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- Reading responses must be AT LEAST 200 words.
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- Reading responses are due by midnight on the night PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading.
I really appreciated how these stories tie into Starkey's previous lists that involve writing about your memories and "telling the truth." The Mute Sense focuses on the effect that smell has on a person’s memory. A scent can bring up a memory of a place, an experience or feeling from a point in time. My Papa’s Waltz talks about the adjustment of a person’s memories in order to fit a narrative for writing purposes also talked about our previous reading by Starkey. Westbury Court all throughout the passage shows the “telling of truth” when talking about the D, M and Q trains that would pass underneath his building, which could easily be researched and verified. Reading these stories after seeing the rules that Starkey established in the first reading is more reassuring because they give me examples of the rules and I have a better understanding now
ReplyDelete-Bethanee Campos
“The Mute Sense” by Diane Ackerman was very enjoyable to read because of the connections that I was able to make with the story. For instance, I don’t know why, but I associate everything with a particular smell, so it refreshing to see that I am not the only one. I agree when she says that “nothing is more memorable than a smell”, on page 214 because certain smells always bring me back to special times. In “My Papa’s Waltz”, by James Brown, I immediately felt the connection with Starkey’s creative nonfiction piece that we read and covered in class on Tuesday. However, it felt a bit different because James Brown talks about how he was being dishonest with himself when he was writing about things that he did not fully understand, so he wrote another book that satisfied him. I really liked that about Brown because at least he is being honest with himself. In “Westbury Court”, by Edwidge Danticat, it made me worry more than I wanted to because of the story he tells about the fire that started in the building where he lived. It makes me think about a fire starting in my home and wondering what to do first. I would obviously be more worried about my family and pets than myself, but still tough to think about it.
ReplyDelete-Alec De La Garza
When reading The Mute Sense, it made you see on how the senses are very important when you are writing. I think sometimes we take our senses for granted, especially our sense of smell. When we smell it reminds of us a memory, when I smell something with a sharp scent enough to catch your attention but with underlying of spice into it. This reminds me of my grandma, especially before we went to church on Sunday. I think Mute Sense really made me realize how powerful our sense of scent is. My Papa’s Waltz does talk about how sometimes we adjust our memories to fit the writing, or to fit our own narrative. I feel that I have to do that with my memories from childhood, there are some things I didn’t understand as a child, but if I were to write about it now would that be the full truth? Or am I writing to get the reader interested or to try to fit it into my narrative. I really enjoyed Westbury Court, I think it made me think about how there are certain things that I cannot change, after the damage is done. Maybe if I done this? Or what if I said this instead of that? What would happen to me if I did this? Its what goes through our minds more often then we think. I think this story really showed that, and I really appreciate their honesty within their writing.
ReplyDelete-Alyssa Rangel
After reading “The Mute Sense”, it made it clear on how the five senses are very important whether you are going about your day or even writing. I myself take every sense into consideration, but one that is always interesting is smell. When we catch a certain smell, it can affect us entirely or better yet, even remind us of a memory or place. When I catch a whiff of cinnamon, I immediately think of my grandmother for she makes the best pan de polvo cookies out there. This piece reminded me that the sense of smell is very powerful than it may seem. “My Papa’s Waltz” talks about how when we think of our memories that we tend to alter them so that they can somehow make more sense than we can explain. When we write about a specific memory from childhood, we may think “wait…did this actually happen?” As children, there were certain things that we could not wrap our minds around, and if a memory contained something like that it is questionable that if we are even writing the full truth or not. We could either completely remember that memory, or adjust it so that way a reader could be pulled in and be amused. Lastly, “Westbury Court” left this cloud of question above my head. Sort of like second guessing. It makes one realize that things should be left alone once an occurrence happens to it. The past cannot be altered for a reason. It amazes me how some writers can be so truthful.
ReplyDeleteClarissa Partida
After reading these stories I acquired a bit more of insight in regards to what Starkey meant in the previous reading we had. These pieces clearly resemble the rules Starkey so much emphasized throughout his work, each ion their own way. While reading the stories "The Mute Sense", "My Papa's Waltz",and "West bury Court" I noticed how these relate to the previous reading and at given points mentioning similar concepts such as experiences, memories, and stories having truth. While reading across "The Mute Sense" I felt a strong connection due to the fact that at least speaking for myself, I know I tend to relate a certain smell to a certain occasion. I believe that this story was intended to make us give some more appreciation to our scent, or smelling sense since it can produce so much more than what we think, for us. Throughout "My Papas Waltz" I caught the concept of it being that of honest writing. The author relates how he himself forced his writing, but was not satisfied until he was honest through his writing and memories. This helps me gain understanding with one of Starkey's rules of keeping your writing truthful. Last, but no least, in " Westbury Court" I found questioning some of my life experiences and how I've actually handled them. In this reading I acknowledged that 'what if's'' will always be there, but what is done is done. I enjoyed this reading, however like I mentioned previously it left me wondering about my past and present decisions just because I am naturally an over thinker too.
ReplyDeleteVictoria Rodriguez
The Mute Sense was a story that I appreciated especially as a result of the utilization of symbolism. I trust Ackerman makes a great showing with using symbolism in the primary section. Through her utilization of symbolism Ackerman is capable catch how a memory can be activated by a solitary, short lived aroma in the accompanying expression, "Scents explode delicately in our memory like impactful land mines, covered up under the weedy mass of numerous years and encounters. Hit a tripwire of smell, and recollections detonate at the same time." I truly loved these sentences because to me they flawlessly portray what an aroma activated memory feels like. My Papa’s Waltz made me feel a bit sad and happy for the boy in the poem. One thing is sad because I always feel there is some heartbreak in drinking. Drinking alcohol or whiskey can be a problem that should be taken seriously. I also felt a sense of joy for the boy, because he has these memories of waltzing with his father. It is a very tricky poem in my eyes and makes me think about my emotions I have for this poem. I enjoyed reading Westbury Court because it was quite an easy read but it still had a really good theme to it. I liked how Danticat was not super descriptive in the short story and that her descriptions that she did have did a great job of showing just enough visuals of the events that happened to her when she was younger. I feel like it shows us just how much more “real” the story is because she is not trying too hard to remember every single detail. Another thing that I appreciated about Danticat’s writing was her way of showing us how she really felt at the time, again to where it was believable. I felt I can truly relate with her words because they felt organic.
ReplyDeleteGilbert Sanchez
In “The Mute Sense,” is an essay on using your senses when writing. For instance, you want to use your smell, taste, sight, and hearing to capture the exact moment in time you are talking about. The extra detail will allow the reader to have a better understanding of what exactly you are trying to portray in the writing. Also, allow the reader to make a similar connection to the senses that you are describing.
ReplyDeleteIn “My Papa’s Waltz,” is about Theodore Roethke detailing the whisky breath of a father asking their child to dance. The intense detail of this allows the reader to have better insight to connect with the author of what is going on in the moments that they are sharing this dance together. The “Waltz” that the father and child partake in is a way for the father to make an attempt of forgetting the mother, who is currently in jail. This one felt more realistic and is a lot more personal than what we’ve read so far in this class. It was a great read for sure.
The tragedy of “Westbury Court “involving the deaths of two boys being burned alive is a bit graphic because the memories encompassed by the author tie it all together. The connection is there and the reader can see how greatly the author is affected by this.
Krista Olivarez
The Mute Sense is an interesting one to me. It deals mostly with the sense of smell and how it associates with memory. Smell also happens to be the sense which abandoned me midway through my life only to come back recently. It adds a little bit of depth to this story for me. The entire topic it deals with is developing for me at the moment. My Papa’s Waltz is a bit of a strange one, to say the least. The only real memorable parts of it are the self-reflections they contain. They are… regretful. There is only so much you can do about your past as you mature. The author, despite probably not reasoning that way, effectively comes to the same conclusion. He takes a moment of reprieve, contemplating the past he would live over again. Westbury Court is the most profound of these stories to me, perhaps because I feel that the author is more impacted by these events than he lets on. There is almost a want here to let the memories slip away. So many memories the author recounts to us here and so few are good. That will be the legacy of Westbury Court on the man.
ReplyDeleteChristopher Hinkle
There seems to be a very prominent theme at least through the first couple of weeks of this semester in which the same ideas of creativity and creative writing parallel each other. This week, "The Mute Sense" seems to be an extension of what Wallace Singer talked about in his "Creative Writing" piece. The essay mostly immerses itself into sensical art and writing with your senses. It's all about personifying your writing and injecting it with your DNA, because who better to experience your feelings than you. "My Papa's Waltz" might be a very short poem - but it also paints a very vivid picture. This poem following up "The Mute Sense" is very much perfect as Theodore Roethke uses his senses to wrap the audience in his story. The way he uses his sense of smell to describe how overbearing the whiskey in his father's mouth is and the way he points to his sense of touch to highlight the intensity of the hand on his wrist - it's all through senses. It's a relentless poem that invites its reader into a very uncomfortable world, and a poem like this could not be nearly as effective without its use of senses. "Westbury Court" was my favorite of the three, in large part because I'm more fond of narrative storytelling and never found poems to be as engaging as the former. If anything, this last story really makes you ponder on life, and all those times you were young and naive and were close to your potential demise. It really makes you wonder: "what if?" What if this had happened when I did this thing when I was six? Or that other thing in the summer of my second year of middle school?
ReplyDeleteLuis A Garza
I really enjoyed "Westbury Court" and "My Papa's Waltz" the most out of the stories. Regardless of the intended message or feeling of the two writings, they reminded me of the idea that as kids we don't think of our surroundings and our lives, as bad or out of the ordinary until it's either pointed out to us directly, or something really tragic happens. In "Westbury Court" it was the fire, in the reading the author describes their building as a "castle" and when they describe the subway that runs underneath they speak of it as something amazing and unique, fun. The author describes their surrounding neighborhood having graffiti on the wall, and piles of trash, but they never describe it as disgusting, or any other negative adjective, as a kid everything is great, everything is "normal" in your mind because that's how, as a kid, your used to living, that's your lifestyle. It wasn't until the fire, and the random deaths throughout her apartment building and across the street that the author started to realize that the world isn't really what they thought it was. The facade was broken. "My Papa's Waltz" was not exactly the same, but it does relate to the idea of certain people's "normality", in this reading the young boy knew that it was "normal" or usual for his father to beat him while drunk. So much so that he started to refer to the beatings as a "Waltz", a dance that is the same all the time, like a routine. In his mind, this child knew that there's a life where there is no abuse, a routine that doesn't involve being hit, another life with a loving father. But on the other hand he makes himself feel that this is normal by mentioning that he knows his father loves him, and that maybe the beatings are something that he has to endure, to enjoy the love that his father gives him while sober.
ReplyDeleteAisha Teegarden
I really enjoyed reading these selections, especially Westbury Court. Personally, I wasn’t able to connect them to each other because they were different topics. I liked that the first reading, “The Mute Sense” talked about how important scent is to someone and goes into detail as to why. This made me think about when you smell a certain perfume, or air freshener that you haven’t smelled in a long time and it reminds you of a certain day from 5 years ago. It made me put into perspective how important and helpful being able to smell is important.
ReplyDeleteThe second reading, “My Papa’s Waltz” really emphasized everything we went to in our previous reading. How you can write anything, anything in the world, but if you are not happy with it or know it well enough to describe it to the reader it doesn’t matter.
Westbury Court was a really powerful reading to me, it made me emotional, and I was able to connect to the author, Edwidge Danticat, because I have little sisters and a younger brother. And when you experience something bad or hear about it you always put yourself in their shoes, even if its something that you don’t want to think about.
Overall, this has shown me selections that I wouldn’t normally read, but have enjoyed reading.
-Cecilia Cantu
After reading these three short stories, I think one thing they have in common is how they all go into real detail. For example in the story “ The Mute Sense” it focuses on one of the five senses; smell. I believe scent plays an important role in our lives. It takes us back in time in which we might either cherish or a time where it was difficult for us. I really enjoyed reading “Westbury Court.” I like how the event was into detail, how the author mention the graffiti and the trash. I can somewhat relate to it, in the way that my sister and I would watch General Hospital every summer. We always knew that when the clock turned 1pm, we had to change the channel. We would so into it, that we would not even notice that our mother had already arrived home from work. Lastly, on “My Papa’s Waltz” it reads about our memories. How we can sometimes find ourselves confused of what actually happened, to what we imagined happened. Although, I do think it was a bit hard to understand by what the boy meant when he would mention he would waltz with his father. Is it something that actually happened or something else that he imagined? Overall I enjoyed the readings, they were interesting to read.
ReplyDelete-Mayra Zarazua
I do not consider myself to have a greater memory than that of a gold fish. Details blur and become a feeling of déjà vu, facts become questions, and conversations become air. Both Brown and Danticat play with time and personal feelings of helplessness while Ackerman focuses on how we take advantage of a sense that more than often gets taken advantage of. My favorite out of all 3 must be My Papa’s Waltz. Similarly, my father went to jail when I was 10 years old, I was not able to form a proper father-son relationship and I feel nothing towards him. I do not love, nor do I hate him. Feelings of neutrality have been in place since I could recall. My mother was not a drunk. She took care of four kids. The next eight years were the hardest my family has ever gone through. Like Danticat, my 10-year-old self felt helpless, like I was not doing the most I could do for my family’s prosperity or advancement into a future where my younger sisters did not feel the way I did at the time. I did get caught off guard with the dramatic difference from the content in Ackerman’s work as opposed to both Brown and Daticat’s work.
ReplyDeleteJonathon Morin