Centerfield
John Fogerty - 1985
Put me in, coach! There was just no other option for a song to start this portfolio with. For a few years now, Centerfield by John Fogerty has been my certified pump-up song- I listen to it before exams, presentations, or whenever I need a mood boost.
The title track of Fogerty's solo album is one of the most famous baseball anthems out there. Growing up in Berkeley, California, he did not have a home Major League Baseball team to root for; the West Coast didn't have any teams until the Dodgers and the Giants relocated to California in 1958, and Fogerty was born in 1945. The closest thing he had was the New York Yankees' centerfielder, Joe DiMaggio, who hailed from San Francisco. The artist recalls watching a struggling team on the television and frustratedly imagining himself as a rookie sitting on the bench, telling the coach to put him in. With "Centerfield," Fogerty combines rock-and-roll with America's favorite pastime as a nod to his childhood and sustained passion for the sport.
Where Fogerty has baseball, I have music. In every corner of my being, you can find the influence of my local music scene- who I've met through it, what I've learned because of it. Music permeates my writing, no matter the modality. As much as this portfolio is a reflection on my growth over this Foundations Writing course, it is also an examination of how I see the world through the lens of the music I love.
Well, I beat the drum and hold the phone
The sun came out today
We're born again, there's new grass on the field
A-roundin' third and headed for home
It's a brown-eyed handsome man
Anyone can understand the way I feel
Oh, put me in, coach
I'm ready to play today
Put me in, coach
I'm ready to play today
Look at me, I can be centerfield
Well, I spent some time in the Mudville Nine
Watching it from the bench
You know I took some lumps
When the Mighty Casey struck out
So say, "Hey Willie, tell Ty Cobb and Joe DiMaggio"
Don't say it ain't so, you know the time is now
Oh, put me in, coach
I'm ready to play today
Put me in, coach
I'm ready to play today
Look at me, I can be centerfield
You got a beat up glove, a homemade bat
And a brand new pair of shoes
You know I think it's time to give this game a ride
Just to hit the ball and touch 'em all, a moment in the sun
It's a-gone and you can tell that one goodbye
Oh, put me in, coach
I'm ready to play today
Put me in, coach
I'm ready to play today
Look at me, I can be centerfield (yeah)
Oh, put me in, coach
I'm ready to play today
Put me in, coach
I'm ready to play today
Look at me, gotta be centerfield
My Writing Environment
This is my favorite writing spot, and my favorite study spot in general. Scented Leaf Tea House, apart from having great tea, has a warm, cozy atmosphere that helps me focus. At the bottom left corner is my drink of choice: a large Fruit Gusher (berry lemonade mixed with sweet hibiscus tea), made with the house black tea on tap, medium sweet. I've never been much of a coffee drinker, I always thought it tasted like motor oil. The closest I'll get is an iced mocha, and even then, I can't help but think I'd be enjoying myself more if I was drinking an iced tea instead. I focus best at Scented Leaf because it's an environment that fits my needs. I get distracted when it's too quiet and overwhelmed when it's too loud, but the calm chatter and quiet music is just enough to keep me grounded. I don't drink coffee, but the place specializes in iced tea. As such, this place acts as a microcosm of the importance of listening to yourself without judgment, instead of trying to change your wants and needs to what you think you should be liking, enjoying, or doing.
Opening Write #2 (9/2/25)
Static Setting and Place as Character
Choose a place where you have to look beyond physical features. Try to describe the mapping of the place. How do you get to your place? What do you see? Hear? Smell? Think of in flashback or other memories? And what can you physically touch?
In a particularly run-down part of Van Nuys, California, there’s a small rehearsal studio across from a gas station and a fenced-in field of brown grass. It’s called Sound Studios, and I’ve never seen it in daylight. The road leading up to it is out of the way, full of potholes, and if you don’t know where to go you’ll surely miss it. There’s a parking lot in front of it, space for about thirty cars, weeds crawling up from the cracks in the blacktop. The lines to separate the parking spaces are faded and long-forgotten. There’s a graffitied bulldozer outside, and more often than not there will be a few kids smoking a joint in the driver’s seat. A crooked ramp leads up to the front door. When you open it, you’re hit with a flood of music coming from a back room. Pay five dollars and go down the hallway, past the vending machines, and to the left, and you’ll find a rickety stage. It smells like cheap perfume, cigarette smoke, and a little like piss. A band is playing atop the stage, and what the lead singer lacks in vocal training she makes up for enthusiasm; she moves across the platform with gravity. It’s so intimate that you can feel the puffs of air from the drums. Purple and red lights illuminate the stage, flickering every few minutes. A few guys are surrounding the old, battered amp, keeping it running off of sheer willpower and a cable from 2009. It is one of my favorite places in the world.
Opening Writes
Course Goal #1
Over this Foundations Writing Course, we completed 20 opening writes. The content of these varied depending on the unit and the outcome we were focusing on at the time, but there were also some things that stayed constant throughout the semester. Through reflecting on my opening writes, I have gained the insight that I have a distinct style of writing. I like my adjectives and commas, and I also like to include personal anecdotes of experiences or interactions that were important to me. The two things I talk about the most frequently and deeply are the music scene and how other people perceive me. I talk about having ADHD, scare acting, and living in California a lot too. I also have a few punchy, concise but hard-hitting sentences that stand out to me, such as “I know people doing worse who come from better situations” from Opening Write #10. An opening write is meant to warm you up for that day's writing, reflection, and analysis. We aren't given much time to work on each opening write, so there's not much time to overthink. Near the end of the semester, I went back and finished some of the opening writes I hadn't quite completed, even if I knew what I wanted to say at the time. The effect of this is that by the end of the semester, you have twenty authentic pieces of writing to look back on that represent how you instinctively process and communicate information. Personally, I have a few shiny topics that are closer to the forefront of my mind. This is accurately reflected in my opening writes; I often would adopt different prompts on different days and answer them with the same broad topic, like music. For example, Opening Write #2 (attached above) took place very early on in the semester. It asked us to describe a place where you must look beyond physical features to see it as a character, a living, breathing organism. My love for music, and my previous experience with the music I've met, allows me to draw meaning from the most decrepit and unassuming of places.