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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.
The Witching Hour has to be my favorite from the three readings. From the beginning, Nezhukumtathil drew me in with her use of imagery. She describes the setting in the Philippines around sundown and paints a picture of the mythical creature, the Aswang. Nezhukumtathil contrasts the beauty of sundown with “the night still [being] soft and the rosal blooms folding damp” with then describing the horrific process of the Aswang transforming between day and night personas; a beautiful young lady transforming into a bat-like creature who detaches herself from the lower half of her body to feed on newborns. Nezhukumtathil even goes as far as to tell us how to vanquish the monster from her ancestral homeland. The Witching Hour also struck a nerve with me when the main conflict appears in the classroom of a third-grade class. Me, wanting to become a teacher, could never imagine squashing a child’s imagination the way Nezhukumtathil’s did to her. However, in the end, Nezhukumtathil came out triumphant. Not only did she win the poster competition after being scolded, but she also went on and drew her original idea anyway, but she drew it with the markers that belonged to the teacher that squashed her idea in the first place. Sort of an “f you” moment to the teacher.
ReplyDeleteBethanee Campos
These three short nonfiction creative writing stories where very interesting to read. As it was mine and my partner's duty to complete the DLF with these stories, I actually enjoyed reading them more than once and having to refer back to them. I enjoyed reading "The Witching Hour" and "Dreads" the a lot more than "Late July 4:40am". In my opinion "Late July 4:4am" was quite confusing with the going back and forth with the scenarios while the author was on the road. However, like I mentioned I liked how in "Dreads" there was sort of a focus on the concept of doing what one believes. The brief story tells how the author was inspired by Bob Marley to live a healthier lifestyle beginning by making a significant change in her hair style. Since I have curly hair I know how sometimes it can be a drag to care for it and I sometimes end up having tons of knots when I tend to push back brushing my hair. However I always go back while I shower with huge amounts of conditioner to get my hair detangled and this story made me think about how much chemicals I'm probably putting on my hair. I probably should start looking for other natural products to relief my hair from the knots and the chemicals as well!
ReplyDeleteVictoria Rodriguez
“The Witching Hour”, by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, is an inspiring story because it teaches you to let your imagination run wild and confide in yourself regardless of what happens. In this instance, a third grader named Aimee drew something called an aswang: described as a beautiful young woman that morphs into a creature of fantastic evil on page 227, according to her. I really like the description that was given of the aswang because it really helped me picture how it looked like. However, the teacher in the story did not approve of her drawing so she had her restart it from the beginning and tore the drawing apart. This is something that didn’t sit well with me because the teacher should have encouraged the drawing and shouldn’t have scolded her for it. Nonetheless, this story was one of my favorites that we have read so far. In “Late July, 4:40 a.m”, by Reg Saner, I really liked the imagery that he implemented into the story. For example, he’s describing what he sees on a plain in western Kansas by saying “a wheat field now stubble is still giving off the earth smells of night”, on page 229. The author helps you try to picture the smell of the wheat field. This is something I enjoyed because I associate everything with smell. Lastly, I instantly fell in love with the story “Dreads”, by Alice Walker, because she mentions Bob Marley and the influence he had on her. I really enjoyed when Alice mentioned that “Bob Marley is the person who taught me to trust the universe enough to respect my hair”, on page 231. Music artists can be very influential in positive ways, and I am glad he had that effect on her.
ReplyDelete-Alec De La Garza
I like when the Author Aimee Nezhukumatathil discusses about a teacher from an elementary school is doing a competition about the animals species and every student have to draw a animal. The teacher is giving first place a one topping pizza, second place the line leader for a week and third place a packet of markers. I think it is a good idea students are competitive and giving them a prize will help students to feel motivate when it comes to perform a good job at school. I do not like when the author Aimme was mentioning the teacher was very rude to the 3rd grade student when she was ripping off her paper because the elementary student drew a aswang a beautiful lady in the mornings who becomes a evil witch at nights. The teacher torn off her paper in four pieces she said do it again. I believe the teacher should not treated a small child that way instead she should be more patient. For example, Maria this is not what I told you to draw for this class activity but you can save the drawing for yourself and make a new one please. Thats what I will say if I was a teacher. You do not have to be tough with elementary schoolers. She need to have good manners when approaching to students and not approaching them with a bad attitude. What I like about the reading "Late July, 4:40am is that the author, he is enjoying the landscape when the sunset arrives because he had this car-motion, adrenaline and euphoria meaning he only was focusing driving on the high way as well as watching every single detail like restaurants, cars, stores, lights, billboards and the moon. What I do not like about the reading is that the author must be tired about driving long hours in the highways that is why he got this car motion feeling to avoid sleeping while he was driving and stay awake to arrive to his destination soon. I found interesting in the reading "dreads" when the author Alice Walker said she have a lot of questions and curiosity about dreads and I like how she appreciates her friendship with Bob Marley saying good things about him. What I do not like is when Alice asked her friend how she wash her dreadlocks but her friend treated her as if she was dumb person. Her friend told her well you purchase this thing call Shampoo in the store you put it in your hair and also wash it with water. I also do not like how Alicia was so curious about dreadlocks because she needs to be careful how she says things to people, they can take it the wrong way and get offended.
ReplyDeleteOscar A. Jacome Serrano
The two that I mostly enjoyed was the witching hour, and dreads. I really loved how the witching hour was written and I think it resonates with a lot of people that struggle with their culture sometimes. That sometimes people will make them feel ashamed for doing something within their culture or even thinking out side of the box. There has to be rules, and everyone needs to be the same. I’m glad that they showed the teacher they couldn’t be brought down, and started drawing that mythical creature again. Really resonated with me and my school days. Dreads was also an interesting read, I love how it somewhat educated us a bit about this hairstyle. I think a lot of people look at dreads in a bad light, and I think reading this really shows the beauty of it. Even showing how at one point she didn’t even know about dreads and educated herself when asking her friend how they was their hair. Her realizing that was probably not the best question, and regrets saying it later on in life really shows her growth. The other reading Late July, 4:40 a.m, I think I got very confused on it so I didn’t quite understand the story, it bored me just a bit and I don’t know if it was the writing or the topic.
ReplyDelete-Alyssa Rangel
In the primary exposition, "The Witching Hour" there was a spooky vibe that didn't agree with me. In spite of the fact that, I was a devotee of the exposition due to how frightful the educator was. That I could identify with being frightened of something that I didn't think about, and considering how a little youngster could be so alright with its possibility. The manner in which this article was sorted out was frightening since this youngster had heard the tale of the aswang for as long as they can remember and had no dread of drawing it for a school rivalry. It made me think with respect to what horrible encounters happened to the writer for them to compose something so dull this way. In the subsequent exposition, "Late July, 4:40 am" I was assumed to an alternate position. I had the option to imagine a great deal of the things that the writer composed as a result of the dazzling symbolism in the exposition. Be that as it may, it didn't intrigue me I didn't want to peruse more it wasn't a page turner for me. I couldn't get a perfect feel for the story and pinpoint why it was composed or what undertones were behind the words utilized. In the last article "Dreads" this one was extremely sensible and made them feel this had the goals of being a paper about social strengthening. There was a sure stunner that I felt from this article about this character figuring out how to acknowledge their hair for the manner in which it was. It was fascinating to peruse the subtleties of certainty that flourished.I thought it was extremely decent to have the character be upbeat in view of another hairdo that made them feel positive about their very own skin.
ReplyDeleteGilbert Sanchez
Since I had to read these short stories for my DLF I was able to get a better understanding with the authors and their background and why they wrote the short stories. One of my favorite short stories was “dreads” the authors background gave me a better understanding of what she went through being a woman of color. A lot of the times people get backlash because of their hair and they feel ashamed so sometimes they Will try to hide it or try to fit in when in reality they should just be themselves and be proud. And Alice Walker gives the reader an inside look at what she went through. Nowadays a lot of people want to have dreads and will get them done without realizing that people of color got made fun of having hair like that when it’s something they have no control over. The reading “late july 4:40am” Made me think about all the times I’ve gone out of town to San Antonio or Austin and the long road you take where you just see trees and fields no buildings or houses. Although I think it’s a bit scary like if you were to get stranded it is also very relaxing because there is not a lot of noise or a lot of lights. Reg Saner was very descriptive with the details so I was able to picture everything as I read on.
ReplyDelete-Cecilia Cantu
The Witching Hour is a reading that is very intriguing. I love how it begins describing the aswang's actions and movements in terrible, yet captivating detail - giving it its due of wonder and beauty while never undermining the danger. I don't like how it abruptly throws in the detail of lemon juice and garlic - feels like a very out-of-place fact that distracts from something otherwise mysterious. That being said, I think this is my favorite one from the three. I love how it not only offers a glimpse into a young girls life but it also is a piece about creative silence. I also love the juxtaposition between the horrifying and the beautiful - how her mom used to tell her these usually scary stories to the end of comforting her daughter. It makes you think on different aspects and it spends proper time developing each idea.
ReplyDeleteI was completely engrossed with the first story, can't say the same thing about "Late July, 4:40 am by Reg Saner" I just found the whole thing to be too flashy and over-descriptive. The sentences were nicely constructed and very good at painting a vivid picture, but it relied so much on the same thing that i was itching for a story. Why do all these things matter to our protagonist? I just can't spot the point of it all.
"Dreads" was a short story I quite liked. The way in which she describes something as simple as hair in eccentric detail parallels the intricacies of human beings - race, color, culture. "It is just hair!" we might think "it grows out of your head, most people have it". But what does hair say about a person's background? What does it say about their culture? Their confidence? Their hygiene. Hair speaks volumes, this short story reaffirms it.
Luis A Garza
My favorite reading this week was “Dreads” by Alice Walker because she was inspired by Bob Marley, who is someone I am extremely inspired by. I listen to his music on a daily and find so much peace in the lyrics of his songs. I have very curly hair and usually tame my hair by putting it in a bun. I used to use a lot of products with chemicals in it, but now I use organic and vegan products for my hair. Then there was the aswang drawn by Aimee from the “Witching Hour.” I teach dance and I completely encourage my students to be as creative as they can. For a teacher to discourage a student’s creativity is a bummer. Destroying the work of a student is not what I stand by at all especially if a student is passionate about it. As long as the creativity is not offensive nor disrespectful than a student should have the opportunity to share what they created. Finally, Reg Saner’s, “Late July 4:40 AM” is about a car ride while being euphoric. It was confusing at first, but took me a couple reads to notice what exact direction he was going in. I love car rides, so I can relate to the fact of paying attention to the smallest of details when driving or on the passenger side.
ReplyDeleteKrista Olivarez
After reading these pieces, I have chosen two favorites. Dreads and Witching Hour. First I found Dreads to be interesting because it taught us the ways of that certain hairstyle. The hairstyle has become very controversial this year, so it was interesting to read a story about it. After she asks her friends how the dreads are actually her hair, she realized the way she asked the question was somewhat mediocre. As she realizes it, it somehow makes her a bigger or smarter person in the end. The Witching Hour reminded me of spooky season, which is coming up, but I was surprised to find out that it does not even relate to that. It was about how some people struggle with their own cultures and the views they have. Also, that cultures are seen as certain groups that have specific rules, and some might feel ashamed following those certain rules or even not following them. This is very common in some cultures. Some people just want to rebel, because their culture is so strict or it might not let the individual love who they love and things in that nature. I appreciate that this piece made that real-life situation known.
ReplyDeleteClarissa Partida
These stories, while interesting, are not the most thought-provoking. As any work within the genre should, they share an individual’s experience or feeling and in the best cases a mixture of the two. That’s where these stories, in particular, go wrong for me. The Witching Hour describes a rather straight forward event in a very straight forward manner. There is nothing wrong with that, but I would like a little more artistic liberty taken for a story like this. Considering this, I wonder if it was a conscious decision to follow The Witching Hour with a story which is borderline abstract. I’m sure I could find half a dozen ways to interpret the content of Late July, 4:40 a.m and NONE of them are satisfying. Late July, 4:40 a.m gives me the feeling that the story was spliced together from multiple occasions. If true, it would result in a crisis of understanding. Such crises are very interesting to me but are very difficult to discuss here. Especially, if we are without a good example. Dreads is a well-done piece featuring some outstanding writing. The story itself does its job pretty averagely, but I keep getting gripped by these few sentences about Bob Marley. Something special is going on there and probably warrants further analysis.
ReplyDeleteChristopher Hinkle
The Witching Hour was my favorite because it was the only one where I theorized a bit. When Aimee first drew the Aswang and her teacher got mad, I thought that the teacher was an Aswang. I thought, oh she got offended or hurt that Aimee thought that they were endangered. But that did not seem to be true, sad face. This was the only story, out of the three, that read like butter on warm toast. It is difficult for me to find something I thoroughly enjoy. I enjoyed how despite having to play catch up to the other students, she beat all of them in her grade! I like how she uses the markers, the oh so pretty markers, the glossy and new markers, to paint or draw Aswang in different situations. I think, because she feels a connection to not the Aswang itself, but to her mother. The connection she feels is stronger than the disappointment of a teacher who doesn’t think a shape shifting human is an animal. I would be really inclined to research this author more, possibly when my time is as free as a bird flying through the sky.
ReplyDeleteLate July took me longer to read because of the lack of attention-grabbing effect. Yes, the story had details, but the details did not work for me tonight.
Dreads was interesting to me. I liked the Bob Marley reference and I liked how Walker embraces her culture. She feels a sense of pride that is lost across the races now a days.
Jonathon Morin