Diamond

     At the tender age of seven, I was given the greatest gift I could've have ever wanted for my birthday: a hamster. And this was no ordinary hamster. I knew this because my brother also got one. Mine was a light brown with a little white diamond on his forehead, hence the name "Diamond" He was sweet and loving, and never even pooped on me. My brothers was a hideous white rodent, with ugly reddish eyes that never wanted to be held named Snowball.
     The time I spent with my hamster was wonderful. We had little green plants in our front yard that Diamond and Snowball loved to run around in; I was convinced they were playing hide and go seek with each other. It became an every day activity for my brother and I to bring our hamsters outside to play, while we watched to make sure they never ran too far away.
     One summer day, I had my at-the-time-friend Sydney Price over to play.( Typing her name makes me cringe even now, twelve years later.)  I had told her all about my perfect hamster Diamond, and she was so excited to see him. So, just like I always did, I brought Snowball and Diamond out front to play in their little forest. Sydney and I giggled as we watched the two little guys run round and round.
     Take caution reading this next part: it gets gruesome. So as Sydney was walking over to pick up Snowball, I saw what was coming: it happened in slow motion. As Sydney's hug foot inched closer and closer to the ground, I saw Diamond's petite little body mover right under it. And before I could even open my mouth to scream, I heard a dull crunch as Sydney's foot came down on top of him. She stepped on my hamster. My beautiful, sweet, loving hamster. She gasped and brought her foot up, and underneath her was a squirming and mangled little creature that was probably in more pain than you can imagine. I shrieked, and my mom came running, right away figuring out what happened.
     The after math of the incident was awful, I became a horrified and depressed child, and could not find it in myself to forgive Sydney. I knew it was an accident, but I couldn't look at her without looking at her foot, and I couldn't look at her foot without seeing it squash my best friend. So needless to say, that friendship was over.
     My mom went out and bought me a new hamster A.S.A.P., but it just wasn't the same. Nothing could replace my precious Diamond, and to this day, I will not own a pet small enough to be stepped on. And I still hate Sydney Price.

From "Pyongyang" by Buy Delisle

     This cartoon was much more interesting than the previously assigned one. The topic was very rare, because so little is known about communist North Korea. The fact that Delisle got to live and work there and then make this piece about his experience is very special. Like he said, now that he has done such, he is probably no longer welcomed there. The details he included in his drawings were very helpful considering the simple nature of his art work. I like how he examined the pictures of the two communist leaders, and pointed out how the frames were larger at the top and smaller at the bottom, emphasizing the faces. And although the topic of this story was very serious, Delisle added just enough satire and humor to make the piece somewhat lighthearted. This comic has swayed my opinion a little towards the positive about graphic literature.

"Nightmare Studio" by Gary Panter

     This piece was sort of odd. I grasped the idea that Panter was painting a picture of the studio he sees in his dreams, but I found myself extremely confused for most of the story. I've had this problem with the majority of the comic pieces we've read so far, so it must have something to do with that. I felt like the comic was its own inside joke, and I was trying to get in on it. I'm sure that when we go over this piece in class tomorrow I will gain a much greater perspective on it, but for now I'm somewhat confused about the point of the story.

From "The Black Veil" by Rick Moody

      I really enjoyed this piece. Moody's writing style is very clever and easy to follow, it kept me intrigued throughout the entire passage. The road trip taken by Moody and his friend seems very simliar to what I believe many of us in college want to do: go somewhere we've never been before and do something we've never done before. Moody's descriptions were very detailed, and he did a wonderful job of adding a perfect amount of humor and sarcam where need be.

"Reflections of a Nonpolitical Man" by Sven Birkerts

     I could easily relate to the topic of this piece, because I too am not a very political person. And just as Birkerts points out, when other people bring up the topic to you, it is unavoidable to start feeling guilty. But not everyone was born to hold rallies and make bills. And just as Birkert also stated, political passivity is not the same as political apathy. It is possible to be aware of what is going on, and fully comprehending it, but not wanting to make yourself a part of the change. It's not for everyone. I really liked this piece and the way the author went about writing it.

From "Palestine" by Joe Sacco

     I was excited to see that this piece was about the Israeli - Palestinian conflict, because I just recently finished reading a historical fiction book on the same topic called Exile by James North Patterson. And while the literary comics are not my favorite, I could relate to this comic because of all of the background information I have just become aware of on this topic. The violence and amount of deaths in Israel is unbelievable, and this comic showing Sacco's journey to the hospital shows just that. His cartoons were very intricate, and at some points even disturbing. I really enjoyed the topic of his piece, though.

December 28th, 1835

     I was born on December 28th, 1990, three days after Christmas and four days before New Years. And when I researched my birthday on Wikipedia including the year, I was disappointed to fond out that the only significance it had was that I shared birthdays with David Archaletta, a former American Idol contestant. How glorious. But when I researched the date in other years, I found many interesting events, the most interesting happening on December 28th, 1835. Oddly relevant to FSU, on this day Chief Osceola leads the Seminole Indian warriors in Florida into the Second Seminole War against the United States Army. And I know this is extremely ignorant, but I was shocked to find out that the mascot of our school was the leader of a group of Indians who fought to the death with most likely my ancestors. I researched the event more thoroughly and learned that the two groups finally made amends with each other (Duh, Thanksgiving) and were in such good standing that when it was time to deem FSU worthy of a mascot, they chose the Seminole Indian Tribe.

"Caring for Your Introvert" by Jonathan Rauch

     I really loved this essay. It was extremely humorous and also very informative. The way Rauch concocted this essay into question-answer form was very entertaining, and I had a happy smirk on my face the whole time I was reading. I would probably have to categorize myself as an extrovert, so getting a greater perspective on introverts was very enlightening. Though the piece was filled with exaggeration and tons of humor, Rauch's main points were legitimate. I can totally see introverts getting annoyed and aggravated when I just keep talking and talking with little to none of what I'm saying being all that important. It is true what he said: I as an extrovert do think by talking. I didn't realize it though until he pointed it out.
     I felt a large metaphor in this piece to homosexuality, though I may be completely off by thinking that. And I don't feel he was satirizing it in a negative way at all, but just making humorous the idea of trying to understand another person who's orientation is completely different from yours, whether it be sexually or socially.

"June: Circle K Recipes" by Karen Tei Yamashita

     As open minded as I try to be, I am just not a fan of essays, or any writing at all, that use so much foreign vocabulary that it's hard to figure out what they're talking about. And that was pretty much the case with this piece. Practically every other word was in Japanese or Brazilian, and although it did add a strong sense of culture to the writing, it was largely overwhelming. Having to stop two or three times per sentence to unscramble those foreign words was a huge turnoff to me.
     But getting past the major set backs, I thought Yamashita's writing style was very colorful and informative. She incorporated foods into the make up of entire culture's and showed how such foods can literally shape a peoples' way of life. I like how she pointed out that no recipe is completely original, that most everything has derived from another recipe, most likely from somewhere on the other side of the world. I also though it was interesting how attached people are to their homeland's food, which she exemplified in the Brazilian workers who were losing significant weight when they lived and worked in Japan.

From "Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person" by Miriam Engelberg

     I knew there was no was I was going to enjoy this piece after I finished reading the biography. Right before I made my way into this comic that from the title I inferred would be fairly humorous, I read "Miriam Engelberg died of cancer in October 2006."

Wow.

     I was depressed off the bat. But still I made my way through the piece, which was very witty and revealing of Engelberg's innermost thoughts. But with every joke or satire she made about herself having breast cancer, all I could think about was how she's dead now. I kind of wish I hadn't read the biography so I could have had a more open minded and optimistic view going into it. I feel so awful for this poor woman; she really did a great job of combining simple pictures with captions that made the piece quick, easy, and entertaining.

"The Faith of Graffiti" by Norman Mailer

     This wasn't my favorite piece. I struggled to finish it, and just could not keep myself interested. The topic of graffiti writers was intriguing, but I just wasn't a fan of how Mailer went about writing this. His descriptions were very intricate and detailed, but I could not get myself absorbed in the story. A few aspects of the essay I did like though, such as when Mailer questioned whether a plant can feel pain or any sensitivity when it is burned or cut, and the metaphor of graffiti as plants, interacting with each other and what not.

From "Lucky" by Gabrielle Bell

     This was undoubtedly my favorite comic we have read thus far in the class. Bell's ideas flowed smoothly, and the combination of the art and her writing created an enjoyable, quirky, easy to read piece. I easily related to her feelings of imprisonment at her mundane job, because spending extreme amounts of time doing anything that isn't your lifelong passion, such as assembling trinkets, can easily begin to feel like jail. Bell's simple way or writing and illustrating were delightful to read, and contained enough subtly humor and relate able awkwardness to make me really believe everything she said. The way she viewed France is very similar to the I view it, as a sophisticated city where people drink wine and smell flowers all day long. I really loved this piece.

Pickle Juice?

     Although the majority of my family is very eccentric, my mother's sister is a tad more extravagant than the rest. And not in the sense of fashion or wealth, but more so in the odd and very detailed memories she always shares with our family. So she was, of course, my first choice to interview.
     My Aunt Jeanie is fifty one years old, and clinically diagnosed bi polar. But while she is a little out there the majority of the time, if you catch her at a good moment, or just happen to be her favorite niece, you can find very valuable and interesting information from the array of words that spew out of her mouth.
   When interviewing Aunt Jeanie, I asked her to recall one of her favorite past times. And that she did. She answered me with a thorough and lengthy story about where she spent her weekend nights as a kid during the winter in Chicago. It began normal enough, her meeting up with her friends at the local frozen over pond to go ice skating. But she did not specify any of her friends, which boys she thought were cute at the time, or even an incident when someone fell through the ice. What she told me was about the concession stand right down the path from the pond, where her and her friends could buy the refreshing beverage of pickle juice, served in the exquisite outer skin of a tomato. You heard me right, pickle juice drunken out of a tomato. People actually payed money for this!
     So while the majority of the interview was based on this unusual phenomenon, I learned from my Aunt Jeanie how easily it is to remember one aspect of an event or past time extremely vividly, and the rest can easily be just a huge blur.

Excerpt from "Candyfreak" by Steve Almond

     I really took a liking to this excerpt from Almond's book Candyfreak. The plot is very quirky and different, but very pleasurable to read; I can feel Almond's nostalgia as he visits the different Candy Factories. Although I myself know little to nothing about real life candy factories, how they operate, etc., I couldn't help but relating every scene Almond described the something I've seen from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I imagine all of the workers as Oompa Loompa's, and each factory as a magnificent castle with large metal gates, filled with magic. So maybe my perception of Candy factories is a little tainted, but who's isn't?
     Either way, I was really fond of Almond's writing style, and how although he, like Ozick in the previous article, was telling not of himself, he did a great job of showing us just how much candy factories mean to him. He also took something as small as a factory, and the workers who occupied it, and made inferences and formed questions about the ever changing world. This essay really made me want to go to South Dakota and buy a whole bunch of Twin Bings.

Chapter Nine "Interviewing"

     This chapter on interviewing explains to the reader what exactly they should be looking for when interviewing someone, and the gestures and body language, along with the composition of the questions, must be formatted intelligently and keenly to bring about the intended effect. Though I am extremely interested in writing and literature, I'm not a journalist at all. I feel uncomfortable asking people intimate questions and chancing their rage and anger when they feel I've portrayed them negatively in an article. No thanks.
     But either way, I liked that this book had a chapter about interviewing, because if used correctly the interviewer can create an atmosphere sufficient for the interviewee to feel comfortable enough to talk truthfully. So while I myself never volunteer myself to be in situations like these, I admire the way this book sets the guidelines.

"What Helen Keller Saw" by Cynthia Ozick

     This essay was very telling. As a child who learned about the set backs and accomplishments of Helen Keller, I was surprised to now read that many critics looked harshly upon her, viewing her as a phony and a falsifier. But aside from the sad nature of the essay, I did enjoy the way in which it was written. This piece of nonfiction had basically nothing to do with the writer, which is not what we have been reading recently, and therefore this piece stood out profoundly. Though the reader is given no reason to believe that Keller and Ozick knew each other personally, I truly felt that Ozick embodied the raw emotions of both Keller and her mentor Annie, as if she was right there with them every moment.
     This piece was quite long, and didn't exactly have me on the edge of my seat, which made the process of actually reading it very long and drawn out. But it was interesting to see a different perspective on the life of Helen Keller than what I had previously been exposed to.

"Consider the Lobster" by David Foster Wallace

     This piece by Wallace starts out very unemotional, just a description of the lobster festival in Maine. But as you keep reading, it becomes more and more noticeable the Wallace is commenting on the cruelty of boiling the lobsters alive. And then on eating any animal in general. I found the way Wallace went about the topic very clever and interesting, it definitely wasn't what I expected. I also thought it was smart of him to remain somewhat unbiased on the topic. He did not criticize the torment of lobsters, but more so questioned it, and wondered how even he could legitimize eating a lobster, knowing that it was just recently boiled alive. This piece was somewhat disturbing, yet the writing was brilliant. I truly enjoyed the author's voice and style of writing.

Chapter 8 "Written Sources"

     This chapters explains how written sources are a large part of creative nonfiction, even though it doesn't seem so. When you think of writing a memoir, or a nonfiction essay, the last thought that come to mind is doing research on the topic. But as this chapter points out, many celebrated pieces of creative nonfiction use multiple written sources, whether a grandmother's old diary or history books. The chapter also explains how written sources are incorporated into nonfiction writing, which even with direct quotations, requires no parenthetical citation or footnote.

"Between Art and Architecture" by Maya Lin

     I really enjoyed this article by Lin, which showed her thought processes as she designed the memorial, and how she felt about all of the skepticism surrounding it. Considering I know little to nothing about architecture, I was glad to be able to understand all of what Lin was designing, as she connected every arch and corner to different types of emotions. I was saddened to find out that the infantrymen were added at the end, when Lin, who came up with the design, wished them not be there. But it was obvious that it didn't completely ruin the whole memorial. I enjoyed how Lin wrote at the end of this piece that when she was visiting the memorial, she looked for a friends father and experienced the emotions she intended viewers to experience.

From "Blankets" by Craig Thompson

     As much as I wanted to enjoy this piece, and really tried to understand it, I just could not make complete sense of the comic. Maybe if I had read it from the beginning I would have better understood, but the drastic changes between Craig on the phone and the talking about ACT's and about nature was too scattered for me. I'm going to read it again a few times to see if I can get something more out of it.

Fron "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" by Dave Eggers

     This excerpt from Eggers' piece tells of a time in his life when he had to take care of his younger brother. Eggers' ability to let the reader into his head, and know exactly what he is thinking and how he is feeling. To have to take the care of your younger brother into your own hands after the death of both of your parents is something very hard to go through, much less write about. Though some parts of the piece seemed a little self indulgent, I admired the intimate quality of the piece.

Fron "The Winged Seed" by Li-Young Lee

     I really enjoyed reading this article. This take of Lee's childhood was very descriptive, and told of how he perceived the trip to the parishioner that his father brought him on. The language used by Lee thoroughly conveys how the trip impacted him, and lets the reader feel the same emotions Lee felt. Although I myself have not experienced the same things as Lee, I could relate to the emotions he experienced because of the vivid and creative way he described them.

I Was Stung by a Jellyfish?

     My parents have repeatedly told me the story of how, at the age of six, I was stung by a jellyfish at a beach in Naples, Florida. The only problem is that I have the most difficult time remembering it. As I try and recollect all of the activities of that day, I find myself creating pictures from what my parents of told me - nothing of what I remember. The story goes something along the lines of this:
     My family was taking a vacation in the summer of 1997. We went to the beautiful beaches of Naples, a fond pastime of my mom's who grew up an hour south in Everglades City. Meeting us there were my mom's four sisters and brother, and all of the members of their immediate families. It was a yearly tradition, and one of my favorite times of the year. I and my 13 other cousins would frolic on the sand and search for sand dollars.
     But this one specific year, the creature I came up with in my hand when feeling around on the ocean floor was not a sand dollar, or a shell, but a slimy, stringy, transparent creature. I held it, staring in awe at the alien creature in my hand. But before long, the pretty little animal started to create a hot, painful, stinging sensation that began traveling from my hand down to my arm. I dropped the jellyfish and screamed.
     So that's how the scene has been portrayed to me, although I can't help but feeling like some of it was fabricated.

Excerpt from "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert

     This excerpt from Gilberts book "Eat, Pray, Love" (which I have read in its entirety), is an in depth look into Gilbert and her sister's relationship. The way the author describes her sister is in a tone of awe and admiration. Gilbert sees Catherine as strong and brave, having many of the qualities she covets. She also notices the complex differences in their personalities.
      And as Gilbert tells us up front about her and her sister's adolescent relationship and then some, readers get to experience it firsthand from the dialogue of the two sisters when they are in Italy. Their ending conversation also tells a lot about their relationship, as Elizabeth reminds Catherine to call her when she gets off of the plane, and Catherine recognizes that this is her sister displaying affection, and responds saying "I know, sweetie. I love you too".

"But Enough About Me" by Daniel Mendelsohn

      This article delves into the raw idea of what a memoir is, and if it could ever possibly contain all truth and no fiction. As the author points out with the help of Freud and other authors, a memoir is completely subjective to the writer's recollection of their memories. If someone recalls a moment of their past in a certain way that they believe to be true, that doesn't necessarily mean that another person involved in their story remembers it the same way. Chances are, they probably don't. Once something has happened, unless it is caught from all angles on tape, and even then, the only remaining evidence of the complete truth of the event is in the minds of those who witnessed it. And as people interpret events differently, their memories in turn are stored that way. So what is true to one person may not seem so true to the other.
      And although Mendelsohn points out this subjectivity, we as readers continue to get very angry and offended when someone seems to be lying in their memoir. But the truth is, as Freud pointed out, that if a person were to try to write a completely objective memoir with no exaggeration or skimming over unpleasantries.
     Mendelsohn goes on to critique the memoir's history, in a pleasantly sarcastic way.