Essay Packet 2 #2

     When reading "Crumbling Expectations," I thought that the essay was very interesting.  I enjoyed of course the reference to Michigan because it is a beautiful state. I also liked the relationship between him and his father and him and his grandmother.  I was interested because it seemed to me that he valued what the both of them said. I also thought that he talked a lot about how his dads father passed away and how his fathers grandfather passed away.  I thought that him talking about the relationships between his father and his father and grandfather made a reference to the relationship between him and his father. 
     I enjoyed this essay because there was so much to get out of this.  I liked the end where he says, "I didn't realize a book is itself an embrace.  I quote back to my father now words he has written  but never wrote."  I thought that was interesting and another way to point back to him and his fathers relationship because he is telling us that even though his father is gone, he embraces his words that the son has written and used in the story.  I really enjoy the closeness and I can feel the emotion in the essay.
    I really like this and I feel like it has helped me decide on what to write about in my essay.  I feel a lot more confident in the essay and it is exciting that I know what I am going to write about.

Essay Packet 2

     When I read "The Fine Art of Sighing", I felt the emotions in the story and I really enjoyed the use of sounds and symbols.  I could see the imaging in this story and it almost felt like a movie.  I felt that even though it was short, it left an impact on the reader and it did on me.
      I liked how when the child said he would "tiptoe across the linoleum and make my lunch without making a sound."  I found myself looking at that sentence and just picturing the child.  When everyone is sleeping at my house and I am doing something I will tiptoe and try to not wake anyone up.  I also liked the emotion of the parents sighs and how the mothers' sighs were filled with sadness but the fathers' sighs were filled with simplicity and the child would do both because he is so used to the different sighs.   I have a tendency to shake my leg and sometimes i dont realize that I am doing that and his friend had to tell him and he finally picks up on it. 
      I enjoyed the complexity and simplicity of the story.  It was easy to read as well as emotional.  I feel like some of the stories get not only better but more emotional and in depth.

Essay Packet 1

         There is one story in the Essay Packet 1 that I enjoyed.  I really like "Sunday."  There were a lot of different things that I can talk about in this story. I thought it was funny yet a little bit of it is true.  The different sense of humor that is in this story made me laugh and it reminded me of the movie "The Help."  The maids in that movie would always cook and they were fabulous at it.
         I found it funny that the first line in the essay was "why people couldn't cook."  This made me laugh because the title did not really explain what the story was going to be about but the first line explained it all.  I also liked how they had to have the fat in the recipe because that would make it even better. I have family down south and we always put fatback in our green beans or other things like greens to make it better.  I also liked how they said how white people want to eat food with flavor  but when they cook it has not flavor.
         I definitley could relate to this story and reading this story just wants me to watch the help while eating fried chicken.  I think is the best one that was assigned yet.  The essay packet I felt was a little boring so I enjoyed this story very much.

Maps to anywhere

   The first thing I am going to talk about is the story "Leaving."  There are many ways to take this but one that I feel stands out for me is hunger and poverty.  I feel like the parents are strong but that child is weak and maybe that child has a disability. When people see someone with a disability they automatically think that their chances to get married and obtain a regular job are slim to none.  This story is very short but has a lot of meaning. 
    "Spontaneous Combustion" is very interesting to me.  I find it very realistic.  When I was in elementary, I remember being in one of the simulated fire houses and it scared me.  I think every child gets scared when they hear the word fire and a hero is exactyl what a fireman is.  A close family friend that is a firefighter is my hero.  I think the courage to be a fireman is extremely strong and I am so happy to say my hero is a fireman.  The situation of being in a fire is something that haunts a child and this story shows the flames engulfing their pjs and them going into heaven.  That is what I got from this.
  The "End of Manners" is the last story I am going to talk about it.  The first paragraph was very interesting.  I think the  best part of the essay is when it says: "When she jumps, polka dots drop like rain".  I think this was interesting because of the movie like image it creates.  I can envision someone in their polka dot dress jumping off a building and polka dots all over.

Maps to anywhere

        While reading maps to anywhere,  I looked at the titles and how I thought they might correlate with the story and how they correlated wit h the stories.  One of the stories that I was confused with the title was "On the Air".  I also looked at "The Biggest, Most Beautiful Balcony in the World.  This is what I will be explaining in the next paragraphs.  I found these stories interesting because they did not really seem like essays to me.  I felt that I was in a conversation with the people writing these stories.
         When I first saw the title "On the Air" I thought of being on the radio or on television, and I also thought about flying a plane.  The different places that are being talked about in this story feels like someone is in a plane.  It goes from eing very happy and marvelous to places that are not as beautiful.  I feel that the plane is crashing and the pilot is crying. 
         When I read "The Biggest, Most Beautiful Balcony in the World", I felt that it was going to be all about fairytales and I was wrong. At first I thought that it was going in the direction of a storylike fairytale and when it started talking about the sad  balcony my thought process changed.  It ended with a good thought about Juliet.
       The stories are not what I thought it would be.  They had a twist to them that I was not ready for but I like that twist.

Goldberg

  The stories in the Goldberg reading are very moving.  The first few sentences in the first two stories are what caught my eye when reading them.  I feel that the first few sentences of a short story are the most important because of the message they are trying to tell you. I am going to be talking about the story "Use Lonliness".  This story made more of an impact than the other stories did.  Lonliness is always something I think most people are afraid of and this story is a perfect way of understanding lonliness.

     "Use of Lonliness" made an impact of me because of the language and how it was very strong.  The one sentence that stood out to me was "No I don't get used to it.  I take a cold shower every morning and every morning it shocks me, but I continue to stand in the shower.  Lonliness always has a bite, but learn to stand up in it and not be tossed away."  I have always been afraid of being lonely and even though we al want to be happy and with someone, it does not always happen the way we want.  We have to perservere through what life gives us and it will help us in the long run. 

  The short stories have come to be my favorite because there are a lot more meaning than the poems.  I thought the poems did not show enough of who the author is where the short stories are very personable.  I am sad to be leaving short stories but I am sure the essays will be just as fun!
   

Short Stories

    Fiction packet one was my favorite packet taht we have read.  I thought that these stories were very interesting.  "Survivors" was my favorite story of the packet.  I also enjoyed the "Mystery Stories".  There are so many unanswered questions and that is why I like them so much. I get really interested in the stories that ask questions and I just want to keep reading them.  I always think about the diffferent reasons the author left the ending so open. 
     The first story of the packet was very interesting.  I had to read it over again to figure out what it was trying to tell me.  I enjoyed how there were mny little hints and there was not anything that was thrown out there.  I had to look deeply at the words and the meaning of each word.  I also enjoyed how it just seemed like it was his thoughts and how he would think of one thing and that would lead into another thing and that would lead into another thing.  I was interested in that.  An example of this would be; "...the surivor- he knew this from her letters... they all- father, mother, two older brothers- would disapprove..." Then it goes into how the family would disapprove of the house they lived in.  At the end of the story, I really wanted the other person to die first because I could see how horrible it would be for him and living with his lovers family but then living without the bird and being all alone.  No one ever wants to be alone. 
     I also enjoyed the mystery stories and the meaning and questioning that it leaves you doing at the end.  "The Red Coats" was my favorite.  I think that these stories can be taken however you want to take them.  I relate this story to a show that I love watching every week.  A red coat is a big part of this show and everytime I read this story I always think of that show and that show only when I look at this.  I also liked strawberries because it starts off as super glamorous and exciting and fun and then it says; "I am afraid I will have to pay for their dinners when they come back."  The mood goes from happy to afraid of the bill and disappointment. 
     This is my favorite thing that we have read about this semester so far.  I like the short stories because it keeps my attention and not being accessive.

Short stories

Fiction Packet 3 New

        I found fiction packet three to be easier to read than fiction packet two. I liked fiction packet one better than all of them. The first three stories seemed to go together very well. The first three stories are what I am going to talk about.
        The first story hits home to me. I am not the kinda girl who would ever play in the mud. I was a girly girl and I did not like to be dirty. The little kids I babysit however, love being outside and getting dirty. There is one little girl and she loves being outside and getting in the mud.  I enjoyed swings, dancing, and chalk. This story could also be taken in many different ways.  I took it a little more literally and I am focusing on the very first part because it interested me.  All of the stories are filled with hidden messages and stars and fish and mud.  The fourth story however is totally different and I think it is about a girl trying to figure what she wants to do with her life. 
        Overall, there are many different stories and I feel that the "Falling Girl" was my favorite and although it has a lot of detail, I understood it.  I could picture this story.  The other stories are a little harder to comprehend. The fiction stories are something that I could get used to writing overall.

Fiction packet 3

       I found fiction packet three to be easier to read than fiction packet two.  I liked fiction packet  one better than all of them.  The first three stories seemed to go together very well. The first three stories are what I am going to talk about.
       The first story hits home to me.  I am not the kinda girl who would ever play in the mud. I was a girly girl and I did not like to be dirty.  The little kids I babysit however, love being outside and getting dirty. There is one little girl and she loves v

Longer short stories!

      While reading the longer fiction packets, I realized that they were harder to understand.  I could not comprehend the stories very well.  I felt that the first story in the packet was a lot of babbling about observing someone.  The subtitles helped me with understanding everything.  The second story was better.  I understood more of it because of the breaks in paragraphs.
       
       I felt that the secpond story had a lot more imagry then the first one.  The first little paragraph which says, " I occupy this comfortable chair in your office and you stare at me.  We are not speaking to one another, so you've called this uncomfortable time silence."  I feel that everyone has been in a situation where they have been in an awkward silence.  It is very uncomfortable and when I read this, I felt that uncomfortable sense.  I pictured two people sitting in an office not speaking to each other.    The next sentence after the first paragraph was also relatable.  "A cat wanders around your legs."  That is something that has happened to me and anyone who has a cat that has probably happened to.  I feel that the story is very seperate but also comes together very well.

        Overall, I enjoyed the shorter stories and I understood them better.  I feel that the shorter stories are easier to finish in content because the longer stories seem to just go on and on with no meaning.  I also feel taht the characters in the first story are not characters that would stick in your head, whereas the short story about red coats, I can remember the character even though he or she is not emphasized. 

Poem from poetry exercise!

Running out to the street I hear a large boom,
I never knew that would be his doom.
My poor Patrick coming to see
His girlfriend he called me.
September seventeenth I will always remember,
Even though it is now December.
The dozen of scratches from head to toe,
Sat next to the present with the hot pink bow.
I look in the box
To see a bunny hop.
I will never forget the smell of his Holister perfume,
No matter how long ago was his doom.

Fluorescence

         Fluorescence was a hard for me to read.  I had a hard time figuring what everything meant.   I feel that there were many different ways that these poems could have been taken.  In class on Thursday, we went over the sections in groups and looked at the language, structure, visual, content, and  etc. elements.  There were a couple things in this book of poems that stood out to me. 
          On some of the pages, there were very few words. The purpose of this could be looked at many different ways.  In class, we talked about how this could be pauses from the authors.  A great example would be on page five.  The only word on that page was "orange".  The page before was talking about an explosion and there was a break at the end of page four.  The last sentence of page four was, "There are no more mirrors and the light is".  I think that the word "orange" was for a dramatic effect and to show that this explosion was very big.  I feel that this one word on one page all by itself is a symbol.
           In section two, the poems did not have a title or an author by it.  I felt as if this was harder for me to understand because the titles make it easier for me to understand the meaning of the poem.  In some of the poems, the endings of the poems were left out.  A good example of this is on page 21.  The last sentence says, "Sometimes my hands hold tight, so that". There is no punctuation at the end of this sentence.  I take it as something went wrong, but I am not completely sure. 
          Overall, this book of poems is interesting. I just had a hard time comprehending it all.  The language was very incomplete. There was not much structure.  One of the themes is fear and negativity.  I feel that you would have to read this several times to completely understand it. 
         
        

Sonnets

           There were a couple of poems that stood out to me in this poetry packet full of sonnets.  Poetry is not my favorite to read, but once I read a couple, I usually get into them.  There were three that I liked.  One was "130" by Shakespeare. Another poem I really liked was "Dim Lady" by Harryette Mullen.  The third one I liked was "Dream Cycle" by Harryette Mullen.
           I liked this Sonnet because it was very descriptive.  I love the fact that even though she is not beautiful, he still loves her because of her personality.  When we talked in class about this specific poem, I was thinking how sometimes to love someone with a beautiful personality will not always mean that they are beautiful in appearance.  The beautiful personality will shine through.  As Shakespeare says, "And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare".  He might think at first that she is not beautiful, but once he got to know her, he found out how beautiful on the inside she was.  I think a lot of men like to look for beauty on the outside and as Shakespeare points out, "Don't judge a book by its cover".  "Dim Lady" by Harryette Mullen is just like sonnet 130 but the sonnet by Harryette Mullen is more modern.  I really enjoyed this poem because I understand a lot of the context a lot more.  My favorite line would have to be; "Today's special at Red Lobster is redder than her kisser".  I think that anyone who reads this sonnet can really visualize every line. 
            The other sonnet that I liked was from Harryette Mullen.  It is called "Dream Cycle".  I really enjoy this poem because when I was younger I would love to hear the ice cream truck.  I always knew that it was coming by my house a mile away because of the song it was playing.  I would get so excited and run around my house to get money and run out in time to stop the ice cream truck.  My favorite line is "It could freeze my teeth".  I like this line because the first bite would always be so cold and hurt your teeth.  I like this poem because it reminds me of my childhood in the summer. 
           Overall, I thought that the poems were very meaningful.  All three meant something to me and that is why I liked them so much.  The "Dream Cycle" and sonnet "130" remind me that I want someone to love me and my personality and not what I look like on the outside.  "Dream Cycle" reminds me of my childhood and how excited I would get to hear the ice cream truck rolling by my house.
          

About ME!

Hello,
         My name is Hannah Davis and I am a freshman at Eastern Michigan University.  My major is nursing and want to become an obstetrical nurse. I was born in Dearborn and raised in Southgate, MI.  I have twin sisters that are 16 and a brother that is 12.  I have one dog named Gracie and she is five years old.  My mom is a Medical Transcriptionist and my dad is a factory worker at Ford. 
         
         I have two jobs while going to school full time.  I work at Panera Bread and David's Bridal.  I have worked at Panera for two years and I have worked at David's Bridal for less than a month.  I am not the best writer, but I have improved since high school.  My favorite color is pink.  I also love anything glittery and zebra print.  My favorite foods are lemons, seafood, and pasta.  My favorite book is the Great Gatsby.  My favorite tv show is Grey's Anatomy.  My favorite movies are Bridesmids, Pitch Perfect, and the Notebook.  My hobbies include Facebook, babysitting, shopping, doing makeup, hanging out with family and friends, listening to music, and singing.  I traveled a lot.  I have been to lot of the southern states, New Orleans, Maine, Holland, France, England, Amsterdam, and other plaaces.

          I am very involved with my church.  I sing in the praise band at my church and I also work in the nursery.  I was very involved in high school.  I was on Homecoming Court my Sophomore year.  I was also in Student Council, I was a student representative, and I was in many other clubs.  I am very outgoing.  My parents call me a "Social Butterfly".  I love helping out in anyway I can and I love going on servant events.