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- Reading responses are due by 10pm on the day PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading.
In the short story “In Bed”, before I even read it I analyzed the title, I thought to myself that it would have been a story about someone who had gotten paralyzed and could not move. Or even someone who could have been too lazy to do much in a day. But after reading this piece I enjoyed it. I was able to conclude that Didion successfully informed me on how migraines are not something we all would want, but there are people who constantly live with them day by day. The way she portrayed this message in such a great way was by using her introduction to inform the reader the times she encounters those migraines. It reads, “Three, four, sometimes fives times a months, I spend the day in bed with a migraine headache” (220). As I read that, I had paused and thought well maybe she is not a disabled person, but constantly is in bed. By using that, Didion was able to hook the reader in continuing to read. It gave them the confusion and the curiosity of wondering what it was the reason for migraines that made her feel that way, or if she was going to continue on with the reason for constant migraines because when it comes to migraines, that is one the least things someone would ever want to get. To continue on through out the reading, she added facts in her piece as well to inform the reader that is was not something absurd but rather normal, and in her state it was hereditary. She uses Thomas Jefferson and Ulysses S. Grant as examples (221). She had also demonstrated how doctors themselves do not understand the cause for it using information, which had been her research. To finish off her story the great way that she did, she was able to inform the reader that despite it all, her constant migraines and troublesome days due to them, she is able to overcome it but relaxing and letting those migraines take those course. Her conclusion was merely the positive outcome of migraines, which made it a good story to read.
ReplyDeleteIn “El Toro Rojo”, I can conclude that this short reading was very interesting. The reason it came off to be interesting to me was because when I read the title I was able to understand that it would be about a Bull and possibly a bull rider. It could have led to bad incident that occurred to Moore, or just a life thrilling experience. After reading it, I think I can say that she was able to give great imagery and detail to the reader to understand what was occurring.
The last short reading, “The Witching Hour” I would say is my favorite. I love the fact that Nezhukumatathil was able to recall memories of being in grade school. She was capable of showing imagery of what she was drawing, and the words her teacher had told her at the time. She was able to demonstrate that she had been a young girl, enjoying her class and her classmates while drawing what had intrigued her as a child, she was able to remember each piece of it. That is what made it a good reading; it seemed to be very factual. The reason why I always like stories that add so much detail is because it makes me feel as if I was just there. Like I had been in the class, while she was a young girl drawing an “aswang”.
-Aliza Longoria
Joan Didion’s In Bed is structurally similar to The Mute Sense by Diane Ackerman, but Didion’s creative nonfiction piece breaks from Ackerman’s abstraction. As previously stated, Ackerman uses speedy narration to tell her personal story, but Didion is able to share her narrative throughout the entire course of the piece and interweave facts. This is seen as she deviates from the science behind migraines to her personal experiences with migraines, her husband’s journey with migraines, and ultimately learning to live with migraines and back to the science. Ackerman, however remained charting the history of smell. In my writing, I will approach Didion’s method of weaving and balancing research with personal narrative. Otherwise, by relying on Ackerman’s method of relying on research as the primary sewed with a tint of narrative, it is of my opinion you lose the essence of a creative nonfiction.
ReplyDeleteThe Witching Hour by Aimee Nezhukumatathil additionally uses speedy narration to set up the premise for the story to follow. It is the Philippine folktale of the aswang, a vampire like creature who sneaks into homes and devours children. Like the other creative nonfiction read such as Liferower by Rebecca McClanahan and Joyas Voladoras by Brian Doyle, who use a reference point to structure the narration and exploration of the plot, so does The Witching Hour. The Witching Hour, nevertheless, takes a different approach. Unlike the creative nonfiction previously mentioned, it does not use jump cuts to navigate multiple random yet cohesive facts. Instead, Nezhukumatathil employs a linear structure to share the empowerment the little girl arrives to. The reference of the aswang merely served as a catalyst around which the events of the story unfolded. This approach is of my liking, even more compared to that of Ackerman’s who uses research. At least for the memoir I will be writing, my research was very basic thus no need for Ackerman’s approach. I can use Nezhukumatathil’s approach as my story will revolve a room. The room will serve the purpose the aswang did.
El Toro Rojo by Dinty W. Moore is extremely straightforward in its narration. Too straightfoward that one needs to search for the personal, but I believe the personal derives from the theme of that moment between life and death.
Lastly, all pieces ended with a form of lesson learned. Didion epitomized it with “I count my blessings” as did Moore with “You count to one.” In Nezhukumatahil, instead of a direct approach, an allegory of science and folklore is used to summarize the events. Yes, I do plan on using a concluding lesson in my memoir giving it a sense of a fable.
Alejandro Sanchez
“In Bed” I felt like with this piece of writing Joan Didion is experiencing a medical condition that she has no control of. It is a depressing setting which reflects of the negativity inside of her. I can picture her when she is describing the scene where she is at the doctor’s. As she mentions “Sometimes, I would lie” (Starkey 221) as if she wanted to let the doctor know that yes, she does experience more headaches than usual. With this story, it kind of brings me back memories when I was in the hospital at one time in my life due to depression. I agree when she says “…nothing wrong with me at all (Starkey 221). As a personal experience, I have always felt that there something wrong with me but it is just a mental-mind game. I found this story to be very interesting and yet too negative. The reason I found this story to be interesting was because Joan’s condition seemed to be heredity. “In other words I spent yesterday in bed with a headache not merely because of my bad attitudes, unpleasant tempers and wrong think, but because both my grandmothers had migraine, my father has migraine and my mother has migraine” (Starkey 221). The fact that Joan emphasizes dealing with an element that the rest of her family suffers from seems to be her biggest contributors to her problems. With “El Toro Rojo” this short creative nonfiction story, as a writer you have to face your deepest fears that might be right in front of you. I found the story to be very intense and well executed for example, “The crowd held silent by the matador’s lance” this perfectly describes the background of the blurred image of the crowd as they wait silently for the bull’s actions. Moore emphasizes life and death between a bullfighter and a bull, “In your own life, death has lingered” (Starkey 221) the author is describing the character within the story that once you are in the ring, there is nothing that the person can do since they are risking their lives in the battle. Based on these two examples, I found the author does a good job with imagery which I personally think fits well into the setting. Last but not least “The Witching Hour” by Aimee Nezhukumatathil this story was a bit confusing to me and as the author mentioned “aswang” it threw me off as a reader. With Aimee in her scenery she is in disbelief due to the fact that her teacher was not in favor in her work. It created a bad image towards her work as a student. Even though, this is not the way she wanted to be portrayed.
ReplyDeleteAndrea Espericueta
I found the readings assigned for this week to be of particular interest, personal interest even. Death is something that’s always captivated me, the great beyond. These stories “El Toro Rojo” and “The Witching Hour” both deal with death rituals. The bull, in the first story, was graceful and gallant, before being pierced to death by bandilleros. While in “The Witching Hour” while no physical death occurs, dreams and the monotony of culture that the narrator conveys get crushed by her teacher.
ReplyDeleteMoore does a great job enveloping his readers in the Spanish bullfighting atmosphere, using concise words to do so. Having been written in the second person really pulled me into the action. With the use of words such as you’re and you being put to use, the reader gets immersed in the world of the story. It’s a type of writing I never before have attempted, but after seeing the way Moore does it, I would venture to try it.
On the other hand, “The Witching Hour” was less concise. Not that, that was a bad thing however, as it worked out well for the author. There was a necessity for the reader to know about the aswang. It gave us a peek into what frightened Mrs. Johnson so. What’s interesting to note, is that Johnson didn’t believe the answang was true, rather just a folktale. However what made it endure was the fact that Johnson’s mother was the one telling the tales. If there’s anything to be taken from this particular piece it’s how well the author fleshes out the answang. Her vivid descriptions help the reader feel a connection they otherwise may not have.
Now we come to, “In Bed” by Didion. A story about migraines of all things. It was a difficult piece to get through, reminiscent of someone who rambles on about nothing, wasting your time basically. Yet the piece is completely relatable to someone who suffers the same misfortunes. And creative non-fiction is all about that isn’t it?
What seems surprising, besides the fact that an entire essay can be devoted to a mental dysfunction is that by the end it’s referred to as “a friend”. At the end of the day, this piece is informative, giving a day to day account of someone who suffers from migraines, and her incredibly descriptive detail is what blows me away most. I would almost venture to say, it’s to her benefit to have gone through such trials, that we the reader get to “enjoy” the fruits of such agony.
Lucas Zamora
Didion's In Bed was interesting in a personal way for me. I also suffer from migraines and could relate very well to the writer's perspective. It is difficult for me to find fault with this short piece because I believe that it has very accurately described an experience very similar to my own; therefore, I am biased and cannot comment on things like style and technique. For me, when reading this, there exists at the forefront of my mind this image of Joan Didion's life, how migraines are such an integral part of it, and how she has taken her migraines and learned to live and make peace with them despite her troubles. I think that if someone who does not suffer from migraines were to read this and also become invested for the duration of the reading in Didion's experiences, then I think it would mean that the writing was successful.
ReplyDeleteI did not understand El Toro Rojo and I do not understand the point. Is the bull's death a parallel to the character's own fatalistic beliefs? After all, they believe that "all lives end badly (Moore, page 226.)" Or was it a parallel to humans in general? I am not entirely sure. However, I did think the use of second person point of view was interesting.
The Witching Hour was my favorite of the three short stories. Part of this is because my family is from the Philippines and I grew up knowing some of the same stories; but it is also because I loved the vivid story that a child could tell and imagine. When the teacher was angry because of the aswang story, I was upset on the little girl's behalf. It felt wrong to me that her classmates could talk about stories from their own heritage, but the little girl could not. It may have not been what the teacher was thinking of when she assigned the assignment, but there was no reason to be cruel. I was so happy that the little girl did not give up her story and kept drawing the aswang over and over again at the end.
Doris Tolar
It was really interesting to read the three different essays this week. They all had different takes on creative nonfiction. The first “In Bed,” was completely personal with the Didion’s experience with her illness. While most people see a migraine as a common headache to be hidden by a few Tylenol, Didion shows her entire life struggling with the consistency of a gruesome migraine. I loved how she defended herself to a mixed audience, most of which probably don’t struggle with migraine. I don’t struggle with migraine, but my older sister does and I was never able to understand what she really went through. Now that I’ve read “In Bed,” I now can fully comprehend what my sister goes through daily, and what I can do to help her. To not say, “Just take an Advil,” when she is in pain. I now understand the medical and scientific way that migraines work and how to cope with them and to finally just live with them. Didion’s essay was informative and helped a reader understand a point of view.
ReplyDelete“El Toro Rojo,” was completely poetic to me. For such a small piece of writing I was fully absorbed. The saying “less is more” was a huge factor in this essay. I felt like I was right there in the crowd watching the matador take down the bull. For a quick moment we are taken into Moore’s personal life and what he is using his experience of witnessing a bullfight to his father’s death lingering in his life. I loved this take on creative nonfiction and how to keep a reader engaged and on the same level as the writer without too much.
“The Witching Hour” was another that had a different take on creative nonfiction. Aimee started off with a folktale and how this bedtime story was tied to the intimacy she shared with her mother, and how a teacher without realizing tore down a child’s relationship with her mother. Aimee’s writing technic was engaging with a scary story and then tying that into her personal life. She also tied in how she was almost like the “aswang” herself, taking her teachers prized markers and using them to draw the witch, almost like taking the teachers “child.” Altogether her writing was engaging and an interesting way of writing creative nonfiction.
Claria Buddle
The stories assigned, “In Bed”, “El Toro Rojo”, and “The Witching Hour” were very interested.
ReplyDeleteWhat I liked about “In Bed” was how detailed the narrator is when describing the pain she feels when she has migraine. As I was reading the lines where she starts describing what she feels when she is going to have a migraine “episode” I felt sorry for her. I have never experienced migraine myself but I have been food poisoned and that is how I felt. I can only imagine how hard it would be to have migraine daily. Overall I liked how the author described with such detail how she(character) felt and made me as a reader use my senses and really feel or relate to how the character feels when she gets migraine.
What I liked most about the story “El Toro Rojo” was how the author describes with detail the process of a matador when being in such a position of life and death. I find it very interesting how the story reads very smoothly and it is narrating something and at the same time it is telling you the steps people involved in this sport take. I hope I can incorporate this style of writing into my own writing. I really like when a piece of writing reads smoothly and at the same time it is informing you other things.
“The Witching Hour” story was funny to me. I think it is funny because the author takes you into the mind of a third grader. As I read the story I could help but laugh because I could relate to some experiences I had in the third grade as well. I though it must have been fun for the author to write because you can’t help but feel joy when you observe and learn the values of young people have. For example, in the story, Aimee does not want the original first place price, which was a pizza, she wanted the new colors instead and she took good care of them. Overall I think this story is fun and shows us what children value the most.
Estefany Gonzalez
Didion titled her piece “In Bed” which gives no hint to what her essay is about. It is a mystery that beckons to the reader daring us to ask questions like who is in the bed and why they are there. Is she an insomniac? a nymphomaniac? Fortunately for the reader who steps beyond the title and into the essay proper, the answer in not long awaiting. There in the first paragraph, the first paragraph even, are the words “migraine headache” which clue us in on the topic of the essay.
ReplyDeleteDidion knows her headaches; she must since they are her companion more often than she would like, and much of her reading on migraines, no doubt was learned in an effort to overcome them herself, is passed onto the reader. She lists famous people who have suffered with migraines and even knows that LSD was discovered while searching for their remedy. It’s a clever little article.
The first thing noticeable about Dinty W. Moore is the name. Dinty Moore is not the name of a person but the name of a stew company. Nonetheless here it is writing “El Toro Rojo” which is not only short but is almost like a poem stylized as an essay. Indeed, it is half-and-half: “Mendoza attempts to rise from the sand, but falls back quickly, sickly, and must be carried away.” Clever. But this stew company had better have more than a few clever words to actually make the risk work.
He names the bull-fighters: one Reyes Mendoza and another Thomas Lopez. Aha! Literary journalism perhaps? It’s too short for that. Its a captured moment describing the horrible scene of a bullfighter being gored and then another (Lopez) coming in and killing the bull, a lot of it in short descriptive staccato.
But Mr. Moore stands up in the last two paragraphs. He is not a stew company after all but a man. A man who can relate the horrible scene of a dying bull unfolding before him to his father’s last days, ending the essay with the words “You count to one,” leaving some mystery as to their meaning. The time until the bull rises perhaps?
Nezhukumatathil’s “The Witching Hour” is a delightful memoir that beginnings be explaining the subject matter of the memoir which otherwise we would have been clueless of. Specifically, the first paragraph gives the background of the aswang which is some kind of witch-hag that populates the night skies of the Philippines as well as little Filipino nightmares. This, as we’ll see, is important because of the incident Nezhukumatathil relates.
She wrote about the time she drew the aswang as an endangered species which, when the teacher saw it, was torn up. She had to draw another, more traditional endangered species. She did this and ended up winning first place in her grade.
The essay is broken up into four pieces each separated by a blank line. The first part describes the aswang. The second contains the incident of her drawing it and have it torn up. The third is the resolution of the second where we discover she drew a traditional animal. The final part talks of her winning first place and ends with the teacher who tore up her picture of the aswang acquiescing to her request of the teacher’s own colored marker set in lieu of a pizza for first place. Getting the last laugh, Nezhukumatathil draws the aswang to her heart’s content.
Elizabeth Barham
“In Bed” was a piece that was describing what someone may go through when they have multiple migraines, but I think it goes deeper than that. Didion expressed how many people just suffer from these migraines and it isn’t their own choice to suffer from them, but it reflects on how writers struggle with the what they want to put in their own work, such as just lies and what came from their own imagination or the truth. “But not all perfectionists have migraine, and not all migrainous people have migraine personalities. We do not escape heredity” (222). Before stating this in her piece, she expressed how perfectionists were when they wanted everything to be perfect and she knew that well since she is a writer. She is using her own health as an example to express how all writers will struggle to find what they want to write. Didion is using creative non-fiction by using what she went through to express the struggles of what writers would go through during their own careers.
ReplyDeleteFor “El Toro Rojo” it is expressing how life is something that can end abruptly and also how life can be used in writing. The writer, Moore was able to capture the reader through the imagery of what was happening. He was able to express how one’s writing will get complicated and how it can be used as a tool to tell the truth. “In your own life, death has lingered. Your father, for one. All lives end badly” (226). Moore is telling the readers that death is a real thing and that everything will die and this is the truth. He was able to have this as creative nonfiction because he is capturing the moment something that died and express to his audience what message he wanted everyone to see. Everything does die and that it is a part of life and humanity must accept it.
“The Witching Hour” was something that was expressing how some fiction can have truth in it. To me, Nazhukumatathil was expressing how she is trying to get something that isn’t real, into something that is true. For example, many writers use their own personal experiences to express what happened, but they modify it. They create a new world with elements of what the writer went through in the plot. Also for some writers, they use what happened to them as the plot of the story but change the ending completely. Nazhukumatathil is expressing that it was alright to use the truth as a muse for a writer. “When recess was over and the students started filing back in, my classmates shuffled by my desk and marveled over the drawings within earshot of Mrs. Johnson” (229). The author is expressing how some grain of truth can capture the reader’s attention because just by having his as something that may be real, the reader would want to know what happens in the plot. Nazhukumatathil is showing that some truth can make a story interesting.
- Andrea Serrano
This weeks’ new short stories had me both very curious and confused. The first creative short story “In Bed” really captivated my attention for I personally suffer from migraine headaches and it is so incredibly awful all you want to do is cry. When I get these headaches, it is impossible for me to describe the pain I feel to my family and I found that the author really spoke for me and gave me a voice. I had never read anything on migraine headaches and I found myself completely enchanted with how personal yet public at her story was. I fell in love with the way she kept me entertained while she provided facts in her short story and even those were captivating. I think she is so successful because just by her telling her story the reader feels compassion and thirsts for a deeper understanding of migraine that she is able to provide facts and hold the attention of the reader. I hope this is something that as a writer I am able to do; to be able to provide a voice or a safe haven for my readers. Moreover, in the second short story “El Toro Rojo” is where I felt confused. I am not entirely sure what it is I was reading but I have resigned to the idea that Moore is trying to end with death as the theme. The ending ended up surprising and captivating me and that was the last sentences starting with, “In your own life, death has lingered” up to “You count to one.” I feel that when he says he is holding onto an “empty can of San Miguel” could mean the same thing as holding onto hope when someone has died, hope or an empty promise. Death is obviously lingering like fog on our skin every day and it seems that Moore is expecting and waiting for it almost all the time as he counts to one. Lastly, Nezhukumatathil’s short story, “The Witching Story” was very factual at the beginning but as the author gradually told her story about drawing the “aswang” I became fond of it and the style she had it written under. It made sense in this case for her to give the reader information as to what this peculiar creature was. The factor I really enjoyed was how innocent her story sounded. It was fascinating to see that as a child she was thinking of things the adults and even other students didn’t think about and conforming themselves. I loved the fact the she was smart to notice her teacher not lending her tissues after making her cry and still after she won she continued to draw aswang’s and not just one, but many. I hope this portrayal of innocence is something I will achieve as a creative writer.
ReplyDelete- Mayra Lopez
Joan Didion “In Bed “we can all relate to getting headaches from time to time perhaps even more frequently especially being enrolled in school. As much as you would like for things to roll smoothly at times they just don’t. It’s the small things like Joan says in our case probably assignments aren’t going well among trying to juggle hundreds of other things. What really stands out in her story is the way she uses her words. For example, ‘’Three, four, sometimes five times a month (Didion 220)’’, ‘’When I was 15, 16, even 25 (Didion 221)’’ she really wants to let the reader know that she really has been dealing with this a very long time. Emphasizing that this goes way back when she was a child. She not only does this with numbers but also with not having any other problems but headaches and about the symptoms that trigger it. It’s an internal struggle that can resemble a struggle in writing in some of us. That you can’t fight creativity and should just write and in some cases you may need the help in order to be creative.
ReplyDeleteEl Toro Rojo by Dinty W. Moore the title is translated to The Red Bull meaning that the author is relating it to how enraged the bull is or how much blood is coming out of the bull once it’s in the dying process. Its gives you something to think about. You especially start thinking more and imagining what the author is describing as he goes step by step as if he is commentating the fight. It really brings out the description on top of the bilingual message. It’s a nice touch to mix the two languages together to really get the feel of where bull fighting comes from and the type of equipment that they use to handle the bull fighting. The use of metaphors in Spanish and English gives you the picture of the actual moves being performed.
The Witching Hour by Aimee Nezhukmatahil, is completely the opposite of what I thought the story was going to be about it. The way it starts off is seems like it going to be a folktale and keep on going but then it takes a turn right into the elementary classroom. Aside from that she is very descriptive in the way she lets you picture the setting around her. The story may also be a metaphor in from title relating to teacher in the way that she acts around her. She says that the aswang morphs and devours little babies, babies meaning her. The use of describing little things is a plus because it makes it seem like she was actually there and puts you in the setting as if you were also there.
-Victor Vasquez
In Bed
ReplyDeleteFor me, In Bed was one of the more dull pieces that I have read in this class. It may be because I couldn’t relate to this one as much or because there was nothing that I found particularly clever about the way that it was written. I can see how someone who suffers with migraines might really enjoy this piece of writing because she does use a lot of very specific examples of what happens during her migraines, and the specific thoughts that she has throughout them. For me, though it was enjoyable enough and an easy read, but not something that I would recommend anyone else to read.
El Toro Rojo
I found this piece of writing to be quite sad. For me, the use of Spanish words throughout the writing was distracting because I was constantly having to look down at the footnotes and back up at the reading and it became a bit annoying. However, for someone who knows Spanish, I would think that it added to the flow and elegance that this piece had. It is an interesting read because the matador is talked about in almost a graceful light way like a dancer, but in reality his intention is to kill this bull for sport. The underlying brutality in this piece shows up at the end of this graceful dance that the writer has written so elegantly. But once the lightness and enjoyability is gone and the bull is killed, we are left with the reality of death and the weight that it leaves on the reader is really nicely written.
The Witching Hour
I found this reading to be written quite interestingly. It starts off very eerie an full of images, and once the image of this creature has been planted in our heads, it switches to an elementary school which we tend to think of as very light and innocent. However, the connection that the writer brings up at the end about how the aswang reminded her of the special times that she spent with her mother before bed is a really neat way to kind of tie up the loose ends of the story.
Erin Valdez
Personally, I really enjoyed this story and found it very appealing. I have suffered from migraines almost my whole life and it is a pain a lot of people do not understand. I felt that the narrator gives an informative understanding of what a migraine is by giving examples of what can trigger it and a description of what it feels like when getting one. It’s informative and does give its points for it to be a nonfictional piece but I think that a lot of people will find it dull. It felt like I was reading medical report, or a definition of the symptoms that occur sometimes with migraines.
ReplyDelete“I have to agree with her statement that "...no one dies from migraine... seems like an ambiguous blessing," because it really does. While I am having a migraine, I sometimes think, "laying down and not being able to feel anything sounds really good right about now." I like how she included facts about various medication that a person can take for migraine, as well as discussed how the symptoms affect her day in a very humorous matter, even though the symptoms are horrendous.”
I like the description used in “El Toro Rojo”. Despite being a relatively small story, it was very descriptive, but it’s one that I honestly didn’t enjoy. It was hard for me because I don’t agree with this sport. I do admit that the story was interesting enough to keep me reading it. I do believe that the author could’ve told us a bit more about the narrative to add more depth to it.
Sometimes people are afraid of the unknown. They fear things they don't understand like the Aswan in this story. I relate this to things like "la llorona" or "el chupacabras" which are Mexican urban legends. In this case, I feel that the teacher panicked when she saw something she didn't know about. I don't blame her because I think that it's a teachers' job to see that everything is in order and keep an eye out for things like this. However, I think that she could've handled a lot differently. She could've just talked to her in private or with her parents instead of embarrassing her in front of class. That opens up the discussion to whether this can be considered bullying.
Something I noticed is that the character looked at her shoes often when she was either afraid or nervous. I think that this was a good technique because it shows us how nervous and uncomfortable she feels.
-Erik Ramirez
I wasn’t a huge fan of “In Bed.” Upon seeing that the subject was migraines, I was interested to see how they would be described. I had heard that they are, as related by Didion, often underestimated by those who do not experience them personally and I was looking for rich descriptions that would help me understand just how painful and debilitating they truly are. Sadly, all I found were lists of adjectives mostly. I found myself having to think of the definitions of these adjectives rather than having the pain and difficulty of the affliction come alive. In short, I was disappointed with this author’s writing style.
ReplyDelete“El Toro Rojo” was far more impressive in that it related a number of things in such a small amount of words. The setting, empathy toward the bull, admiration for the matador, and sense of being an outsider in a foreign country all stood out without them being spelled out word for word. The Spanish terms were also not thrown in to be pretentious or to spice up the piece, they were necessary for the proper description of events. This was the most technically admirable of the three pieces for me.
“The Witching Hour,” although longer than El Toro Rojo, was still able to explain its setting and characters without a string of adjectives like “In Bed” although it was a bit more conversational. This lent it a sense of relatability even though I am not terribly familiar with Philippian culture. It also struck a chord with me as I am an aspiring teacher and Mrs. Johnson’s behavior toward Aimee was appalling. I found myself sympathizing with her and remembering instances where I had been brought to tears in school. I found her introduction effective as her use of the Aswang as a hook worked on me, although I wish she had expanded more on its history and role in Philippian culture. However, I understand the creature itself was likely not the intended focus of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed this story as cryptids and the feeling of being ostracized is universally relatable.
Jessica Rodriguez
The three pieces of creative nonfiction were all very informative and interesting. I found “In Bed” by Joan Didion most enjoyable. While I don’t suffer from migraines, I have had my fair share of bad headaches. I can understand through her explanation just how debilitating it can be. It’s understandable to feel alone when experiencing the pain of a headache. It is silent, it can’t be seen and only felt by the person experiencing it. You’re able to understand her weariness of having to deal with those who don’t understand. It was interesting the way she would explain how she would know when the onset of a headache was about to hit and how she dealt with it throughout. She still manages to bring in her personal action and feelings while being able to explain the mystery surrounding migraines.
ReplyDelete“El Toro Rojo” by Dinty W. Moore, was much shorter than the other two but still gave a feeling of the bull fight because the story is written in 2nd person. There is a lot of descriptive writing in explaining the killing of the bull. “The air flows thick with the language you do not speak; the bull so close you hear his anxious breath.” (p.226) Is an example of how you are drawn into the scene. The explanation of what the different words to describe the weapons used and the group of fighters also adds to the understanding of what is happening.
I got something different from “The Witching Hour.” I know the focus was on the explanation of the aswang and its metamorphosis, but I was much more taken by the story of the teacher. I want to become a teacher myself and made me think about how often teachers are so focused on the task that we forget to allow the creativity. I’m glad that she won and found it in herself to let out her creative juices to draw the aswang the way she intended.
-Diana Zepeda
Joan Didion is able to make you feel pain when reading her creative nonfiction short about her migraines. She mentions how she used to keep it a secret by how often these headaches would control her life, but is now able to inform others about migraines. Out in the open and filled with straight facts, Didion writes her piece to have readers connect with her. There are many people who suffer with migraine, and now they know that they are not alone and that even people who accomplished great thing have it as well. She writes how having migraines is a cursed heredity, so there is no way to escape it. The way she accepts this trait, she is able to live happy even though there will be times that there will be hurt. The way readers should see it is that sometimes there are times where we will ache (physical or mental), but it shouldn’t stop us from living life content. Another thing to take from Didion’s “In Bed” is when she mentions,”…this common conviction that we are perversely refusing to cure ourselves by taking a couple of aspirin…”(Starkey 222). Sometimes we do not understand any kind of pain someone is going through.
ReplyDeleteInstead of going through the steps of a migraine, Dinty W. Moore does the same in “El Toro Rojo”, but instead with a bull fight. Though most of the story is about bullfighting, Moore inserts towards the end of his short narrative, by talking about life. He puts “All lives ends badly” (Starkey 226), but like Didion it seems he has accepted that that’s how life is. Sometimes you’re the bull and get hurt, the “Spaniard in the white suit” (Starkey 226) making mistakes (I do not support bullfight), or like Moore and try to not let the pain affect you.
A thing we can learn from Aimee Nezhukumatathil in “Witching Hour” is that fitting in with society is not even close to eternal happiness; it is all about being yourself. Because Nezhukumatathil loves the time she spends with her mother telling her about the aswang, she takes these stories to school where it is rejected. At first she is beaten, but even though she is told no, she goes along with it and eventually does what makes her feel better. As if to say, there may be people who may not agree with you, but to follow your instinct and that is what makes you different and interesting.
Melaine Villarreal
When reading the introduction to “In Bed” it caught my attention since it was talking about migraine headaches, since my friend is currently dealing with this issue. I’ve always thought migraines were for adults since they deal with more stress than kids. Children now a day’s face a lot of stress and I can understand the health issues they go through because of it. I like how this story describes the pain because it gives me a sense of how it feels like to have a migraine, since I’ve never had one before. I wasn’t aware that it could last up to hours, or that it was hereditary. I don’t think I believe the hereditary part, but Didion did say that they are still researching. I also thought it was interesting that the doctor referred it to “migraine personality” since we bring it upon ourselves (p.222). My friend is dealing with a lot of personal issues and I do believe that it depends on how much stress the person can take and how they choose to handle their problems.
ReplyDeleteEl Toro Rojo is a perfect title for this short story. I liked how it was structured it reminded me of a poem, showing the important pieces that makes the readers use their senses. I was able to imagine the dirt and the sad death. Moore did a great job with this piece because it made me sees the scene he created, and feel emotion. I am against animal cruelty, but I’m not a vegetarian, if that makes sense. It’s sad that animals are being treated as entertainment, when all they want to do is live free how we do.
The first paragraph for “The Witching Hour” confused me because I didn’t understand if the story was about witches or monsters. As I read more into the story it made sense and in my opinion the title should have been Aswang. I enjoy how Nezhukumatathil created the setting of an elementary environment. It put a smile on my face when she described the prized the children would win, because the second prize of being line leader for a whole week would have been like winning the lottery for kids. It made me flash back to when I was in elementary and everyone would fight to be first. When the teacher tore the students drawing of the Aswang, I believed the scene because some teachers are jerks. Even though the student won first place the teacher took away a bit of the child’s imagination. I like that Nezhukumatiathil made me feel sorrow and a bit or anger toward the student and teacher because that is what writing is about.
Bianca Salinas
In Bed by Joan Didion, the reader is able to quickly identify the nature of the narrator’s calamity. Because this narrative is explored through a first person’s point of view, the reader rapidly identifies with the patient. Didion’s strategy was to inform the reader about migraines through science and allowed ample space to create an atmosphere through strong details.The swift change from long sentences to short fragments are placed emphatically as Didion explores her condition through the generous use of metaphors. Moreover, the author threads her story in a collective manner bringing in anecdotes and adding parenthesis to create a personality through her narrative. She is there. She is suffering, and the reader cannot help but sense it.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Dinty W. Moore’s literary work titled “El Toro Rojo” was developed through the eyes of a direct eyewitness, allowing the plot to develop naturally and vividly. I believe when Moore was writing, he was inviting the reader to draw nearer into the ring, to stand amidst the fierceness of a bull rider and feel the tension in between life and death. Furthermore, the bilingual diction portrayed the unicity of this particular sport, amplifying the narrator’s experience. The reader is left challenged from watching tremendous spectacle. The tension, the adventure, the violence, is all portrayed through a careful survey from a second person narrative.
In "The Witching Hour"As the author developed his narrative, I could not help but relive the casualties of a terror folklore. Nevertheless, a close view of this literary work exemplifies so much more. For instance, there is a strong contrast between the disturbing images of the creature “aswang” to the innocence of a third grader. In addition, the reader is able to identify with the young character. There is a closely knitted relationship between the mother and the narrator as the plot develops. The narrative’s atmosphere is stirred as the reader witnesses the unjust treatment of the student. More than a folklore, I think it is a relatable story. We’ve all been at the point of distress, longing for acceptance, enduring indifference, and embracing the piece of truth we know through determination.
Julio Manzano
On a personal level, I really enjoyed the three short stories we were assigned this time around, which include “In Bed” “El Toro Rojo” and “The Witching Hour”. I feel they were interesting, especially as they all seemed to tell their story in completely different viewpoints and their word choice was quite fleshed out and relevant. “In Bed” was a good read, I wholeheartedly enjoyed the author’s word choice for helping the reader understand the pain the main character is experiencing, as it helps shape and solidify what the reader sees in their mind as they are told just HOW bad the headache pain is, not just the fact that she is experiencing it. “El Toro Rojo” almost seems like a training manual for up-and-coming matadors from the viewpoint of a veteran matador. Again, word choice here helps the reader understand how she/he is supposed to feel when facing this situation, this dark dance of death with a bull. Lastly, “The Witching Hour” was a completely fresh experience after reading the previous story and places the reader in a viewpoint not too often used by authors in general: the mind of a young child. This was quite refreshing, as compared to the guilt and slight empathy the reader experienced during “In Bed” as well as the euphoria the reader is helped to experience by “El Toro Rojo”, “The Witching Hour” presents us the environment of a classroom of young children. This was a particularly fun reading for me as I had to read it multiple times because I kept laughing and would forget to analyze the story in question. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this week’s readings much more than the previous ones, which may be a result of understanding them and the process to write them better.
ReplyDeletePedro Conchas
“In Bed” was an informative story about the author’s migraines. Actually, before this narrative, I had no idea of the severity a migraine could cause. I suppose from my extensive education in TV, I had come to associate them with starlets and glamourous women who lounge around in their silk nightgown exclaiming they can’t do the next scene because they have a migraine. As you can tell, I had a precise image of the type of people that gets migraines. I’m glad I read this story because it was eye opening and educational for those of us who are genetically lucky. The title was a little weird, I feel like the author could’ve come up with something more clever or that relates more to migraines.
ReplyDeleteThe next story was “El Toro Rojo”, which I didn’t completely love. I think the style was excellent and the context could be interpreted as deeply philosophical or spiritual. I was really glad the author included the definition of some of the Spanish terms. I’ve been to a couple of bull fighting events but I wasn’t aware of the jargon. It was annoying to myself because I think it’s terminology I should be aware of even if it’s not an interest of mine.
The Final story was “The Witching Hour”, a story about a little girl decides to draw an aswang, a mythological creature from the Philippines that eats fetus for her endangered species project. I like this story a lot because it reminds me of a story that was pretty common to come across in elementary English courses. In the story, a little girl is humiliated by her teacher since the latter insist the little girl take a sweater that doesn’t belong to her. The little girl, humiliated takes it but all along she comments on the grotesque appearance of the sweater. I think “The Witching Hour” is great because it tells different stories. One is of a girl trying to retain a bit of her culture, through the stories she hears her mother tell her. The other is of the same girl defying her mean teacher, to some extent.
Maria Fajardo
Joan Didion s “In Bed” had a way of bringing empathy and education towards people with migraine headaches. There were some poetic elements, her word usage was practical and artful at the same time. The first two sentences completely captured my attention and brought about a picture and insight into the experience of a migraine headache. As well the rhythm and flow gave me the impression that maybe Didion meant for the structure of the first two lines to emulate an oncoming migraine.
ReplyDeleteThe research that must have gone into the piece itself must have been extensive. Didion mentions important historical figures that suffered from migraines. Throughout the piece she gives points to show readers who do not suffer from migraines that the condition is very real, painful and not something imaginary. I think she uses the historical figures to give validity to her message.
She does acknowledge that the condition is a mystery and understands how someone who has not has one might not realize the extent that the pain caused by migraines. Didion incorporates and even more personal experience than just the pain she has experienced. She brings a reflection to the informative read adding to the overall message. The pain brings out emotions with which without the pain might not be as well perceived. This gives her story something with which the reader can relate to, a reader who has not experienced migraine headaches.
“El Toro Rojo” brought forth a multitude of images to my mind. The descriptions really put my imagination in the setting of the bull fight. At the same time described the gruesome gory sport and made me sympathize with the dying bull. I think the theme is Man vs. Nature. It plays itself out so well throughout the read. It starts with a matador being hurt by the bull and then the bull being killed by another matador. All this happens in front of a cheering crowd, they stand behind the matador because in a way they are the matador.
-Abran Garcia
In bed is a great reflexion reading, especially for those of us who do not suffer from this terrible illness. It is educational, given the reading is supported with health, technical knowledge. But in addition, the thoughts, the feelings, and patience contribute to the story. One does particularly think what goes on in someone’s head when they are having a bad day because of migraine. I believe is our nature not to think about these things as a person. We are usually focused on our own responsibilities or chores, until it happens to us. Which is normal, in a good way, one just does not know what is happening in anyone else’s head who happen to be on the burst of an ache. I am very fortunate not to have this illness, but this reading broaden my knowledge on the subject, and did not assimilate how many individuals go through bad episodes.
ReplyDeleteEl Toro Rojo seemed to me like a drunk memory of a sunday at the Plaza de Toros. I went to several with my father, as a child, and then by myself when I was a teen. And it is quite an experience, and it is a party at the same time. It reflects about death at the end of the reading saying: “all lives end badly”. The reading starts easy, describing and narrating well, and little after the bull dies, it throws that at you.
The witching hour, or what I would like to think about is: painting time? It is an elaborate piece, that requires further visiting from my behalf, because I found it very interesting. It is a very interesting piece. It has character, dialogue, and attitude. It made me think, like: “do whatever you want in your life, be happy, as long as you respect and follow the rules from time to time….” kind of thing. I like that is very detailed in the environment. I believe there is a moral of the story, however I do not have the specific. It is clear he is a good drawer, and very smart as well, and his classmates have an admiration also.
-Francisco J. Aboytes