"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.