Reaction to third set of essays

“42 Tattoos” Moore 243-51

I love the piece-mail design of this essay. The author did not write all of the quotes. He found them. All of them said something about tattoos, but they were in no means reiterations of each other. It never would have occurred to me to put different quotes together in this way to form an essay. It was an interesting read.

“Somehow/Family” Moore 143-50

This was, again, not what I expected from the title. I was expecting to read about adoption, either legal, or just the forming of a family from a group of friends. Instead it was more about the writer’s relationship to the television. There were parts about his family interspersed between episodes of “The Brady Bunch” but it was mostly about the television shows. The topic is one that can strike a chord with anyone. There are always certain shows that you equate with a particular time in your life.

“In Praise/Comma” IB 79-82

I love that this one is about a punctuation mark. It proves than anything can provide a spark for a writer. It can be family, friends, strangers, television shows, inanimate objects and even punctuation. There is always something to write about, something that hasn’t been said about a subject. You just need to provide your own perspective to it.

“Clan of/Women” Moore 257-2

There is a history of cancer in many families. There is not always a reason for it. You cannot always pinpoint why a family is so afflicted with this horrible disease. It is heartbreaking, but you have to keep living.

“Hope” IB 76-77

“Hope” really drills in the fact that you do not know another person’s story just by looking at them. They may have had sufferings or triumphs that you can only imagine. You would have known it to look at this woman, but she had a story, a history that could be turned into a published essay. Don’t judge a book by its cover.

“Alive” IB 103-4

The fact that the woman was a police officer made her feel comfortable in general, but in the moments that she needed to be, she got more and more nervous and scared. She did keep her wits about her and get some information. No matter how safe you feel, no matter how much training you have, fear is a natural emotion and you should not be ashamed of it. But you also cannot let it paralyze you to the point that you can’t remember the details that may be important later.

“You’ll Love . . .” IB 105-6

This tells the story of a flight attendant who was willing to help someone even though they were ill and there was a chance that she would catch something from him. The person was so grateful to the flight attendant that they gave her a tip on the way off and whole heartedly agreed with the company slogan “You’ll Love the Way We Fly”. I think that everyone has had someone come into their life that made them uncomfortable. I had a man that I was supposed to teach to use computers that I was uncomfortable with. He was very blunt about everything and always wore sweatpants. I was uneasy with him, but I did my best to make him comfortable and help him. I never got over that uneasy feeling. It was not fear, just uneasiness. I worked with him for three months. He learned what he needed to know and I hope that he is very happy now.