"The Face of Seung-Hui Cho" & "Community College"

The two best were already chosen so I decide to write on both. While "Community College" is stylistically written and quite innovative the subject matter is a bit more commonplace. I was never bored while reading and found myself in tears more that once if only for the momentous of his daily grind. What this piece brings to the essay, more than anything else, is the way it showed me that it is written in the interests that is shared by others. "Community College" is a testament to the writers and their rare skills, of being creative at creating creative non-fiction. This is a skill that is essentially needed for writers who pour their guts out while engaging their audience. I love the peculiar, fascinating and amazing stories he shares in this piece.

Wesley Yang's "The Face of Seung-Hui Cho," which takes on the freighted topic of the 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech. While "Community College" and "What Come's Out" employ the techniques of literary fiction to relate autobiographical stories; they're well told, but don't transcend the memoir genre. Yang's entry is a memoir and more, providing a personal narrative of disaffection along with a studied analysis of a historical event, suggesting the wider scope that's possible within the bounds of "creative nonfiction." The techniques and forms are visible and understood through the writings. Though “What Come's Out" and "The Face of Seung-Hui Cho," are relatively simple in style their subjects are simultaneously uncomfortable and wonderful.

Craig Fontenot