One of the only parts of this book that I can relate to is the various parts where Bernard talks about his brother's disease and his brothers death. Although I have never had to deal with losing a sibling or going through a life threatening disease with my brother, I know what it's like to lose someone that you're close to.
On pg. 101 it says "It rained the evening my brother died. As we drove home from the hospital, another city was reflected in the pavement." I liked that passage because it helps paint a picture in your head. You can see the sadness that was felt within the family for their loss through the weather. I'm sure many people can relate to that. It always seems like the sad days like that are when the weather is depressing...or at least that's how it has been with my experience.
Another passage that I really liked was on pg 123. "Home from B.J.'s, Gary complained of a pain in his chest. Martin and my mother tended him til midnight. I sat with my father and Anna in the living room. To spare me from worry, they spoke in euphemisms, but I knew the passing, the peace, the rest they mentioned was a frightful and final thing. For a year now, all references to death had been banished from the family's conversation , and phrases which had once been common...." I liked this passage because I can also relate to it. When times got tough with my grandpa, and even know with things getting tough my with grandma, my family shut out all talks about death and sickness because they didn't want everyone to know how bad it all really is. I feel like that's a typical reaction for people when they realize it's getting close to the end.
The parts of the book where it talked about the brother's illness and his death, was one of the only parts I was able to be interested in and relate to. I feel like many people are able to relate to that part of the book as well and that helps people stay interested in the story they are reading.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Mint Snowball
Out of all of the essays we've read so far, the one that I enjoyed the most is "Mint Snowball." I like that it's an essay based on one of the things that this person remembers their great-grandfather by. Coming from someone who has lost their grandfather, it's nice to have something to remember them by; although my memory is that he just sat in front of the tv for as long as I can remember and it was a big deal if he allowed you to change the channel or sit in his chair.
In the second paragraph of this story, the author gives a nice description of what that Mint Snowball is and how it's made. It starts with "First, he stirred fresh mint leaves with sugar and secret ingredients in a small pot...." and it continues to the bottom of the page on page 94. I like how much description the author uses because even if you didn't really take the time to look at this essay in great detail or if you only read that much of the story, you have an idea of what they are talking about. You can picture it all in your mind because of that description.
I also like how on pg 95 it talks about how her great-grandfather sold the recipe to someone in town instead of passing down the recipe in their family. She talked about how her grandfather's feelings were hurt and how her mother has tried to recreate it and came close once but lost the paper she wrote the ingredients down on. I liked this part of the story as well because it showed how much the family really enjoyed the Mint Snowballs that their great-grandfather created because they kept trying to recreate it and they were hurt that he didn't pass it down. I can think of recipes that my mom talks about that she wishes would've been shared with her by people in her family, so I can relate to this story.
In the second paragraph of this story, the author gives a nice description of what that Mint Snowball is and how it's made. It starts with "First, he stirred fresh mint leaves with sugar and secret ingredients in a small pot...." and it continues to the bottom of the page on page 94. I like how much description the author uses because even if you didn't really take the time to look at this essay in great detail or if you only read that much of the story, you have an idea of what they are talking about. You can picture it all in your mind because of that description.
I also like how on pg 95 it talks about how her great-grandfather sold the recipe to someone in town instead of passing down the recipe in their family. She talked about how her grandfather's feelings were hurt and how her mother has tried to recreate it and came close once but lost the paper she wrote the ingredients down on. I liked this part of the story as well because it showed how much the family really enjoyed the Mint Snowballs that their great-grandfather created because they kept trying to recreate it and they were hurt that he didn't pass it down. I can think of recipes that my mom talks about that she wishes would've been shared with her by people in her family, so I can relate to this story.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Goldberg Packet
So, as I read through this packet, I started to wonder if my writing sucks because I don't take the time to do the stuff Goldberg suggests doing to help you with your writing. I have never in my life had to write stories before. Well, maybe back when I was in elementary school. But all throughout middle school and high school, and even the two semesters of college I had already previously taken, I never wrote any stories. I always had to write papers to inform people or persuade people or something like that. So it seems like, for me, I may be able to come up with a semi decent story in my head but when I put it down on paper, it truly just sucks.
One thing that Goldberg mentioned that I never take the time to do is to try something unusual to help you get ideas to write. The example given was if you're a nonsmoker, just stick a cigarette in your mouth (even if it's not lit). It was said that when you do this it's a way to pretty much get your creative juices flowing because you're almost put into a different character. I don't think it was meant as you specifically have to try that one example, but you just have to do something different in order to help you with your writing. For me, I never do anything different. Most times I'm sitting in my pjs with my laptop on my bed or at my desk and I just look at what it is I'm supposed to write and I just start attempting to write from there. I do that every time. So maybe if I do change up my writing process, maybe...just maybe, I'll have some better luck with writing and being creative.
Another thing that was mentioned that I never take the time to do is to wait a while before I read what I wrote. Goldberg says to do this because time allows for distance and objectivity. For me, when I write, I'm trying to fit it in during the busy life of a college student who works pretty much full time and goes to school full time.....so..... I write whatever it is I have to write and try to go back afterwards and edit it without allowing any real time in between. Maybe on occasion there is a day break or so between my writing and reading of my writing, but that doesn't happen very often.
Overall, Goldberg did give me different ideas of what I could try to do to help me with my writing, but for now...those two that I mentioned seem like the ones that I'll most likely have the time to try. I suppose that we'll see how it goes and hopefully my writing will improve.
One thing that Goldberg mentioned that I never take the time to do is to try something unusual to help you get ideas to write. The example given was if you're a nonsmoker, just stick a cigarette in your mouth (even if it's not lit). It was said that when you do this it's a way to pretty much get your creative juices flowing because you're almost put into a different character. I don't think it was meant as you specifically have to try that one example, but you just have to do something different in order to help you with your writing. For me, I never do anything different. Most times I'm sitting in my pjs with my laptop on my bed or at my desk and I just look at what it is I'm supposed to write and I just start attempting to write from there. I do that every time. So maybe if I do change up my writing process, maybe...just maybe, I'll have some better luck with writing and being creative.
Another thing that was mentioned that I never take the time to do is to wait a while before I read what I wrote. Goldberg says to do this because time allows for distance and objectivity. For me, when I write, I'm trying to fit it in during the busy life of a college student who works pretty much full time and goes to school full time.....so..... I write whatever it is I have to write and try to go back afterwards and edit it without allowing any real time in between. Maybe on occasion there is a day break or so between my writing and reading of my writing, but that doesn't happen very often.
Overall, Goldberg did give me different ideas of what I could try to do to help me with my writing, but for now...those two that I mentioned seem like the ones that I'll most likely have the time to try. I suppose that we'll see how it goes and hopefully my writing will improve.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
fiction packet 3
Okay so since this is finally letting me post it....here's what I thought about fiction packet 3. First off, it's really strange. The stories I mean. They weren't what I expected at all.
So since we already had class Tuesday and my blog wouldn't let me post until now....I'll do post about what I thought about the stories and also a little bit of what my group talked about.
The story I chose to really look at, and also my group chose to look at was "When It Rains Its Rains A River." The first thing I noticed was that there was a sense of rhythm to the story. It kind of reminded me of a poem. The second thing that I noticed was that there was a lot of repetition throughout the story. The words that I noticed that were repeated a lot were "Us Brothers," "mud," "rain," "fish," and also "Girl." There were a few other words but those were the main ones. This short story kind of reminded me of a poem more than a short story because of all the repetition.
Next, there were a few passages that really made me think. My group had also talked about theses passages. The first one is "When the rain stops drumming down, us brothers, we drop down onto our hands and knees, down in mud, and we begin to eat. We eat until our bellies are big with mud." I found that passage to be really interesting. You could take it one of two ways. First, I took it as the literal meaning that they were actually eating mud. Which really grossed me out and I was like why would someone write about this?? Then, my group pointed out that you could take it as a metaphor because mud is essentially dirt which is the building block for life itself.
Another passage that I found to be interesting was "When we dive inside each f these moons, each moon shatters into a billion pieces. Each chunk becomes a star." I found that to be interesting because it makes me think of relationships. My group also talked about this and we talked about how it's a way of explaining that sometimes in a relationship you an dive right in or be deep and really committed in a relationship and still you will get your heart broken.
One other passage we looked at and discussed, and even I sat there and thought about before lass on Tuesday, was "Watch us borthers reach out to these buring fish fires with our hands mittened with mud. We stick our hands, unfisted, into this fire." I found that to be interesting because it's like when you reach out for help. If you are seen with closed fists it's like you're closed off and don't want to reieve help. But, if you reach out with an open hand, it shows that you're open to receiving help.
So since we already had class Tuesday and my blog wouldn't let me post until now....I'll do post about what I thought about the stories and also a little bit of what my group talked about.
The story I chose to really look at, and also my group chose to look at was "When It Rains Its Rains A River." The first thing I noticed was that there was a sense of rhythm to the story. It kind of reminded me of a poem. The second thing that I noticed was that there was a lot of repetition throughout the story. The words that I noticed that were repeated a lot were "Us Brothers," "mud," "rain," "fish," and also "Girl." There were a few other words but those were the main ones. This short story kind of reminded me of a poem more than a short story because of all the repetition.
Next, there were a few passages that really made me think. My group had also talked about theses passages. The first one is "When the rain stops drumming down, us brothers, we drop down onto our hands and knees, down in mud, and we begin to eat. We eat until our bellies are big with mud." I found that passage to be really interesting. You could take it one of two ways. First, I took it as the literal meaning that they were actually eating mud. Which really grossed me out and I was like why would someone write about this?? Then, my group pointed out that you could take it as a metaphor because mud is essentially dirt which is the building block for life itself.
Another passage that I found to be interesting was "When we dive inside each f these moons, each moon shatters into a billion pieces. Each chunk becomes a star." I found that to be interesting because it makes me think of relationships. My group also talked about this and we talked about how it's a way of explaining that sometimes in a relationship you an dive right in or be deep and really committed in a relationship and still you will get your heart broken.
One other passage we looked at and discussed, and even I sat there and thought about before lass on Tuesday, was "Watch us borthers reach out to these buring fish fires with our hands mittened with mud. We stick our hands, unfisted, into this fire." I found that to be interesting because it's like when you reach out for help. If you are seen with closed fists it's like you're closed off and don't want to reieve help. But, if you reach out with an open hand, it shows that you're open to receiving help.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Fiction Post: Juice
When I first picked up this book I was actually excited to start reading it. I have enjoyed most the fiction stories as is in this class. I thought I'd finally be able to comprehend a story instead of feeling like the words were just going in one ear and out the other. Well, I clearly was mistaken about that. This book confuses me like no other.
For instance, all throughout this book it talks about a crisis or whatever that happened so now there is no one left in the city. What exactly is this crisis? I'm almost done with the book, maybe have like 5 or 6 pages left, and I still have no idea what this crisis is. The person in the book, I'm unsure whether it's a boy or girl, talks about (on pg 13) about how when they eat they hope that the towns people will return. They don't care if they return and are happy or angry because they just want the townspeople back. But what does it matter if you eat the food that's there? The townspeople are gone so they clearly aren't going to be eating it.
Overall the book does display a theme of loneliness. This person in the book left the town they grew up in, for whatever reason I'm still unsure of, and ended up coming back to find that there is no one in that town anymore. The thing I really don't understand is the importance of the signs that are being talked about. It's obvious that this person isn't to their hometown yet because there are people are that they can talk to and look at the signs with, but I don't understand why the signs are so important. On pg 39, it talks about how "the feelings that anchored me the other day to the sign, Slow to Bridge, were not feelings as much as they were remembrances." Are the signs just a way for this person to connect with their sister that makes the signs? Like a way to remember her? I honestly have no clue.
Well, I'm pretty confused on this book overall. Almost as confused as I was all throughout the time that we were learning about poetry and reading it. I miss the days where books seemed to make sense to me....short stories too. Oh well.
For instance, all throughout this book it talks about a crisis or whatever that happened so now there is no one left in the city. What exactly is this crisis? I'm almost done with the book, maybe have like 5 or 6 pages left, and I still have no idea what this crisis is. The person in the book, I'm unsure whether it's a boy or girl, talks about (on pg 13) about how when they eat they hope that the towns people will return. They don't care if they return and are happy or angry because they just want the townspeople back. But what does it matter if you eat the food that's there? The townspeople are gone so they clearly aren't going to be eating it.
Overall the book does display a theme of loneliness. This person in the book left the town they grew up in, for whatever reason I'm still unsure of, and ended up coming back to find that there is no one in that town anymore. The thing I really don't understand is the importance of the signs that are being talked about. It's obvious that this person isn't to their hometown yet because there are people are that they can talk to and look at the signs with, but I don't understand why the signs are so important. On pg 39, it talks about how "the feelings that anchored me the other day to the sign, Slow to Bridge, were not feelings as much as they were remembrances." Are the signs just a way for this person to connect with their sister that makes the signs? Like a way to remember her? I honestly have no clue.
Well, I'm pretty confused on this book overall. Almost as confused as I was all throughout the time that we were learning about poetry and reading it. I miss the days where books seemed to make sense to me....short stories too. Oh well.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Microficiton
So far I like fiction writing soooooo much more than poetry. My favorite story so far has to be Internal. I like how when you read it there are two different possibilities that run through your mind. The first one is that there is only one intern and they are sent on 2 different assignments. But then when you really look into the details you can see that there are 2 interns. I like that it makes you have to think about the reading but at the same time the concept isn't too far fetched to where you can't understand it. I can understand this so much easier than poetry, even though I still do struggle with fiction sometimes.
I like that on pg 68-69 of the reading the second intern thinks about the possibility that Kagen's brother could possibly be writing about him. I think that in this short story this was the first time that the intern really does think about the possibility that he is being watched too. On pg 69 I also found it interesting that he copied a page of notes onto a sheet of paper and gave it to Kagen's brother. I still don't really get why he'd do that since I thought that the intent was to not let the brother know that he is being watched. That seems like a pretty hard thing to do though considering there are holes in the wall that are pretty clear from both sides so each person knows they are being watched.
We had discussed this in class on Thursday but I still find this one part really interesting. On pg 70 it says "There, through the pen's casing: eight last dim drops of ink. Soon I will only have blank pages as well." When we talked about it we had discussed how it represents his sanity. So when the intern runs out of "ink" really he will have lost his sanity. I think that it's really interesting to represent your sanity by the amount of ink you have left. When you read it you don't necessarily think about it meaning someone is going to lose their sanity but when you really think about it and what it means you end up figuring out that that's what it represents. I thought it was a really good way of using description and it represented the use of microfiction.
I like that on pg 68-69 of the reading the second intern thinks about the possibility that Kagen's brother could possibly be writing about him. I think that in this short story this was the first time that the intern really does think about the possibility that he is being watched too. On pg 69 I also found it interesting that he copied a page of notes onto a sheet of paper and gave it to Kagen's brother. I still don't really get why he'd do that since I thought that the intent was to not let the brother know that he is being watched. That seems like a pretty hard thing to do though considering there are holes in the wall that are pretty clear from both sides so each person knows they are being watched.
We had discussed this in class on Thursday but I still find this one part really interesting. On pg 70 it says "There, through the pen's casing: eight last dim drops of ink. Soon I will only have blank pages as well." When we talked about it we had discussed how it represents his sanity. So when the intern runs out of "ink" really he will have lost his sanity. I think that it's really interesting to represent your sanity by the amount of ink you have left. When you read it you don't necessarily think about it meaning someone is going to lose their sanity but when you really think about it and what it means you end up figuring out that that's what it represents. I thought it was a really good way of using description and it represented the use of microfiction.
Friday, October 11, 2013
Fiction Packet #2: Internal
One of the stories in the fiction packet that really caught my attention was the first story called Internal. This was by Brian Evensan fro Contagion. I thought it was interesting to read for a couple reasons.
First off, it was a story about a guy who was given the job to pretty much spy on one of the doctor's brothers. It was interesting to me because he didn't know much about this doctor as is and then he was given the task to spy on a the guy's brother whom he didn't know much about either. It was strange that when the guy went to go spy on the brother, he wasn't given much instruction. He had no idea which apartment out of the two the brother lived in or what he looked at. He went into this not knowing much. If it was me, I don't think I'd be very comfortable with that. The fact that all the apartments had pretty much nothing in it was interesting to me too,
The second reason this story interested me was because of how the guy who was doing the spying seemed to have gone crazy while he was on his assignment. When he finally did find the brother to spy on, the brother almost seemed to be observing the original observer. With how the guy reacts, it seems as though he is going crazy. Especially with how he sees an eye in one of the holes in the wall and now he wants to make sure that he isn't able to be observed. He sleeps next to the holes and even thinks of a way to make sure that the brother isn't able to observe him; such as poking his eye with a pen (but the brother might do the same thing back to him so he decides not to).
Overall this story sort of humored me. I thought it was interesting how this guy seemed to lose his sense of self and start to become crazy and paranoid during his observation. I do wonder, though, if the brother was really sent there to observe the guy who thought he was sent there to observe the brother. Confusing, I know. But it makes me wonder what the true intent was for this whole observation process.
First off, it was a story about a guy who was given the job to pretty much spy on one of the doctor's brothers. It was interesting to me because he didn't know much about this doctor as is and then he was given the task to spy on a the guy's brother whom he didn't know much about either. It was strange that when the guy went to go spy on the brother, he wasn't given much instruction. He had no idea which apartment out of the two the brother lived in or what he looked at. He went into this not knowing much. If it was me, I don't think I'd be very comfortable with that. The fact that all the apartments had pretty much nothing in it was interesting to me too,
The second reason this story interested me was because of how the guy who was doing the spying seemed to have gone crazy while he was on his assignment. When he finally did find the brother to spy on, the brother almost seemed to be observing the original observer. With how the guy reacts, it seems as though he is going crazy. Especially with how he sees an eye in one of the holes in the wall and now he wants to make sure that he isn't able to be observed. He sleeps next to the holes and even thinks of a way to make sure that the brother isn't able to observe him; such as poking his eye with a pen (but the brother might do the same thing back to him so he decides not to).
Overall this story sort of humored me. I thought it was interesting how this guy seemed to lose his sense of self and start to become crazy and paranoid during his observation. I do wonder, though, if the brother was really sent there to observe the guy who thought he was sent there to observe the brother. Confusing, I know. But it makes me wonder what the true intent was for this whole observation process.
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