Me Talk Pretty One Day

For week of 3/6

**Quote a passage & respond to it. How did it make you feel?

Pages Read: 32-100    (Short Stories: "Genetic Engineering" "Twelve Moments in the Life of the Artist" "You Can't Kill the Rooster" "The Youth in Asia" "Big Boy" and "The Learning Curve")

Since the author of this book, David Sedaris, writes mainly comedic essays, I was expecting all the short stories in this book to be mainly humorous. I guess that was too much judging! One of the stories this week turned out to be rather sad in the end, actually. Of course it was still funny at points, but the fact that it was in fact sad, can't be denied. The story was "The Youth in Asia", and it was about the dogs David's family owned when he was younger. The passage I would like to respond to won't make much sense without any background info on the story, so here we go. David's family owned two collies, two german shepherd,  and a cat. All of the animals weren't owned at the same time, although the two collies came as a pair. The point is: you can see his family experienced the death of quite a few animals, as all the animals I mentioned died before his family got the next dog I'm going to talk about. His parents went a whole year without owning a pet before they got their new dog. This dog happened to be a great dane they named Melina. Melina became the thing both his parents treasured most-- even more than there six kids (which was the humor of the story)!

One of the memories of Melina that David briefly mentions is when his father would take her for a walk outside. People would yell at him, "Are you walking her, or is it the other way 'round?" His father would laugh and smile since he loved the attention, but he also loved Melina. A little fact from the memory of the walks was that his father would carry around a shovel if he went on a walk with her. The shovel was to, you know, scoop up her 'business'. It may not seem like a very important fact, but David mentions it again later in the passage I'm going to respond to. In fact, here's the passage below:

"When walking Sophie through the neighborhood, my father feels not unlike the newly married senior stumbling behind his capricious young bride. The puppy's stamina embarasses him, as does her blatant interest in young men. Passing drivers slow down to a stop and roll down their windows. "Hey," they yell, "are you walking her, or is it the other way 'round?" Their words remind him of a more gracious era, of gentler forces straining against the well-worn leash. He still gets the attention, but now, in response, he just lifts his shovel and continues on his way."

Before I go on, Sophie is the new great dane David's father purchases after the death of his wife and Melina. Anyway, I wanted to respond to this part because of how it sort of implicitly has nostalgia. Another reason that sort of ties into that was that I was able to connect with David's father on how certain things would remind him of his dog. This passage had made me feel a little nostalgic  a little sad, a mix of both. It had reminded me of how my grandparent's house often reminds me of the days when my family owned a german shepherd. I felt like the way David described his father when he was reminded of his late dog was pretty accurate of a person who is reminded of something they loved dearly but no longer have in their life. If not, then it was pretty accurate in my case. He said his father would react very little and simply go on his way while thinking of the older days with his dear Melina. When I get reminded of my family's past shepherd, I do the same, really. I usually only get the nostalgia of her when a car is being washed in my grandparent's yard. This is because our dog loved to play with the hose when we would wash a car in their yard. When I become reminded of her, I think back to the days we spent with her and I just continue on with what I'm doing, but with less enthusiasm. Since I was able to connect with David's father in this passage, it made me feel a little sad, as I've said before. But then again, it was kind of nice to know that someone else (even if it was in a book) feels the same sort of nostalgia and sadness when they get reminded of a late pet. And pushing all of those sad moments  behind, this was an amazing essay. It was a really good combination of humor and nostalgia, making it a really good read! It's hard to pick a favorite right now, since all of these essays have been really well written and funny. Although, out of this weeks reads, I'd say that this essay has to be my favorite.

 

Poetry Reflection

Poetry has never really held any importance or place in my life. It had been something I knew, but never really took the time to interpret or appreciate. Of course, I had read poetry from time to time, but again, it didn’t really have a meaning. It was just poetry. Now that I’m able to interpret pieces of poetry better and have this better understanding of them, they’re much more enjoyable to read. With that, they have gained an importance in my life. For example, the lyrics to the song “Car Radio” have become different and more meaningful/important to me now that I can interpret them much more as a poem. Since I can interpret poems much more, they have so much more meaning to me now that I understand what the poem was trying to get across. Basically, it was easier to see the deeper meaning of a song/poem now that I had spent so much time in class with them. Poetry has become a more important part of my life because it has allowed me to interpret things into something I can actually relate to. “Car Radio” was no longer just a song about a guy driving his car with no radio on; it became a song about the thoughts we all have that we wish we didn’t-  the thoughts that torture us. Poetry has changed the meaning of songs from something very simple, to an idea that I never would have thought of, had I not interpreted it because of poetry. Since poetry has given me so much more things with meaningful messages and things to relate to, it has given me an opportunity to really treasure and appreciate poetry.

Poetry belonging to everyone is something that I think is automatically put in place. Anyone can read poetry, anyone can write it, and anyone can express their feelings. Of course, a few of those things may come with difficulty for some people. For example, to read poetry, you need to be able to read, of course. Unfortunately, not everyone can read, but that doesn’t mean they’re completely cut off from poetry. There are other ways to stay connected to poetry and to have a part of it belong to you in a way. You can always write poetry, or just express your feelings. Now, how is expressing your feelings connecting you to poetry and letting you keep a part of it? Well, you have to think of what poetry is. For me, I see it as expressed feelings put into words and rhymes. As long as a person can understand what they are feeling (or even expressing confused feelings and feelings you can’t really understand are good!), poetry can be made. Also, it’s hard to explain how I know poetry belongs to all of us. I mean, how do you know you’re free to walk to the park? How do you know you’re allowed to comb your hair? You just kind of do! For me, it’s the same for poetry. No one has gone and said, “Nope, you guys will absolutely not be reading poetry. No way.” Poetry is just a thing we’re allowed to do, or read, in this case.

I believe the life experiences of a poet do affect the poem he/she creates. Poetry is expressed feelings, and life experiences affect our feelings. With all the different things poets experience in their lives, they get to write poems about these new experiences and the feelings that come with them. You can think of it like this. Isn’t it far easier to write a poem about something you have experienced or a feeling you have felt rather than something you have no idea about? Of course you could always write a poem about a totally random thing, but would it actually be quality? It depends on the poet, but chances are it wouldn’t be as good as the poem based on something already experienced. For me, if I ever write a poem on my own free time, I always write it on something I can relate to. This can be real things I have experienced, things I’ve read about, things I have heard about a great deal, and things I imagine. The different things I’ve heard, read, and experienced do really affect a poem I may write. When I think of it like this, I would think that it’s probably the same for so many poets out there. A good example of this is ‘The Names’ by Billy Collins. He wrote the poem to honor the victims and families of the victims of 9/11. He experienced the pain of losing a loved one in the event, he heard about it a great deal, he read about it a great deal, or he was just able to express his feelings about it. I can’t say exactly which one (or multiple of those) caused him to write his poem, but I think he was able to connect with the people. The event of 9/11 had a widespread effect across the whole country, so I think he was able to understand their pain. Also, that’s only one rough example of how poets have been affected by their experiences. There have been many poets who have written about the places they’ve seen, places they’ve lived in or heard about. They’ve written about feelings they’ve felt, like love or sadness. Since there are so many examples of poets writing poems because they’ve been affected by something, it’s hard for me to think that life experiences would not affect a poet’s overall poem.

Me Talk Pretty One Day

For week 2/24
**Draw a picture for what you just read.

Pages Read: 1-32    (Short Stories: : "Go Carolina" and "Giant Dreams, Midget Abilities")

I had been reading a book called "M or F?" recently, but I lost the book so Me Talk Pretty One Day was a last minute pick. Since I didn't have a lot of time to read this book, I haven't read too much of it yet. This book is another short story book, or rather, an essay book. The author, David Sedaris, has many other essay books like this one. All his essays are meant to be comedic, and he succeeds at making them funny! I've read two of his other books (Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls and Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk), so when I was faced with picking a book rather quickly (in like five minutes), I picked this book because I was already familiar with his stories and books. So far, I'm not regretting my quick decision!

The first short story, or essay, was called "Go Carolina". This was about Sedaris' life in elementary school when he had to go to the school's speech therapist for his lisp.Since that essay didn't have a lot of description, I decided to draw a picture for the second essay, "Giant Dreams, Midget Abilities". This essay just so happened to have a midget in the story and also a man and boy with great dreams. The boy, who is supposed to be the author, has dreams of being a singer like his father's favorite singer. His father, on the other hand, has dreams of his kids all learning how to play instruments so they can make on big family jazz/blues band. So, the father signs his kids up for music lessons: flute, piano, and guitar. David happens to get the guitar lessons, and this is where we meet the midget of the story. David's guitar teacher is a midget and David wants no guitar lessons from him. Instead, he wants his teacher to play guitar while David sings like his father's favorite singer and they would make a wonderful duo. He sings for his teacher to show he has some skill in singing, but his teacher says 'No' to being a duo. And with that, David's dreams are pretty crushed, and so are his father's, since none of his kids can play their instruments very well. It may seem like a very simple story, but the descriptions of how David's siblings could play their instruments, David's father, and the conversations between characters make it a really funny story! So far, I'm really looking forward to reading this book!