"How to Tame a Wild Toungue"

For how much I wanted to like this piece I couldnt make myself do it. I hated the fact that there was a major disconnect and that I myself couldnt relate to her because of her writing style. The way she wrote this piece was very un organized and sloppy. I know it isnt right to tell someone to stop using thier language or keep it out of thier writing, but there was just something about it that I cannot bring myself to like. I feel like I am making the same judgements that she talks about in the piece and I dont exactly like reasons I give for not likeing her piece or her writing style but I cant seem to look past it. It was definately my least favorite piece we read all semester.

Workshop Groups

To me my writing is extremely personal. Even when my writing isnt about my personal life I am not always ok with other reading it. I thought that this experience with the workshop groups was going to be terrible. I didnt want anything to do with it. On the other hand I knew it was going to help my writing in the long run. After reading the essays that I had to read for my group I realized that everyones writing was personal and I was no different. I truely enjoyed the essays that I read. I was interested in what my classemates had to say and the different creative wyas that they got thier points across in thier writing. When I came into class I was ready for the worst, I know writing it not my strength and I know that all of my writing needs alot of work. I felt like our group did an extremely good job making sure to point out the positives in everyones work, so when they told me the things that I should change to make my essay stronger I knew that they were truly just trying to help me become a better writer. I felt like this was a good experience for me because it helped me notice the good things about the my writing as opposed to the usual bad news that you hear from teachers when they grade essays. I now look forward to more workshops like this and know that it is all for my benefit.

Responce to "A Few Words About Breasts"

This story made me feel as though I was not alone in feelings of insecurities. This story seemed to me to be almost every girl's feelings about some body part of another. Each experience she talked about I could relate to. Im sure for the boys in the class it was more of an uncomfortable and less realtable story, but I know for myself and probably most girls in the class it was a necessary read. It makes you realize that you are never alone in the feelings that you get and it is always comforting to make that message reasured. I felt pure enjoyment reading this because although it is a scaring experience it is a relief to read that your not the only one with the issues she adresses. My favorite part in the story was when she was talking about how her friends were complaining about how thier boobs were to big and they were telling Nora all the ways that having small boobs makes her lucky. I think this was a part in the story where she described the situation and captured the essance of teenage girls to the tee. There is always something better than what they have in thier own eyes and I enjoyed seeing how perfectly she protrayed that attitude.

A reflection of my writing

I just feel like this unit is an extremely rewarding one. After starting to write my paper I felt over joyed because I love retelling the past and some of the stories and time I thought of were so much fun to relive in my mind. I thought at first this paper was going to be hard to write, but after picking my own brain it is hard to pick which stories that go along with my body part to encorporate into my story. I feel like I would be able to write a ten page paper with this project. I also think that this is something that all people should go through because it is a healthy way to assess and think about your body in ways you never would have if you werent put in the situation you put all of us in. I also just want to reflect on the overall theme of this course because some of my other friends are taking writing classes with different teachers and thier main ideas dont seem as controvercial or interesting to me. I am so glad that I took this class because everyone our age can relate to this and it is something that even if you dont want to admit it, you have some interest in it. I dont know why I just really enjoy the overall idea of the class. Writing by far is not my favorite thing to do english isnt my thing, but I feel like I will actually enjoy this course and if I have to take a writing class I would rather write about something that interests me.

Free Union

http://jilliansaw1.blogspot.com/2008/02/free-union-by-andre-breton.html I agree with jillian, I too thought that it was a bit to unromantic and almost creepy. I for started am not a fan of poems in general I never understand the underlieing purpose or message, but I just thought that the different things he was talking about seemed to over the top. There were some beautiful lines which I liked dont get me wrong, but overall this piece was not my favorite because I felt that his ideas were not organized as well as they could have been and I felt that he was writing about things that most people couldnt relate to especially with the word beauty or love. The most vivid part where I felt that he took it past the idea of loving everything about her was when he was talking about her armpits I particularly didnt like that because armpits are not a flattering part on a woman's body and he could have found more flattering and gentle or lovely things to talk about that would create and related to a more romantic and lady like image in the readers mind.

A Reflection of "On Stuttering" by Edward Hoagland

I really liked the last piece we read, On Stuttering by Edward Hoagland. I felt that not only did he personify his voice extremely well, but he added his own personality and charm into the piece I felt that it was much more enjoyable than the piece about psoriasis. My favorite part in this piece was when he talked about the three different times in his life when it was scary to use or not be able to use his voice. One of them was that he didnt want his daughter to talk like him because he stutered. This was strictly good parenting because any parent is feerful for their kids, it is just first nature. The next one was when he was in the woods and a shooter was going to shoot him because the gunsman thought that he was a deer. At this moment he had to speak up or he was gonig to die, this painted a particularly scary picture in my mind as to how handicaps which you think arent as extreme as many others, but in certain intances they can be. And the third was speaking in public at weddings weather it be his own or someone else's and he had to say a speech. This one showes what a good friend and family man he is because he doesnt want his speech to ruin anything special that is going on. After reading this piece i feel as though I have learned not to take things for granted, little things that you may not think of are special and could handicap you in ways that you may never think of because you are not put in that particular situation. I enjoyed reading this piece very much!

Is the media poisoning our minds?

Over the weekend I watched quite a bit of TV, and one thing I noticed was the amount of modeling shows that were on. America's next top model and Janice Dickenson's Modeling Agency were the ones that I actually watched. One of the things that caught my attention the most was how freely Janice Dickenson (being part of both shows) talked about how many different body types or problems with someones appearance could prohibit them from getting involved in the fasion industy. On one of the episodes of Janice Dickenson's Modeling Agency, they had a man looking for models with bad skin and out of all of the models in her agency they could only find one that had reasonably bad skin to be a consideration for the shoot. Instead she had to go out on the street and find aspiring models with bad skin and that is the sole reason why they got chosen. I understand why the fashion industy has this outlook, but instead of adressing the problem and helping a potentially great model clear up something as small as acne, they just simply say they arent good enough. This bothered me that this is what is being broadcasted and brain washed into our society, imperfections are being looked at like diseased. No one is perfect and I feel like people who have such strong feelings about how a person should look even though there is no right or wrong on someones appearance is miseducating and poisoning our society, especially our societies youth. This whole idea of body image in the media has been around for a while now, but they always seem to be the same problems and the general public looks away and this adds to the problem. I just thought that this tied into the class topic very well and also I thought that is was something to think about as we move forward in this self discovery part of the class.