Brevity, Issue 31?

 I enjoyed reading these shorter pieces, I found them to be as equally intriguing despite the length. Each word held weight, and because of the length, I'm sure the writers had to be quite selective in choosing what to disclose and what hold back. The pieces that i especially liked were, Swerve, This is Not to Say, In Case of Emergency, and WQED, Channel 13: Programming Guide. 

In Swerve, Miller starts off the story with an attention grabber. It immediately holds your attention through the dysfunction of this particular relationship. I think it is very common to find yourself apologizing in a relationship for the slightest of things (at least in my experience). Although this goes a little far in what she eventually apologizes for (being alive) i think that there is a relatable quality about it. About trying to un-do what makes your significant other upset, but she seems so submissive, and apologetic for things she is incapable of even stopping (the sunlight). 

I really liked This is Not to Say, especially the short poem in the beginning, it sets the mood for what is to come. Each line holds a lot of weight, all the small images that happen to us daily- "the way the water condensates beneath sweating glasses," "the unfolding of laundry." I loved all the images' juxtapositon, and then the end. It was all supposed to be about something else, not him (it never was.) This holds the most weight out of all the things she says, because ultimately this was what it WAS supposed to be about. The clasping of limbs describes an intimacy that she is somehow trying to forget by barracading it with all these other everyday events. Very cool they way she conveyed this. 

WQED, Channel 13: Programming Guide reminded me of Sylvia Plath's work. Of the struggle of societies expectations of how a mother should feel toward their young. She is obviously struggling with her identity vs. her role as a mother. She seems exhausted from all the things she has been in one day (the fairy tale princess,' the nice and the mean mom). It was interesting to hear a more modern day version of this idea.

The essay as genre

Although this reading was hard to follow at times, it brought to light a lot of interesting points when it comes to observing the self through writing, and how necessary it is to earn the friendship of the reader in order to give your writing some validity and cohesiveness. One of the more enlightening points for me was the idea of an essay making, "a claim to truth, but not permanent truth." I interpret this as a way of how we might see life in the present vs. how we have seen it in the past, therefor never permanent, or better phrased, "an isolated self confronting a world of which nothing is known for certain." 

This also brings me back to The Writing Life Now is What I've Lived For, and the line, "Trying to understand why my life has had so many beginnings. Trying to identify which of my past selves still confound me." In writing i feel that i relate to these ideas most, because you can't successfully try and relate without a sense of knowledge and experience, or as Montaigne states, "I speak as one who questions, and does not know. . . I do not teach, i relate." I feel that this is something important to keep in mind. Even though a person may have not experienced an alcoholic parent, or the loss of a loved one, the emotions one may have felt connect us. The way these feelings are conveyed on paper and to the reader are universal. We are all interconnected in someway by these feelings, even though the events shape us differently. We can offer personal experience through these events and yet relate on a certain level of consciousness, or as it is stated in this piece, "Every man carries in himself the complete pattern of human nature." These are the threads i continued to run into, or more or less relate to, while reading this essay, among others. Many things about writing a personal essay contradict themselves, yet when looked at closer, makes sense in an odd way (ie: writing with disinterested curiosity). 

The idea that the "heart" of the essay comprises of: "recognition, figuration, where the self finds a pattern in the world and the world finds a pattern in the self" (p.22) is intriguing because in class, we had talked about how everybody has a "theme" that they often return to. How we view our self in the world and what the world returns to us is kind of profound, especially when you relate it to not only writing in a successful way, but your life. Through awareness, these concepts bring the life to your work. These ideas that are being brought to my attention might have otherwise gone unnoticed, and i am thankful that writing has delivered me this.

Peggy Shumaker- Moving Water, Tucson

For some odd reason this piece really stuck out to me. The images that are conveyed here in this writing are different than i have experienced, and the idea of water, creating and destroying is an interesting thread. One of the lines i particularly like was, "Warm rain felt good on faces lifted to lick water from the sky. (p.19)" These words to me describes accurate visuals of these moments, she uses minimal description and yet conveys so much. I also like the line, "For a moment, we all wanted to be him, to be part of something so wet, so fast, so powerful, so much bigger than ourselves. (p.20)" It gathers power by separating each image. It is just a snapshot of a time that happened to a particular group of kids, but it stuck with me, as it did the writer. The water, and what it carried with it through the arroyo, and of course the boy who dared to be brave, and the image of him against the footbridge and the water holding him there. 

Amy Tan- Confessions

The reading that grabbed my attention most was Amy Tan's Confessions. In the beginning of the story, there is obvious tension and sadness, but i did not expect it to escalate to the extent it does. It is interesting to see how the mother reacts to the idea of a boyfriend in her daughter's life. It is as if there is no room for another masculine figure, especially after the death of her son and husband. 

The idea of possession and selfishness keep popping up for me, probably because suicide is brought up multiple times, or so the writer suggests.  The mother would rather kill her daughter than see her ruin her own life, and then ultimately threatens to destroy the whole family by taking everyone's life. 

I really liked the line, "I kept my face in the window, unmoved. What does she know about sad? (p.89)" This really conveyed sorrow to me, because it wasn't the hysterical kind of sorrow that we see in the mother. It was internal, without physical emotion, or tears. The thought of knowing your mother wanted her to die rather than her son and husband leaves her in emotional turmoil, but we don't see its physical ramifications until the very end when she does actually begin to cry, "This is sad, this is so sad. (p.90)" I found the title to be most fitting and tie into the end of the story when she claims to have somehow subconsciously repressed that moment in time, and it rushes back to her in a writer's workshop. She wants her mom to confess something she always wanted to know, did her mom really mean to kill her? Although she gets a slanted answer, she takes away from that almost a positive spin, "How wonderful to hear her say what was never true, yet now would be forever so. (p.90)" I don't feel that she is completely satisfied with the response, but now does not have a choice. 

Sanders Essay

Throughout the essay Under the Influence, Sanders does a great job illuminating his character- even though he is not the central figure. He draws upon the many parallels of not only his father's life but the consequences he has had to endure as a direct result of his fathers drinking, as a child and as an adult. In a way, this is a rapturous monologue, not only for himself as the writer, but for the reader as well. 

He states directly in Singular First Person that his writing is "a door through which others may pass." This particular quote holds a lot of weight in reference to Under the Influence. Although Sanders is writing about himself and his own experiences, he builds a sense of trust throughout, in some of the more intimate details he describes, even though he still manages to keep us at an arms length. He expresses the sorrow that looms in the household (through his mothers various frustrations) as well as the anger and resentment he felt then, and now. Even though he states that his writing may provide a door through which others may pass, there are things he does not disclose to us. We see the obvious struggle, but we do not get to know him outside of his father's shadows (is this the only place in which he lives?) Understandably this story was based on his father's alcoholism, but usually an audience cannot completely buy it when they cannot relate in one way or another. Here, Sanders gains our trust through his writing in ways many writers cannot successfully achieve. His tone is not somber, yet not joyous. He writes to us in an in-between, as a story teller. He captures the readers attention with a descriptive memory- without attacking them with too much emotion packed drama. It's simple, yet truthful.

 It was interesting to see how he conveyed these feelings, and then how they related to his writing style in First Singular Person. What he is trying to do in his writing vs how it is actually conveyed. Also the idea of family and parents. How issues such as his show up in our later adult lives, unresolved.