Essay Packet

For this weeks blog posting I wanted to share my thoughts about Jerome Washington's essay, "The Blues Merchant". The essay at first caught my attention because it was music oriented. It went into detail about each of the band members and what they do before they are ready to perform. In a way it seemed like one of those talent shows we had in high school. When you get about 2/3 of the way through the essay the line "The tear gas canisters recessed in the ceiling remind us that everything is for real". This line caught me off guard. I wasn't sure at first what it was exactly but then I decided to take my own understanding of it. Whether correct or incorrect it made me think of an emotional performance. This then made my mind wander to my suite mates just yesterday. I'm pretty sure we all know who 1Direction is... unfortunately. Yeah, well they are OBSESSED with this boy band. Yesterday the found out that one of the band members, 22 year old Zayn Malik, had left the band after 5 years of being together. The tear gas canisters reminded me of all the crying that they did over this one small detail in the world.

What??

So this week was interesting. We read a packet on Tuesday that confused me more then anything. It was all over the place in my mind. Now everything in my mind normally is all over the place, that's why I have my agenda and I right everything in it. I have no problem reading a story only because normally its more organized. When we read this my mind didn't know how to process it. It was just a tad difficult. When we began discussing the packet as a class, it was easier. Once I heard what others were thinking about this packet it helped me form my own opinion about a few of the parts in it.

Now right before we left class we began reading some of Conrad's work. It was, well, weird. I don't think I would ever Ever EVER just randomly get fully naked and sit in the bathroom with a banana and begin to rub it all over myself. Like that just makes me think of those people that are trying to be attractive but fail horribly. I hope no one that I know would even consider that.

Night Women

This week I want to talk about the short story we read and analyzed in class called "Night Women". When I first read the title of this story it made me think of prostitution, Which as I read it I figured that my accusation was correct.

I feel that this mother is trying to do her best without her son finding out the true meaning of everything that she has told her son. She plays along in what seems to be a type of game but that doesn't exactly mean anything. She has "regulars" that come to her week end and week out. They bring her and her son things, like her son was brought a radio type thing that was like the shape of a can of cola. She was constantly brought flowers and they even flirt with her as soon as they get into the house.

She is barely making ends meet but with the resources that she has, or at least are given by these men, are just enough for her to squeeze by. I hate the situation especially with her having a son and the living situations but she seems to know exactly what has to be done to make everything work.

The Falling Girl

At the beginning of this story it talks about a young girl, nineteen years of age, named Marta. It speaks of her falling and passing by parties. It gradually seems to make her age, and then she has other young women passing her by as they are falling as well. This story gives me the sense that she doesn't realize what she's gotten herself into.

It gives me the feeling that this is saying that a lot of young women can't wait to grow up and start there lives. Once they start their lives though they forget to slow down and enjoy life. The journey to getting there was forgotten and they have no remembrance of that. They came so far yet to them it seems they've barely moved.

This story is trying to say that we need to slow down and enjoy our journey. We only have one life to live and we need to live it up to its fullest. Now I don't like this but the thing that sticks out to me right now is 'YOLO'. In this term it fits. You need to enjoy your life (without being reckless and crazy) and live long and prosperous.

Week 5: Poetry

So this week as we were reading "Writing Down the Bones" I still caught myself being uninterested in poetry. Now don't get me wrong, when I was younger I wrote poetry for fun. Now that I have to write it for a grade it's not as easy for me. I also wrote poems that rhymed and were only like 10 lines long, if that. So this is a challenge but I have promised myself that I will try to do my best no matter what.

This week I want to talk to you about two different poems that are within the book by Natalie Goldberg. The first of the two is called "One Plus One Equals a Mercedes-Benz". The one line that sticks out the most to me is when the writer says, 

                        "Forget Yourself. Disappear into everything you look at - a street,

                         a glass of water, a cornfield. Everything you feel, become totally

                         that feeling, burn all of yourself with it."

I love that the author is trying to make you think of yourself as an intangible object. Describe yourself with your surroundings instead of the normal descriptions of a human being.

My second poem I wanted to discuss was "Listening". The line that stuck out the most to me was when she went to vocal lessons and he told her, 

                        "Singing is 90% listening. You have to learn to listen."

The beginning of her poem is about how her cousin who is 9 years older than her said that she was tone-deaf. After that point she stopped singing and began humming instead. She took one line of criticism and stopped doing what she was doing. I know too many people that have this mind set. Unfortunately I used to be someone like this. I used to take what they said and stopped whatever it was that they said I wasn't good at. Now I have learned to take what they said and turn it into a lesson instead.

Everyone needs to learn how to think outside of the box, and learn how to take criticism for the thoughts they verbalize. We need to take the criticism given to us and turn it into a lesson. Learn from what people have said and don't try to please everyone. Becoming a people-pleaser, well not everyone likes one of those. 

Week 4: Poetry

Today I want to talk about the long poem called "Tocqueville". This poem had a very odd way of pulling your interest into it. It spoke of many gruesome acts that went into detail. It had emotion and in a way could be heartless. It was about one mans life specifically. The details were very gruesome and in a way could cause your stomach to turn and twist into knots.

An example of this is when he was talking about how his wife was already killed. After that he was forced to kill his own child in front of the others. After he killed his own child they still cut off his arms. Now we don't know what this man did specifically, but you never know. Maybe he wasn't innocent, maybe he was a killer of other families. Maybe it was time for revenge. We won't know those facts because they don't inform you over it, that's where your imagination kicks in and you make the part leading up to the events from your mind.

One other example is about his best friend. He was arrested for child pornography. That disgusts me in a whole new level. It's not right for an older gentleman to do. No child should be violated into that type of situation. Also is best friends father passed away, he was on an oxygen tank and smoked during it. It caused his death.

All in all this poem is twisted and sick. It makes you think in a way that a lot of poems don't want to take you down.It makes you think deep into yourself to see what truly lies within, just like he did with the man in this poem.

Week 2: Poetry

         This week we have been working a little deeper into poetry. I love that we have started out with poetry because it is something that I can tend to do without very much help. We've began reading our book, "Writing Down the Bones" by Natalie Goldberg and began discussing the first 1/3 of the book in class on January 20th. So for this assignment I want to take a look at the poetry packet again. Specifically at the Ted Berrigan section of the packet. He has 4 poems within this packet and let me tell you, he must have been one crazy guy. His writings are so unique and yes there is probably someone else who has wrote something like it, but this is m first experience with this.

        The writing I wanted to take a closer look at is XV. When I first read this I kept questioning myself, I did not understand it and I felt kinda dumb for not. I continued reading it over and over until finally my group decided to talk about the writer in general. I missed class on Thursday January 15th, and they shared some of the information that was discussed as a class then. The fact that you had to read the first line and then the bottom line, second line and second to last line, third line and third to last line, and so on and so forth. This is not what most people would view as the "correct" way of writing poetry, bu in reality, it is a "correct" way of writing poetry.

       Poetry isn't a strict writing process, it just comes to you. To many people have it stuck in their minds that it has to be, well, like my blog entry here. Reading it from top to bottom, left to right. But it doesn't, that is just a form of what you can do. You can write a certain length, with a certain amount of syllables per line, or even right from bottom to top reading right to left. Poetry is meant for you to feel free spirited and write however your heart desires. Barrigan just has an odd way of writing his, so not everyone right from the start will know how to read his poems.

       Another one of his poems that caught my interest was LIII. This one is a jumbled up mess of a masterpiece. I learned from my group members that when he published his book, he mixed sentences all around within the entire book, so in a way it's a jumbled up mess. In this poem, you can tell he did just that. Last I checked "belly to hot belly we have laid" doesn't come after "the poem upon this page is as massive as Anne's thighs".  He is writing about poetry, and having bits and pieces of different poems literally cut and pasted into this just gives a raw feeling to this poem. He literally is writing about poetry but he makes the reader have the mindset that they are reading of someone's sex life.

    In closing to this weeks entry, I believe that Berrigan has a very unique way of writing, and I enjoyed reading it.

-Danielle Joy Colestock