Blog 6

Well when being asked to rank the essays we have read based upon how well they meet the requirements for my own essay is was at first quite hard but then became easy so heres my list:
1. Orwell - Shooting an Elephant
2. Danticat- Westbury Place
3. Drummond - Alive
4. Lott - Toward a definition of creative nonfiction
5. Schwartz - My father always said
6. Didion - On keeping a Notebook
7. Alexie - Superman & Me
8. Kincaid - Biography of a dress
9. Montainge - That Men Should Not Judge
10. Jo Ann - Out There
11. Theil - Crossing the border
12. Oliver - Decent

Well making the list went more smoothly then i originally assumed but i guess that's why they make that saying "you should never assume". The first essay is loved the best and i think will help me the best because i still haven't picked what my personal essay topic but i do have it down to three possible ideas. I just have to figure out which one i want to write about the most. The first essay like i was saying i think will; help me the best cause the way he writes his own feelings and the emotions he was feeling during all the events. I liked how he showed the personal internal struggle he went through. in my one possible idea i had the same struggle obviously not about shooting an elephant but my own problem. My number 2 is "Westbury Place" because i had a similar thing happen to me when i was a child. I actually told the class about ti already but like our narrator in the story i was so involved in television's fictional plots that i would forget my surroundings. My number 3 although i have my own arguments and opinions about the piece but i loved the way you could feel the emotion the narrator felt and what she was going through. So that technique and writing style she used i may copy in my own personal essay. My Number 4 i chose because of the definition he gave of creative nonfiction, which opened my eyes completely and helped with the understanding of what CNF truly is. I have a bunch of lines marked in my book and noted which personally think are powerful and moving. To me they are the base of the CNF and everyone should follow his definitions.
To be completely honest with you after number 4 i really didn't enjoy the other readings. though they are interesting, they really didn't effect me or show me any styles i would use for my own personal essay. Nor did the experiences or stories told relate to me in any way so i don't know. I hope that justifies my reasoning for not explaining observations or experiences from the other essays. But hey though its only one mans opinion.

Blog 5

In the first essay that I read "Westbury Court" by Edwidge Danticate is the story of the author's childhood realization of her surroundings. The author tells about how when she (I think the speaker is female) was about 14 she would watch a soap opera called General Hospital. That everyday she would pick up her younger brother and then rush home to watch that day’s episode. One day though while when she was doing her daily routine a fire occurred and the only way she found out was when the firemen came to her door. She then tells about the two children that died in the fire and how she remembers their mother's face. After that she goes into telling about all these other deaths that surround her. So to me the point of the story is that we can become so involved in fiction that we start to not pay attention to the world that surrounds us. The story is written in chronological order and the way she describes the fire and the deaths surrounding her ads to the feeling you get from reading it.

The next reading “Alive” by: Laurie Lynn Drummond is about a former female police officer. She is now a civilian and in Baton Rouge there is a serial killer on the loose. She tells how she is on high alert and always ready to go in to hyper alert. She then tells about how while she was buying a newspaper she sees this guy who seems to be suspicious. Hoe every time she does something or goes somewhere the same guy is there. How while driving this guy is behind her for five intersections, and how she is noting his description. While reading this I could feel what she was, her nervousness and her fear. The man goes away and she starts to relax and continues her trip home. The story is written in paragraph segment form and this added to the feeling of the story.

Both essays I enjoyed greatly and am looking forward to discussing them. They both kept me hooked and wanting more. I too am really into television shows and some days I get so fixed on the show that my world around me fades to a distant second and I miss things.

Blog # #

The two essays to start are both brilliant and I enjoyed them greatly. They both share similar qualities, while making themselves unique with differences. Both are written from the first person point of view and this way you can become involved with the essay by feeling what the writer was thinking during the segment. In Orwell you could feel how it was like to be a "ill-educated" minority in Burma. How nobody likes you and the ironic part is, it's his job to protect all those whom hate him. Also I liked how you were in his head as during his internal debate of whether he should shoot or not. Because of the way it is written and how Orwell describes his status of the town, I got the feeling though he justified the shooting because it was the right thing to do, that he kind of felt a little pressure because everyone was watching. Besides doing what was right he also took in probably what would have happened if he didn't shoot what the people what have done to him. Montainge from what I understood from the reading is not so much talking about himself, death and history. Death wasn't looked at by him as a way to judge ones life.

The differences of the two essays are for one Orwell's work is a storyline that follows a path from beginining to ending. Montainge used examples of others work to comprise his own. He is though using the technique we saw in Lott by writing in the relationship of oneself to the subject manner. I got the idea that Montaigne's essay was about his own take on death and what he thinks it is all about. The tone of both overall works are different, while reading you get taken to a different place. Also the writers wording was quite different as well.

Blog # 2

In Jamaica Kincaid's "Biography of a Dress" she continously while telling the story of her dress, tells the reader what knowledge she had when she was a child to what she knows now as a adult. As she tells her story you see she uses the tool of reflection. This teaches the reader that when you look back on things from your past you may realize things that may have had a different perception to you at that present moment. As I read Kincaid's essay I could picture her as a child going through the events leading up to and the day of her birthday all the confusion and curiosity she was feeling, but when she as she retells the events with her more mature knowledge, you can see how she understands the things she didn't as a child. None of the other readings used this technique of going back in forth it was like she was using a reflective "time traveling" effect.

Lott's essay actually opened my eyes greatly to what my definition was to creative non fiction. In the second paragraph he has a line, which im going to use as my own defintion. He states "Creative nonfiction is, in one form or another, for better and worse, in triumph and failure, the attempt to keep from passing altogether away the lives we have lived."(p.270,Winding Roads). I agree with that entirely and believe that is a very powerful statment. Also Lott opened my eyes to seeing that creative nonfiction can take place in any form. My understanding was the creative nonfiction was only seen in newspapers or journal type literature, but now I know differently. I also really enjoyed the concept of writing about oneself in relation to the subject at hand.

Both essays help add to my growing understanding of what creative nonfiction truly is and the types of forms it takes. Also they showed me tools and techniques I could possibly use when creating my own works of creative nonfiction.

Definition of Creative NonFiction

After reading the articles and speaking with some of the members from class, I was able to come up with a simple definition of creative nonfiction. Creative Non Fiction is a writing style which anyone can use, but is commonly used by journalists or reporters, which entails telling the truth of a certain event or situation in a manner that grabs the reader and keeps them wanting more. Short in sweet definition basically is gets all the facts across in a non boring way.