Walden

There was one line that really grabbed my attention throughout this story. "But a man has no more to do with the style of architecture of his house than a tortoise with that of its shell..." Although some may think the author is talking about a house, I think this is a metaphor for genetics. A person can't design themselves physically, at least they couldn't back then.  I suppose now there is plastic surgery, and that can change the "architecture" of one's body, and there is always the healthy eating at exercising that can determine width of a body. The author also tells his story of how he built his house with his own hands. He found it a very valuable experience, and believes that by doing things yourself you learn more about the world than spending years at an institution. The entire piece was very philisophical, which made it challenging to try to figure out what he meant.
(Specific Details)

Ethel's Sestina

The first thing I read was the description of what this poem was referencing. That stuck with me throughout the entire poem.  The text in the poem sounded very hopeful that help would soon come, but because of the description I already knew the outcome. "Gon' be obedient in this here chair..." That is the very first line of the poem, and it made me think about how she had been restricted in her chair, and how the storm had restricted her further. The lack of help that reached her led her to her death in that chair. On the second page of the poem the author uses text that I found powerful. The way she describes the process of Ethel ascending to heaven is beautiful. I liked how she repeated "come," the voice of her lord. I also really appreciated the way she made it seem peaceful and that Ethel was happy, even though she had been suffering for days because of Hurricane Katrina.
(What specific details stay in your mind? Why? How do these small details lead to larger ideas?)

A day in August 1998

                               

 I saw

                                                                                                the silent tears flow

                                                                and had

                                                                                                no emotions to share

                                                                the sight

                                                                                                I could not bear

                                                                yet still

                                                                                                looked

                                                                he was

                                                                                                gone

Won't Be But A Minute- Patricia Smith

This poem is about leaving Luther B, a dog, behind as a family evacuates New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina. There were a few lines in this poem that stuck out to me. "That dog done been rained on before..." I feel that this line is an example of how people underestimated Hurricane Katrina. The following lines says that they will leave some food and water out for him, and he will be fine. This line I feel underestimated the storm as well, "We gon' be back home soon this thing pass over." Most likely they would not have had a home to return to. Throughout this entire poem I feel like Smith is foreshadowing the damage that people aren't expecting. "You heard the man--he said Go--and you know white folks don't warn us 'bout nothing unless they scared too." This is a racist comment that I feel like we deserved. We (white people) told the people to leave everything behind, everything that they had worked for, but without helping them. Hurricane Katrina primarily effected the poor side of New Orleans, which made it difficult for people to leave. A lot of people had nowhere to go, or couldn't afford to leave. The ones who left had the attitude of, "We gon' just wait this storm out. Then we come back home. Get our dog." Although this poem is based around a dog, I feel like Luther B can be a metaphor for everything. People left all of their possessions behind assuming they could come back to get them and they would be fine. Smith may have chosen a dog to be the image in the essay because many people can connect to the emotional attachment people have with pets. In a like manner many people have emotional attach.ments to their possessions, all of which were lost in the storm

(Does any particular image run throughout the essay? If so, why does the author chose it? Does it have any “metaphorical significance”? Does it transform in any way from the beginning to the end of the essay?)

Is This Kansas

The piece, Is This Kansas by Eula Biss, takes place at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. The first section of this article focused negatively on the college students. Biss focuses on the partying that was constantly taking place. As I read this section of her article I felt as though she was only looking at the negative things.  In the next section she briefly talked about her time teaching at Iowa. Once again the view is very negative. Biss states, "One didn't need to spend very long at that institution before realizing that the interests of everyone else--the funders, the administrators, the professors, the graduate students--came before the interests of the undergraduate students." She also talked about her time as a graduate student, and how she was seen as a child instead of an adult. These sections build on top of each other because they continue to show her frustration.  The next section of her piece explained how she had been more scared in Iowa City at times than she ever was in New York. Once again her view is negative and fearful. The next section discussed racism and sexism. As a teacher Biss found that her students were ignorant, and believed that racism and sexism no longer existed. All of Biss' complaints about Iowa are the little things that build up to the storm, and there was a storm coming that Iowa was not ready for.

Hurricane Katrina hit during Biss' time at Iowa, and when she heard the news she was devastated. Hurricane Katrina not only effected Louisiana, but the nation.  There were many rumors that spread around the nation, all of which were never confirmed. What was confirmed in Biss' eyes was the fear that white people still had of black people. This topic builds on the last section, because although her students could not see it, there is still racism present. Six months later a storm hit Iowa. A tornado made its path through Iowa City leaving a path of destruction, but by Biss' view, Iowa City was already destroyed. There were so many negative things she emphasized throughout her writing that when this section came up I shouldn't have been surprised. After the tornado the students took the opportunity to steal, vandalize, and party. "...the onlookers seemed to view the damaged downtown as an amusement park--walking through the storm's path of destruction like it was a new adventure ride." The college kids continued to focus on their lives while the city was in destruction. The final section of Biss' article states that Iowa City still hadn't recovered even though it had been months since the storm. The different sections of Is This Kansas add as building blocks.  Each section discusses a frustration or a problem Eula had with Iowa City and the University. She suggests that Iowa City was already in a state of destruction before the storm, and that it won't change.

(Break the piece down paragraph by paragraph (or section by section). How does each piece act as a “building block”? How does the writer create dramatic tension or interest through these building blocks?)

Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place

In Terry Tempest Williams, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, she recalls many of her memories.  There were a few details that stuck with me as I read the story, and that could later be related to another detail. Williams begins her story by talking about the Great Salt Lake.  She recalls an experiment she did in school involving water levels and how that effects the environment. Next she wrote about a family of owls that she would annually come across. She described their home, and what she felt when she discovered their home had been destroyed. Williams had a connection with these birds that is hard to describe. Williams then explained how she was raised and her beliefs. Growing up as a mormon Williams was always told that lineage matters. "As a people and as a family, we have a sense of history. And our history is tied to land." This sentence caught my eye because it relates to Williams and her family, as well as the owls. Williams spent a lot of her childhood watching birds in their habitat, and their history was clearly present in the land. Like the owls, Williams land was destroyed and she suffered. Utah had been used for years as an atomic bomb testing area.  This caused the women in her family to get cancer, and eventually die.  Throughout this piece it was very apparent to me that Terry had deep connections with her environment.  At times the environment was her spiritual place, and a place she learned about life, and at other times it was a place of destruction. The small details that Williams wrote about related to more than just herself or the owls. 


(What specific details stay in your mind? Why? How do these small details lead to larger ideas?)