Lenses first started out as this little kid who liked to look at things through binoculars and telescopes. Then it moved on to her liking to look through this microscope at tiny pond water creatures and algae. She was fascinated how they would dry up and die by her control of the lamp under them. It was like she enjoyed playing God and controlling their lives. The story then changes and becomes about swans and how the girl is older and likes to watch them. My favorite sentence is at the part where she talks about the Daleville Pond, "I used to haunt the place because I loved it; I still do." This sentence kind of contradicts itself with the dark type of word "haunt" and the lighter/happier type of word "love" and how she put them together in a sentence. That way she put them together is almost in sense as if she is obsessed with the pond. She goes on about how beautiful the swans are in their natural habitats and how they change from white swans in front of the mountains into black swans in the sky. This gives a calming sense of how beauty lives on it's own and can't be controlled like some science experiment.
Maps To Anywhere is an interesting collections of short fragments of the author's life. The beginning was fun to read about how people had a hard time remembering his name and that he could never find anything in stores that ever had his name on it. All of that reminded me about my own childhood, I had the same problem, wishing that my mom would have given me a simpler name that was common to everyone. It wouldn't be until I was older that I learned to love it's uniqueness. "The Miracle Chicken" made me think of actual miracles like how could it still possibly live, but by the end of that part I wondered if it actually was alive or not since the doctor said it has life in the tissue yet he can't say whether it's dead or actually alive.
What I found interesting in "On The Air" was how everybody does assume that in the future, our cities will be high up above Earth, floating in the sky. Bernard talked about Louis was living ahead of his time, he looked forward to the time where everywhere was some perfect little utopia. This story about futuristic talk of life and utopia kind of foreshadowed the story "Utopia," yet he isn't in the future his life is kind of like a utopia. He does a routine every day: work, market, home. Then he goes on about how he wanted to visit the library, but it burned down and he doesn't want to go to another library because it would be out of his realm of norm.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
11/06/13 Fiction Packet
When It Rains It Rains A River is a confusing story about these boys out in the rain. They love to play out in the rain, there's even this part that they eat the mud, which I find pretty disgusting. They begin to make Girls out of the mud. They describe how these girls make them want to stay on their knees as if to pray/give thanks to having girls made. When they say how the girls look at the boys and realize they are made from them, I think of the story of Adam and Eve and how Eve was made from the ribs of Adam. The boys show true love for the girls when they see the stars in their eyes and when they mention how what girls say is always right.
The Singing Fish is about the boys and their obsessions with the Girl again. The Girl's body turns into a cave where the boys go into and find paintings on the wall. These paintings are of fish that have arms and legs, which seems really confusing and weird. Then, the stick figure fish turn into words, which turn into the cave/Girl and then into the boys. The boys in turn place their hands upon the wall and start making these philosophical ideas of how everything is basically connected in some strange way.
The Falling Girl starts out with this girl looking out beyond her balcony and just falls over the railing. At first it seems to be some sort of suicidal attempt, but you find out it isn't later in the story. She falls into what seems to be this fancy illusion of life at first, where there is this beautiful music playing, guys appreciated her, everything was glorious around her, and she felt good about herself. This makes me think of the illusions Alice has while falling down the rabbit hole, she seems frightened at first, but then feels comfortable with everything going on around her. Some might think this falling for the women is some sort of mid-life crisis they go through, but why would they begin it at the age of 19? I believe she is just going through the phases of womanhood and she is simply missing some of the things going on around her because she is focusing so much on herself and not really living in the now.
The Singing Fish is about the boys and their obsessions with the Girl again. The Girl's body turns into a cave where the boys go into and find paintings on the wall. These paintings are of fish that have arms and legs, which seems really confusing and weird. Then, the stick figure fish turn into words, which turn into the cave/Girl and then into the boys. The boys in turn place their hands upon the wall and start making these philosophical ideas of how everything is basically connected in some strange way.
The Falling Girl starts out with this girl looking out beyond her balcony and just falls over the railing. At first it seems to be some sort of suicidal attempt, but you find out it isn't later in the story. She falls into what seems to be this fancy illusion of life at first, where there is this beautiful music playing, guys appreciated her, everything was glorious around her, and she felt good about herself. This makes me think of the illusions Alice has while falling down the rabbit hole, she seems frightened at first, but then feels comfortable with everything going on around her. Some might think this falling for the women is some sort of mid-life crisis they go through, but why would they begin it at the age of 19? I believe she is just going through the phases of womanhood and she is simply missing some of the things going on around her because she is focusing so much on herself and not really living in the now.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Bryant & Kearney
Radio is the first story in The Black Automaton and it describes how people love the radio and everything that comes out of it, whether it's good or bad, at least this is what I imagine for the first poem. It describes how radio means blood, this could mean that a lot of songs and raps on the radio are about violence and how it gives you power. Radio means love and it lures you in means that there are tons of love songs out there and people enjoy them so much because it brings them comfort in their relationship or it makes people want to fall in love even more. The poem also says it was the first black you had dreams about and it fucks you every night could mean that many songs are about sex now a days or that we keep the radio throughout the night to bring us comfort and make it easier to sleep.
The rest of his work seems to deal with the negativeness for being black in the old days. When the poems reaches the part about the lions, each one has their own little meaning. The black lion seems to be a fool by trying to be something bigger in life. It says that the black lion is a rook passing for a king and that he is a circus act gone wrong. The red lion seems to be some type of machine of destruction, this is seen in his quote, "I move and don't live, what made me?" It also says that every time he works there is a city of skeletons and that he basically brings chaos and destruction. The yellow lion is the one that just goes on with his life without showing expressions of being annoyed and tired and that he just needs a drink to get rid of all the stress going on in his life, to just escape from it all.
Tisa Bryant's Unexplained Presence seems to talk about African Americans too, but in a way that they seem to be in a movie. In the story Darling a black man tries to be a doppelganger of this beautiful blonde actress, and people ask him if Diana, who he is trying to be, has changed. In When London Burns... Violet Is Blue the story starts out again as a movie. Sammy is sleeping with an American photographer and then they end up running through the house and the police arrive and shoot the black woman. Danny meets Rosie and describes to how hard African Americans have it. Another scene closer to the end has yet another black woman shot while the white women get laid. At the end, Danny's royalty associated with his color is lost and Violet's name doesn't even appear in the credits. This shows how African Americans still had a hard time in these days.
The rest of his work seems to deal with the negativeness for being black in the old days. When the poems reaches the part about the lions, each one has their own little meaning. The black lion seems to be a fool by trying to be something bigger in life. It says that the black lion is a rook passing for a king and that he is a circus act gone wrong. The red lion seems to be some type of machine of destruction, this is seen in his quote, "I move and don't live, what made me?" It also says that every time he works there is a city of skeletons and that he basically brings chaos and destruction. The yellow lion is the one that just goes on with his life without showing expressions of being annoyed and tired and that he just needs a drink to get rid of all the stress going on in his life, to just escape from it all.
Tisa Bryant's Unexplained Presence seems to talk about African Americans too, but in a way that they seem to be in a movie. In the story Darling a black man tries to be a doppelganger of this beautiful blonde actress, and people ask him if Diana, who he is trying to be, has changed. In When London Burns... Violet Is Blue the story starts out again as a movie. Sammy is sleeping with an American photographer and then they end up running through the house and the police arrive and shoot the black woman. Danny meets Rosie and describes to how hard African Americans have it. Another scene closer to the end has yet another black woman shot while the white women get laid. At the end, Danny's royalty associated with his color is lost and Violet's name doesn't even appear in the credits. This shows how African Americans still had a hard time in these days.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Juice Book
Translation is about this girl who realizes she is part of something bigger in this world than most would think. She notices how things she has grown used to has changed and she knows it was possibly for the best. One could tell she is African American by the way she describes she is part of a tribe. Proportion Surviving this girl is addicted to "juice" which could possibly mean past memories. She clings on to these greatly. She always wants it because it helps her live her life and write her stories. The juice also effected her love life, by finding new loves and also losing them.
No Through Street is a story about a girl who lives her life traveling on trains in search of her sister. On the train she basically sees how life is to most people. When she looks out the window things go by to fast to follow. This is true in life for the times when you focus your mind on one thing, that you miss everything else going on around you. She seems to only be an observer and never actually participate in life because she sees love and loss all the time, yet she never experiences it herself. The sister the narrator is in search of, I believe is not really her sister but somebody she noticed before and admired greatly. If it were her sister, she would have been able to get in touch with her some way, at least that's what I believe because this sister seems to be famous and never acknowledges the narrator.
First Sleep seemed to be a confusing tale of sleep. The narrator describes how she enters into different levels of sleep (third, sixth, ninth, tenth...). She is usually awaken by a phone ringing. She also describes how sleeping helps clear the minds of other people. Mrs. Gladman is one of the elderly women in the story and she disappears, but the narrator seems to have had a premonition of her disappearance yet she cannot remember it. The neighborhood always seems to go into the streets over some commotion going on in the town.
No Through Street is a story about a girl who lives her life traveling on trains in search of her sister. On the train she basically sees how life is to most people. When she looks out the window things go by to fast to follow. This is true in life for the times when you focus your mind on one thing, that you miss everything else going on around you. She seems to only be an observer and never actually participate in life because she sees love and loss all the time, yet she never experiences it herself. The sister the narrator is in search of, I believe is not really her sister but somebody she noticed before and admired greatly. If it were her sister, she would have been able to get in touch with her some way, at least that's what I believe because this sister seems to be famous and never acknowledges the narrator.
First Sleep seemed to be a confusing tale of sleep. The narrator describes how she enters into different levels of sleep (third, sixth, ninth, tenth...). She is usually awaken by a phone ringing. She also describes how sleeping helps clear the minds of other people. Mrs. Gladman is one of the elderly women in the story and she disappears, but the narrator seems to have had a premonition of her disappearance yet she cannot remember it. The neighborhood always seems to go into the streets over some commotion going on in the town.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
10/16/13
In class this day, we went over the 2nd fiction packet. The 1st story is about this crazy person who thinks he is sane and trying to do test on other people that never appear in the story. It makes you wonder how an actual person with schizophrenia, if that's what he has, acts and if they see the world around as crazy and they are the only sane ones. The 2nd story in the packet we discussed was about this girl who was seeing a doctor for her problems, but she always complained how she was going to end the sessions because she could help herself. Another story where the crazy person feels she is totally sane and can help fix her own problems. What I found interesting about this story is that it's name A therefore I, and that every other paragraph starts with A and then followed by I. In this girl's mind she spoke in 1st and 3rd person, showing there was something odd with her.
The book 'Juice' seems to be confusing at some parts, while other parts seem a little more clear and easier to follow. I really enjoyed how it began with describing how one will come across a place and live there so long they end up falling in love with it, and once it is gone you will miss it but it will always be with you in your heart and mind. I find this quite true with places I've been to. Obviously the narrator is African American by the way she describes her color and how she is part of this tribe. She describes her past a lot in the book. The second chapter I found rather odd on how she constantly discussed about her juice that she always wanted and loved. How this juice affected her love life and how it caused her to write more poems that were passionate with meaning.
In Lamott's story Polaroids I enjoy the meaning how you don't fully know something at first glance, but that the more you view and think about it, the clearer the image and story is to you. I noticed that with pictures I have taken and looked at so many times that I slowly start noticing different things in the background that didn't stand out to me before. In her chapter about characters she explains how you have to give them meaning. How they live, view things, what their personality is, their appearance is, do they represent the author in any way. You have to make them as realistic as possible by making them to be their own individual, a human being. These characters will eventually come across problems in their life because let's face it, nobody has a perfect life, there is always a problem somewhere. This is the plot of the story then. Also, a good story needs good dialogue. Nothing that is plain out boring and drags on and on, but something with rhythm and flows easily and gets the point across. Dialogue is necessary so the rest of the characters in a book knows what is going on and everyone has to think about it. It's like in real life, we have to communicate with others to know what is going on and people's thoughts on it. We couldn't get anywhere in life if everyone sat around mute and not even trying to make nonverbal communications.
The book 'Juice' seems to be confusing at some parts, while other parts seem a little more clear and easier to follow. I really enjoyed how it began with describing how one will come across a place and live there so long they end up falling in love with it, and once it is gone you will miss it but it will always be with you in your heart and mind. I find this quite true with places I've been to. Obviously the narrator is African American by the way she describes her color and how she is part of this tribe. She describes her past a lot in the book. The second chapter I found rather odd on how she constantly discussed about her juice that she always wanted and loved. How this juice affected her love life and how it caused her to write more poems that were passionate with meaning.
In Lamott's story Polaroids I enjoy the meaning how you don't fully know something at first glance, but that the more you view and think about it, the clearer the image and story is to you. I noticed that with pictures I have taken and looked at so many times that I slowly start noticing different things in the background that didn't stand out to me before. In her chapter about characters she explains how you have to give them meaning. How they live, view things, what their personality is, their appearance is, do they represent the author in any way. You have to make them as realistic as possible by making them to be their own individual, a human being. These characters will eventually come across problems in their life because let's face it, nobody has a perfect life, there is always a problem somewhere. This is the plot of the story then. Also, a good story needs good dialogue. Nothing that is plain out boring and drags on and on, but something with rhythm and flows easily and gets the point across. Dialogue is necessary so the rest of the characters in a book knows what is going on and everyone has to think about it. It's like in real life, we have to communicate with others to know what is going on and people's thoughts on it. We couldn't get anywhere in life if everyone sat around mute and not even trying to make nonverbal communications.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
10/9/13
In class, we discussed the fiction packet. One story that we went over was "Wallet." It was kind of confusing to know whether the guy actually stole the socks or not. Truthfully, I feel like he didn't, but that he drops just to bend over and pick them up while drawing attention to his wallet to be stolen again. He's trying to test pickpockets to fool them with his wallet, which consists of no valuables.
One of my favorites was "The Letter From Home." This story is separated into three paragraphs and is kind of told in the three stages of life: Young girl, Mother, Older woman. At the beginning it discusses things she did growing up and uses past tense. In the middle, she talks about having kids and she starts thinking more in depth ideas about life and death. Towards the end she encounters a man in a shroud that beckons her to come to him. This person I think of as Death telling her it is her time to go into the afterlife, but she avoids it like nothing happened.
In the second packet of fiction stories, "People in Hell Just Want a Drink of Water" reminded me a lot of "The Grapes of Wrath." It describes the difficulties people had to deal with in their lives, in the past. A woman suffered with her baby dying and having to throw it in the water. She also had to deal with her difficult children by tying them down. Ras comes home in some pretty bad shape, that he is all mutated in a way. Ras enjoys around the place on horses, but always gets into trouble by showing off his stuff to every girl in town. For this he was cut by a dirty knife and ended getting gangrene and dying from it.
One of my favorites was "The Letter From Home." This story is separated into three paragraphs and is kind of told in the three stages of life: Young girl, Mother, Older woman. At the beginning it discusses things she did growing up and uses past tense. In the middle, she talks about having kids and she starts thinking more in depth ideas about life and death. Towards the end she encounters a man in a shroud that beckons her to come to him. This person I think of as Death telling her it is her time to go into the afterlife, but she avoids it like nothing happened.
In the second packet of fiction stories, "People in Hell Just Want a Drink of Water" reminded me a lot of "The Grapes of Wrath." It describes the difficulties people had to deal with in their lives, in the past. A woman suffered with her baby dying and having to throw it in the water. She also had to deal with her difficult children by tying them down. Ras comes home in some pretty bad shape, that he is all mutated in a way. Ras enjoys around the place on horses, but always gets into trouble by showing off his stuff to every girl in town. For this he was cut by a dirty knife and ended getting gangrene and dying from it.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
10/2/13
For this day we didn't really do much in the class. We had to have two poems to turn in and have graded. Also, we had to bring in extra poems into class to read in groups. We analyzed each other's poems. The only problem with this was trying to read each other's handwriting.
Discussing the fiction packet, it wasn't the easiest thing to follow. The first story, Survivors, is about a gay couple that are basically on their death beds. They seem to suffer from some disease, possibly AIDS. The one wants to die before his boyfriend because he doesn't want to deal with his partner's parents and his parrot. He knows that his boyfriend's family would blame him for the death of their gay son, for giving him the disease in the first place. He doesn't want to be the one to then set the parrot free because then he would be completely alone. With this he wants to be the one to die first and not end up being the horrible survivor.
Mystery Stories is a bunch of short paragraphs that have confusing messages. They seem to all have some setting, but they don't all make sense. The stories tend to sound like something coming from a dream. An example of this is in the first one, where the narrator meets and shakes hands with the cat and the woman become jealous of him. They last two sentences of each paragraph give it away to being something not real as if in a dream state.
Discussing the fiction packet, it wasn't the easiest thing to follow. The first story, Survivors, is about a gay couple that are basically on their death beds. They seem to suffer from some disease, possibly AIDS. The one wants to die before his boyfriend because he doesn't want to deal with his partner's parents and his parrot. He knows that his boyfriend's family would blame him for the death of their gay son, for giving him the disease in the first place. He doesn't want to be the one to then set the parrot free because then he would be completely alone. With this he wants to be the one to die first and not end up being the horrible survivor.
Mystery Stories is a bunch of short paragraphs that have confusing messages. They seem to all have some setting, but they don't all make sense. The stories tend to sound like something coming from a dream. An example of this is in the first one, where the narrator meets and shakes hands with the cat and the woman become jealous of him. They last two sentences of each paragraph give it away to being something not real as if in a dream state.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)