[Note: This post analyzes three stories: "Book War," "Bookless in Biak," and "Disclaimer" (Short Takes)]
"Nor did I even need to open this book. Simply the knowledge that it's there, waiting to be opened, is enough." ("Bookless in Biak," pg. 170).
This passage is why I chose these three stories. "Book War," "Bookless in Biak," and "Disclaimer" all are stories about the passion to read and share stories - even if they're forbidden, even if they won't be read, even if there isn't a happy ending.
In "Book War" I found myself confused at first becasue the fairytales described were ones that Disney re-vamped and shaped my childhood. The way in which Ping talks about these stories and how much they meant and just how "classic" the stories were at the time, and are now. I love that in the end, the "war is won" becasue to tell a story doesn't mean you have to write it down, or that it has to be on paper. Ping describes this by saying, "...the stories became alive from the inside. They flapped their wings and flew out of my mouth like morning doves" (pg. 168).
"Bookless in Biak" was the story I related to the most. It was written in a tone of confusion and frustration. Why would the airport ask Millman to give up his book? To him, it was the most valuable thing to have. Even if he wasn't to read it - at least the words were there to explore if he wanted to. In the end he claims he wouldn't have had time to read anyways, but that wouldn't have stopped him from carrying around his most prized possession: a book.
"Disclaimer" was an interesting story. At first, I thought I was reading a string of run-on thought processes. The more I peeled back the layers, I realized - Carlson was describing a story that he wishes were true, like those fictional ones in fairytales. I enjoyed that he "broke the fourth wall" of telling his thoughts to say sorry to his readers. His story is about love gone wrong, which almost everyone can understand. The most powerful line for me was the last: "If you want the coincidence where some character based on me gets the amazing girl back and has his heart start again after so many years, you're going to have to look in a book" (pg. 175). An amazing point to make, as we are physically reading his story out of a book.
Overall, what I learned form these three stories from Short Takes is that creative non-fiction stories don't give the obvious ending. They might reflect on someone's life and they might be overly exaggerated. Some have bigger meanings and some are just there to tell us "This is what I did, and this is how it happened." Stories are told for the sake of sharing, and non-fiction cannot be held accountable for a happy ending, becasue that's not always how life works. Regardless, we should all share these stories, if not for ourselves - to inspire others.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Annotation of Against Jo de Viore
There were many lines/passages that jumped out at me in "Against Jo de Viore" (APE). Here are the ones I chose to annotate:
1.) "She wanted to seduce me, like a stranger on a plane. But I was too easy, so we ended up seducing others. Then we turned back to each other and with one last desperate attempt, before our marriage fell to pieces..." (pg. 729)
- Throughout this entire class, I said "show me, don't tell me," and that is exactly what Phillip Lopate does here. He could flat-out say that their marriage didn't last becasue they slept with other people and didn't desire each other the same. Instead, he gives us visions and - sometimes uncomfortable - scenarios to describe a delicate topic. This is something I understood and enjoyed.
2.) "It's odd, because there seems to be a contradiction between the curmudgeonly feeling inside me and my periodically strong appetite for life." (pg. 723)
- I found this to be a very interesting line. Curmudgeon is defined as "a person (especially an old man) who is easily annoyed or angered and who often complains."I found this funny, as just becasue someone complains about life and the changes and as Lopote says, "social injustices" - it doesn't mean there isn't a reason to still live life fully. Lopote does a great job of capturing his mixed-upedness and it's something to admire.
3.) "For a moment all become quiet, except for the sounds of eating. This corresponds to the part in a church that calls for a silent prayer." (pg. 721)
- These lines come after a passage describing the dinner party Lopote is at and the people he meets. He talks about how they marvel over the food and who made what and how the entirety of the conversation is around the food. He's saying that the dinner party seems very serious by the way it's exaggerated. And he hates it. This is a hilarious way to describe it.
4.) "It is interesting that society's two most powerless groups, children and the elderly, have both been made into sentimental symbols." (pg. 719)
- I never really have been brought to this conclusion before the line in this passage about the elderly. While I'm aware that both of these groups are socially looked at as "fragile" and "little babies" or "little old folk," it never fully occurred to me that they held such contrast but overlap to each other. This is another thing Lopote does well. He makes his readers stop reading to think Oh, that is true...hmm and then move on with this new light shed on a subject forever.
5.) "I don't really know what I am waiting for. I know only that until I have gained what I want form this life, my expressions of gratitude and joy will be restricted to variations of a hunter's alertness. I give thanks to a nip in the air that clarifies the scent. But I think it's hypocritical to pretend satisfaction while I am still hungry." (pg. 731).
- This is my favorite phrase in the whole story. Lopote does an excellent job of wrapping up his overall topic of being against the phrase joie de vivre (the knack of knowing how to live). I identify the most with the last sentence in this phrase, as I myself see no reason to proclaim myself happy/satisfied with something that I truly want to get more out of. Lopote gives a great metaphor here with the hunter's alertness - and I think it's a great ending to his story.
1.) "She wanted to seduce me, like a stranger on a plane. But I was too easy, so we ended up seducing others. Then we turned back to each other and with one last desperate attempt, before our marriage fell to pieces..." (pg. 729)
- Throughout this entire class, I said "show me, don't tell me," and that is exactly what Phillip Lopate does here. He could flat-out say that their marriage didn't last becasue they slept with other people and didn't desire each other the same. Instead, he gives us visions and - sometimes uncomfortable - scenarios to describe a delicate topic. This is something I understood and enjoyed.
2.) "It's odd, because there seems to be a contradiction between the curmudgeonly feeling inside me and my periodically strong appetite for life." (pg. 723)
- I found this to be a very interesting line. Curmudgeon is defined as "a person (especially an old man) who is easily annoyed or angered and who often complains."I found this funny, as just becasue someone complains about life and the changes and as Lopote says, "social injustices" - it doesn't mean there isn't a reason to still live life fully. Lopote does a great job of capturing his mixed-upedness and it's something to admire.
3.) "For a moment all become quiet, except for the sounds of eating. This corresponds to the part in a church that calls for a silent prayer." (pg. 721)
- These lines come after a passage describing the dinner party Lopote is at and the people he meets. He talks about how they marvel over the food and who made what and how the entirety of the conversation is around the food. He's saying that the dinner party seems very serious by the way it's exaggerated. And he hates it. This is a hilarious way to describe it.
4.) "It is interesting that society's two most powerless groups, children and the elderly, have both been made into sentimental symbols." (pg. 719)
- I never really have been brought to this conclusion before the line in this passage about the elderly. While I'm aware that both of these groups are socially looked at as "fragile" and "little babies" or "little old folk," it never fully occurred to me that they held such contrast but overlap to each other. This is another thing Lopote does well. He makes his readers stop reading to think Oh, that is true...hmm and then move on with this new light shed on a subject forever.
5.) "I don't really know what I am waiting for. I know only that until I have gained what I want form this life, my expressions of gratitude and joy will be restricted to variations of a hunter's alertness. I give thanks to a nip in the air that clarifies the scent. But I think it's hypocritical to pretend satisfaction while I am still hungry." (pg. 731).
- This is my favorite phrase in the whole story. Lopote does an excellent job of wrapping up his overall topic of being against the phrase joie de vivre (the knack of knowing how to live). I identify the most with the last sentence in this phrase, as I myself see no reason to proclaim myself happy/satisfied with something that I truly want to get more out of. Lopote gives a great metaphor here with the hunter's alertness - and I think it's a great ending to his story.
Once More for the Thrills
[Note: This piece was inspired by "Once More to the Lake" (APE).]
When you're eight years old standing in front of a tall, wooden contraption with dips and turns and dark tunnels that plummets a cart full of people through the woods…you might be a little scared. If you could hear the screams of people echoing or the screeching of the animal noises being played over the speakers in line…you might be nervous. If you could read the signs that said, “No one escapes The Beast” with makeshift claw marks though the material…you might be suspicious. That day, I was none of those things.
In my experience, even at such a young age, my dad had always been right. If he said rollercosters were awesome, I believed him. And if he said the brown, rickety pole wouldn't snap, I believed him. If he said the torn up, orange latch that barely grazed my jean shorts would keep me locked in, I believed him. If he said that once we got over the first hill I would never want the ride to end, I would believe him. As we went up the first hill of my first rollercaster ride I shut my eyes as he put his hands up in the air. Then -
We dropped. And he was right…I never wanted it to end.
One more year of college left and we were finally taking a family vacation to Cedar Point – an easy one, but a happy one as always. If you’ve ever experienced Cedar Point, there is a rollercoaster there that tops them all: Top Thrill Dragster. Standing at 427 feet, its red, yellow, black and white attire dresses it up as a racetrack. But my dad, sisters and I know better: this is the mother of all coasters. Taking off the platform at 120 mph, it’s up-and-over one, huge, hill – and there’s no turning back.
This visit wasn’t the first time we rode the Dragster, but as we stood in line for an hour or so, I could tell my dad wasn’t as thrilled as usual. After riding the another infamous coaster that morning he hadn’t felt so great and had to sit out on the next couple of rides, leaving as the one that got my sisters excited. Then he said something that I wasn’t ready for:
“This might be my last one of the day, girls.”
They nodded their heads, but my stomach dropped. Somehow I thought this might mean his last ride ever. The man that had measured me to ride these rollercoasters with him since I could stand, that had stuffed tissues in my younger sisters gym shoes so she could start riding with us, the man that feared nothing might have his last ride.
As we neared the front of the lines, one of my sisters asked what order we should sit in the cart. Before she finished her sentence, I said “I’m sitting with Dad.” He smiled at me and squeezed my shoulder. And after we climbed into the cart, buckled up, and waited to soar to the sky I looked over and saw him put his hands up. I smiled and did the same.
And up we went.
When you're eight years old standing in front of a tall, wooden contraption with dips and turns and dark tunnels that plummets a cart full of people through the woods…you might be a little scared. If you could hear the screams of people echoing or the screeching of the animal noises being played over the speakers in line…you might be nervous. If you could read the signs that said, “No one escapes The Beast” with makeshift claw marks though the material…you might be suspicious. That day, I was none of those things.
In my experience, even at such a young age, my dad had always been right. If he said rollercosters were awesome, I believed him. And if he said the brown, rickety pole wouldn't snap, I believed him. If he said the torn up, orange latch that barely grazed my jean shorts would keep me locked in, I believed him. If he said that once we got over the first hill I would never want the ride to end, I would believe him. As we went up the first hill of my first rollercaster ride I shut my eyes as he put his hands up in the air. Then -
We dropped. And he was right…I never wanted it to end.
* * * *
We've explored rollercosters at various amusement parks all over the country
now. Kings Island was a family favorite, Six Flags; Magic Mountain in
California held hidden gems and the Rock 'n' Rollercoaster starring Areosmith
at Disney Studios in Florida is one of the greatest. I thought the rides would
honestly never end, and that my dad would experience the good, bad and
thrilling with me forever. It didn't occur to me after his back surgery a few
years later that this might not be the case.One more year of college left and we were finally taking a family vacation to Cedar Point – an easy one, but a happy one as always. If you’ve ever experienced Cedar Point, there is a rollercoaster there that tops them all: Top Thrill Dragster. Standing at 427 feet, its red, yellow, black and white attire dresses it up as a racetrack. But my dad, sisters and I know better: this is the mother of all coasters. Taking off the platform at 120 mph, it’s up-and-over one, huge, hill – and there’s no turning back.
This visit wasn’t the first time we rode the Dragster, but as we stood in line for an hour or so, I could tell my dad wasn’t as thrilled as usual. After riding the another infamous coaster that morning he hadn’t felt so great and had to sit out on the next couple of rides, leaving as the one that got my sisters excited. Then he said something that I wasn’t ready for:
“This might be my last one of the day, girls.”
They nodded their heads, but my stomach dropped. Somehow I thought this might mean his last ride ever. The man that had measured me to ride these rollercoasters with him since I could stand, that had stuffed tissues in my younger sisters gym shoes so she could start riding with us, the man that feared nothing might have his last ride.
As we neared the front of the lines, one of my sisters asked what order we should sit in the cart. Before she finished her sentence, I said “I’m sitting with Dad.” He smiled at me and squeezed my shoulder. And after we climbed into the cart, buckled up, and waited to soar to the sky I looked over and saw him put his hands up. I smiled and did the same.
And up we went.
The Last Wailer: Reaction
I had the opportunity to read a compelling article that Dave sent me. It was written in January of 2011. For reference, here's the link:
http://www.gq.com/entertainment/music/201101/bunny-wailer-john-jeremiah-sullivan?printable=true
The first thing that attracted me when I opened the link was the vibrant picture of an African-American man with some pretty awesome dreads whipping in the wind. My first thought: Bob Marley...? I quickly came to find that this man was not Mr. Marley, but someone that lived with him that goes by the name of Bunny Wailer. Wailer, Marley and Peter Tosh were the makings of "a new template for sound" called The Wailers. The article is written by John Jeremiah Sullivan, who traveled to Kingston, Jamaica and talk with Bunny, the last of the Wailers.
I'll start with my interpretation on the writer: Right from the beginning, this article caught my attention. The way that Sullivan writes is capturing of not only his words, but the intricate details he plays out in his head. He includes links to music and gives his reaction and appreciation to the band before the reader even understands much about where this is going. One of my favorite parts from the article was how he took us through his entire journey to find and contact Bunny. He even includes the email response (his interpretation and the actual reading):
"It said, You may come. Actually, the language of the e-mail was 'Greetings. You may continue with your travel arrangements. One Love, Jah B.'"
Added lines like this make me excited to read this type of story becasue it shows me that the writer is just as passionate about writing of his journey it as I should be to read it - an important characteristic to capture in non-fiction.
On to the description of the story: I really enjoyed the mixture of Sullivan's journey to meet Bunny and the contrast of what was happening in Kingston, Jamaica. He does a good job of incorporating some history and Bunny's response to it as a public figure. For example, Sullivan describes the "Dudus war" that was occuring . Dudus is one of Jamaica's biggest drug bosses and the U.S. Department of Justice was requesting he be handed over. As the trial of Dudus is played out, Sullivan touches on Bunny's record release around that time:
"One of the weirdest things that happened during the buildup to the Dudus war was that Bunny Wailer put out a pro-Dudus dancehall record titled "Don't Touch the President." (President, or Pressy, is one of Dudus's many nicknames.) [...] Why would an elder statesman of Jamaican culture take the side of these crowds they were showing on TV, in the streets of Kingston, screaming and putting themselves in the way of justice"
I also really enjoyed the dialogue Sullivan selected to describe Bunny. One of my favorite lines was from their first meeting. After Sullivan says how much of an honor it is to meet Bunny, he replies, "Well, it's an honor to be here, on the earth," he said. "You know what I mean? So we at one. What's up with you, now?"
It's selective language like this that gives Bunny (who to me is just a picture in the corner of this article that looks like Bob Marley) a personality. It makes him real. Carrying out these lines of dialogue with the contrast of Sullivan's inner thoughts, made this non-fiction profile an great piece to read, and helped me understand a better way to flesh out my profile piece.
http://www.gq.com/entertainment/music/201101/bunny-wailer-john-jeremiah-sullivan?printable=true
The first thing that attracted me when I opened the link was the vibrant picture of an African-American man with some pretty awesome dreads whipping in the wind. My first thought: Bob Marley...? I quickly came to find that this man was not Mr. Marley, but someone that lived with him that goes by the name of Bunny Wailer. Wailer, Marley and Peter Tosh were the makings of "a new template for sound" called The Wailers. The article is written by John Jeremiah Sullivan, who traveled to Kingston, Jamaica and talk with Bunny, the last of the Wailers.
I'll start with my interpretation on the writer: Right from the beginning, this article caught my attention. The way that Sullivan writes is capturing of not only his words, but the intricate details he plays out in his head. He includes links to music and gives his reaction and appreciation to the band before the reader even understands much about where this is going. One of my favorite parts from the article was how he took us through his entire journey to find and contact Bunny. He even includes the email response (his interpretation and the actual reading):
"It said, You may come. Actually, the language of the e-mail was 'Greetings. You may continue with your travel arrangements. One Love, Jah B.'"
Added lines like this make me excited to read this type of story becasue it shows me that the writer is just as passionate about writing of his journey it as I should be to read it - an important characteristic to capture in non-fiction.
On to the description of the story: I really enjoyed the mixture of Sullivan's journey to meet Bunny and the contrast of what was happening in Kingston, Jamaica. He does a good job of incorporating some history and Bunny's response to it as a public figure. For example, Sullivan describes the "Dudus war" that was occuring . Dudus is one of Jamaica's biggest drug bosses and the U.S. Department of Justice was requesting he be handed over. As the trial of Dudus is played out, Sullivan touches on Bunny's record release around that time:
"One of the weirdest things that happened during the buildup to the Dudus war was that Bunny Wailer put out a pro-Dudus dancehall record titled "Don't Touch the President." (President, or Pressy, is one of Dudus's many nicknames.) [...] Why would an elder statesman of Jamaican culture take the side of these crowds they were showing on TV, in the streets of Kingston, screaming and putting themselves in the way of justice"
I also really enjoyed the dialogue Sullivan selected to describe Bunny. One of my favorite lines was from their first meeting. After Sullivan says how much of an honor it is to meet Bunny, he replies, "Well, it's an honor to be here, on the earth," he said. "You know what I mean? So we at one. What's up with you, now?"
It's selective language like this that gives Bunny (who to me is just a picture in the corner of this article that looks like Bob Marley) a personality. It makes him real. Carrying out these lines of dialogue with the contrast of Sullivan's inner thoughts, made this non-fiction profile an great piece to read, and helped me understand a better way to flesh out my profile piece.
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Reaction: Under the Influence
Sandars does something interesting with his first line of "Under the Influence" - he makes us listen, right away. I was captured by this and couldn't relate personally, but my mom struggled with an alcoholic father. He wasn't violent like Sander's, but it is all and all an interesting and painful topic to see further into.
I enjoyed the listing of different words for drunkness. I think that Sanders did a great job capturing the "funniness that isn't so funny" once you pull back the initial image of a drunk person and adapt them as a drunk parent to a child. Here, Sanders does a good job of putting his readers in his shoes, which is a difficult concept when trying to show and not tell a reader from only the pages of a book.
One more area I enjoyed in this story was on page 733 when he explains the car "new in 1980, battered in 1981" and how his dad interrupts their "game of catch, our building of snow forts, or picking of plums..." again showing and not telling that this was a constant action of his father coming home drunk. It happened day in and day out, throughout the seasons.
I enjoyed the listing of different words for drunkness. I think that Sanders did a great job capturing the "funniness that isn't so funny" once you pull back the initial image of a drunk person and adapt them as a drunk parent to a child. Here, Sanders does a good job of putting his readers in his shoes, which is a difficult concept when trying to show and not tell a reader from only the pages of a book.
One more area I enjoyed in this story was on page 733 when he explains the car "new in 1980, battered in 1981" and how his dad interrupts their "game of catch, our building of snow forts, or picking of plums..." again showing and not telling that this was a constant action of his father coming home drunk. It happened day in and day out, throughout the seasons.
Reaction: The Crack Up
"The Crack Up" was an interesting story for me. I feel that Fitzgerald's writing always throws me off a bit at first. His words are loaded - as we said in class, it's as if each word he places on paper has a specific meaning. For this reason, it takes me some time to decode his meanings. His dry humor doesn't always just out to me, but he has a way of capturing ideas I couldn't fathom putting on paper.
To read a story about depression during a big change in my life, it's not hard to compare things I'm going through to Fitzgerald's thoughts. Something that stuck out ot me was his concept about "striving" leading to unhappiness. Does being an adult mean being unhappy? It's a though we discussed in class and one that I feel obligated to note. I don't consider myself a full adult just yet, but graduating college and stepping into adulthood has taken quite the toll on me. Although, I've always been excited to grow up, even when I was a child. I don't think becoming an adult means becoming unhappy, I think it just means replacing some of the fun things you do as a kid and replacing with more meaningful things that will take you places in life.
I also thought the idea of thinking of people who have it worse when I think my problems are bad. I've done this and I really do believe that it doesn't help. My friends and I have discussed this time and time again: your problems matter just as much as any others, because it's relevant to your situation/where you are in life. I think this is an important life lesson to grasp.
To read a story about depression during a big change in my life, it's not hard to compare things I'm going through to Fitzgerald's thoughts. Something that stuck out ot me was his concept about "striving" leading to unhappiness. Does being an adult mean being unhappy? It's a though we discussed in class and one that I feel obligated to note. I don't consider myself a full adult just yet, but graduating college and stepping into adulthood has taken quite the toll on me. Although, I've always been excited to grow up, even when I was a child. I don't think becoming an adult means becoming unhappy, I think it just means replacing some of the fun things you do as a kid and replacing with more meaningful things that will take you places in life.
I also thought the idea of thinking of people who have it worse when I think my problems are bad. I've done this and I really do believe that it doesn't help. My friends and I have discussed this time and time again: your problems matter just as much as any others, because it's relevant to your situation/where you are in life. I think this is an important life lesson to grasp.
Faraway Nearby: "Listen" (pg. 248)
"Listen: you are not yourself..."
What an insane phrase to begin to explain. Am I someone else entirely? What exactly is Solnit getting at with this piece? I think this idea is more fully explored during "Flight" in Chapter Four on page 68.
We are essentially made from two people. In Solnit's words: "two people coming together, by accident whether wisely or not, by the attractions of similarity and difference, who survive each others fears and limits..." and she goes one to explain that by some random force we are created.
From who these others are created - it's all a continuous string of the way they we brought up in the world, who they met, experiences they had. Those people were made up by two pairs of other people and so on and so fourth. We act certain ways and do certain things based upon our past. People around us shape us every day. Some of those people we will never see again, though their impact might have been life changing. And our kids may never know those people though the lessons will be passed on. I think Solnit is pointing out a crazy concept, and it's definitely a larger one to consider.
What an insane phrase to begin to explain. Am I someone else entirely? What exactly is Solnit getting at with this piece? I think this idea is more fully explored during "Flight" in Chapter Four on page 68.
We are essentially made from two people. In Solnit's words: "two people coming together, by accident whether wisely or not, by the attractions of similarity and difference, who survive each others fears and limits..." and she goes one to explain that by some random force we are created.
From who these others are created - it's all a continuous string of the way they we brought up in the world, who they met, experiences they had. Those people were made up by two pairs of other people and so on and so fourth. We act certain ways and do certain things based upon our past. People around us shape us every day. Some of those people we will never see again, though their impact might have been life changing. And our kids may never know those people though the lessons will be passed on. I think Solnit is pointing out a crazy concept, and it's definitely a larger one to consider.
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