Silent Guide on the Rainy River

                In “The Rainy River” O’Brien tells us an embarrassing story. He begins by talking about his stance on the war, which he is against. Then he gets a draft card in the mail and doesn’t know what to do. He then goes on about his job at the pig factory mentioning many times that the stench would cling to him. He internally goes back and forth about running away or going to fight. He then snaps and leaves for a week. He drives and drives until he comes upon this little lodge. The old man there seems to understand what O’Brien is going through even though he doesn’t ask about it. O’Brien says that the old man saved him. That man put O’Brien to work and then took him fishing. Really the old man was giving O’Brien a chance to swim for Canada and escape the war. O’Brien talked about how he imagined everyone he knew cheering for him to make a decision and how he broke down and couldn’t move. He then said the only reason he decided to stay and fight was that he was too embarrassed to run away.

                The old man, Elroy, was O’Brien’s silent guide. He took Tim in without any questions and helped him through his tough times. His role ultimately led Tim to stay. If it weren’t for Elroy taking Tim “fishing”, he would never have been able to make a decision; he would have had the internal conflict continue on until he went mad and made a rash decision. By staying quiet, Elroy made it so Tim could think on his own instead of being polluted by another person’s opinions.

"The Things They Carried"

I couldn't get past the first story. The imagery of Martha on the beach spoke to me. I felt that I had to captured the image that Cross had of her. I decided that certain quotes should be there; quotes he dwelled on. Of course I included the pebble. I'm not sure why, but this is the response that I came up with.

Come Closer by Hania, is a song that,to me, fits the mood of Cross' situation.

Sand Storm

 “The Sand Storm” by Sean Huze was a well written play. I love the detail he put into it and having the narrator just brought it all together. In the end when you find out that the strong narrator died in combat was a sad moment for me. It was nice to see how he touched everyone of those soldiers lives. The fact that Huze wanted to tell some terrifying stories from the war and how they affected the soldiers was bold. As it says in the beginning, a soldier keeps his stories to himself. I have experienced that with my father.

 He’s been overseas twice now. Once in Desert Storm and in the Iraqi was. This play really hit home for me. It made me feel guilty for not trying to contact my dad more when he was in Iraq. It made me think about what he went through and how he has never talked about it.  Learning how much those soldiers lived for letters was heart-wrenching. All the flashbacks that went on during the play made me think of how my dad could sleep through any noise but the slightest touch would wake him and he would be on his guard. I really appreciated this play because it let you see inside a soldier’s world. I’ve already told my dad that he should read the play and I’m going to bring it to him as soon as I can. I still want to cry when I think about the soldier looking for the foot’s rightful owner or how images of innocent people kept being brought back into their minds, haunting them.

My dad in Desert storm (pic from his facebook)

My dad's blog

Rite of Hanging From a Window

The 2 poems that spoke most to me were “Rite of Passage” and “The Woman Hanging From the 13th floor Window”. “Rite..” made me laugh and think of the times when I was a kid and everything seemed to be a battle between new kids and me. I know all about being the new kid, I moved a lot as a kid. The way the party was portrayed as a room full of “Generals” comparing their strengths was adorable (line 25). Even though it sounded so serious I just kept reminding myself that it was little kids and then I laughed some more. One reason I laugh is because at that age you almost think like that, like you are in some epic battle of strengths. The way her son broke apart the featured fight was amazing. Most people don’t think about fights like that. Throwing something that everyone knows is helpless in the mix changes the perspective and in this case it resolved a fight.

The second poem, “..Woman Hanging..”, reminds me of how I feel at the moment. I feel like I’m on a ledge and I don’t know if it’s worth it to pull myself back up. The way the author constantly goes back to who she would hurt if she let go really makes one think if it’s worth it. In the end for me I know I’m going to pull myself back up, I know it’s what I have to do. This poem speaks to me because it goes to that dark place that we all go to at some point. I like how the poem ends with a choice and only the reader can guess what the women did.
site where I found the picture

"Necessity" response

Sam Hammil has a very interesting view of the world and he doesn’t hold back. I love how he taught poetry and writing in prisons and to battered women as a way to help them express what they have been or are going through. He uses his experiences from his life and from working with those people to prove his thoughts about writing. He comes across as cynical and he tries to show the world as it is, not as people would like to believe it is.


He constantly talks about how the world truly is and how it’s not as pretty as people feel it is. He talks about rape, massacres, prison, and abuse, and how we all will cringe and feel bad for those who are suffering yet we won’t do anything about it. He says we are in a world where emotions are frowned upon as if we all are desensitized to the horrors around us. WE are instilling this desensitization in the children of the world. Hamill has some harsh beliefs about the world, a negative picture and I believe he’s right. People are drenched in “solipsism” these days (page 5). I love how he says “We think poetry is about emotions. Poetry is not about.”(page 4). That is definitely true. Everything he said about “Knowledge is the loss of innocence” really hit home (page 5). I never have thought of it in that way. Truly there are so many points in the paper that I really appreciate. I’m glad someone has pointed out the negativity in the world.

Statistics on battered women.

wccha.org

The Silent Intro

For whatever reason, technology hates me! I couldn't get a working microphone....and dont get me started on my phone,car,ipod,etc......haha enjoy my silent film!

"Good Readers" Response

Nabokov has some pretty interesting ideas on how to be a good reader, or “rereader” as he states. One must have artistic sense, a dictionary, memory and imagination. One also must be able to see the whole picture and be able to appreciate the writer’s art, not identify themselves with the characters. The reader must be able to stay “a little aloof” and detached from the characters to get the whole work of art the writer has created. I feel that this is a great way to go about reading and rereading. According to Nabokov, I am a minor reader. I read for amusement and to identify with the characters. I use books as an escape from the world rather than something to be analyzed and reread. From now on I will try to read like a good reader than a minor one.

picture found through Google