our manuscripts has been as colorful and inviting as the watermelon showcasing my writings. And I'm grateful.

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  6. Dr Rich,

    I remember you saying this to me about my paper on workshop day. And it is a continous question I ask myself (in my head) everytime I write a paper. I didn't realize that in my papers I wasn't focusing. I was trying to cover everything like it was my job. I needed to take my one paperclip, get that idea, and focus on it. I do this now with all my papers and in my life too, believe it or not. Sometimes it's not alway about the bigger picture.

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  7. Dr. Rich,
    I recall you teaching us about this. About landing the helicopter, and focusing on one "paperclip". With me personally, I always felt the need to cover everything I am writing a paper on. It wasn't until I had you as a professor to tell us to focus on one specific thing in the entire story or play, and let that be the focus of our paper. I like the idea of you mentioning using Horatio's first word, which is "Friends" in Hamlet, and using that as your "paperclip" to focus on why he is a friend throughout the play. This blog post is something I can always look back on with future papers of mine, and using your idea of focusing on one thing, and to not hover in space with our helicopters. I feel that because I was so used to having to cover everything, now I have more of a reason to focus better and receive better grades thanks to this tool.
    -Valentina Quesada

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  8. Dr. Rich,
    This idea of “landing the helicopter” is a new concept for me. Generally something that I’m not accustomed to, like “landing the helicopter,” would give me the feeling of needing to “reorient” myself. Strangely enough, landing my helicopter became something I enjoyed. It brought delight because I saw a new style of writing in my poetry. It became something I did in almost every one of my poems (of course I struggled with it, so I can’t say EVERY poem). However, I was able to find my haiku moments and bring my readers right in the moment with me. Doing this had me feeling in control of what I was saying. I was getting direct and to the point, I wasn’t giving people generalized ideas in poems. I was helping them relive moments with me. This concept was actually my favorite thing (possibly a close tie with getting rid of the words “I don’t know”) I learned this semester. It’s something I REALLY want to take with me into my teaching career. I feel this notion of “landing the helicopter,” is something a lot of my students could benefit from in all formats of their writing. They fly around with their ideas; there’s no images, nothing for the reader to grasp. Learning to land my helicopter will in-turn, help me teach my students to land their own helicopters.
    -Alessandra Finis

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  9. This concept was the most challenging for me, yet the most to learn from as part of your course. Your course, Dr. Rich, made me realized how bad my brain needed saving from that robotic way of thinking, the last "years" of systematic schooling. I remember how unfocused I was, during the first few weeks of your Shakespeare Course. I did not full grasp the concept of the Helicopter and Space, As I did not see anything wrong with thinking that way. However, thanks to your teaching ways, I learned (still am, very slowly) to direct my focus on a "Paper clip", as you mentioned to us in class, part of a play or even an article; in other words, to choose a part of interest and just blow it wide open with possibilities and etc... in order to write a paper about. That is slowing reinstating my creativity in writing and I thank you for that

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  10. Dr.Rich,

    Landing the helicopter was one of the hardest things I had to do in our poetry class. Heck, something I still struggle with. I don’t like to bare myself on my paper because it makes me feel vulnerable. That’s what landing the helicopter makes me feel like. Over the course of this class I realized that sometimes you have to land the helicopter in order to meet other people. If I didn’t, I would be hovering over earth and missing out on the opportunities that come from sharing an intricate part of who I am. There’s also a healing component of landing the helicopter. You not only identify a struggle or trauma in your life, you write about it and you realize it. It becomes cathartic for some people and I am one of those. I have journaled before, and I do it when I am angry or sad. Journaling helps me process my emotions better and helps me avoid making an emotionally based decision. I think that poetry that helps you land can have the same effect. There’s something beautiful about not feeling that safe distance from your poetic work. Instead, to say I have been through this, I am stronger now and this poem is my road to healing or understanding what happened. I hope to continue improving this skill.

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  11. If there is one thing to take away from in your class, it’s would be learning how to land my helicopter. You are the first professor to ever bring this concept to my attention, probably because almost all my other professors either never cared enough to teach me, or never really read my papers to know it was a problem.
    The biggest struggle I had with landing my helicopter was writing about the hard stuff. The things that I didn’t talk about, and maybe didn’t even know how fully process. I think that the daily journaling really helped land my helicopter because it allowed me a safe space where I could write about anything I wanted to, and know that no one would read it. It let me be specific with the things that were happening in my life, which resulted in more descriptive writing. This really helped my poetry. In the beginning of the semester, my poetry was so broad and cliché. It was boring, and could never make a potential reader feel anything. But now, even though I know I still have a lot to learn, I’m confident enough to say that my helicopter is landed. I read one of my poems out loud, and I can feel exactly how I felt when I wrote it. Even when I read them to my boyfriend, I can see in his face that he was moved by what I had wrote. That’s such a special feeling. I hope that as I continue to write, I continue to get more descriptive and perfect this useful skill.

    Thank you so much for teaching us about the helicopter, and caring enough to help us land it.

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  12. The first time I heard about the helicopter was during this class and I must say that I always thought I wrote in a very detailed manner and did a good job expressing my thoughts. Little did I know that I was flying aimlessly around the target landing areas without actually ever landing my helicopter. My biggest fault when starting a piece is that I try to get all of my ideas out on paper and many times, or actually never, focus on the very small details. Neither do I focus on painting a picture because I have learned that that I cannot do that on my first draft. It is all about the workshopping and editing!!! Landing the helicopter for me now means to make my written thoughts more palpable. Generalities like “It was hot that day”, could be boring and tedious to read but details and feeling the warmth of a cup of hot cocoa on a snowy and cold evening or sipping on a frozen lime margarita with a salted rim on a hot summer noon gives me the sense that I am physically tasting these! I know understand that helicopters are anything that anyone can say but landing a helicopter is something people learn how to do. I am still trying to implement this into my writing this semester but I hope that one day it becomes as easy to me as walking from my room to the bathroom without turning the lights on at three in the morning.

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  13. Hi Dr. Rich,

    This post got me thinking metaphorically about getting my head out of the clouds and giving my own life my full attention. Through your class I have learned a lot about being faithful to myself. It is easy for me to forget about myself, but it is also so important to recognize and value my own needs and desires. I have found that even taking an hour long yoga class by myself on a Saturday morning fills a desire to simply have something of my own. Just a quick drive to the studio, an hour of nothing but myself and relaxation, and a drive home has made me so much more grounded, so much less up-in-the-clouds. That hour an a half of my Saturday mornings is when I land my helicopter.

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  14. Dr. Rich,
    In our Shakespeare survey class, landing the helicopter for our first paper was very difficult for me. Usually, when I write a paper for a class, they give us options and we can write about however many things we would like too, but the concept of the landing the helicopter is really awesome. Even though it was difficult for me, I did it for our tragedy papers and I received a B+ so I couldn't have done that bad! I really the idea of focusing one topic and sticking to it throughout the entire paper. Not sticking to one topic can lead a paper in different directions and can get confusing for the reader, so I really appreciate this idea and now that I am aware of it, I will be using it in my future papers for this class and even my other classes. When I become a teacher, I am definitely going to incorporate this into my plans and I really would like my students to be aware of this as well! The detail you gave in this blog post was awesome and helpful and yet again, you changed another outlook of mine on something that I do many times each school year and now my perspective will never be the same so thank you for that !

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  15. Landing the helicopter was one of the most difficult tasks in this class and definitely something that to this day I have difficulty with. I’m very protective and defensive when it comes to my emotions which is why at times my poetry can feel abstract. But feeling vulnerable even in poetry was not something I was ready to open up and which is why landing the helicopter made me anxious. I’ve realized that you have to land the helicopter in order to have your voice heard. Landing the helicopter is an act of fearlessness and pride in your voice. If I didn’t, I would be drifting in a space where only I understand myself, and in order to ever grow and be watered, people have to know what kind of plant you are, what your voice sounds like. There’s also a healing in landing the helicopter in your poetry. It makes you feel at ease like you’ve completed something. Journaling helps me process my emotions better and helps me avoid making an emotionally based decision.

    A professor once told me “If you had to jump from one cliff to another to survive and there was a safety net between them, you wouldn’t give that jump all you’ve got because you know you have something to fall on.” When you land your helicopter, land it like it’s on fire and the person you love most is on board and there are no parachutes.

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  16. Dr. Rich,

    I catch myself most days with my "head in the clouds" and I find it difficult at times to "land my helicopter" because there are some days when I just don't want to face the reality of things. I have realized that I can't live my life like this and just can't continue the negative thoughts I have throughout the day too.

    From the beginning of this semester I was so negative towards everything and constantly keep thinking, "I have this many months left of school and I graduate thank God." and I remember writing in my journal I would constantly emphasize that I couldn't wait to graduate and be done with school. Now I am graduating in less than two weeks and I'm a little sad that I am almost done with school. I guess I "landed my helicopter" and came back to reality that it is time to grow up and face the real word which is something that I feared.

    But honestly, I need to take every day as it is and now that I can get through any obstacles that life throws at me and to not be so negative and have my "head in the clouds" when life gets tough. It's important to take care of myself and not be so toxic too.

    Kristen Calderoni

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  17. This concept of landing the helicopter is now very important to me. The phrase is short and cute but holds a big meaning. This is a very interesting way to help me focus on the topic at hand and be able to think critically about what I am writing and fill the page with fluff and cliches. I noticed how much cliches can actually bring down the level or standard of writing in a paper. In high school and even some college my papers are filled with plenty cliches and I never realized it was such an issue. Now my writing can be held at a higher standard because of all the thought backing it and not just throwing out random phrases to fill the page. When I write in the future I will always reread and proofread my papers mostly checking to make sure that I do in fact land the helicopter.
    Thank You,
    Tori White

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  18. It really surprises me that I never thought about a concept such as this one. Before learning about landing my helicopter I noticed that my poetry was too vague and boring. Now that I’ve learned about landing my helicopter, I’ve noticed that my poetry is more clear and descriptive. The most important thing that I got out of landing my helicopter is that I’m able to feel the emotion I felt when writing the poem each time I read it. I feel as though if I would have knew about this concept earlier on I won’t have struggled so much with getting my points across to my reader and my writing would have made much more sense. I think the basics of this concept is all about workshopping and editing your own work. This concept also makes me very observant of my own life and able to put it into poetry without leaving specific details. Thank you, Dr. Rich for sharing such a great concept with me.

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  19. Brandon Smith
    ENG-3000-01

    When it comes to writing poetry, I tend to have an easier time “landing the helicopter” when I am aware of exactly what is expected from me. Only then am I confident that the poem in question will have few, if any, unnecessary or unpoetic lines. In that way, I have relinquished control to an instructor who may help me to refine my poems if the need arises. However, when I am the one in control of what the poem is to be about I tend to have more difficulty, especially when I have no idea what to say. There are also times when I know what I want to write about, but I have no idea how to express it through poetic verse. I do enjoy writing poetry from time to time, but due to the uncertainty that comes from having creative freedom over a poem, I have no confidence in the poems I create without instruction. As a result, I rarely touch poetry outside of the classroom. Yet, this class may help me to make poetry more of a common activity in my life by making it easier to land my helicopter by myself through the weekly writing workshops. These workshops help me to figure out what I can improve on or what I do not need in my poetry, which in turn will allow me to ground future poems and avoid unnecessary or unpoetic details. Thus, I am willing to relinquish control in order to gain the confidence I need to land my helicopter without the need for instruction.

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  20. Nicole Diefenbacher
    Dr. Rich
    ENG 3000*01


    As someone who typically writes in prose, usually pretty rambling if I am being honest, it is very difficult for me to figure out how to land the helicopter. I have actually never heard about this concept before your class. A lot of times when I find myself writing, it goes on and on and sometimes I feel like it’s never finished so I just keep adding more and more and then it gets so messy. Something I did notice, however, after the class discussion about landing the helicopter, is that I have made a more conscious effort to do so. My pieces for this week are not as rambling as usual and they actually use quotes and line breaks. Before now I did not understand the purpose of line breaks. I hated them to be honest, and I am still learning how to accept them if that makes sense. I did not like line breaks because when I read poems with line breaks I find myself pausing in a way that sounds kind of dumb to me. I am realizing that they are good in terms of shaping the layout of the poem. They still aren’t my favorite, because as I stated before, I love prose and writing prose rather than structuring and breaking up poems into lines. But I am still learning, so I am sure I will learn to love that as well. I think the whole “landing the helicopter” concept has helped me with editing my pieces down to where they need to be and taking out parts that aren't integral to the poem. In addition, I have noticed a change in my word choice, for example instead of blue eyes, i chose to use "baby blues", and I think that is all because of the “landing the helicopter” concept.

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  21. We talked about “landing the helicopter” in our last class. Does the reader know where they are, what is going on or is the poem unclear, rambling on? This is a very important mark to hit in writing. If a reader doesn't see a clear helicopter landing their mind wanders losing focus in the piece. Whenever I write I have always made sure that all points I need to make are present in the story. I admit in school looking around at my peers we thought the more we wrote no matter how relevant, would be a better grade so we would ramble on. Students complain when a teacher assigns pages of writing but it is just as hard to cover the main points and ideas in a concise manner. My best example of a writer going on and on for no reason is Moby Dick by Herman Melville. His helicopter had no intention of making a safe accurate landing. I remember reading a snippet of the book and the writer had a whole chapter dedicated to whale blubber. The chapters are not short and why whale blubber was that relevant to the story still baffles me. They have marketing firms that focus on helping clients create a clear simple to the point message. Companies need short messages that still provide the information their clients are looking for. In school they teach us that the student who wrote more took more time on an assignment is right away the better paper. Less is more as long as you have the appropriate content and hit your marks for what you wanted to talk about.

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  22. I heard about the concept of "landing my helicopter" in my first class with Dr. Rich. Although I knew the concept, reading this piece truly gave its short statement its meaning. When i am writing my poetry i often find myself circling above the clouds, heading down a little and repeating the same process. The imagery this blog gave me will forever be stamped in my mind while i'm on my 11th round of doing donuts in the sky. I usually catch myself incapable of landing my helicopter when I am fighting with myself over keeping my original ideas for the poem and taking some away for the fresh ideas that pop up to me on the way down to my landing. i think to myself, but these ideas have been with me the whole time, from the beginning, how could I abandon them? I need to reassure myself as a writer that even though these primary ideas helped fly my helicopter up until this point, it does not mean they have to land with me.

    -Gianna

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  23. May Oo
    ENG 3000*01

    The goal of landing a helicopter seems easy, but very hard to achieve. Often times, there are so many things going on in my mind and it’s hard to focus on one specific topic. I want to write about so many things and I don’t know how to land a helicopter in my writing. I go back and forth with my topic and waste a lot of time, trying to narrow down my topic. Sometimes, it’s easier to write a longer paper than summarizing it. Before I write a poem, it takes me a long time to think of a topic and narrow it down. And after I get to a specific topic, I get stuck in the middle of my poem and I don’t know how to end it. I keep thinking “I need to write more, I need to include more,” that lead me to ramble and lose focus on my specific topic. In order to know how to land a helicopter in my writing, I would need to change my mindset, read more, learn from the poetry workshop and practice it every day. First, I would clear my mind and relax. Second, instead of focusing on how much I need to write, I will try to focus on the specific topic that I have chosen. Third, I will try to improve my writing skill based on the advices that I get from the poetry workshop and the feedback on my poems. I hope the goal of landing a helicopter get easier for me throughout this semester.

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  24. In most of my writing classes, the point of the assignments has always been the number of pages you can produce to get a grade. While struggling to get to the ten pages, I forget the reason why I am writing the paper in the first place. From what I have learned recently, poetry is very different. Writing poetry deals with specific feelings in a specific moment. I do struggle with that because it means visiting times and feelings you might not want to remember. However, that is how the poem comes to the world. When you know where to land your helicopter that is how you will know about the specific feelings you felt in that time frame. Writing the poem and reading the article made me realize that I have been going about poetry the wrong way. I had a misconception about poetry which led me to write something I thought I knew so well about. I glossed over my feelings. I did not go into details of exactly what I was feeling at that time. I read my poem again and saw that I had not landed the helicopter. So my goal with the next assignments is to make sure to land my helicopter. However, focusing solely on landing my helicopter might deter the direction I would like my poetry to go. Hopefully, that will not be a problem. I will remember this concept of “landing the Helicopter” going forward. Not just with poetry, but life in general, especially in the work environment and also social circles.

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  25. Zoe Strozewski-

    “Landing the Helicopter” was such an illuminating analogy, and something I’ve always tried to formulate in my mind but haven’t been able to put into words quite like this post does. One thing I believe I’ve struggled with in my poetry from the past is vagueness and broadness. Instead of picking just one image to really explore and dissect, I’ll try to overload my poems with as many images as possible. Or sometimes, I won’t incorporate enough images and write too ambiguously. The thing is, I get attached to my ideas too easily. When I feel truly inspired, I have words pelting me like hail and decide everything that crosses my mind needs to be incorporated. I’ll write about things that add nothing to the overall message of my poems and dabble in the imprecise just because I find an elegant way to word it. The beauty of poetry is that it pushes you to explore both the world and yourself more deeply than any other profession. If I’m ever going to do this practice justice, I need to realize that a first draft is just a first draft, and not something that’s already been immortalized in print. I need to pick a select few images, and polish them until they shine brighter than the sun. And lastly, I need to land my helicopter on earth instead of perpetually floating in the realms of vague and broad, because the most beautiful moments in both poetry and life are found in the miniscule moments and the way they make you feel.

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  26. “Landing my Helicopter” comes as a challenge for me. Since I went to public school, I was taught to fill my writing with insane amounts of detail and supporting comments that would fill up the page instead of explaining what meant to be discussed. Went I enrolled into college I figured out that all this excessiveness that I was taught to put in my writing was just filler for me to get to the page requirement. Realistically, I could have discussed the topic in only two pages rather than five. I feel that I have been taught this way of writing for so long that it now makes it difficult for me to “Land my Helicopter”. However, when I am writing poetry I feel that it is much easier because it is coming from an emotional place and I am determined to get my point across. I try to focus in on what I want to convey whether it is about a situation that has happened to me in the past or some struggles that I am facing in my current life. Looking back to when I first wrote poetry for ENG 3000, I wrote about something in my life that has been bothering me for a while. While I was writing, the words flowed out of me and I began to get emotional because I wanted this piece of poetry to convey the feelings I have been experiencing. I believe that “Landing my Helicopter”, for me, is figuring out what I want to express in my poetry and then writing down thoughts about that certain topic. From then on, I choose the lines from my writing that I think best support the message I want to send in my poetry. I feel this method assists me tremendously and gives me an outlet to discuss what is happening in my life.

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  27. I had to read this a few times. Even now I am still developing and processing the messages embedded within this tale. I perceived this was the act of daydreaming. But not aimless daydreaming. There was purpose, reasoning behind the act, relief in the experience. The complexity of daydreaming is difficult to elaborate, what is even more difficult is the elaboration of reaching peak and coming back from daydreaming. I got that as writers we feel we must throw every fleeting word that can be attached to the essence of the thought trying to be explained/expressed. But sometimes it's best to lay out the real details, the variety and creativity to explain a single moment. It is there that we deliver a precise message almost hard to see because there is no variation. The reader cannot balance and stay on task. I couldn't stay on task as a traversed the landing experience of brainstorming and coming back with the source of that thought. I get lost in making it so pretty that I forget the essence of the poem. I practically ruin the beauty that inspired me to change and illustrate the message in the first place. Whether I am focused or not it is important to stay true to the level of creativity available with each thought. You do not need to stretch thin the worth of the message. It can stand by itself and deliver its meaning directly and indirectly. But never too far from the worth of the message.

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  28. I got a lot from this read. Landing a helicopter is not like flying a plane, it is not something that is easy and not something anyone can just do. It requires a process to be done which leads me to the way I am with my writing process. It takes me a while to gather up all my thoughts on what I want to write about. Always trying to figure out if what I want to say makes sense or is good enough to share with a class or even a professor. A lot goes through my head every time. Which relates to all that goes on through a pilots head when they are in charge of getting a plane to its destination safely without any issues. Its a process. Everything in life is a process. You, yourself have to be courageous and simply just believe that you can do it.

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  29. I definitely got a lot out of this reading. I find it difficult when I am writing to really "land the helicopter" or to dive so deep and get so detailed worried that I won't have enough to write about to meet a certain page requirement. Instead, I will try to find a more general topic and then choose to write about that, thinking I will have more to write about. When in reality, this piece has taught me that it is better to get down to the details, pick one specific thing, and write about it. If you don't you will find yourself looking for useless ways to fill up the rest of your assignment. I find myself trying to look for phrases or words that I normally wouldn't use. This has taught me that there is a process in writing and that everyones is different. Remembering to "land the helicopter" is something that I will use in my future writing.

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  30. After listening to you talk about this in class and then reading it makes it much more powerful. I enjoy when you give this lesson in class because when you talk about it, it all makes sense. When I go to "land the helicopter" myself I find it challenging. As I am writing I think that I am landing the helicopter but then I reread it and the helicopter is hovering over the ground not fully landed. One thing that I am noticing that I am struggling with is what exactly detail is. I think that I am using detail and really making the reading be in the situation but in reality I am just using more adjectives in front of my words. Instead of using adjectives I just need to use words that actually put me in the moment and make the reader feel like they are experiencing what the author did. I really like this blog post and incorporating it into my work. I find myself as I am writing to keep telling myself over and over to land the helicopter.

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  31. A helicopter in space represents cliches and vague language. From space you can see Earth as green and blue, but the closer you get the more you understand about what you are looking at. That the blue and green is water and land. And as you look closer what it truly looks like and what makes it. And so on and so forth. As you land your helicopter you have a clearer understanding and are able to explore and experience with all of your senses heightened. This post reminds me of how important is it to make your reader feel present in your writing and how you must transport them by accurately describing what you feel through images, surprise them with flashes of common, mundane experiences that they would have never seen as poetic, and to always stay away from generalities.

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  32. I feel that most writing that comes from students can be seen as the clichés and sweeping generalizations of the world. It is easier to write that way. Students feel a sense of comfort in leaving their writing and ideas ambiguous because then they can meet their page requ8irement.It is easier to them to write about the vague things rather than sit and put thought into specific ideas or concepts. Most writing to students in a classroom environment feels required so, in other words, forced. Students try to complete the task of writing their paper that they do not want to write, so they go into as little detail as they possibly can. I admit that there are times when I, too, wrote a paper for the sake of fulfilling requirements. But why not enjoy writing a paper? It has to get done anyways, so why write it in dread? Instead, students should dive deep into the realm of their writing. They should enjoy the journey that their ideas take them on. They should find the little joys in the things that they do, even in the classroom.

    Seeing the world in a general sense is to miss the small, beautiful details that make it so wonderful. Without the small things and details, we would not have the bigger picture so to speak. Writing should be looked at the same way. The generalizations take away from the beauty of literature's secrets and wonders. Any piece of work and writing should explore the detailed journey of thoughts about the specifics.

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  33. Looking at it from a standpoint of the atmosphere is too big to see all of so if I focus on something smaller and smaller I can get the details I want sooner without it sounding out of place. This is good for how I start stories. I have no idea how to introduce main characters and I get broad and then go more narrow. If I focus on the narrow I can allow myself the opportunity to write the detail I want without feeling as if something is being sacrificed. Or, that my writing is dry.

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  34. I have decided to land my helicopter by coming in really slow and steady. At times writing can be hectic and it always good to pull yourself back in and remind yourself that we do not need “fluff’. When writing details should be used to pull the reader in to get them intrigued and have them want to continue to read right from the beginning. For my writing I feel that I really need to pull myself in and really get all of the details of my story on to paper and not just keep them to myself. I have to work on organizing as well in order to land the helicopter because at this point I feel as if my writing is all over the place. I know when I land the helicopter my writing will be stronger and continue to grow.

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  35. Dr. Rich,
    Although challenging, I fully agree that “landing the helicopter” is essential when it comes to writing. It takes a great deal of effort to not generalize and want to cover all of the important aspects when writing a paper, but I have found that if I can hone in on and explore in detail one aspect of a text, then the end result is totally worth it. Even though it is a concept that I was already aware of, your specific metaphor was new to me and gave me a fresh perspective, which I appreciate. I think that if I would have learned about this before college it may have been easier to do, but throughout my elementary, middle, and high school years there just wasn’t enough emphasis placed on this concept. Fortunately, things are much different now than they were 25 years ago, and I’m sure you will be pleased to know that this is a skill students as young as first grade are learning about today!
    For the past six years I have worked in an elementary school, and during that time I have helped many students develop their writing pieces. Instead of telling them to land the helicopter though, we tell the students to imagine their entire story is a watermelon. Then, they are instructed to focus on just ONE watermelon seed, or one small detail, of that big watermelon story. This allows them to see that while there are many seeds (details) in a watermelon (story), if they just pick one seed to expand on, they will have a more focused story. Hopefully, these students will be professional “helicopter landers” by the time they reach college!

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  36. i remember you saiyng this in class last friday and on the post here it was really beautifuly put. I never really thought to take an outer approach to the reading cause ive always been so stubborn to and ive neer really had a problem with shakespere. looking on this now i would agree that it is nice to get a out side look on the writting and to be able to aproach it from another aspect entirely. I do agree that eventually to make perfect writting and get the best understanding you will have to lan the helicopter.

    daniel kohl

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  37. I am landing my helicopter every time I try something new and step outside of my comfort zone. I am an introverted person that does not like change so anything new I do is a big deal for me. Even though I do not like change I know it is a way of life and is necessary to live. For example, I do not like driving to places I do not know how to get too because it is uncharted territory. In contrast, I have no problem driving to places I know how to find.
    I like to think I have an open mind and I am willing to listen to other peoples’ point of view although I sometimes struggle on certain topics. I find our society today to be very polarized and biased because people are just unwilling to listen to the so-called “other side.” The perfect example of this is our News media like CNN and Social Media sites. CNN reporters, as well as other reporters, bring their biased views when they present news stories. Social media platforms were designed to bring people together but often times they isolate people into groups where they are surrounded by like-minded people that do not force them to land their helicopters.
    I have always favored looking at the big picture vs. looking at a small part o the whole. But Dr. Rich’s LANDING THE HELICOPTER blog post has challenged me to re-examine the way I view things. I now realize that looking at the whole picture is basic and what everyone does and that in order to stand out I must look at smaller pieces in order to be deep and not fall into the trap of plot summary.

    By: Kathleen Conaty

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  38. Dear Dr. Rich,
    Before I was introduced with the “landing the helicopter” method, I did not realize how lost I really was. I did not notice how wrong my thoughts were as I was planning to write a paper about a chosen topic. I always believed that in order to fill all of the pages of my paper, I needed a big broad topic that contains a lot of content. However, this type of thinking did not help me as much as I thought it would. It is really stressful if you think about it. Broad topics always stress me out because I cannot get a hold of anything. I always get confused about where to start my paper, what ideas to start with and how to keep going with the paper. In addition, sometimes I feel overwhelmed because I feel like I have so many things to say but I am not sure if I will be able to fit all of these ideas in my paper properly or not. But honestly, after I had understood the “landing the helicopter” method, I feel less stressed. Now I understand that I cannot get a grip on a broad topic and summarize it all in like four ages. There are alternative ways to write a proper paper rather than attempting to cramp up a lot of different information in one small paper. This alternative way can simply be that I “land my helicopter” on one idea that I believe I can break it down into small sections and write a proper paper on it.

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  39. Dear Dr. Rich,
    How amazing it is to take control of your mind and use it to the fullest capacity. I enjoy this new approach to literature. We have been taught to step back and look at the big picture for so long, that we do it on auto pilot. It is a total different view when you immerse yourself deep into something. Like when you meet someone new and make up your mind about that person from the exterior, the first impression and then years later you realize that person was nothing like what you thought they were. I approached our gigantic book "The Complete Works of Shakespeare" with the natural fear of the unknown, because it looks so complicated and "heavy" (both literally and metaphorically lol), but after our classes, after "landing our helicopters" I feel more at ease and very eager to dive in I have so many ideas floating in my head about many ways to approach each play... I think I am trigger (Key?) happy and I know I will be playing with Shakespeare plays long after our class is over. Thank you for that!

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  40. With the explanation of landing the helicopter method, I came to a realization how lost I was in writing a good paper, when I write a paper I always am all over the place, digging a deeper hole for myself . I always looked the broader picture for so long that didn’t see the specifics of each subject or a story, to dive deep into it. With this kind of method I can take one paperclip ideas and just concentrate on that. Even though it is challenging writing in a whole different way, I need to learn to organize my thought or ideas to know where and when I can land my helicopter. Not to wonder somewhere else, but stick to the point, focus is what I need to preparation. Learning this method takes a lot of practice, getting use to looking from a standpoint and focusing on something smaller, getting the details, and not miss anything about what I am looking at. Even though it might be so simple to land a helicopter, for me is a process and definitely something that I need to get use to it, abandon my old ways and adapting a new way of writing a good paper. Now I know in the future to make sure I concentrate on the details, focusing what it is important, to write an unique work instead of a boring paper that no teacher likes to read.

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  41. This blog post really resonates with me because I was in your class when you were discussing how we as students should learn to land a helicopter when we were writing our paper. As a future educator who wants to teach English I find it really important to learn how to write a paper with techniques I haven't used before. It's also important to me because as a writer it can sometimes be difficult to, “Land a Helicopter”, on a paper with a specific topic at hand. This I can relate to because I too find it difficult but the way you describe how we should land is extremely helpful because it gave me a general idea of how I should write my papers from now on. Before hearing the expression of the helicopter I would tend to write my papers covering all the subjects and make it to broad as possible which in turn would be a detriment to me as a writer. However, like you simply stated its best to grasp a paperclip and expand on that one topic and use that for landing my helicopter. This blog specifically means a lot to me as a writer because I’m always open for new and bright ideas. This was so intellectually deep and use the paperclip method as well because that is also a very good idea. So I just want to say thank you for making this specific post about how I should land my helicopter because its a real eye opener as a writer.

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  42. Dr. Rich taught me how to write in a brand new, and more interesting way. It was a little bit difficult to modify my style of writing in just a one semester class that met once a week but I managed to do it and I’m am proud of all of the work I have done in Dr. Rich’s class. In high school and even in college, I was always told to start an essay with a general introduction, then do on to the body of the paragraph, and then reiterate everything I have said in the conclusion. This is boring. In Dr. Rich’s class I learned the concept of writing about a single, interesting topic instead of writing a broad topic while writing a bunch of bullshit to take up space in my paper. For example, my first paper in Dr. Rich’s class had to do with Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens. Writing about Shakespeare and Timon of Athens in general is too broad and will include information people already know. I wrote about something a lot of people don’t usually think about. The first word Timon says is “imprisoned.” So I wrote about how the protagonist of the play is imprisoned, not physically, but mentally. My first draft wasn’t good at all. I write about society, which I learned is also too broad. One cannot assume what society as a whole thinks. So half of my paper was deleted. I also wrote a bunch of clichés. This is boring because it has been said and heard before. Then, I talked about what Shakespeare was trying to do in my paper, but this argument is weak because it’s not like I interviewed Shakespeare to see what was going on in his mind while he was writing Timon of Athens. When I took all of this off of my paper I was left with a single paragraph with all of the examples of how he was imprisoned. I still had about three and a half pages to write. I decided to write about the way the first line was spoken, which was with power. So then I changed up my topic a little bit by talking about how Timon’s “imprisonment” became his power. I also did a lot of research to see how power is demonstrated in writing and I found that caves are a symbol of power. This is what my paper focused on. I then changed the title to “Imprisonment as Power in Timon of Athens.” I had a lot of fun writing the paper so I knew that Dr. Rich would like it too. It was also one of the papers I wrote that I am most proud of. It was challenging but worth it.
    Priya Jhaveri

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  43. Dr. Rich,
    I think that as students we were taught to write a certain way and have one set way of thinking. We write what we think our teachers want, but what do we want? I have been there where I have had to write a paper and I get a topic and the topic ends up being too broad. Then I might start thinking about what I can write about to fill up the required pages for an assignment. When I was in elementary school and even high school, we were taught to write a 5-paragraph essay where the paragraphs had ‘names. It can be daunting to do all of this. For me, the toughest part of a paper would be the conclusion because I had to wrap things up. It was a regurgitation of what I had just previously stated in my paper. So, it really does make sense to hone in on a particular line or word and then you can expand your work from there. I have learned so much from your class this semester about how to view subjects differently or phrasing something we said a different way. It gives our words a different connotation. So now I do catch myself using other words to represent other words. Instead of saying difficult, I will say challenging. It is something I am still learning but I find this challenge quite refreshing.

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  44. Another great insight Professor Rich! One of the hardest things as a writer is finding something to write about and to get out of our writer’s block. Landing the helicopter is a great metaphor as to what it is like to finding the “ground” of your paper. I cannot tell you the many many hours that I have spent trying to land the helicopter and to find my paper clip! It can take so many hours that is not even funny, because I am just so focused on making the page limit like you said. But your approach to focusing on one specific idea or characteristic can actually write our whole essay. It is more about being deep than being broad like you mentioned in your blog about finding our paper clip. I guess for me it about reading the work of literature and then taking notes while I am reading. And then to go back over my notes and to see what really stuck out to me and immensely impacted me. Then to pick it out, focus on it, do a characteristics board, and do some more research on that topic to include in my paper. And voila! There would be my paper!
    Grace Carranza

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  45. Dear prof,
    This was a very inciteful post. This helped me in areas for papers where i am stuck and now i am able to go more in depth with my papers.I feel that you need to do this to write a really good paper. You can be missing somthing really important or you can gain a complete new idea from this which can help you write somthing completely origional. I enjoyed learning this in class and being able to use this in my papers for your class. I also plan on using it for future classes. thank you

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  46. Landing the Helicopter, is even more difficult in Senior Seminar than it was in Advanced Poetry. I've had so many ideas and concepts that I'd been working and reworking that I'd gotten caught up in explaining the concept vs. just telling the fucking story! I definitely feel that AIDE(minus the E) assists with landing the helicopter

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  47. “Landing the helicopter” has to be one of my favorite lessons you’ve taught us this semester. You helped put a name to something that I find myself doing all the time.

    Not landing the helicopter is what caused certain paragraphs in my paper being crossed out. But that’s okay because that’s how you learn.

    A lot of us find ourselves in the air a lot when it comes to our introductions. We spent hours and hours trying to write a good intro and then zoom through the body paragraphs.

    And I really like the tip you told our class one time, you said to start with your body paragraphs first and then go back and do the intro. I feel like by doing something as simple as starting with your body paragraphs that helps you land your helicopter, because you’re not so lost anymore and know exactly what you want to write about.

    Interpreting the world from a far is not going to do you any good because you’re not seeing clearly. You’ll just be writing about a bunch of stuff you think relates to your topic, but it really doesn’t because you haven’t landed your helicopter.

    Thanks Dr. Rich for another awesome post!

    Arlyn A.

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  48. Dr. Rich,

    Thank you for this lesson! This is definitely one that I needed. All throughout middle school and high school I was taught to cover everything. Cover the plot, analyze the characters, analyze images, analyze the language, etc. all in one paper. I was taught to ramble on and on while covering every single little thing. This was always too much. I was also taught to be super general about everything and say things like "others say", "they say", "people", "our time", etc. These things do not help us get anywhere. They don't allow us to think outside of the box and hone in on one important detail. Thank you Dr. Rich for encouraging us to be individuals and choose what to write and how we want to land out helicopter.

    Sarah Otero

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  49. Seanette Martin
    February 2, 2019
    Eng 4817
    Prof Rich
    Landing The Helicopter Blog 4
    This blog really had me stuck for two days, I had to really take time to reread it a few times to really understand. I feel that this post can relate to different aspects of my life not only in my writing but my views. I’m going to focus on how I’ve decided to focus on loving myself and putting myself first. For so long I always felt I needed a guy to make me happy or I needed to love others before myself. A few months ago I decided to Land the Helicopter and put me first. Within eight months I feel so much happier by myself I learned throughout this time that I am worth so much more than I have been accepting.
    Now that I have did this self love cleanse I couldn’t be happier because now I understand myself way more than I ever have in 30 years and all that took was for me to Land the Helicopter. I was completely lost because I wanted happiness and love like everyone around me but this time has taught me it starts within. It’s hard when you begin the journey but the outcome is amazing. Beginning this semester I was ready and prepared to knock out my classes and just graduate. My mindset is different now I’m giving my classes a chance not just existing but actually putting the effort in to enjoy my last semester. Although, the semester is still in the early stages I feel like this will turn out to be a great semester because I have decided to become open minded about my courses. Cheers to Landing the Helicopter when it was most needed.

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  51. During our last workshop, you made a great point about my paper. I tend to put too much background information, as you said I was probably taught that in high school. I felt that the unnecessary information that I incorporated is what teachers want us to include in our work. I am just now landing my helicopter, as I am going to start writing the way I want to write, not how I was expected to write all of these years. This class is giving me the freedom to write the way that I want, yet still learn to write properly, and fix my mistakes. Leave all the unnecessary “BS” out of my papers, and just write about the important parts, as readers will naturally catch up to that background information. Reading my paper after deleting all of the “exposition,” I can say that my story really does sound so much better. It isn't dragging as much and I think it is evident to tell what I am writing about without giving too much of that background information.
    After learning about A.I.D.E, and providing those aspects into my paper, I feel as if I landed my helicopter then. The workshop that we had in class opened up another set of eyes for myself. I was able to really dig deep into my paper and see what was decent, and what I needed to totally get rid of. I learned what is important, as action, imagery, and dialog really keep the readers engaged and not make them bored. I really enjoyed this blog post, as it made me think back about all the helpful information that you taught me about writing a paper, especially the one I am currently writing.

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  52. Brandon Smith
    “Landing the Helicopter” for me comes easier when I am writing poetry rather than writing prose given that poetry only requires a few lines, while prose requires a lot more. Prose also requires me to focus on storytelling as well as keeping the helicopter landed which is harder to do given how I have been taught to write stories. I have this drive to write as much information about the setting of a story as possible which contributes to my problem of landing the helicopter in prose. I rarely come across this problem in poetry since the medium of poetry does not always have to tell a story. Like poetry, I have an easier time writing prose in a way that “lands the helicopter” when I have a clear understanding of what I need to do. While I do tend to write prose outside of school, that is simply because it is easier to write prose than it is to write verse without instruction. Whether it lands the helicopter or not did not matter to me until now. Hopefully, like in the writing poetry class I took the semester before, the class workshop will help me to focus on landing my helicopter rather than let it drift into space.

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  53. Landing My Helicopter..
    Where Should I Land my Helicopter?

    This blog will help me become a more focused writer.

    In the blog, when the writer “wanted to go home,” the writer “steer”ed their chopper toward the United States
    Like the writer steered the chopper to home, my words steer the writing. “Where am I going with this? My writing may appear wordy and lose focus. I need to get to the point. Drive it home! When writing isn’t focused it may lose the audience’s attention or may be subject to misinterpretation.
    How I land my helicopter?
    In your blog you discussed how in Hamlet you “landed your helicopter” with first word Horatio says , “Friends.” Picking a central theme or idea can help “steer” my words around it. This will undoubtedly help create a more focused, writing piece.
    Picking a central idea requires that I consider what my character wants to reveal about him or herself. Then I can write the words (steer) my writing and my audience to the message that I want to present.

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  54. “Landing the Helicopter”. What a valuable piece of advice! One professor told me to never use the word “thing.” It’s not specific, and it’s a sign that you can go deeper. I’ve become paranoid about cliches creeping up in my writing, yet I find that I can’t help it sometimes. But just like the use of the word”thing”, it’s a sign that I’m not doing the best I can. To me, this is what separates good writing from bad writing. Picking one micro aspect and using that to build a story is much more satisfying, both as a reader and as a writer. Right now, as I write this post, I look down and notice the swirls in my black cup of coffee. The oils leave swirls behind after every sip. They remind me of formations in space, like galaxies. The glossy, thin layer forms these swirls so smoothly. How could I use that bit to tell a story? Therein lies the challenge. Yet I already feel a sense of potential when starting a story like this, instead of talking about all of the obvious aspects to the coffee, such as its darkness, slight bitterness, or how it perks me up after every sip. Pick an angle, and see where it takes you. Writing in this mindset is where the richness comes in.

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  55. When it comes to the idea of ‘landing my helicopter’ it’s more difficult said than done. I used to always think I had to write about something specific, and it had to align with the previous sentence or topic, etc. however, when I experienced my first ever free-write I was shocked on the emptiness my brain endured. Within this course I noticed that I will be able to express myself without having an ‘agenda’. Straying away from the bigger picture and realize that there’s more to writing than writing but rather imagining, thinking, expressing one’s self onto paper. Free-writing gives you a chance to not be entirely focus on a topic but rather the opposite. Freeing yourself. This isn’t something extremely new to me however, it’s something I’m continuing to learn about as I morph into the writer I intend to be one day. ‘Landing my helicopter,’ is something I will learn to do more of, without necessarily thinking about it too much.

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  56. I am “landing the helicopter” when I need to discuss the feelings of the characters in my stories. One of the greatest pieces of advice I have received was not to directly state the feelings of a character in my writing. If at all possible, I avoid saying, “She felt sad” or “He felt angry.” Instead, I want to completely immerse my readers in my writing. I trust them to interpret how my characters are feeling by SHOWING rather than TELLING. In a story that I am currently writing, there is the line, “I knew that I needed to be respectful of the tears glistening in my parent’s eyes.” In this line, the reader can tell that my parents are sad, without me having to directly state the fact. By allowing the reader to create their own interpretations of how my characters are feeling, they become immersed in the story, involved, almost as if they are participating in the creation of the story. In this way, I engage my readers in my writing and make them interested in reading more.

    ~ Sara Faulkner

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  57. Hi Dr. Rich,
    I always have my helicopter so high and now I am so aware of it. It is a really difficult concept for me to accomplish, but I definitely understand what you’re saying. It makes sense that to really delve into what you are writing about, you need to take small bits. I just have never thought about it that way before. However, while it makes sense to me, I really struggled with it in my first draft of my comedy paper. I knew as soon as we began our workshop, looking at other students’ papers, I "messed up." I just always want to introduce the reader in as broad of a way as I can, because I have always been taught that "you never know who the reader is," and "you have to treat it like the reader doesn't know what you're talking about." I had my introduction and you told me my paper really started off around the third sentence of my second paragraph. I was really upset because I’m a perfectionist and I wanted to do well. I literally wrote down in my notes, “start paper over.” Once I got home, I sat down and wanted to write with all I learned fresh in my head. So, I did, and I looked at that note and looked at my paper, and knew I was being ridiculous. In class, you complimented my critical approach and I realized I really just needed to delete my “introduction” and start fresh; not over. Finding a way to land the helicopter has always come much later for me in my writing. But, I really did try to keep this conversation in mind when I revised my paper. I hope my efforts come across when you read it.

    Sofia Feggulis

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  58. My whole life I have been hovering in my helicopter. I never truly land or even know where to land. I stay way up in the atmosphere waiting for someone to throw me a life line to help me land. I never was taught a true landing or what to exactly do in my writing. Since I have been in Dr. Rich’s class I was taught how to land my helicopter. I don’t worry about filling my pages because I know I can fill them with my interpretation and knowledge. Dr. Rich opened my eyes to being able to write a paper without summaries or generalization. She showed me that I can actually write what I am thinking and be able to fill up all the pages required for my teacher. I can write about all the topics I care about for my professor to understand my point of view and still be able to get a good grade. I have learned to land my helicopter in many ways. I learned that there is no need for an introduction or conclusion, but to just get to the point. There is no need for an fluff, but straight forward words and my point of the paper. I can’t wait to get another writing assignment from one of my other classes and be able to take this strategy and apply it to one of those papers. I hope my other teachers enjoy my way of writing and being able to take a new outlook on doing it.

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  59. I often have a difficult time landing my helicopter. Sometimes I notice that my writing is very vague. I use words like “hope, wish, love, fate” instead of just talking about the situation in detail and focusing on that. When writing the first draft of my comedy paper I thought I was doing so well. However, when we started our writing workshop in class I realized that my helicopter was waaaaay too high. Also, I only realized when I got to class that a lot of my first draft was summarizing. Along with the idea of landing my helicopter, I needed to find a “paperclip” that I wanted to focus on and stick to it. Originally, I found a scene that I wanted to focus on and I had some ideas for it. However, when I started writing my first draft I found myself wanting to explain what was happening in that scene to my readers. Instead of landing my helicopter right away, my helicopter was way up high and then I just let it hover over my topic. Honestly, after that workshop I was very frustrated. I walked into that workshop expecting my paper to only need a few corrections. To my surprise, I needed to basically start my whole paper over. I had a “paperclip” but I needed to land my helicopter which meant that I needed to get rid of all the summarizing which took up most of my first draft.
    When I sat down to revise my first draft, I decided to start my paper with my helicopter hovering very close to my topic by introducing the story without going into the plot. Then I tried my best to stick to the topic and points I wanted to make. I used mainly quotes and my own ideas to explain my thesis. I wanted to use quotes from the play to explain my thoughts rather than the other way around. This allowed my helicopter to land right on top of my topic rather than having it way far out.

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  60. This blogpost might be my absolute favorite one. When we talked about landing our helicopters during our first writing workshop, it absolutely blew my mind. Its something I’ve never thought of before, and it was a different way of viewing writing. How are you supposed to get to the point, when you don’t have no point to make. That's basically, why are you flying a helicopter when you have no place to land it? That is the same with your writing (especially mine). I feel as if in school, we were taught to write in a vague way, and to always get around the point. “Don’t use the word ‘I’ in your writing, always write in 3rd person, your opinion doesn't matter in writing, facts only”. These are the things that teachers put in your head when learning to write. Why am I writing if it's not about what I want to write with? It’s a waste of time. This is the reason why most people think of literature and assume its terrible. We are taught that nothing is up for interpretation, and that is just awful. With the helicopter method, you’re writing about what YOU want, and landing the helicopter where YOU want, and this, gives you full control of your paper. I fully support this method, and hopefully one day, use it in my classroom. It gives you a better appreciation for the literature, and leaves the interpretation up to the writer. When writing our comedy papers, I wrote about how Hermia might be dreaming all of this and all her insecurities are coming out in this dream she’s having. Not in a million years would I have ever written something so outlandish for any other class. I appreciate that I am able to be myself in my writing in your class. Thank you.

    Jessica Ryan

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  61. The phrase “landing the helicopter” was very intriguing when I first heard it during our A Midsummer Night’s Dream writing workshop. I had never heard the phrase before, and I thought it was a very interesting metaphor to use in order to get students to focus in on their papers a little more. I am guilty of this myself because I always felt that I needed to explain the entire play in order to have my reader understand my paper, especially if we were told “Write as if the person reading has never read the book/play before.” I never thought I would be able to write a paper on just one scene of a play, or even just one line or word spoken by a character and still meet the page requirements of around 5 pages. I struggled a lot with “landing the helicopter” on my first paper because I wasn’t sure if I was writing too much or if I wasn’t diving deep enough into the quote I was writing about. In my first paper, I had written about Puck being the Devil and I used quotes from about three different scenes in order to prove my argument, but I also thought using three scenes would help me reach the page requirements. However, on my second paper I compared Miranda to a Disney Princess, using Act 3 Scene 1 for my quotes and comparing her to Ariel from The Little Mermaid and Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. On this paper, I stayed focused on one specific scene, on one specific character, and used two specific Disney princesses to compare her to, not the entire franchise. I felt that my second paper was a lot more concise and to the point, rather than just touching upon things here and there. I also found I was able to write a lot more when I stayed with one scene and focused on that one scene only because it kept me on track! I will keep using the “landing the helicopter” method for other papers in the future!

    -Victoria Matthies

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  62. After reading this blog, I had to think about what it is really talking about for a moment. After I realized that it is talking about writing and getting to the point with things, I was impress with the fact that with my writing, it is hard somethings for me to get to the point with what I really need to say. I would have to say so much before I can get to what I really wanted to say. This blog post help me understand that I don't have go around and come around before I say exact what I want to say, just get to it. Every time I am writing my papers, I would have to read this blog to keep in mind that i need to get to the point because I am so accustom trying to say everything with a lot of words not knowing i can say a lot by using fewer words. Doing so, my helicopter has always been high, so i learn how to land the helicopter and focus more details of my writing which includes A.I.D.

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  63. Still till this day I am learning ways of keeping my helicopter close enough to land it. I have this habit of summarizing the plays in the beginning of my writing before actually starting to talk about my thesis. I struggle to land my helicopter mainly because at times I feel lost and unsure of where to begin my writing that I begin to speak word vomit. I overthink my ideas and start getting redundant which creates lengthy words but carries no value to it. I also begin to get frustrated making the topic of the task more difficult for myself than it actually is. I sometimes know what I want to write but do not know how to go about it and explain it deeply and thoroughly. It’s a strong habit of mine simply because I do it when I speak verbally. When I go to tell my friends gossip or something major that has happened to me, I tend to first explain unnecessary details before dropping the juicy news. They always tell me “okay we get it, now spill the beans.” Doing this verbally only affects my writing even more, so when writing I’d like to keep this blog post in mind to remind me to land my helicopter. I do not wish for my readers to ever feel bored or annoyed when reading one of my essays, my goal is to create essays that will catch their attention. I plan to stop going in different directions and land the helicopter safely both in my writing and when I speak.

    - Ashley Cisneros

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  64. This post helped me understand the way I write and speak. Whenever I explain something or tell a story in my life, I either dive straight into the most interesting bit and explain it or I give detailed backstories before getting into the main story for a slowish build to take my friends on a journey of whatever I just experienced. Both are great for telling stories through word of mouth or on a TV for movie screen. For a paper, not really. Diving straight into it and explaining everything around it is good, but it could also lead to a 2 page paper with professors saying that more could've been told about the topic. Too much backstory can clog a paper and have the professor and yourself rolling your eyes. In my papers, I tend to fly my helicopter up in the clouds where I can see everything instead of just focusing on the main topic at hand. In order to write a good paper, these two need to be perfectly balanced, as everything should be. Give backstory, but cut out the unnecessary bits. You don't need to contextualize the whole thing, just the specific topic of the paper. That's something I've been telling myself ever since we went over it in class, and now that I've actually read the article, it's not really something that I have to constantly remind myself to do as I should be able to do it as a second nature. So basically, I just need to land my helicopter faster, and this post really helped me begin to find out how to do that exactly.

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  65. Dear Dr. Rich,
    Landing my helicopter has been my greatest challenge this semester. Unfortunately, teachers have only taught me to float in space without landing somewhere specific. All of my previous writing throughout my years of education have been introduced by general information -the "blah blah blah" before I am able to write about the juicy details. I have begun the first paragraph to all of my writing assignments this semester with my helicopter flying up up up in the sky. I realized it’s a habit to do so because my past teachers have engraved in my head that I must start with a summary in order to help my readers understand what the essay will be about. But with your guidance I have learned to chop my boring and long paragraphs out and make more space for DETAILS! I have learned to expand my mind and reflect back on my essays in order to figure out what is general and what is specific.
    It is never to late to learn or to fix a problem. And that is exactly what our Shakespeare survey class has offered to me. It has given me the opportunity to learn a new skill and to leave my bad habits in the past. I will delve into what matters right away versus waiting for a summary to introduce it. If something is worth reading, there is no need to prolong its entrance. Therefore, I will do my best to be as much of a near-sided writer as I can and have my magnifying glass in sight in case I begin to write too far from my focal point.
    I will always remember and never forget, “one paperclip” is enough.
    -Marilyn H. (Shakespeare Survey 3215-04)

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  66. At first “Landing the Helicopter” seemed to be a crazy idea to even think about. Excuse my language but what was going through my head was, “How the hell can I do this?” and “What the fuck is she talking about?” but with patience and thought, I begin to learn that a lot can come out of landing that helicopter on one small idea. Seemed impossible at first but when it comes to Shakespeare, there is an endless amount of possibilities of interpretations one can use to write a paper on one of his plays. When thinking of the play Hamlet, a horrible tragedy occurs, which is basically everyone dies at the end. The Lion King a famous Disney movie and Broadway show is actually based on the story of Hamlet. One could write a 5-page paper on that alone but one could easily write a better 5 page paper on how the ghost scene in Hamlet represents the ghost scene in The Lion King. I will still be talking about the same thing, how both stories are alike but I will be going more in-depth talking about one short scene rather than having my thoughts everywhere talking about the whole story in general. Sometimes talking about the whole story can block ideas and intricate explanations. The paper would just be boring and uninteresting if someone were to talk about the whole play in both productions. It would just be paraphrasing. Just find that one idea and land that helicopter.

    ~Asia McKnight

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  67. I had never heard of the phrase “landing the helicopter” until I enrolled in Shakespeare Survey. This phrase was first mentioned during a writing workshop for our A Midsummer Night Dream’s comedy papers. I can admit that I was baffled when you mentioned that an introductory paragraph was not needed in regards to writing a paper. As a junior in college I can state that I have always started a paper with an introductory paragraph. In this introductory paragraph I habitually provided excess information that led into my body paragraph. I also found anxiety in not having an introduction and/or conclusion paragraph as I thought I was not going to reach the number of page requirements required. How would I reach a minimum of four to five pages without an introduction and/or conclusion which takes up a whole page? This anxiety and question slowly vanished as I was told to dive into a paperclip of each play. By doing this, I was capable of staying on topic in my paper. In regards to my A Midsummer Night Dream’s paper I took a liking towards the idea of only focusing on one Act and one Scene. This enabled me to thoroughly dive into the Act, while digesting quotes, without losing focus. Ultimately, I had to get used to “landing the helicopter” as professors in the past leaned towards a traditional writing style. I look forward to having an open mind and utilizing “landing the helicopter” in future my classes to come.

    Bailey Vick

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  68. Dr. Rich,

    This post is absolute gold. You should have charged people to read it - cover charge for this particular post! This makes so much sense, in terms of literacy (writing) and verbally (speaking). So what i am saying is that this post helps me with my writing and my life in general. When I am feeling stressed in my life, my helicopter flies in all sorts of directions and usually does not land until it has to. At that point, my anxiety has taken over and in reality, a panic attack usually has occurred and it is too late for warning. My helicopter is blurting out with pain and sirens, screaming mayday, mayday!! Procrastination also is key when not landing the helicopter. If procrastination did not happen, the helicopter would be closer to landing back on earth, however, procrastination is key. There is no pride throughout this response post, only based off of honest past experiences. This is not to say that the act of landing the helicopter is easy on any terms. However, at least I can recognize the warning signs and the triggers when I see that I cannot control the landing of my helicopter. I feel that word vomit plays the verbal role in this scenario. Word vomit is the ability to talk someone else's ear off until they cannot stand to listen to you talk anymore. Word vomit is also babbling. Word vomit is not getting to the point, or not being able to get to the meat of your conversation. There is a difference between background information on the story versus word vomit. Many people do not know the difference and so, it results in word vomit. May I suggest "Word Vomit" to be the topic of one of your future blog posts?

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  69. I read this blog about three times before I thoroughly understood what “landing a helicopter” meant. I can actually relate to this because I find myself “hovering” around certain subjects from a distance rather than landing on them wholeheartedly and going for it. I find this is mostly true for academic writing. My personal writing I tend to drive a little deeper with. When I write academically, there is not a lot of emotions involved. I’m writing because someone told me to and because they told me to write about THIS in particular. So I write and I give the facts and I do what I’m supposed to do. In fact, I think I have said the words before about writing about the entire play to fill those 5 pages rather than focusing on one aspect that I can get deeper with. Next time I’m instructed to write something for a class, I think I will try the helicopter approach of landing rather than flying around space.

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  70. "Landing a helicopter" or focusing on one specific topic and writing about it seems difficult to accomplish when writing academically. Too often are we instructed in academia to write things in a certain way, or to follow strict requirements. For me, I know when I have to write a paper for a class assignment a lot of my nerves and thoughts go into following all the guidelines. In doing so, I've come to see that maybe in all those past papers I did not clearly see the topic in a better understanding. However, I can clearly see how "landing the helicopter" would be very beneficial to think about when I am writing for a class in the future. In terms of writing poetry or creative writing I feel it will be a lot easier to tackle this concept. I feel as though when I am writing creatively or I am writing poetry, I have the power to write about what I like. In that sense, it is so much easier for me to focus on the subject and examine ways to convey it in all points of view. The more specific and focused you are on the subject you are writing about the more you will learn and the better you will write. So I will keep the "landing the helicopter" concept in my mind as I write.

    -April Dolan

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  71. Reading this blog makes me think of all the papers I have had assigned to me. I have written papers with almost no emotion or excitement because there are too many constraints. I usually end up putting anything just to fill the pages because I am so concerned about my grade and not the topic itself. I look at the term “landing the helicopter” and see that I should be focusing more on the details instead of the broad topic. This post will definitely be help me when it comes to future writing. It will help me remember to put more emotion and detail into my writing instead of using cliches to fill lines.

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  72. There is this one part in the blog post that really stuck out to me. Maybe it was a metaphor, maybe it wasn't. But:

    At 62 miles above the earth, I hit the Kármán Line—where the earth’s atmosphere hits outer space. My craft is shaking, my instruments rattle, I feel as though I’m going to explode into smithereens. But what safety do I have with dwindling supplies? Better to disintegrate in an instant than to freeze, suffocate, and starve out in space.
    I survive the re-entry.
    ---

    I have a fear of digging deep into my emotions because I fear that I will feel too strongly. But, what is too strong in terms of feeling? I say that all we can do is love deeply. But the metaphor of the helicopter shaking and the thought of not being able to survive but eventually surviving and feeling more...somehow that stuck with me. That is exactly how I would picture my emotions.

    I am afraid to NOT be general because I don't want to know what is underneath. All of that pain and emotion will bubble up to the top and be exposed to everyone. It is a question of vulnerability. Will I survive my own self if I am too emotional? Being specific is even worse! With specificity, you are able to pinpoint where exactly the poet is hurt. It's very similar to opening up a flesh wound and putting salt onto it.

    In society, it is taught to us that being general and covering multiple topics is a good thing. But the best songs are the ones that are specific. What is a song but a poem intertwined with music?

    GENERALIZING AND BEATING AROUND THE BUSH IS SAFE. Sometimes we (or I) don't want to feel the full effect of the specific details and emotions because it's too much. Too heartbreaking. But isn't that what poetry is supposed to do? Make you feel my pain when I had the inspiration to write this? I am laying my heart out for you to see the scars that I have accumulated. I am still getting used to controlling my feelings.

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  73. Space is represented by events, topics, and states of mind that are not quite familiar to me and I will tend to generalize them when they do feel vague and undefined. I am observing Earth from a very far distance. I get closer to Earth with my helicopter by embracing those subjects, zeroing in on them, and building on my base of knowledge. Earth is vivid and rich in detail when what I am writing is something near and dear to my heart, that I can articulate and know the ins and outs of, especially if it is something I have experienced from my perspective.

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  74. A quick thank you before I respond; this was a beautiful and helpful illustration.
    I landed the helicopter yesterday when instead of buying my grandmother a card and writing “you’re the best grandma ever,” I wrote: “Thank you for introducing me to every Clint Eastwood movie. And for sending me off to Florida with a CD player and a Carole King disc. I understand you still even though you cannot speak. And if you ever wanna sit on the porch and eat fudge— I’m there.”
    Why would I need to tell her she is the best grandmother ever? Is there even such a person? These “helicopter” generalizations and exaggerations almost do an injustice to the very message I am intending to send. An actual equivalent to this overused expression would be, “well grandma, I just bought this card and had to write something, so here.” Writing the details however, shows I stopped a moment and truly thought of our relationship and what it meant to me... it took me down to earth and out from isolation and into our living room watching “Escape from Alcatraz,” so I could show her I love her without ever even having to use the word.
    .

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  75. I had to read this a second time to comprehend the message of this story. "Landing the Helicopter" is telling me in a way that my life can be in control and sometimes it's out of my reach. I do what I want to do to have somethings my way, but it turns out the least that I had expected. I have to take each day one day at a time and let things fall into place. Just like riding a bike before riding a motorcycle. There has to balance to do things, so I would learn how to control it. In my heart of God and Jesus, Jesus had to be patient for his prayers to be answered by God. I took things in my hands and I have crashed my helicopter in ruins, because I didn't land it properly. Things take part in what you want in life and it's spread out in the universe. If you cut it lose and stop looking for what you want, it'll appear eventually. I have to put work in my hands and He'll help me out along the way. That's how the helicopter will be landed.

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  76. Landing the helicopter wasn't always so hard for me. At a young age I found landing the helicopter to be disclosing my feelings and my sexuality on the black lines of a 4 x 6 index card. I remember the feeling like I was ready to land and feeling like I could see the runway. I remember the breath right before my teacher at the time spoke my truth aloud. As soon as she read aloud the person I had a crush on I felt a moment of relief in landing the helicopter before the class began to laugh at me and my helicopter landing started to feel like a plane crash. After this for years I struggled with the idea of relinquishing my power to anybody in my life but, after a long time of still getting hurt I realized that I would eventually find solid ground to land and be free.

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    1. (Continued blog) Do you understand how hard it was to be honest about my sexuality and have that effect me forever? I today am fully out and are now able to land my helicopter because I’m supported by people who love and care for me. I think that sometimes we keep hovering the helicopter because we don’t yet realize the effect that it will have when we land. We think that the people below are going to terrorize us and instead we land and they embrace us with love and support and it makes us wonder what made us stay in the helicopter so long.

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  77. I have never thought about landing the helicopter before until recently. I like to write short stories and I found myself so excited to get the story out that I forgot about the small details that mattered. I tried incredibly hard with the last story I wrote to expand and stay on the details instead of focusing on the bigger picture. I have to say that story is one of my proudest works, and I am so completely happy with it. I would like to take that and learn how do it it in the poetry too, so I can see what matters instead of the big picture.

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  78. What is my helicopter?

    When I look back on the past year of my life, I feel like it has been a rush of emotions- like a helicopter searching for a smooth landing that it just can't seem to find. The first thing that came to my mind, was when my grandmother passed away last June. Being that I was super close with my grandma, (I swear, much closer than the average person), I had a very difficult time dealing with this. It seemed as if my helicopter was going to crash and there was no way of saving it. How could I get past this? How would my future be the same? So many questions ran through my head that summer.

    When it was time for me to return to school for the fall semester, I had a rough time. My grandma would always call me the day before my classes and wish me the best of luck, and say something silly like “don’t trip up the stairs and embarrass yourself!” Besides my mother being the closest person in my life, my grandmother came in a close second. My first class that semester was “Intro to Writing Studies”. When the assignments had been discussed, our first assignment was to analyze a piece of our writing that we have done in the past, and express the ethos, pathos, and logos for writing this piece. Instantly, the eulogy for my grandmothers death came to mind, as I had written it for the mass ceremony. While taking the approach of analyzing and writing about the eulogy, I faced a few obstacles. It was hard. I shed a decent amount of tears and would have to stop and look back at certain parts. This was the hardest piece of writing I had ever done. Although it was a difficult experience, it felt almost cathartic to write about my grandmother. It was a coping mechanism that I never thought I would have experienced.

    After completing the paper and feeling confident about it, I received feedback from my professor. She said it brought her to tears and wanted to share my paper as an example for the class. This felt amazing. Right before my helicopter was about to crash, it found the perfect and safe landing. My helicopter became writing about my grandmother's death in my English Writing courses as a coping mechanism. This also helps others in my classes to relate to my emotions. I’ve found in other writing courses, I have somehow incorporated the memory of my grandmother into my writing and have also had positive feedback. Of course, I would do anything to have my grandmother back, but I feel as if I have become a stronger, more emotional writer because of the circumstances. Thank you Grandma Addie for giving me access to land my helicopter safely.

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  80. When I think about landing the helicopter, it makes me think about how I land and control my anxiety while I’m having major anxiety attacks. It reminds me how I land on my feet and how sometimes my anxiety can take control of my body. I have to always remember that it doesn’t control me but simply, I control myself. It’s hard at times to sit there and imagine that I’m going to survive this or get through it, almost like landing a helicopter because sometimes you don’t think you’re going to reach the bottom. When you do, you feel that everything you did to land was all worth it in the end.

    Nancy Koster ENG4817

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  81. As you know first hand, I am working on landing this helicopter. I don’t have to explain to you why my brain is the way it is because as a seasoned writer, you’ve been transparent enough to let us know you have been where some of are when it comes to writing and how you’ve worked to be the wiz you are today! I have a hard time zooming in on what it is I want to talk about and elaborating on it. The elaboration aspect isn’t so bad, it is the focusing part. I, by nature tend to get sidetracked easily in life in general. My mind is always running and thinking about days, weeks, sometimes even months ahead of where I am currently standing. The same thing applies to my writing, which creates difficulties in my progression. So learning to land the helicopter is a skill that I am anticipating learning and applying it to help contribute to the better writer I can be.
    With writing for this project this semester, I fought, you and my paper, to include what I wanted because I thought it was necessary. I did have to take a step back from it and thinking about it to actually understand what landing the helicopter truly means. Let’s just hope my understanding is reflected in my final draft come December. *Fingers crossed*

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  82. Landing my helicopter still seems nearly impossible. the fear of landing smoothly just doesn't seem right. I find my life filled with turbulence and the helicopter will get lost in a storm. I have no gps, no sense of the green land around. There might as well be water so that I fall in, in which i can't swim. But I hope that these thoughts are just a nightmare and in reality I'll have it all figured out.

    Racquel F

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  83. This at first feels like a difficult lesson for me, because the poetry I've been writing over the past few years, has in fact been mostly generalities and abstractions. I make broad, creative statements, about love, or life, or healing, or nature. I then leave it up to the reader to find their own specific examples of how my broad insight relates to their life. In most cases, I have not even stated, how my general insight relates to my own life; it is only indirectly implied. However, I must be open to change! That's why I took the poetry class, to enhance my writing and thinking; to change! Thus, I am learning, if I have a general grand statement written in my notebook, I must ask myself 'What do I mean by this?' 'Be specific, use images, Michael!', I say to myself.
    Rather than forget about my abstract and general statements completely, I will use them to guide me, to find the closer, more detailed, more specific view, by "landing my helicopter". I will use the five senses to describe what I really mean, to paint a picture with intimacy and closeness. It is a learning process.
    In a sense, in life, we are always landing, and getting Closer to, the very things that we are, in fact, experiencing. As we're landing, poetry can help bring us, and others, closer, to the vividness of our lived experiences. P.S. Oh no! That's a general statement, I need to be more specific! What starts out as a plan or goal, comes to life when we meet people, become familiar with places, etc. The vague picture in my mind I had of dinner at a Thai restaurant, becomes more specific when I'm actually eating: seeing the golden curry sauce which is gradually cooling off, tasting the curry, coconut milk, and the fried, crunchy tofu. The general concept I had before the semester began, of students I might meet in the poetry class, now that I'm three and a half weeks into the class, has come to life with faces and voices. I know, I still need to be more specific! All this is "landing the helicopter". I'm working on it! I do see, how describing from a closer and more experienced viewpoint is a richer account of life! My eyes are being opened.

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  84. “Landing the Helicopter” was a very interesting and eye opening blog post for me. Reading this blog makes me think of all the papers I have had assigned to me. I have written papers with almost no emotion or excitement because there are too many constraints. I usually end up putting anything just to fill the pages because I am so concerned about my grade and not the topic itself. I look at the term “landing the helicopter” and see that I should be focusing more on the details instead of the broad topic. This post will definitely help me when it comes to my future writing assignments. It will help me remember to put more emotion and detail into my writing instead of using cliches to fill lines. With poetry especially, I have a bad habit of describing something very broad because I see it in my mind and forget that not everyone else knows what I am talking about. I also never realized that I was actually doing this until having it pointed out to me this semester. This is something that I definitely plan on changing now that I am aware of it. Landing the Helicopter is a post that everyone who enjoys writing should take a look at. Broad topics or ideas should be zoomed in with great detail and imagery. This post has opened my eyes to that fact and I will try to keep this in mind as I continue on with my poetry.

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  85. How am I landing my helicopter you ask?

    I believe I'd have to say by letting go of my fears. It sure as hell is way easier typing that out than actually doing it, but that's the first step right? Letting go of mainly my doubt in myself. I doubt my intuition and intellect in fear of being wrong or criticized by others, but am now coming to realize that no one's opinion matters more than my own and whether I'm satisfied or not. By not trusting myself, I have gotten into situations I knew in my heart that I could have prevented, or made better by my own superior judgement versus following a herd like a lowly sheep. To land my helicopter, I must embrace who I am as a person, artist, and writer, to come to my full potential and bloom into fruition. I must say what I mean without sugar coating or catering to the feelings of my audience. It's all about my true message.

    After re reading what I typed, it’s very similar to my feelings on flinstoning and what keeps me from being direct and concise in my writing. When I’m not landing my helicopter, I am definitely flintstoning and become general and distanced in what I write when what I really need to do is hone in on those details. If I keep doing what we’ve been learning and discussing in class, which is to be as specific as possible, and sometimes even make stuff up, that’s what will really get my message out and my audience tuned in!

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  86. Dr. Rich,

    The analogy of "landing a helicopter" reminds of how I gradually discovered what I want to do with my career. Just like it is said in the blog post, instead of filling up five pages with generalizations of five different countries, focusing on one would be much better and specific. I have always wanted to teach English to Chinese students, which is the reason why I wanted to major in English. However, I didn't realize it was too broad to be an English major until I was a sophomore: English teacher, what kind of English teacher? Do I want to be an English teacher in public schools? or teach at a private educational company? Or even have my own company? After thinking about these questions, I came to Kean USA with the intention of having a minor in social media, because I realized I want to be different. I don't want to teach in public schools and instead I want to teach English in a fun and modern way: through social media. After having this goal in mind, I felt a lot more confident and satisfied with what I am learning. This also applies heavily to writing, too. When writing a paper full of generalizations, I get bored inevitably. However, if I find something interesting and laudable to me, and I focus on relishing those content, writing the paper becomes enjoyable.

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  88. Landing the helicopter is easy to understand. Now when I peer-edit I can’t help, but use the term because it is easier than explaining what land the helicopter means. I can explain it once, but after that I can just point out what I feel is general and tell my peer to land and they understand. As for myself, I look for the helicopter in my own writing. I monitor it, so that when I feel it ready to fly I can turn off the engine. I leave my work alone thinking I have landed the helicopter, but I come back to seeing it hover and I will have to land it again. There is always something to work on.

    Wilneris

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  89. Hearing the words "landing the helicopter" sound so complicated at first and then after reading the blog post I feel calm and confidant. I too fell into the trap when I was in high school being told by my teachers that I had to summarize the entire story before even making my point which drove me insane. Taking one interesting aspect of the story and taking it deeper is so new and refreshing and can show others how creative your point is as well as showing others a point that they never even considered. I want my papers to be filled with innovative takes of the world not summaries.

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  90. Throughout most of my academic writing I have always had to include what I call “fluff.” Sentences between my main focus and idea to help meet the word or page count. It’s what raises my helicopter, but meets the page requirement. Outside of this, I think of my day to day interactions and how I strive to really I guess “land my helicopter.” I never thought of it in that way, but it makes sense. To really focus on what is happening around me and being away from the details of it all. It’s through this that I get most of my inspiration for my poetry. Landing myself on something day to day and trying to see it through a different lense. For instance, I take transit to class everyday and I see birds constantly crowded around the standing area hoping to claims forgotten scraps. I never paid them any attention, that is until I saw a bird who stood out from all the rest. He only had one food and was hopping around the waiting area, slower than the others, he just hopped to an area and watched as the crowd of birds fought over doughnut crumbs. That’s when another bird came over to the one footed bird and fed him. This is a landed helicopter moment for me.

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  91. Writing papers beyond four pages has always been a problem for me. Mainly because I tend to have a narrow mind it when it comes to analyzing and I end up adding unnecessary paragraph’s in my papers. I feel like professors want us to see a perspective that is not there. Dr. Rich your concept of “landing the helicopter” seemed strange at first because I thought everything needed to be generalized in order to make sense. Writing my poems started out as a challenge because I felt like the generalization was necessary and honestly, I didn’t want to be too vulnerable with people I did not know. If felt wrong and almost like an invasion. By landing my helicopter and allowing myself to be in the moment and use my senses to grab my reader has really made me enjoy what I write. For years I was stuck in a “traditional” mind frame of writing and even today I’m stuck in “Academic” writing mode, but remembering your words on being specific and that there is no such things as being too specific has really helped me narrow in on what I want to say, what I want to convey and how I want my readers to feel my message. I stopped becoming so cliché and allowed myself to be in the moment. Since taking your class my papers have never been so specific and I find it easier to become vulnerable where I need it the most. I will say the improvement in my writing since taking your class has really helped with my own story writing that I have been working on.

    Donika H.

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  92. I am in the second round of the game called "My life." In this round, I am realizing there are extra players and I am numero uno. In the first round, I had many people taking control for me which lead me to living a life that pleased everyone else and left me unhappy. Though I'm not completely happy now, I can admit to being content. Miracles don't happen overnight and I need to snap out of the dream I like to escape to. My life now is about me, myself and I. That means accepting what is and focusing on what I can handle, whether physically, mentally, spiritually or emotionally. Stress lets me know when it's time to back off and I don't handle stress well. Honestly, I tolerate a lot and that includes my own bullshit. In this second round, one of my goals is to let go and let it flow. Trust is a big issue for me. I made myself or shaped myself to be someone people can feel comfortable with and trust; however, I have a hard time fully trusting. From past hurtful experiences, I don't think nor have I ever felt all people can't be trusted or caring. If faith exists then she will have to guide me. I'm not super religious but I will allow my new friends Faith, Love, Hope, Willpower and Strength to guide me and land my helicopter. If the weather happens to be windy then I have to learn to brace myself and prepare for what's to come.

    Reality is hard to accept sometimes. Unfortunately the movies, books and songs I escaped to don't always show you the multitude of dimensions life offers. There's a saying, " When life hands you lemons, make lemonade." Well I don't like lemonade, so I'll use the lemons to clean my meat for dinner.

    Meagan AWP 5000

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  93. Dr. Rich,

    I completely side with the students that say “if I don’t talk about everything, how will I fill up five pages”. My history with writing papers has led me to this idea. As long as I do the page requirement, I should be fine, but it isn’t fair because most times I feel as though I have talked about everything that I have found important. However, I have to fill the rest of the paper in with fluff. I liked that with this paper I was able to draw my attention to two stanzas and delve deeper into just those few lines. I did not believe I would make the requirement when I first began, but once I started to type and realize what I was trying to say or put the puzzle together, it began to flow from my brain to my fingertips. I enjoy this new idea of writing, getting straight to the point from the beginning and developing the concepts that I am trying to get across. I believe I will be able to utilize this method when it comes to other papers, even though some teachers may not agree, I enjoy that this way of writing is different than what I am used to, but it is very difficult to fix what I am accustomed to. With this paper I was first speaking about how crappy Tarquin was to Lucrece, but by “landing my helicopter” on the negatives of how lust dragged Tarquin to his fate, it has allowed me to focus on one idea that I find to be a major impact in the poem.

    Janaya M- ENG3215*4

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  94. Bumpy, Dr. Rich! My helicopter has been landing somewhat jarring and, like so many others, stated time after time, "before I took this class", blah-blah-blah! But it's true.

    Before I decided to commit to your course, "Shakespeare Survey," I've often felt that I "entered the Kármán Line of my helicopter," just "spinning my wheels" to write and submit the perfect paper. Please don't mistake me; it's not that I shouldn't present the ideal essay (literature piece). It is indeed the pressure I feel when attempting to bang out and fill up five pages or more in a timely fashion.

    I never seem to write without experiencing an overwhelming number of jitters to make sense out of this and that. Such as now in replying to the Blog posts. Always second, guessing the written details.

    It wasn't until you brought to the class, in the most comic illustration, about "landing the helicopter," that I embraced the notation to let go and land on "the solid ground below me" and allow my "chopper blades to rest."

    And before long, I will be happy to "hold (write) what I can": rhythm, sound, imagery, and pattern of words on a smooth landing.

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  95. Die. That's what I would do if tasked with landing an actual helicopter from space. Luckily I don’t have to land an actual helicopter. All my metaphorical helicopter landing is being done in my paper. When writing a paper you should definitely focus on one topic. It allows you to stay focused and prevents the paper from being stale. Trying to digest a whole Shakespeare play in only four to five pages is impossible. It’s undermining the true value it has. So if you are going to do Shakespeare you should do it right. Take your time with the material and don’t try to write about everything in the play. It’s quality over quantity. Instead of telling someone what’s going on on Earth. Tell them about the rich soil a specific state has in America. It may not be interesting but the information will be more digestible. Trying to touch on too many topics at one it like a tour guide speeding through the tour. The spectators don’t get to fully embrace what they are seeing and learning about. If you had to run to keep up with your tour guide you’d be tired and disinterested because you didn’t learn or see anything. Also no one told you you’d be running today so now you're sweaty in your good clothes.
    -Julio Velazquez

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  96. How will I land my helicopter? Honestly I dont know and my decision will have to be in the moment. Now relating it to any paper I write for this course how I will land my helicopter is based on the topic given to me by Dr.Rich. For our first assignment covering The Rape of Lucrece I landed my helicopter roughly but it landed smoothly. My paper was solely on 4 stanzas and explaining it as a whole was one challenge I will never expect to face as a emerging student actor. I was taught in highschool to digest shakespare as a whole and not only in 4 stanzas. This cause me to think outside the box. Also I was taught to generally explain the story and not really go into the story. In this class Dr.Rich tells us to dig in the story and the meaning will show. After this my love for Shakespeare grew and now I can see Shakespeare in many ways and in ways of depth in the text. As a student studying work that has been used for years you must take your time with it rather than do it quickly.

    Joe Menocal

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  97. When it comes to the idea of landing the helicopter, I find it can be quite hard to do depending on each situation. Sure, when writing a paper you want to land the helicopter as soon as possible. After all, it is easier to analyze and write about topics when you have more details to breakdown. As such, one needs to get down from space in order to see the finer details on the ground of the planet. Say all the positive things you want about space, but one cannot deny how hard it is to make out finer details when up so high. However, outside of academic or work related context, most people tend to prefer riding their helicopters in space. Although space is a terrifying place to be, Earth can be equally scary and as such many people prefer to exist in space. They may be just as powerless up there but at least have the illusion that they can hold the Earth in their hand. Whenever I hear about a horrible event like a shooting, I get tempted to just grab my helicopter and fly up there so I cannot hear or see anymore tragedy. Not being able to see any of the finer details of life from space may seem like a blessing considering ignorance is bliss. Not being able to perceive these tragedies do not make them go away so the best course is just to keep that helicopter grounded and to examine the details on the ground. Who knows, by being present on Earth and observing the details of problems, you may be the one to figure out a solution. Besides, living out in space can be just as dangerous anyway.

    Matthew Ponte

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  98. “Landing the Helicopter” When reading this post I felt envy. I always feel I never know what to say and how to say it. I speak a lot on always having so much in my head, just never having the means to release it. I am good at arguing when I need to be. I am clever but the pull to get me into that state is hard. I rather be invisible. I am seen when I need to be and people notice me but I don’t like it too much. Everyone always expects me to have an answer, most of the time. I feel clueless. When it comes to writing I want my options and I have a fear of repeating myself. I think that’s why it has always been hard to “land the helicopter”. Sometimes I think it is a bit of a focus thing, one thing or idea can never keep my interest long. I like to keep moving. I don’t like feeling stuck and writer's block makes me want to pull all my hair out. However, I do like the idea of landing the helicopter, having that drive to explore something so deeply, but that is a huge commitment. My fears come out in my work for sure and I do not want to disappoint.

    Alyssa Ortiz

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  99. I've heard the phrase "land the helicopter" several times in our Shakespeare Survey class. As a writer, I often find it difficult to go straight into what my paper should really be about. I find myself summarizing or adding unnecessary details because I feel as though it would make my essay more "interesting." Through your class, I have found that once I land the helicopter, my paper is immediately interesting without all of the extra details I force myself to add. Although I am still learning how to land the helicopter, I find it much easier now to get straight into my papers instead of hovering over what I truly wish to say!
    -
    Jessica DeLuca

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  100. The phrase '"landing the helicopter," has never been something I thought I would hear in a college class. The idea of using this term to find a way of really getting into my paper is something that I struggled with in the beginning. However, after the first classes workshop I found myself really relishing the text and cutting out all the unnecessary fluff that I would put to start. Now I have found it a lot easier to write my papers even in classes outside of Shakespeare Survey

    David Rivera, Jr.

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  101. This is one of the lessons that has been most appreciated during this class.

    I often struggle with a sense of completeness and perfection, and I feel that leaving out details and context paints an incomplete picture and I seem the inexperienced artist for it.

    But this idea, hand in hand with the idea of being deep instead of thorough has helped me let go of all else an focus on what is important. Say what I want to say isntead of everything there is to say.

    This lesson will help me be a better writer. No longer will I be paralyzed by a blank canvas upon which I must fit the whole world. Instead, I can settle for the smell of the beach, the sound of the waves, the heat of the sun, and the feel of the sand beneath my feet.

    I cannot step on the beach until the helicopter has landed.

    -Liam

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