"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?

Response to "September"

While this was a very short piece, I really found it to be quite emotional. First of all, I am a lover of cats, so I found the fact that it was a dead cat to be very sad. However, I found the descriptions of the cat and what it may have been doing when it died gives the reader a great visual scene. I also really like how Purpura describes the earth as "home" for the cat, as well as describing the cat by its "simplest components", which I also found to be an interesting addition to this short essay. 

1-28-14 Writing Assignment

I'm somewhere in between. Where do I belong? I certainly don't belong in Blanchester anymore, that's for sure. When I left home for college last year, it's like the whole world had opened up. No, literally, the whole world as I knew it has opened up. As soon as I set foot on campus, I had experienced a whirlwind of things that were new to me. People of all backgrounds, some from different states, others from different countries. I had encountered people of many different races, religions, sexualities, and political views within the first hour at OU. These were very interesting things for me, since where I grew up nearly everyone was white, Christian, conservative, and straight. If you didn't meet this criteria for social survival in farm town America, you didn't dare talk about it in Blan. And hearing different languages spoken there? Forget it. Here, I hear people speaking Chinese, Spanish, and even Arabic on a regular basis. I have no idea what they are saying, but it is interesting to hear nonetheless.
It was experiences like this that made me realize that the next time I went home that my mind had grown beyond the confines of that Blanchester birdcage where I was never able to fly. I hear my old friends from high school who stayed in town talk about hings that just aren't relevant to my life anymore, and every time I was bored by the end of the conversation. I have people ask me "Aren't you glad to be home?" and I must answer them truthfully, "no, not really." I had outgrown my hometown. I had been surrounded by closed-minded people my entire life, and while I thought that I didn't have much in common with them back then, I certainly knew that for sure now. Do I love my hometown? Of course I do. It's where I was raised, and I have fond memories of everything from jumping on top of hay bales at my grandparents' farm to marching halftime shows at the football games. However, it is not where I belong. It never really was, and it is not now. But where in the world do I belong? Is it Athens? Is it New York, Los Angeles? Cincinnati, Chicago, Kansas City? I don't know. Maybe it's not even in this country, and I belong some place like London, Paris, or Rome. I don't know where I may belong in the future, but for now, I know one thing is for sure. I belong right here.
             

Response to "Those Who Stay and Those Who Go"

In “Those Who Stay and Those Who Go”, Ann Daum talks about her life in a small country town, and does so using some interesting techniques. First, I would like to say that this piece was great, because I really felt like I could relate to it. While I am not from South Dakota, I know what it is like to feel like you have outgrown my hometown as well as the concept of “those who stay and those who go”, which is prevalent in my small hometown in Ohio as well.  With the exception of the special details of her life, it almost sounds like I could have written this, I kid you not. The specific writing choice that Daum uses that I would like to talk about is her use of short, staccato sentences. This short separatedness has an impact of the way the story is told because it enhances the difference that time and distance has on a person’s mind as well as their relationships. For example, “Clouds moving across the sun. The grass that holds the prairie dirt. Thirsty roots sunk deep.”