Essay packet part 2

This week we have been working out of the second essay packet. All of the essays have surprised me in a way. They are not the normal essay so reading them I do not feel like I want to scoop my eye balls out!!!! They have opened my mind into looking into different ways of organizing my writing. The one piece that really has stuck in my mind is the piece "The Fine Art of Sighing". It is a piece that has two underlying meanings. The first meaning is the one that is the one that is staring you in the face, that everyone sighs and in all in different ways. The seconds meaning is that we all as humans are connected in a way, even if it is by a little thing like a sigh. At one point the author talks about a mother looking out a window while smoking, and with her exhale she releases a sigh of longing; as if she would like to be anywhere but where she was. This is where I connected with the piece. We have all had those moments where we stare into space and wish to be anywhere but where we are at. The piece goes on into talking about how we are all connected by the common sigh; using the example of The Bridge of Tears that the Venetian prisoners were lead across to be killed gives the visual of the connecting between beings. Over all this piece is one that made me stop and think and I am really glad to have read it.

Cait

Essay packet week 2

So this week I would like to talk about how much I like the piece Things to do Today. This piece has stuck out to me because it is the only piece out of this packet that is structurally different, therefore catching my eye. This piece is set up like a to-do list but is written like a story. Although it is fragmented, it almost give you the freedom to add in your own imaginative ideas. Number 14. makes me giggle because I am sleep deprived and it states " demand to see the sleep that has not been earned." While you read these you wonder about the life of the person who wrote these "things to do" I can understand where this person is coming from from feeling some kind of connection to a select amount of items. I like that number 26 and 27 are reverse roles in the same situation. 26 say to make the beautiful go to work and 27 says to distract the keepers of the calendar and, when they are distracted, detach and destroy their unforgivable hobbies. It almost shines the light on how the rich and beautiful take many things for granted and that they should see what it is like to not have the high class luxuries and life style they are accustom to. Over all I really liked this piece and, although I can not put my finger on why, I connected with this piece very much.

Essay Packet

Out of all of the essays in this packet, "Sunday" by Henry Louis Gates Jr. caught my eye the most. The way that he talk about his mothers cooking and how his family felt like the "white people" can't cook made me smile. I love to cook so I was very much sucked into this reading. " If there is a key to unlocking the culinary secrets of the Coleman family , it is a slab of fatback or cupful or bacon drippings or a couple of ham hocks and long simmering time are absolutely essential to a well-cooked vegetable." The way that he used just enough description to make my mouth water. I also really liked the part where he said, "There are plenty of Colemans: nine brothers-known as "the boys"- and four sisters, the youngest of whom had died when she was a day or two old. (There's enough niggers in your mother's family, Daddy would remark, to cast a Trazan movie.) " This caught my eye because it was littlest look into his family and you got to see how the family would joke around in such a little amount of writing. This whole piece grabbed me and I really enjoyed his writing :)

Outside Reading !!

So I have been  trying to read for fun to relax myself. Boy Toy by Barry Lyga is one of the best books I have read in a very long time. The title is deceiving, making you think it is going to be another little girl love story, but this is a story about a boy who is seduced and molested when he was 12 by his teacher. Through out the book you are growing up with Josh, the main character, who thinks that he is an a relationship with his teacher Eve, who is married. Josh and Eves relationship is outed at a party where Josh tried to have sexual contact with another girl in a closet. Through the book you are constantly reading about Josh's flash back. He will be triggered to think about what has happened between he and his teacher. Josh is trying to move on and live a normal life but it is hard for him with all of the flash backs keeping him at an arms length from anyone who wants to get close to him. This book is challenging to read at time because of the flash backs but after the first few chapters they start to explain what is going on with Josh. This book is very graphic with the way Lyga has decided to express the relationship with Josh and Eve. She uses very descriptive language and doesn't let words get in her way. I am in love with book and would love to read more of Barry Lyga's work.  

Midterms!!

This week we have been talking about the book To After That by Renee Gladman. This book was a challenge for me to get into. This was written almost as if it was a blog, giving it a sense of scatter brain. It was also very dry to me. When we have class discussion about this novel thought, it seems like it is more interesting then it came across while reading. The Goldburge keeps feeding into my interest. She is helping me grow more and more as a writer and teaching me to look at writing in different ways.

 

Half way there!

So we have now moved on to the short/ long stories in class. I have to sad I am sad to say goodbye to the poetry side of this class BUT it is time to move on. We have been discussing in class the aspects of poetry and short/long stories  and how they are similar and how they are different. I am very comfortable in the way poetry comes to me. Writing for this half of the semester is going to be very challenging for me. I have already had a hard time working on pieces for class. I am hoping over the next few classes that I will be able to get a hold of what process should be taken to get into writing a story * If that makes sense*.

Puzzling Poetry !

This week I have been going over more of the poetry packet to better understand some of the pieces. GUESS WHAT it is not working! Oh well, I think I am looking too deep for an actual meaning. I am going to start taking the advice that I read in Writing Down the Bones. " So many questions. He meant nothing so much as a wheelbarrow, and it was red because it was red and it had just rained." (Goldberg 33)

Week One!

Well this last week we got into some seriously deep poetry. All I have to say is "Kids we are not in High School ANY MORE!" Trying to read, let alone understand some of the different pieces we were given this week was beyond challenging for me. The one piece that sticks out in my mind is The Clock Fallen Into the Sea from the fist packet of poems we got. Pablo Neruda uses some serious imagery and symbolism with this piece. Talking about how "There is so much light in dark space" I don't know about you but that to me is kind of an oxymoron.

We have also started reading the book Writing Down the Bones  by Natalie Goldberg. So far I really have enjoyed reading this book. She has written this informative book as if it was a novel for pleasure reading. It is a very different approach to deliver this kind of information but I really enjoy it. It is not like reading other text for my other classes.

Well thats what I have to say about these past few classes. Bring on the deep poetry and some more read!
~Cait Orlando

This is me

Dancer, friend, daughter, musician, lover.

I have been dancing my whole life. Well 15 years to be exact. I am that girl at the mall dancing on the stairs or in the stores. I am now a dance minor and have been thinking of trying out for the Pistons dance team next summer.
My friends are basically my family, being an only child gets lonely. They have pulled me out of some of my hardest times and created some of my best memories. I played the flue and piccolo for 9 years and can mess around on a bunch more. Music and dance are what keep me going. My friends and family jokingly call me a welcome mat. I care too much for others and would probably take a bullet for anyone. I love to help people and will always listen if you ever need anything.

Dancer, Friend, Daughter, Musician, Lover. Cait Orlando