Reading this essay packet has really opened my eyes to the different types of elements that could be found in essay writing. Your essay can be non fiction or fiction, but even when it is non fiction you can find hints of non fiction through out the essay. In the essay Mint Snowball you can see some fiction in the line, "The mint snowball tasted like winter". The snow ball didn't really taste like winter, winter doesn't have a taste, but when described like this you get a feeling of a cold winter night.Using fiction elements allows you to use your imagination. I believe this pulls you into the essays even more and allows you to better connect. You can also find hints of poetry in some of these essays. A really good example of this would be the essay Red: An Invocation. The first time I read this essay I found my self thinking it could actually be a long poem. The last line of the essay to me was really poetic, "As the fox slipped away. And yes, I lead my child into that day". I don't know if it was because these last two sentences rhymed, but it sound like it came right out of a well written poem. I think it is cool how different forms of writing still pull from other elements of writing to make the pieces stronger.
In this packet there was an essay that really stood out to me called Things to Do Today. This essay stood out to me because its structure was very different from any other essay I have read. This essay was written in a numbered list form instead of a paragraph structure. It was still interesting for me to read though because I could still get a sense of story from it. I also liked how some things on the list were real life goals as to where others were so far stretched. Number 17 on the list was to recall mother, which is something you could easily do by thinking up past memories of your mother. As to where number 3 which is destroy the capital with picturesque caress. I thought this combination made the essay more humorous.
The essay Total Eclipse really caught my attention while reading it. One thing I really liked how it was written in phases, one through 4. It was almost like the different phases of an eclipse. I also liked how detailed the essay was. It was almost like you where up on that hill top with all the other viewers and you could really see the eclipse for the first time. The author also brought in and compared a partial eclipses. This made you feel like you were actually learning something while reading the essay. One thing I found myself not liking about this essay was it almost had too much details to me. There was a whole paragraph in the beginning of the essay about a clown picture at the hotel at which there where staying. It was a well written paragraph, but to me it could have been cut out and the essay would have remand the same. Overall I did enjoy this essay.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Sunday, March 24, 2013
End of Maps to Anywhere
Upon finishing reading Maps to Anywhere I had a new appreciation for non fiction essays. Bernard Cooper really made it enjoyable to read his essays. He gave you a real glimpse into his life without over doing it. You got enough detail about him and his friends, but he didn't focus in on the little things that don't really matter. His stories got right to the point and didn't add un needed detail. At the same time they were long enough though so you felt like you were really there and you knew what was going on in his life. The way he writes really makes you interested in what he has to say. One of the main things I liked about this book was its connection. This book was made up of many short little essays, but once you got to the end I almost felt as if all the stories connected and you felt like you really got to know his life.
One of the essays I enjoyed reading was titled Spontaneous Combustion. This story starts off a fire fighter talking at a class assembly about how to be safe with fire safety. I feel like anyone can relate to this and be brought back to their childhood when reading it. It then goes on to talk about how for weeks after the children check there home and count the number of doorways in the home. As the story continues I believe it has less and less to do with fire safety and has started to become more about children escaping their small towns and branching out to follow their dreams. I felt this way because there is a line in the essay that states, so burning their desire for a world beyond the walls. The essay's also ends with the line.. The wise children leap from ledges, disappear into another life, into cool cerulean blue.
Another essay that I enjoyed from the end of our readings was Gravitation Attraction. This essay the sexual pull you have to someone, a gravitational attraction. I really enjoyed this essay because a lot of them you read were about his childhood. This one you could tell was about him being an adult. It was nice to read something that was a story about later in his life, but still connected with the other stories. The flow of the writing and the words he chose while writing also made it fun for me to read.
One of the essays I enjoyed reading was titled Spontaneous Combustion. This story starts off a fire fighter talking at a class assembly about how to be safe with fire safety. I feel like anyone can relate to this and be brought back to their childhood when reading it. It then goes on to talk about how for weeks after the children check there home and count the number of doorways in the home. As the story continues I believe it has less and less to do with fire safety and has started to become more about children escaping their small towns and branching out to follow their dreams. I felt this way because there is a line in the essay that states, so burning their desire for a world beyond the walls. The essay's also ends with the line.. The wise children leap from ledges, disappear into another life, into cool cerulean blue.
Another essay that I enjoyed from the end of our readings was Gravitation Attraction. This essay the sexual pull you have to someone, a gravitational attraction. I really enjoyed this essay because a lot of them you read were about his childhood. This one you could tell was about him being an adult. It was nice to read something that was a story about later in his life, but still connected with the other stories. The flow of the writing and the words he chose while writing also made it fun for me to read.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Maps to Anywhere
When i first began to open the book Maps to Anywhere I though I wasn't going to enjoy the essays at all. Usually essays are boring for me to read, but with this book I found myself actually enjoying many of the essays I read. They were more like short stories to me instead of the typical high school essays I am use to reading. This made them funner for me to read and I in the end was happy I did read them.
One of the non fiction essays that I really enjoyed reading was called by any other name. This story started out by a couple of kids making a prank call to someone that the chose from random. The story then begins to veer in a way that I did not expect. It begins to talk about how the had chosen the person they were going to call not by random, but instead by his name. Bernard then goes on to talk about his brother and sisters names and how his name was not as normal as the others. He could never find cool key chains with his names on it and his mom would always call his name last when calling the kids in because he felt she couldn't remember it. It then goes on to explain how he and his one of his brothers came up with the name for their kids. This essay to me actually made me think about my own name and what it means. You're name is something you are known by. It is with you for life. It is very important. This essay made you think about all of this.
Another essay I enjoyed reading was called How to Draw. This essay starts by almost teaching you about art and the different types of art. Most people would find when someone was teaching about art the would need visual example, but I found this essay to be so well written that I didn't need a visual. This essay then turned into how the author began to draw. You also got to get a look into his family and got to know his personal life and why he began to draw.
The Hurricane Ride was another essay I enjoyed to read. It was written with enough detail to make you feel like you where there. At the same time though it was straight to the point and didn't wander off into a different parallel. I think I liked this story because I could relate to it. It took me back to when I was a younger kid and would go to the fair with my family. Every fair had a ride like the Hurricane Ride and it brought back many memories of the fun times I had on it. This essay was fun to read because it had me take a stole back down memory lane.
One of the non fiction essays that I really enjoyed reading was called by any other name. This story started out by a couple of kids making a prank call to someone that the chose from random. The story then begins to veer in a way that I did not expect. It begins to talk about how the had chosen the person they were going to call not by random, but instead by his name. Bernard then goes on to talk about his brother and sisters names and how his name was not as normal as the others. He could never find cool key chains with his names on it and his mom would always call his name last when calling the kids in because he felt she couldn't remember it. It then goes on to explain how he and his one of his brothers came up with the name for their kids. This essay to me actually made me think about my own name and what it means. You're name is something you are known by. It is with you for life. It is very important. This essay made you think about all of this.
Another essay I enjoyed reading was called How to Draw. This essay starts by almost teaching you about art and the different types of art. Most people would find when someone was teaching about art the would need visual example, but I found this essay to be so well written that I didn't need a visual. This essay then turned into how the author began to draw. You also got to get a look into his family and got to know his personal life and why he began to draw.
The Hurricane Ride was another essay I enjoyed to read. It was written with enough detail to make you feel like you where there. At the same time though it was straight to the point and didn't wander off into a different parallel. I think I liked this story because I could relate to it. It took me back to when I was a younger kid and would go to the fair with my family. Every fair had a ride like the Hurricane Ride and it brought back many memories of the fun times I had on it. This essay was fun to read because it had me take a stole back down memory lane.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Essay's
When i first learned we were going to be writing essays for the next section in this writing class my first though was"oh no not this". To me essays were always boring to write. When I think of all the essays I had to write non were just because I wanted too. The only time I wrote an essay was back in high school or English for college. I wrote them because I was forced too so I never got any pleasure or enjoyment out of writing an essay.
When I started to read the Essay introduction I learned that you could write good essays for pleasure. The first couple of paragraphs in this piece almost seem like the writer wrote them in an essay form. They also seemed like a story at the same time. This helped me see that essays can be fun. They don't have to be just for school or on topics you don't really have interest in, but can instead be written on things that interest you as a writer. They can even help you tell an everyday story from your life. It has shown me that an essay can be interesting to read, wont put you to sleep, and have even brought out interest in me to write one.
This piece has also taught me that just because they are short doesn't make them have any less value. Each essay tells it's own individual story in it's own way. They are deep and have real meaning behind them. Shorts or essays can be written for magazines, about geography, journal entries, or just to get out your stories. There are many different reasons people write essays. After reading this article I am excited to get started on writing an essay for pleasure about a topic I choose. I'm excited to write it.... not because I have too.
When I started to read the Essay introduction I learned that you could write good essays for pleasure. The first couple of paragraphs in this piece almost seem like the writer wrote them in an essay form. They also seemed like a story at the same time. This helped me see that essays can be fun. They don't have to be just for school or on topics you don't really have interest in, but can instead be written on things that interest you as a writer. They can even help you tell an everyday story from your life. It has shown me that an essay can be interesting to read, wont put you to sleep, and have even brought out interest in me to write one.
This piece has also taught me that just because they are short doesn't make them have any less value. Each essay tells it's own individual story in it's own way. They are deep and have real meaning behind them. Shorts or essays can be written for magazines, about geography, journal entries, or just to get out your stories. There are many different reasons people write essays. After reading this article I am excited to get started on writing an essay for pleasure about a topic I choose. I'm excited to write it.... not because I have too.
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