Fiction: Juice

After reading Juice I find it somewhat confusing. To me its one of those books that are open to interpretation. Every person seems to see different meanings throughout the book. There seems to be no 'truth' in the book. I understand that is the entire point of fiction writing, but this one doesn't seem to make sense to me. 
Throughout the book there are some implications that the main character is a male, and at other times it sounds like a female. Once again, it's up to the reader. Or maybe even Renee Gladman didn't want the reader to know the gender of the character. Maybe we aren't supposed to focus on that. Possibly we should be more focusing on the text in the book. Apparently a crisis happened in the town where this person lives. All he/she seems to care about is drinking her fresh juice. There is definitely a sense of loneliness in this book. Seems like no one else is in town but the character doesn't care at all, as long as he/she has juice. The setting is in the town and the grocery store. This book sounds like the movie "I Am Legend" in terms of how the entire city is abandoned. This book is not logical at all. I do like fiction readings but I'd like to be able to understand what's going on. 
There is a passage on page 34 that states " Between the moment fifteen years ago when I turned the corner away from Hershey Street and a year later when I "woke up" outside a Midwestern hotel, there is water where memory should be. There is evidence in my bags,
my pockets, that made me think I had been on trains. There was a way I kept looking over my shoulder—back east—that reminded me of trains. So that's where I assumed I had been, and that is where I went". The theme of that sentence seems to be reacquiring throughout the book. After reading that passage I get a sense of the character being lost, rather that be a loss of culture, memory, or even sense of self. There is loss and there is loneliness.
Its seems as when reading this book because the author doesn't use the word "I" in some parts of the book (3rd person writing), the book projects its own ego onto the world and then sees only its own reflection. (the reader) I did find this book fascinating in terms of the writing style but it is still confusing. Hopefully 'Maps to Anywhere' is a little different. After filling my glass with Juice, yes it was good but I've had enough.          
 

Ficton Packet 2

This week's class was centered around 'longer-short' stories. We looked at two examples in the Fiction Packet 2. The two works that we discussed were a bit tricky, but filled with different twists and descriptions. The psychologically written stories were both open for interpretation.

In Brian Evensan's Internal, I found that there were many ways of looking at the content. The story begins with an intern discussing the general tasks and ideas that he develops during his 'internship'. I really enjoyed reading this because as the story progresses, I began to notice a sense of a psychological change in the character. In the beginning, the intern starts out confident in his 'role', stating his knowledge of the job and seems quite eager to have this job. He appears to be very naïve and he looks up to his boss. In class we discussed that, perhaps, he is not an actual intern, but a delusional patient. Towards the end of the story, I saw many signs of paranoia and insanity that developed slowly. My favorite part of the story was the very end when he fears that he is being watched. I find it ironic because the whole plot of the story is that the intern must observe the doctor's brother. However, I felt that the character became so frazzled and confused from his task and paranoia began to set in. This somewhat proves the theory that he is a mental patient, and not an intern. For example, he discusses his interest in stabbing the brother with a pen, but fearing he might do the same. Evensan says on page 69, 'No object to block the holes, though perhaps I can discourage him from using them. I had a sharp object, I could attempt, hiding beneath the hole, to plunge it into his eye'. I feel the internship was taking over his mental stability, leading him to insanity.

In addition to the content of the story, I also noticed the title, Internal, connects with the meaning of the story. In class we listed three words that relate to the plot, “Internal”, “Intern”, and “Interned”. The meaning “intern” does not necessarily have to be a literal intern, however, but a prisoner, or someone held captive. I think this intern is really a patient describing his sense of being trapped. The emotion of the story becomes much more paranoid and anxious, which can relate to the 'internal' feeling of the character.

The second story that was discussed in class was Thalia Field's A:I. I found this story more interesting than Internal because of the form and structure of the story. I noticed that the layout of the story was more like a poem. There are many small paragraphs that are broken apart, as well as random thick paragraphs. In addition, the content in the small paragraphs are quite different than one another, which was open to different interpretations. I thought it was pretty cool how Field set up the paragraphs to fit the title. For example, in each paragraph, the beginning letters alternate from 'A' to 'I' in a pattern. Field also says, “'A' sounds like 'I' when spoke', which can give the reader the idea that the third person may actually be the first person, and vise versa. Another thing I noticed about the form was it was mainly the character's thoughts, rather than dialogue. However, I found there to be random dialogue in the right margins. In class, we discussed that the dialogue could possibly be the therapist talking. The story seemed so personal because the character describes herself as being silent during the entire session. So rather than hearing the discussion between the therapist and patient, we got to hear the more emotional and psychological aspect of the character.

I feel that the character remained silent throughout the session because she wanted to appear to be stronger than the therapist, or even overpower the therapist. This can be expressed in the part when she talks about a woman in a confessional booth, not saying a word. Then, talks about how the priest has an angry response and shakes the booth. This can be her inner fantasy to get a reaction out of the therapist. I also feel that the character was emotionally trapped, by symbolizing a bat or a moth. She talks about how the moth was so desperate to find his heart, that he ends up dying once he gets to it. This could be a reference to her own life, meaning she feels trapped. She even says on one of the last pages, 'I feel a constriction in my chest. What can I say to get you to open the window? That kind of transparency is suffocating'. The window could perhaps represent the feelings of being trapped and isolated, as well.

Ficton Packet 1

Reading the fiction packet 1 was pretty interesting. I think it broadened my idea of fiction a lot more. In the past, I really did not read many short stories. After reading these stories, I found that the authors got pretty creative. What I found most interesting was Sharon Krinsky's “Mystery Stories”. This was really cool because her stories were extremely short. They were no more than ten sentences each, yet, she left me with some kind of message. I thought it was so interesting that she made these stories so short because I felt I could still understand what she was trying to say. Also, I thought most of them were quite clever and funny. I really liked how she got her point across and was short and simple. My favorite passage on this page was 'Poetry', mainly because I thought it was pretty funny. My favorite line was the last sentence, 'I think they should be in a china cup'. It was funny because it made me think of how 'un-romantic' the story became, just by saying he put it in a paper cup. Yet, the character obviously meant for the moment to be romantic.

Another story that really caught my attention was 'Survivors' by Kim Addonizio. I thought the author added a comedic twist to an unfortunate occurrence. The first line of the story lured me in to finish reading. She started out very strong and I wanted to keep going. She says, “He and his lover were down to their last few T cells and arguing over who was going to die first”. This totally threw me off but I really wanted to keep reading. Later in the story, I noticed Addonizio was using very descriptive language, which painted a great picture of the scenario. I love how she took the attention away from the fact that they were dying of AIDS, and put it on him describing his lover's family. It gave me a sense of who the characters were. I also enjoyed how the author ended the story with a strong sentence to match the opening line. She says, “dear God, he thought, let me die first, don't let me survive him'. I like how she related the first and last sentence, yet goes a bit off track in the middle.

The third story that I really enjoyed reading was Allen Woodman's 'Wallet'. From the beginning to the end, I could see the image of the story in my head. The author used incredibly descriptive language and I was interested during the whole story. I was curious to see what the story would be about after reading the first line, 'Tired of losing his wallet to pickpockets, my father, at seventy, makes a phony one'. It made me wonder what the author was talking about, because it seemed a bit peculiar. Later on, I thought it was funny how he was planning on tricking the potential thief. I can just imagine an old man going into a department store and being dramatic about the whole thing. Another line I liked was when Woodman said, 'and he overdoes it like stage makeup on a community-theater actor'. It was very descriptive and pretty funny. The ending was, also, quite clever because the author ends it with the man and his father running away from the clerk.

City Eclogue

After reading Ed Roberson's City Eclogue, I began to explore the different themes and ideas he expresses in each poem. Specific themes include natural beauty vs. artificial beauty, the industrialization of society, civil rights, racism, our material world, and pollution of the city. Also, our class discussion was very helpful because I had a chance to hear the other students' perspectives and takes on the book.

I really loved how 'Beauty's Standing' talked about various themes, such as natural vs. superficial beauty, as well as,the industrialization of society, and the destruction of family values. Building up to the section was the poem named 'Beauty's Standing' on page 37. Roberson goes in to great detail in explaining his thoughts on society's view on beauty. In class, we discussed that he could be talking about how we have warped our view's on beauty and have manipulated our world and society to a point where everything seems too superficial. For example, he says, “people talking to pictures in a magazine culture live on walls flatter than ground'. He is referring to the fact that we are so focused on what society tells us to look like. Another way of looking at this poem would be in the title. Maybe he could be referring to beauty's status, or its place in society. Meaning, perhaps natural beauty does not have a place in society anymore and we are too focused on looking perfect. Its a twisted society for sure. 

I really enjoyed the way Roberson was extremely descriptive in his writings. Throughout the poem, I noticed he kept describing the city as being trashes, or filthy. He discussed pollution a lot too. One description, in particular, that stuck out to me the most was the way he personified the city. For example, on page 42 Roberson writes, 'The flesh form of the city doesn't move in the same time as the city's material forms move into era and monument'. I loved this writing because it made me feel bad for the city in a sense. He represents the city as being alive and human-like, but continues to express that this society is just destroying it, turning it into this industrial dump. He also continues to explain that we are at fault for this madness. On page 45, he says 'never guilty of any more obvious than wanting things this way'. I feel he was trying to say that we have built this society to fit our luxurious needs, yet at the same time we are the fools destroying it. We have destroyed all of the natural beauty that the world brings. Its a shame if you ask me... 

I also enjoyed how Roberson set up the beginning of the book. He started to describe our world as being this beautiful place, filled with different parts of nature. Then he completely changes the mood of the story in a split second. He states on page 16, 'beautifully flowering trees you'd expect should rise from seeds whose fluttering to the ground is the bird's delicate alight or the soft petal stepping its image into the soil but here come the city's trucks bumping up over the curb'. This adds onto his idea of how we have destroyed the natural beauty of our world. He continues to discuss how our cities are disgusting and polluted. He provides very descriptive sentences, using the words 'trash' and 'garbage' frequently. This theme really makes me stop and wonder about how I have taken this world for granite. The main point I noticed was our society needs to focus on the nature of the world and not try to ruin it with all of our waste and unnecessary trash. We to recycle more and take care of our beautiful planet, before its one huge landfill....

Poetry Packet - Shakespear, Mullen, and Berrigan

In Wednesday's class, we focused the lecture on sonnets, particularly love sonnets. After reading a handful of sonnets, I gained a better understanding of the many ways a sonnet can vary. Both the structure and content of the sonnets were all somewhat different. Yet all very fascinating / intriguing. 

I liked comparing my ideas of what a sonnet is with the other members of the class. Before the discussion, when thinking of a sonnet  I thought of 'love, poetic, short, rhyme scheme, etc'. After hearing the other classmates' opinions, I began to stray away from the stereotype I have given sonnets. Which is good, I love broadening my perspective to other people's. The idea that I had in my mind was that sonnets must always rhyme and must follow a particular structure (Shakespearean Sonnets). Further into the lecture, we began to list words such as 'song like, painting a picture, passionate, compare/contrast specific things, etc' Then we began to analyze the different styles and contents each writer exhibited in their poems.

        Language and text was a significant element in our discussion. After reading the handful of Shakespeare's work, I saw a certain trend in the language he used. I started to notice it containing very romantic, passionate, well written language. He kept the same rhyme scheme in most of his sonnets, and he included couplets at the end while using iambic pentameter. The sonnet that gained most of my attention was Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130. I really loved how he used a sense of sarcasm in his language. He strayed away from the cliché expressions of love that we usually see in poetry and is old news by now. The typical love poems I have read before this class focused on looks and physical attraction, which makes up the ideal beauty. Shakespeare expresses his love for a mistress (which had a different meaning at the time he wrote this), yet he describes her as being not so attractive. For example, he writes about her breath being horrible in the morning, basically describing a 'real' and 'natural' woman. In the 7^th line of Sonnet 130, Shakespeare says, “and in some perfumes there is more delight than in the breath that is from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak-yet I well know that music hath a far more pleasing sound'. This creates a more realistic expression of love, which contradicts the typical style that is much more superficial I enjoyed how Shakespeare was realistic with this expression of love, it's far beyond looks or beauty to the eye, it's what a person has within them. That's real beauty. And I love Shakespeare's realness in this particular sonnet.  

    Harryette Mullen's 'Dim Lady' was quite similar to Shakespeare's Sonnet 130, as we discussed. The content was related to Sonnet 130 in the sense that it contradicts the stereotypical focus on an 'ideal' beauty, and focuses more on realistic love. Her work basically makes fun of the cliché beauty, saying it is fake. This contemporary work differs from Shakespeare's style and structure. She wrote the sonnet in a paragraph form. The language also has a different style because Mullen uses funny words and slang that you would not find in Shakespeare's work. More relate-able and contemporary work for sure. My favorite line in this was 'my scrumptious Twinkie has as much sex appeal for me as any lanky model or platinum movie idol who's hyped beyond belief'. This extremely amusing and it was real. I love how Mullen basically describes this 'ideal' beauty as being a joke and that no one is really like that. It seems she was looking at Shakespeare's work yet making it her own and up to date work. Really fantastic work! 

I'm excited to write my own sonnets for class this week, my goal is to avoid using the cliché poem words and begin to broaden my vocabulary. I have learned that sonnets aren't always written in the traditional Shakespeare way, and I am excited to break away from that and explore new styles of writing a sonnet - paint my own picture for the world to see!!!

Goldberg and Cameron readings...

After reading Golberg's 'Writing Down The Bones' I have a new profound perspective as to how I look at writing in general. I never would have thought that it mattered what tools you use when writing for one. The smooth stroke of a pen on a piece of paper absorbs not only the ink, but your emotion from your heart as well. I learned that your tools you use when writing can be very beneficial to you. I'm well aware that everyone has a different writing style and choices within the tools you choose to use are going to be different. Me personally, I have always preferred using a computer when I write. There is one thing that stood out from the tools one can utilize. I found the idea of recording yourself speaking your thoughts to be extremely useful. That way you can here exactly how the flow of the words sound.
One thing that really caught my attention was the line "Like grating a carrot, give the paper the colorful coleslaw of your consciousness". That's one thing that I really needed to here to make this class more enjoyable. All throughout my college career I have had limitations of my writing style that pertained certain strict guidelines. But I realized to become a better writer, one must flow free and not let the ego slow your thoughts down, because first thoughts have extremely powerful energy. Your first thoughts are your consciousness exploding into the universe. That is, if you don't second-guess yourself..

After reading the right to write I have yet another fabulous profound new perspective on writing. I learned that one's writing will never be perfect. Sitting and staring at a blank page wondering if you are writing to the best of your ability will only cause one to freeze up. I think a major problem that I do possess is attempting to write to carefully. I hope to improve my writing skills through out the course of this semester. A line from the reading that I've grown to love is 'When we just let ourselves write, we get it "right".' This article really taught me a lot of how I'm going to approach writing from now on. It states that 'writing is about getting something down, not thinking something up. Essentially one must go off of intuition, follow your heart, and completely loose the ego. I have to realize that I'm not perfect and either is anyone else in this universe. This article slightly reminds me of the Goldberg reading. I need to teach writing as an act of listening from now on, not speech. Listen to my own thoughts and follow my heart. Something I found interesting was the fact that you have to give up a sense of control and power when writing. For the sake of real creative writing one must surrender those voices in their head telling that they 'might be doing something wrong'. I look forward to improving my writing skills this semester, I'm excited to have complete freedom and to be able to think outside the box, better yet, there will be no box.    
     

A little about me

Hello my name is Jason Travis. I'm a senior here at Eastern Michigan University. My major is communications and my minor is sociology. I'm not quite sure what I want to do with my degree but I know it's the right one for me. When I first came to college I enrolled in business, that wasn't for me. Then continued on to criminal justice, that was a poor decision as well. So far I love all my communication courses and have excelled in them. I grew up in Redford, MI. Once I started college I haven't left Ypsilanti since. I have my own apartment, but no car. In my free time I enjoy listening to music and watching movies and TV show's. A few of my favorite shows are Breaking Bad and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.