Assignment for Tomorrow

For tomorrow, should we have author's notes attached or a cover letter or both? What's the difference between the two?


Also, 4 pages right? Not including the authors note/cover letter or works cited page.

When were we assigned to interview a proffesor? When is that due?

"Dear Friend, From My Life I Write to You in Your Life"

Here are some questions I have about this essay:

• Why this title?
• Why is it divided up into sections like this?
• What do we learn about the author in this essay?
• How is this essay about immigration? What does the before and after musing in section 1 have to do with this, if anything? 
• Why doesn't Li want to be a dreamer? What does it mean to be one? What is the difference between dreaming and being ambitious? 

What questions do you have? 

The database guide for our class...

Hi all:

Here is the guide that Neera Mohess made for our class:

http://qcc.libguides.com/c.php?g=142667&p=1508434

If you follow the "Using the Library" tab, you will see a link to Neera's email:

Nmohess@qcc.cuny.edu

You should feel free to write her if you have any questions about doing research for this class.

best,

jt

Matter of Life and Death

 Aubrey says “marriage gives you someone to blame.” Aubrey’s statement fits with my own ideas of love and marriage because I was once in love two years ago and any problem I had I would always blame any conflicts I had on him. I strongly agree with Aurbrey’s statement because your company is basically the  only person you’re very close to so in my opinion it is more easy to blame problems on your partner than anyone else. I was also surprised by the reading because usually in marriage stories it is usually positive thoughts, however in this one it was negative usually about how it gets boring after a while. Which is very narrow, direct and truthful words.

Does anyone remember the websites the librarian showed for research?

Yeah, I don't know how to interview any professor. Please help

Has anyone interviewed a professor yet? If so how did it go?

I am having trouble with what to put on my cover letter .. Also, is the final or draft due Monday for the library meeting

How molesters get away with it...

Hi all: Here's an interesting article about child molesters:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/09/24/in-plain-view

"Sliver of Sky" and "Someone Else"

I'm not sure how much, if at all, I should have prepared all of you to read these two essays. If you've read them already, then you know that they're about sexual assault. Some people have argued that profs should give "trigger warnings." (See:  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/opinion/sunday/judith-shulevitz-hiding-from-scary-ideas.html?_r=0). Trigger warnings essentially warn students that there is something disturbing in the pages they're about to read. The thinking behind these warnings is that some students might have had traumatic experiences and these warnings can prepare them and protect them from having a post-traumatic response. What do you all think? Should I have warned you? Why or why not? And then what?

Consider these questions while you read these essays:

• "Sliver of Sky": On pp. 132-133, Barry Lopez says that many people seem to think that victims of pedophiles want money and revenge. He argues that what they want, most of all, is self-respect. Although Lopez is a victim, he's still just one person. Do you agree w/ him or do you think victims want something else?
• Why do you think Lopez's mother and stepfather had such faith in Shier? 
• Barry Lopez is a famous writer; he's won the National Book Award which is one of the highest honors that an American writer can win. He's also 70 years old, so there's no reason that he should have felt compelled to write this story of trauma and abuse. So why did he? 
• How did therapy help Lopez? What do you make of the conclusion?

• Why is Chris Offutt's essay called "Someone Else"? '
• What did he do w/ the fatman?
• Why did he think that his parents would respect him or like him for what he did w/ the fatman (p. 142)? 
• There's a disgusting scene on p. 143 where Offutt and another boy watch the fatman weeping in the shower and simultaneously vomiting and defecating. There's a scene in "Sliver of Sky" where Lopez voids his bowels in the library. What do these sickening scenes have to do w/ each other? How are they different?
• What does shoplifting have to do w/ what Offutt did w/ the fatman? 
• What do you make of the conclusion? 

Has anyone read "Someone Else" yet?

a Matter of Life and Death

A matter of life and death is honestly my favorite essay I have read thus far. I enjoyed reading it because of the meaning it had towards it. The message that I personally understood was that marriage allows you to escape the reality of your life. I got this message because through out the essay the author was saying how you can blame everything on your spouse since they absorb the "entirely of your existential bitterness for decades to come." (Page 4 second to last paragraph). It gives a new meaning and point of view to marriage. 

Class response to Syllabus

I would like to mention, I already like English 101. I like the books Professor. Talbird has chosen for the class. For example, " The Best American Essays" edited by John Jeremiah Sullivan it has different types of essays with different scenarios. I also like how the Professor mentions on the syllabus that he does allow rewrites, just in case we feel we want to take a last look and edit our writing. I hope I do well in this class and step out of my comfort zone.

thanksgiving mongolia

This story is about the authors worst experience as woman, is having a miscarriage. The author gives the reader the ability to see through her eyes as the events unfold with magnificent sensory details.

A matter of life and death

the story gave interesting view on marriage. Most of the time when you read a story on marriage its always a positive view on marriage. This gives a interesting view on the negatives of getting married, not a very popular view point.

So I just finished the reading for next class. Is anyone confused about what happened to the narrator in "Someone Else"? I don't want to be too specific with my questions in case other folks haven't done the reading yet. But I was wondering if other people were confused as well...

A Matter of Life And Death

The author started the essay off with a quote.

"Now you have become my boredom and my failure,
Another way of suffering, a risk..."
- Philip Larkin

What do you all think about this?

My mind immediately thought of a disappointed parent speaking on their child. Maybe it's because I am still fairly young and living in my father's household, but marriage is not what appeared in my thoughts right after reading the above quote. I imagined a parent speaking on a disobedient or just a troubled child who has caused pain and heartache. It could also be because of my background. Seeing so many of the youth I grew up with in my neighborhood losing their way to the streets, eventually getting locked up or shot, or plain lucky to not have experienced the other options. It comes to a point where having a child in a certain environment is a risk. Exposing them to a certain world can very well make one feel like a failure of a parent. And when saying the same lines "stay out of trouble" "go to school" "don't be out there selling no dope" "keep away from those hoodlums" , it does eventually grow tiring. The name of the essay only supported my assumption. "A Matter of Life & Death" I think that can be a fair title for a narrative about growing up in the'hood'.


I'm curious to know what you all thought the essay was going to be about based soley off the title and the quote.

I have to say that the "Matter of life and death" story kind of scared me. I always imagined myself getting married but after reading the story im like "wow I never seen marriage that way". As for the group critique, I love the group I was placed in and they were all very supportive and helping.

Thanksgiving in Mongolia

What do you think about Levy's use of words like "witch" (107) and "black magic" (108) in relation to herself?

I personally think that these two specific words that she used showed the audience her point of view and how she felt when the incident of the miscarriage occurred. She used the term "witch" because the very second she gave birth she felt as if she had a great power since she introduced a new human being into the world. She also used the term "black magic" because when she had the baby that was truly alive in her own hands was definitely the most surreal and unearthly event that she could've experienced. For example she says "There is no adventure I would trade them for; there is no place I would rather have seen."(108)  

Thanksgiving in Mongolia

Since many of your weren't prepared for the conversation today, you can still respond to this essay here. Some questions I would have asked if more people had read the essay:

Why does Levy take a photo of her newborn, dying child?

Why does she share it w/ everyone, even complete strangers?

Why did she write about this experience?

How is this essay a literacy narrative?

Why is it called "Thanksgiving in Mongolia"?

People Places Things

Hi all:

I just wanted to share the final version of my film review that you all helped me with last week. Thanks so much for your feedback!

best,

jt

http://filmint.nu/?p=16444

Hey. Can some one post how the writing material is supposed to be written. Don't and all that stuff. I can't find the paper that Mr. John gave us. Please and thank you

Autobiographical Writing

All the writing we'll do this term will have some aspect of the autobiographical about it, but particularly the work we're doing at the beginning of the term. These first two readings of personal memoir are connected to the kind of work that you'll be doing on your own over the next couple weeks. They're both about family and relationships.

"A Matter of Life and Death": What do you think about Aubry's statement, "Marriage gives you someone to blame" (3)? How does this fit in w/ your own ideas of love and marriage? What do you think about his conclusion in which he states that his wife intrudes into his nightmares? Is this a good or a bad thing and how come?

"Thanksgiving in Mongolia" is a kind of literacy narrative. Levy writes about what writing and reading meant to her--having adventures. How does this fit, or not, w/ your idea of literacy? How do you connect these earlier dreams to what happened to her on the bathroom floor of that hotel in Mongolia? What do you think about Levy's use of words like "witch" (107) and "black magic" (108) in relation to herself?

Class

I would like to say that I enjoy sitting in a circle. I feel that it is easier to talk to eachother like that and we become a unit. I like the choice of books we have to read. Also, I am surprised at how creative I have been with my writing because at first I didn't know what to write about.

Although I have a hard time writing, I feel that I will have a good time in this course because John makes it interesting by taking plain old comics and makes I understand how and u it's being written. I've watched many cartoons as a kid and even watched the Spider-Man series based on comics and John is teaching me how to see how the author wrote it. But hopefully in time I'll learn how to read and write in a more sophisticated manner.

After reading the syllabus, I do not have any initial questions. I am just excited for what this course has to offer. I have already started to read Dead Man Walking and it has been an amazing read thus far.

After reading the syllabus I am looking forward to this course because although I have a difficult time understanding certain readings and have a difficult time expressing myself when it comes to writing reading responses. I enjoy English! I enjoy  reading different novels and hearing other peoples opinions about them. As for the writing aspect of English like i said before its difficult for me because in highschool we were never really taught how to write a proper essay. So, that kind of makes me an underdog. But I am willing and determined to become better.