"The Socks" -Marjane Satrapi

I really enjoyed reading this. It was a really different format, but I feel like Satrapi managed to get her point across much better in this manner than she would have accomplished any other way. The "graphic novel" illustrates her experiences in Tehram, and how the culture in the area was very difficult for her to adapt to. I can't imagine living in an area where you aren't allowed to wear what you want, have to keep everything covered and the rules are extremely strict. I think by illustrating her story, Satrapi makes it easy for the reader to relate to it. If i were reading about this situation it would be so absurd to me that it would almost seem unreal. The fact that I am looking at faces who are speaking actual words makes me realize that there really are cultures where women, just like us in the US, have practically no rights. It's almost incomprehensible that a government would have the power to be forcing women to always fully cover themselves, and not look at men, and not be able to run in public. I can't imagine showing wearing makeup or showing my wrist as a form of rebellion... those are things people in our culture do without even considering that it would be unacceptable. It never ceases to amazing me just exactly how much we take for granted in our lives.

In Response to Ali's Post on "Body Collage"

I read Ali's post about her experience writing her body collage, and I agree that it was a nice change-up from high school to be writing about ourselves rather than a random topic. I felt like it was sort of a self exploration piece to see what we could come up with. It took some creativity to come up with how exactly to present the story, but I feel like the steps we did in class really helped lead into our papers. I also feel a little insecure about my writing, and am a little anxious to see what my peer-editors had to say about what i wrote, especially since we were writing about such personal subjects. However, it will be nice to have feedback from both our peers and teacher. I agree with Ali that the input will definitely be a great way to improve upon my writing.

Essay 1

I have started the rough draft of my essay, and I'm really happy with my first vignette. I wrote about my 5th grade self, which is before I had any incidents with my ankles that meant large changes for me. I decided to do this because of what we talked about in class Monday. I think it's a really good way to start off the piece. For my second vignette I think I'm going to talk about the first ankle injury i sustained... and how although i was always getting cuts and scrapes i never actually had any real injury before this incident. It was in 6th grade while i was at gymnastics, and this also affected me because it made me really realize my love for gymnastics because of how much i missed it while i was out. It's surprising how much insight breaking and ankle can give to a 11 year old. I'm not sure how much space this will take up, but I'd like to maybe just briefly mention how many other ankle injuries I've had, and then talk about high school next, and how I hurt my ankle before varsity gymnastics sectionals in my senior year and wasn't able to compete, but that I managed to rehab it and get ready for club competitive season... and was able to qualify for state championships, then regional championships and missed national championships by .25 of a point. i think it's interesting how my several ankle injuries have definitely set me back in gymnastics, but at the same time i think they may actually be the reason i am so dedicated to gymnastics because of what I've had to work through, and all of those injuries are pretty much the reason for the major that i'm in right now.

In Response to Jodi's post On Stuttering

I completely agree with what Jodi says about stuttering. The way that Hoagland he wrote the piece really made me think about what he was going through because of the way he talked. I also agree that its interesting how he was able to speak without the stutter more successfully if he was fired up about something. As I read her post, it reminded my of a couple of people in my life who have a stutter when they speak. At time's it may be a little difficult to listen to them, but I really don't even notice it anymore. A history teacher I had in my junior year of high school had a stutter, and still managed to teach classes 5 times a day. We quickly grew accustomed to it, and I don't remember anyone making any comments to him or about him because of it, but I guess it never really occurred to me that he might be self-conscious about it. His job required him to expose his stutter to high school kids, who can be absolutely brutal. I realize now that to get up in front of his classes every day might have been a much tougher thing for him than I would have ever thought. Hoagland talks about how his stuttering influenced him to become a writer, so that he wouldn't be forced to speak as often. It made me almost feel proud of my history teacher because of what he overcomes every day in order to do what he loves.

"At War with My Skin" -John Updike

"At War with My Skin," by John Updike, was very interesting. There are a couple of things that he did in his story that I really like a lot. The first is that he manages to share the personal details of his story with the reader without making his story a complete pity party. He understands his skin condition, and definitely was self-conscious about it throughout his life, however writes that he had come to the realization that really another condition could have been a lot worse. He starts to call it a disease, but stops because "disease seems strong, for a condition that is not contagious, painful, or debilitating." It sort of makes the reader think about how much a more serious disorder would have such a greater impact on everything that most people would consider activities of daily living. But still, he lets his psoriasis stop him from doing a lot for a superficial disease. The other thing I really like about his writing is his use of "scab picking." This phrase really stood out to me as he used it to describe what he was doing. This is a comparison that all readers would be able to relate to, which makes it a much strong way to describe how he feels about this.

"Free Union" -Andre Breton

I read the assigned poem "Free Union" by Andre Breton, and found it interesting, and I must admit slightly disturbing. Throughout the entire poem, Breton is describing his wife using all different sorts of metaphors to compare physical aspects of her body to inanimate objects. He begins at the top of her body with her hair and teeth, and moves on down to her "rump," and then finally finishes by describing her eyes. By using metaphors instead of similes, he is saying that his wife is this perfect image, rather than that she is comparable all of these nice ideas. This makes his voice and description much more straightforward and sincere. My first time through reading the poem, I began to picture a very beautiful, delicate and graceful woman. He achieved this immediate effect because of those metaphors.
However, on a more personal level, the second time I read through the poem I began to find it a little creepy. Breton really focuses in on his wife's specific physical aspects, and not on the happy quirks in her personality, or the way she makes him feel. He sees every aspect of her body as impeccable, and wants his readers to be as drawn into that as he is.