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.