Though, if I am to be honest, I cannot say that I ‘particularly’ liked any of the essays presented in this issue of brevity, out of the bunch, the one I was most able to appreciate was Intro to Creative Writing.
I most appreciated the narrative style (I suspect this is a fictional work of ‘creative nonfiction’), and the way the author presented details about the character, for example:
Fridays he breakfasts at Burger King before heading out to the lake, where he smokes cigarettes on the shore and ignores his wife’s phone calls.
This is the kind of quirky detail that makes a character seem real; the secrets that we would not feel comfortable sharing with most, if any. “On Fridays I like to pollute my body with fast food and carcinogen’s while appreciating nature. It’s what I do to have some ‘me’ time, which is why I ignore my wife’s phone calls,” would not generally be considered a common divulgence.
I thought the piece was effective at addressing how frustrating it could be to teach a class like this, especially if one had, at least at one time, higher aspirations in life.
Overall, I can appreciate the intellectual pretense behind brevity, but most of the essays just left me wanting more, which I would argue is particularly undesirable within a form such as this.
-dennis
I also liked this story, Dennis and posted it here. However, it seems that we both liked the story we observed different things about the story that we liked. I don't think that I even mentioned the fact that he smokes in my post. I do like how you related the story to a realistic aspect. I liked how you added the “On Fridays I like to pollute my body with fast food and carcinogen’s while appreciating nature. It’s what I do to have some ‘me’ time, which is why I ignore my wife’s phone calls," I found this hilarious. Because most people love fast food places but would not go on to say that they are harming their bodies, publicly. The story does seem like its character has a great touch with his reality, it shows the things he cares for and when he cares for them and even somethings he does not care for. You looked at how the professor had a negative affect on the class while I thought it was positive. I liked how the teacher related to the students and connected with them on a friendly level instead of him saying that he was superior to them and therefore he did not have to care much.
ReplyDeleteJaaziah Bethea