Short response to "the Night Trucks"

I have to say that I can relate to "The Night Trucks", and that once again, it makes me think of my youth spent at my grandparent's farm, and how one particular memory comes to mind about the same sort of subject. A lot of things that we have read in this class makes me think of those days! My family's farm is not as large of scale of a farm as Kent Meyers' was, with our main emphasis being soybeans and corn, not so much livestock. But, we did have some, mostly consisting of cattle, swine, and a few chickens, just enough for the family and to occasionally sell meat to a few local friends. When I was about eight or nine years old, there was this one little piggy that I really loved. It was the runt of a litter of pigs born on Christmas day one year, with a black and white saddle back pattern and a long scar running down its back, and I named it Holly since it was born on Christmas. The spring and summer of that year I watched her grow up, finally catching up to the size of the rest, but still keeping her gentle nature, being especially nice and patient for a pig. I was the only one who could feed her, mostly since the other pigs would get to it all first since she was so passive. So, every day, I would take her out of the pen and give her her own scoop of food. But then, quite some time later, My uncle Scott came in with the routine bucket: the bucket filled with cheap beer and sliced bananas. I knew what that meant; it meant that the pigs, including Holly, were going to be fattened up to be sold or slaughtered. As a little kid, I was devastated. Holly was my friend, as weird as that sounds. I took care of her ever since she was born, and the day I saw them loaded into that rickety brown livestock trailer, I cried and sat in the house, unable to watch them drive my piggy away.

Mini Essay Inspired by "Street Haunting"

Old books have always fascinated me. They look interesting, with their yellowed pages and often frayed and faded binding. They even smell good to me, for if literature had a smell, that would be it. I remember going through my grandma’s attic as a kid, looking at all of these old books. I don’t remember the titles of any of them off the top of my head, none were any that I had ever heard of, but what I do remember and still have today is my desire to read each and every one of them. I want to unlock magical worlds trapped between the pages of those tattered and ignored volumes, worlds that my friends will most likely never enter unless they come across some old books too. This is why I love old books.

Response to Woolf Piece in Relation to Classmate's Essay.

First off, I would like to say that I was completely and thoroughly confused by these essays, especially the first one. I understood that she was writing about a walk through town and the different things that she saw, but the pencil thing baffled me. She brings up the pencil a lot, and I’m not quite sure what the hidden meaning behind that is and I feel like I should. This is difficult, so it probably won’t be correct, but if I had to relate a classmate’s essay from this workshop day to one of these Woolf essays I would have to say that Braden’s is closest simply because they both use vivid descriptions to talk about their surroundings.

Response to "January"

I really enjoyed “January” because I found this piece to be really relatable to me personally. From my experience and childhood years at the farm, I knew all of these uses for baling twine and more. We usually used the orange kind though, it was a little stronger and had uses of all sorts. It was great for tying down tarps, temporarily tying together fences, and even for hanging laundry on, if the laundry was light enough. I don't know much about horses, but I am very familiar with baling twine and on a farm, it is the thread of life, so I really enjoyed that reference in this piece.

Short essay inspired by "Muskgrass Chara"

My nose is cursed and I can thank my father. I always had a stronger sense of smell than most people; I could smell everything, the good, bad, and often, the worst. It was more of a curse than a blessing, but there were some occasions when I loved having my super sensitive nose. Like, when I’m in a flower shop or a bakery it is the best thing ever. Whenever I walk into Fluff on Court Street I can smell the cookies and cakes baking right down to the ingredients. Caramelized sugar will taunt me to buy a cookie, and the scent of cinnamon sends a delightful tingle to the tip of my nose, allowing me to experience the joys of sweet scent more than anyone else I know. When my nose becomes a curse however, is pretty much any other time. For example: when someone farts, when I pass a sewer, when there is rotten food in the fridge, my room last year when I had a roommate that didn’t shower, when I go to a gym, a heaping basket of dirty laundry, cat litter, smelly shoes. The list goes on and on. If I were to list all of them, you may fall asleep before you finish reading. However, one thing that I have always found useful about my strong nose is that I am able to tell when people are going to be sick, up to three days before they begin showing any symptoms. Sometimes, I can even smell when I am going to be sick. I can smell ashes on the breath of people who are carrying a virus, and I had no idea what that smell that I have sniffed all of my life was until my dad told me when I was about 12 years old. He is the only one I know who has the same talent, and he explained the whole thing to me. “It’s carbon dioxide, Alicia. People produce more of it when they are sick because they are fighting a virus. That’s what you smell.” So, basically, I can weird my friends out by letting them know that they will be sick in the near future. Those who are unaware of my curse think I am a basket case when I tell them, but then three days later when they are in bed coughing up a lung and not in class, they think that I am a witch who practices some sort of black magic. Nope. I’m just a girl with a really sensitive nose who decided to be nice and give her friends a heads-up.

"A Second Time" compared to Ryan's essay.

First, I must say that I had a tough time trying to relate one of the Short Takes pieces with a classmate’s essay today.  However, if any of them fit together, I would have to say that Ryan’s essay fits best with “A Second Time” by James Galvin. I say this because they were both about a time of hard work, and both pieces had great descriptions of the surroundings around them at the time. The subjects and the writing style of these two pieces are completely different, and while I can’t compare them by that, I can at least make a connection of the fact that both are based on different types of hard work.

2-13 Response

After reading the assignment as well as Camille's essay, I came to the conclusion that Planet Unflinching by Kelly Cherry was somewhat similar to what she wrote, and can work together. I say this because both Camille's essay and this piece both talk about childhood experiences and how they have an impact on their current lives. Both pieces also address struggles that one may face in their youth, and while they are very different types of struggles, they can still be related to one another. Also, both pieces span the narrator's entire youth, telling how their struggles changed as they grew older as well as stayed the same.

Response to "The Lantern Bearers"

In "The Lantern Bearers",  Robert Louis Stevenson turns the lantern that he used to carry under his overcoat into a metaphor about happiness as well as what people can do. He talks about how while some people let their lanterns shine and enjoy what they do with their lives, others keep it hidden and choose not to experience joy. Stevenson says on page 218 "we see them on the street, and we can count their buttons; but heaven knows in what they pride themselves! Heaven knows were they have set their treasure!" and on page 220 "for to miss the joy is to miss all" and "To one who has not the secret of the lanterns, the scene upon the links is meaningless." I really like what Stevenson says here. These quotes show that if you keep your lantern covered up, you miss out on the joy in life.  So, Stevenson is saying here that you should not be ashamed of what makes you happy, but rather should let your lantern shine so everyone can see your happiness! At least, that is what I got out of this.

Things I Am Not Fond Of.

Here is the list of things that I dislike/hate. (in no particular order)

1. Spiders
2. People who act stupid because they think that it is cute.
3. Winter/cold weather (except at Christmastime)
4. Those couples in high school (and I've encountered a few in college) that walk super slow while stretching out their holding hands across the ENTIRE hallway when all you are trying to do is get to class.
5. Fighting/war
6. Ferrets (I wouldn't really say that I hate them, they just really creep me out)
7. Beef stew
8. Roller coasters/any kind of extreme theme park ride
9. When super political/super religious people (from any/all political affiliations/religions) force their beliefs by harassing everyone else and have no respect for the beliefs of those different than them.
10. South Park and how it is responsible for the popular "kick a ginger day". That whole show has got to go, says the kicked ginger.
11. When people who have known me for years still mispronounce my name. At first, I don't mind if you call me Alisha, it's totally cool. But if you have known me for a year or more, I expect for my name to pronounced correctly. it is pronounced A-lee-sha dang it!
12. Did I mention spiders?