Blog #7 What is the "truth" in this story

This story was extremely good I really enjoyed and understood what O'Brien was trying to say. O'Brien really examined story-telling through using war stories. The "truth", is how no story is genuinely told the right way. So essentially people never actually get the true story. O'Brien basically says that being that when we each see things differently when you witness something happening we automatically distort the images to I guess help ourselves wrap the event around our minds. Hence when a person recalls a story what happens is their interpretation of what occurred is tainted with what they believe occurred. and some or most of what really happened is changed or left out. O'Brien believed that people added things or removed them to make the story believable , because the truth is so unbelievable. He states how when I a person is presented with actual factual truth they tend to reject it. I so agree with that thought, I too have had similar situations. But O'Brien says if you tell that story enough times eventually the truth could possible be told.

Blog #6 The Ranking

During the course of the class thus far we have had to read a range of creative writing essays and throughout this process I have had mixed emotions about them. In terms of ranking I definitely do have an order in mind to which they would fall. On top of that list would be : "Superman & Me";"Westbury Court"; and , "My Father Always Said", those were the essays I most enjoyed and related with. For example in ," Superman & Me", when the author starts to talk about how he felt trapped growing up on that reservation. That statement alone took me back to my own childhood growing up in the projects .( that is an urban low-income housing complex) I felt the exact way watching people around me fall into the box already made for them instead of reaching for the stars. In the others essays they struck me in different eras in my life so they made go back to those places for a while. Now going in the other direction of my list there are a few that would absolutely be at the bottom they are: "Biography of a Dress";"That Men Should Not Judge"; and lastly , " Out There", these essay took me to another place of HUH, I felt they had no purpose in my eyes these examples just bored the mess of me. Maybe it was the ways these authors structured their essays,or even just the content of their essays. Either way they rank at the bottom of my list. Especially , " Biography of a dress", that particular essay almost gave me a headache for most of the read I felt like the author was talking in circles. The way the author kept reflecting back started to make me dizzy. The other two essays were just not good experiences for me.

BLOG #5 What's the point?

This week we read two essays Drummonds' ,"Alive"; and Danicats', "Westbury Court"; you ask us to define the point . In Drummond's piece I think the point was that when a person is exposed to certain situations in life be it by a job or experience like her being a police officer. She felt those experiences keep you guarded and a little paranoid even when you resign from doing that type of work. Drummond was simple explaining how she discovered that fact while doing a chore of going to the grocery store. But in the end she realized that her old job was not the reason for those feeling . She now believed that they were natural emotions everyone feels. Drummond's structure was a tad misleading because for half the story I thought she was a man, it was shocking for me to realize she was a woman.
In the case of Danicat's,"Westbury Court", that essay was based on a her reminiscing about the apartment building she lived in for a while during her childhood. She thought back to different neighbors that she & her family had. Danicat zooms in on a specific memory when one neighboring family had a fire, it was only across the hall. the tragedy in this recall was that the fire consumed the lives of two small children. That experience became a defining moment in the woman's life. The reason I say that is even as she was telling the story she related to those little boys. Even as an adult Danicat states that she asked her mother about those boys because she really couldn't remember what happened. Her structure for me was more straight forward which I could related too more.

Blog#4- My Father Always Said

In this essay the author Mimi Schwartz main point from my perspective was to illustrate the way she learned about her father. Through visiting his home village when she was thirteen. You see the little girl in the story was at that stage where teenage-parent relations seem like they were on two different plants. And she felt like her father always had something to say about everything usually referring to how he grow up. In most sections she just peeled the layers of her father apart like an onion. Just closing the gap of miscommunication with her father, this miracle was taking place while they were traveling to different places in her father's hometown village. as the time and places passed more pieces or the puzzle that used to be her father came to light. She started to see him in another in an alternate way.
Schwartz used history of a family to bridge the wedge between an American born Jew with her old world country father Jew.

Blog #3 Montaggne and Orwell

Montaigne makes a statement with his title, then builds off that subject. His style as I see it was to use historial examples in his essay to support his view on death. This style of writing can be very effective to a certain degree. Like in Montaigne's I feel he used too much history because I didn't reaaly get his point or the main idea until I was nearly done reading. But on the other hand that could have beeen his whole format.
In the story of the shooting of the elephant, Orwell used first person accounts of an event to show what I believe is a hiden meaning. That point was to really examine the relation between the European and the natives of Burma. At first I felt like the story was about a police man who hated his job ,but that was the precursor to the main plot. And then I totally saw the contrast when he got to the spot where the elephant appeared.
Both these essays are comtemporary creative writing to me, because they use other people's stories to illustrate one individual idea or experiences which is the whole purpose.

Blog #2 Kinkaid and Lott

When I first started reading Kinkaid's essay , she gave me a feeling of similarities. I could totally related to her writing and how she painted a picture with every statement. It was like she couldn't continue the story unless the reader really understood or had an image in their head. As my reading progressed I realized that she had a real love of description and letting the reader hear the history of every new element she introduced. My true and initial response to her writing felt like she was going in circles then I realized that her circles had a purpose.
Kinkaid's way of creative writing was extremely descriptive like I stated I believe she was big on painting pictures for the readers. She showed me that putting images in readers also help to deliver the message or bring your story across.

In Lott's discussion he basically just supported my own definition of creative non-fiction . His definition was that creative non-fiction comes from each individual point of view or life experiences. That there is no wrong or right definition. His view is that we create our own defintion and build from there. Lott said people need to take responsibilty for their own perspection of (cnf). Long as it comes with the truth . He also raised questioned that with the definition being self defined we do have certain responsibilities to make sure we answer for and to our lives. I guess he was talking about howa balance needs to be there. Meaning aslong as your not always the hero or the victim your accounts shound be accurate.

Blog #1

What is my definition of cnf?



The way I view creative writing is free expression, sharing adventures and ideas that sometimes go thru peoples head. Its an avenue I've used personally through out my life. Its a way we share fantasies or life stories. Creative wrting to me is a taking somebody on a trip with you in your life thru your eyes.

how you doing

Hey Class!
Here I am , I hope that ya'll ready for me