Dream of India

I know this may be too late to use as a response, but I don't care because I loved the Dream Of India and I forgot to post. I loved the fact that all the story was created by facts. I loved that it was creative and capture my attention. The story seemed wierd and then at the end with the note that it was all mythology of india that brought all the story together and made the story make sense. I loved the descriptions of the race and how the land was. Overall, the story was bizarre and wonderful at the same time. I thought and still think completely well done and what I look for in a story that will catch my interest and make me question. LOVED IT!! =)

Befriending Barbie

Shari Caudon's "Befriending Barbie" from all the story we have read, I have to say that this has to be my favorite story. This story really surprised the hell out of me. At first I thought the story was going to be boring and just talk about the Barbie Convention and how it works, but was I wrong! I totally fell in love with story because of the characters. The Barbie people were beautiful people. We need more Barbie people in the world. I loved the way that Caudon made her meaning making. She was missing something and in the most unexpected place she came to realize that Barbie is not only a toy or doll to these people. Barbie creates a community and helps people in their everyday life to cope with issues. I loved Judy Stegner her story made me cry and that is what I think made this story work because it touched the reader on an emotional level. It was not only a description of what was happening at the convention but we actually got to be there with these people and experience their joy with them.
"I put down the bottle of water I've been holding. 'What do you mean,' I ask, "that you couldn't have made it without them?"
Judy exhales. "Well," she says, "maybe you heard about this. In September 1999, there was a shooting at Wedgewood Baptist Church in Fort Worth in which several kids were killed."
I tell her vaguely recall the story about the man who entered the church during a youth rally and randomly started shooting.
"That's the one," she says. "He murdered seven people that day, including my son Justin. " Judy's brown eyes grow pink with tears. "He was my only child." (Pg.67)

The story had a depth and truth to it that Caudron captured beautifully. Just like Barbie each Barbie collector and fanatic was unique in their own way, but held one thing in common their love for Barbie. Barbie gave them something they were missing in their lives. I also loved the Black Barbie collector Brenda Blanchard because of her creativity she like so many made Barbie an art form. Barbie is forever a memory that is embedded in our minds for those who have and still have Barbies it is a phase in ones life that one can look back and those moments can be relived. Overall, I love the whole story.

The Search for Marvin Gardens

In "The Search for Mavin Garden," the author John McPhee is in search of the real Mavin Gardens like the one in Monopoly. He goes to Atlantic City and he goes to all the places on the board of Monopoly. It was so interesting that McPhee included actual history of how Monopoly was created. I would have never even thought that Monopoly was based on real life places and the whole economic system is crazy to me. I mean that in a good way because I have never playd Monopoly right because I am no good at math, but to know that the percentages of buying houses and property and paying for land is absolutely crazy because it is real. I liked tghe format of the story of how McPhee would go from the game to the actual location back and forth. I thought it was interesting that he had such an obession, but did not just let it be an obession he turned it into a journey to find Marvin Gardens. I love the description of the Avenues because it was so different from what I thought it was going to be. I thought that the Avenues would all be posh and expensive, but come to find out they are mostly poor and broken down.
"On Illionis Avenue, three men lean out from a second-story windows. A girl is coming down the street. She wears dungarees and a bright-red shirt, has ample breasts and a Hadendoan Afro, a black halo, two feet in diameter. Ice rattles in the glasses in the hands of the men." (Pg. 187)
I love the description, the people and to actual hear the city alive. It also amazed me the Marvin Gardens is not an actual avenue, but is instead a place that is hidden and is not actually a certain location, but a suburb and hard as it is to find it, it is hard to live there too. I find that fascinating that only the rich can live there and most the other locations are poor. I liked this story a lot it kept my attention throughout and covered a lot. Good story to read for Non Fiction!

The People on the Bus: Reading Response # 3

This story by Adam Goplik I liked the best out of the four readings we had to read. I liked the fact that is exactly how the bus is. He got the bus, the subway and taxi down to a science. I know how the bus can feel like a feeling of comfort, I experienced this especially with the buses in Spain. The Malaga buses going from El Palo to the Centro was my bus. I can definately see how Goplik could feel that when he returned and the change of the subway made him feel that he was dissapointed because when things change and you have a certain love or admiration for them it is always saddening when they are not the same.

I liked the idea of sameness and wanting the same life but then the change is what makes life well life. I liked the way that he compared what type of transportation was to what type of movie and how the bus was not a staple in New York City history. I liked the description of the people who were on each mode of transportation. Each one had their own unique characteristics.

I liked when the he compared the change of the subway to becoming like "Robocop." The form of the story was simple and straight forward which I found easy to read and made sense for this story because of the linear time movement and his progression from Subway to Bus. How his opinion changed fascinates me because that is what happens to all people, opinions are formed and they can change over time.

I like the story a lot. I felt that we all go through times when we feel that we are certain that one thing will always be the same and then become disappointed when change appears, but then we grow use to the change and that change can be even better then what we thought.

Living Like Weasels: Reading Response # 2

This story by Annie Dillard was ok for me. I didn't dislike it but it didn't really spark my interest. I mean I liked the moral of the story that you should live your life by necessity like the animal especially the weasel like when Dillard says

"We could, you know. We can live any way we want. People take vows of proverty, chastity, and obedience- even of silence-by choice. The thing is to stalk your certain calling in a certain skilled and supple way, to locate the most tender and live tack" anything; a weasel lives as he's meant to, yielding at every moment to the perfect freedom of single necessity." (pg. 97)

I like the moral because all people should apply this to their lives but the whole description of the weasel was kind of boring to me. I didn't like that she wanted to fight with the weasel, I mean it made since that she could be animalistic like the weasel, but I didn't like the whole looking at the weasel scene. I liked the idea of it but not reading it. Wierd? I know.

The form of the writing was good. It was straight forward and got across what it needed and wanted to get across but not too interesting. Maybe it had too much nature for me. Overall, the essay was so -so.

The Answer That Increasingly Appeals:Reading Response

I like this story a lot. Here are my reasons for liking this story:

First off it was interesting all the random thoughts seemed to catch my attention because this is how people actually think or maybe I just think like her. One idea after another pops up into our heads we don't think in a linear motion that would be boring. I also like the fact that she had issues about her being half Jewish and half white, she seemed real and tangible and was talking about important matters that she had to deal with in her life. For example when she sends a request for advice she says

So my question is, on Friday, for this meeting, what should I wear? Seriously. This isn't the punch line. I don't know what the right thing is to wear. I've never met with the rabbi before. (pg.45)

How normal is that. That is what I like the normal way she is. I also like the form of the writing because it goes by seperate times and titles which helps with the reader see that she is talking about something different and that helps with the rhythm of the story because she does jump from here to there, but it is not confusing or at least not for me. I liked the development of the daughter and how we see her personality by all the little statements Black makes about her and her attitude toward school and pork. I like the tone she uses in her piece a tone of confusion.

Overall the story was a good one that caught my attention but I did get confused with the Patina Leather couch. I didn't and still don't get it. Oh and the title I don't get either.

Shitty First Draft Personal Essay

We sit in Pizza Hut, looking at one another. Alien to each other, foreign species
to a foreign land, but the land is even more closely rooted to us then we are to each
other. We sit here in tension, wanting to escape from this false Granada
weekend and act like it never happened. The tension is unbearable I want to scream, I
want to go across the table and smack her pompous, smug face. I get up and I walk to get
my pizza and soda cup. As I pass by I can see her looking at me, she is lucky I don’t
throw my soda on her. I would say something like “Opps! Sorry.” Walk away and relish
in my moment of evil victory.
“Raquel, your pizza is ready.” Belen nudges me. I get up and walk to get my
pizza and soda cup. I go the other way to stay as far away from her as possible. She is a
disease that spreads fast, but the attack is slow and unnoticeable. I retrieve my pizza and fill my soda cup with water and I return to my seat. We sit making small talk as we try to avoid the tension that is so apparent. What would happen if I threw my pizza at her head? I know that would be so childish, but I believe there has to be moments that require such childish behavior with good reasoning. Ok, if I angle and my timing is exactly right I can hit square in the face. She begins to speak
“Ok, chicas. As you all know this has been a long trip and we are all tired. As you know we came to learn about another cultura and people. So I want to go around the table and I want all of you to share your opinions of how your experience went these three weeks.”
Oh yes! This was my chance to really say my opinion. I waited for my turn to
1come and was I ever going to go off. I sat with a determination of a raging dog that is
about to be let loose to fight. I sit in a haze; I can't believe that all the girls were saying the same exact things.
“Oh the experience was beautiful and I want to thank you for being good with us and helping us make our dreams come true . . . blah, blah, blah.”
Finally it was my turn. I was ready and more than willing to express my opinion, but I'm not going to express the same bullshit emotions that my peers are showing and what amazes me is that all of them talked mad shit on her the night before and even that morning and now they are thanking her. Nah, that is not gonna be me. I'm going to keep it real.