Blog response #7

For this weeks blog response I would like to finish talking about To After That. I finished reading it and by the end of the story I was exhausted. I felt like I had just read a story within a story within another story. It was very confusing to me why the author wrote the book that way. But after listening to you talk about metafiction in class it started to make sense a little bit more. Gladman's book is like nothing I have read before. It is literally a story about a writer writing another story. To be honest, it was tough to get through the whole thing because it seems to be lacking a plot. I guess if I was a writer myself I would enjoy this more because I would be able to relate to the process of writing a story and what it takes to write one. I'm sure it is an exhausting experience to put that much emotion and dedication into your work. It's just that I don't really understand this style of writing.

Gladman's writing seems to be affected most by the location where she is writing (concrete city, the park, and the flat city she moved to) and the personal relationships with the people she is involved with during the time of the writing. These two factors play a big role in any type of career whether it's being an author or any other profession.

Lastly, I would like to talk about the Goldman section "one plus one equals a Mercedes Benz". I really liked this reading because Goldman is explaining that when writing, think outside the box. When I write about myself I tend to keep saying "I do this" and "I am this", which is informative but boring and dull. Instead, Goldman says to write about who you really are. For example: "I am the heat of the sun, the whisper of the fleeting wind, the pigments of yellow, orange, and red of seasons change." I really took a great deal out of this reading.

- Jeff Loos
  Crtw 201

Blog Response #6: To After That

The story To After That is about a author in the process of writing a novella entitled After That. Goldman explains the writing processes she used during the construction of the novella and the places (concrete city, parks, etc.) she wrote in. Sometimes she would be inspired to continue the process of writing her novella in odd places and at odd times; she explains that it was all part of her adventure of writing the story.

To After That is written in first person and is informal. This book has aspects of humor, emotion, and adventure. Throughout To After That, Goldman writes about her writing mechanics and revision/editing of the unfinished story. I also noticed that Goldman connects her writing processes with real life. The story TAT seems very personal as she speaks about relationships and internal thoughts. On a personal note, Goldman to have a sense of anti-technology with the disgust of cell phones.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this story because it gave me a sense of the creative writing process and what it takes to complete a story, beginning to end.

Blog Response #5

For this blog response I have decided to talk about some of the short stories in the first short stories packet. I liked the Mystery Stories by Sharon Krinsky because some of them made me smile. The Talking Cat really made me laugh because I can picture in my mind a very proper cat with a tuxedo and a top hat like the monopoly man, extending his paw to a person and them both having an instantaneous relationship. The author made me use my imagination to visualize the scene that she created. Another one of the short stories I was intrigued by was The Record Store. This story baffled me because I have no idea what the hell is going on. However, they did start to make sense after you told the class that these short stories are about dreams. Dreams can be really crazy, not having any structure, and these short stories seem to as well.

I also read Morning News and got the sense that it was a continuous thought after a man has been told that he has only a limited time to live. I can relate to the feeling because I know that when I get shocking news my mind starts going a hundred miles per hour, thinking about all scenarios and possibilities. I didn't understand the ending though. I mean, the result from him getting the bad news is to go buy a television? wouldn't watching TV be the last thing you would want to do after being told your going to die soon?

The last story i want to talk about is one of stories titled Internal. This story is about "interns" performing a task to evaluate the psyche of their boss' brother. When, in fact, they are evaluating another intern. This story kind of reminds me of the recent movie that came out called Shutter Island because the movie is about a private investigator that goes to an island to investigate a mental institute and in the end the investigator has been a schizophrenia patient at the institute the whole time.

Blog Response #4

Reading through the Blood Dazzler i noticed that there are many different emotions going on throughout the poems. One of the first things I noticed just by glancing through each poem is the predominant use of the word "God". This gives me a strong visual because I can picture people seeing Katrina as an "end all" event in which the first person the victims looked to for guidance was god. The second emotion i felt from reading some of the poems was helplessness. For example, in the Tankas poem, stanza two, a mother states "I have three children, but only two arms. He falls and barely splashes." I can only imagine the emotions running through this mothers body as her son falls into Katrina's grasp.

I also like the poem titled "Superdome" because i remember when the people of New Orleans had to abandon their flooded homes to go to the superdome for shelter. Hundreds upon hundreds of unfortunate victims of Katrina were crammed in a place meant for an entertainment venue. Hunger and uncleanliness were to of the main points i felt from the writer of this poem. The author of the poem described the experience as overflowing toilets, babies going hungry, and uneasy comfort. This poem can make even the most unfortunate people feel like kings and queens.

The last poem that I want to discuss from Blood Dazzler is called "Won't be but a minute". The poem gave me a feel for how some people did not think the storm was going to be that bad and it was just going to pass on. Like the author said "We gon' be back home soon this thing pass over. Luther B gon' watch the place while we gone." This makes me believe that some of the people involved thought that this was not as bad as it turned out to be. I'm sure this was part of the reason why so many people lost their lives.