Small Wonders

I understand the author's intent.  It is a personal essay.  I would love to grow up and be a professional essay writer!  It would be a lot of work to try and connect with everyone, but the personal experience part would come easy.  I love writing about myself and my life and connecting it to what I know.  I see how Kingsolver went from the bear, to where she was geographically, the events happening their and then the events effecting the whole world.  I'd have a hard time relating my personal world to the real world or it's events; past or present.  I am history and governmentally deficient; i seriously suck.  I can't keep up with politics, and I have no personal preference.  I am very patriotic girl, but I have not idea what our country is going through; it's pretty sad.   I believe when I grow up, I will feel more obligated to learn.  I loved her connections with mothers.  It is universal, you are a mother, will be a mother, have or had a mother.  Even father's know motherly instint, it's Paternal.  They connect to their kids too.  I did enjoy learning all the weaving that went through this essay.  It is cool to see it all connect in the end.

How Reading Changed My Life

This is just a short story but it is packed with author Anna Quindlen’s feelings of love for and joys of reading books. Her love of books began as a young child and many chronic readers will say “Yes, yes, I did that too” or “That’s my favorite book as well.”  I enjoyed reading until the 5th grade; then it got less recreational and more educational.  I hated being forced to read; i'd rather sit on my bedroom floor and read Goosebumps.  Quindlen explains that the history of how the written word has changed governments and religion.  How it is a unifying factor which puts many diverse people on the same playing field.  I like this aspect.  She affirms that reading is not a dying art and books are not dead, they are strong and alive and the many book clubs that have formed throughout the world attest to that fact. Ms. Quindlen chose her career in writing partially due to the fact that “words on a page could make my father laugh and my mother cry.” She wanted to be a part of that world which she so deeply loved and others were so affected.  I know i've cried when reading books before, but I don't recall which ones.  Books make me laugh and think on a whole different level.  That's what makes books and literature so amazing.  If you can understand it, you can become emotionally affected. 
The coolest thing she said was “We read in bed because reading is halfway between life and dreaming.”
Though I don't find myself reading for pleasure as much as I'd like to, I am a crazy dreamer!  I have the weirdest dreams, I could seriously write a book about them.  I know during the day, if I could get my hands on a good book, it'd be like dreaming; which I love so much!

Small Wonder

I really enjoyed this story.  The way it is written, is like the author is talking to me, in a conversation.  The word choice isn't difficult and she referes  to herself sometimes, making it intimate.  Barbara is very wise.  I can connect with her and her beliefs, it's so refreshing.  She says " God is in the details "  I agree that the little miracles of life are not just luck, something is watching out for us and provided us with an opportunity.  I think it's cool she finds stories and keeps the ones that she finds some truth in.   She sees the "big picture"  Kingsolver says "  A mirror held up to every moral superiority will show its precise mirror image:"  She knows that even the most ruthless people are loved by their mother, as she loves her son.  She goes on " We are all beasts in this kingdom, we have killed and been killed, and some new time has come to us in which we are called out to find another way to divide the world.  Good and evil cannot be all there is."  I wonder what is in the middle of the two.  There is so much goodness in this essay!  I hope I get more out of it in class tonight.

The Hours ( extra credit )

The lives we live are not always lived for ourselves.  We find life is lived by us, but not to please us, as it should.  In the hours women struggle to live life for themselves.  You have Clarissa who lives life for Richard, and for parties.  You have Laura Brown who lives for society, only having a family because she has to, and it's what war veterans deserve.  Lastly you have Virginia Wolf who is forced to live a somewhat normal charming life of being a women writer, when she really wants to jump off a bridge.  This movie made me realize that life is short.  My life is about 1/5 over already, and I've spent it pleasing everyone around me. Trying to be a "good girl" for mommy and daddy, trying to be the best friend you could ask for, trying to the best student for the professors, and trying to be a gracious girlfriend to my Johnny boy.  Though these things have there rewards, are they truly what I want?  Do they please me?  I have decided that yes, I have grown into desiring these things which ultimately make me happy.  If others are happy, I am happy.  But it might be time to work on my own happiness.  Then others will be happy for me.  I really enjoyed the hours, I would totally watch it again.  I am thankful I got to see this, because it has brought a lot of light into my life.

Dalloway Reply

I saw during class discussion, how Mrs. Dalloway was not really intune with herself.  Through the mirror which she looked, she saw how hard she had to work to be herself.  Which made me think that isn't herself wat all. So who was she suppose to be?  She couldn't be with Peter because they were too much in-sync with eachother.  She couldn't be with Sally because, thats just not right, but yet she didn't feel exactly right in the hostess life, though she enjoyed it.  I guess I have yet to figure out who she would is suppose to be.  That is the point i suppose.  You are who you are because of the things in life that you chose.  They always happen for a reason, and they mold you into who you are.  There will always be the what- if - factor in life. This doesn't mean you are not happy with your life, it just means you are curious about where else you'd be in life.  I think Mrs. Dalloway is best off in her current situation, even if it isn't a life full of love like she desires.  She is living a good life, and maybe love can be re-kindled.

Initial Dalloway

I enjoyed Mrs. Dalloway.  I thought it had a lot of twists and turns with Mrs. Dalloway.  She was conflicted with her life, like was this what it was all suppose to be about.  She loved being a hostess, yet she loved being with Peter.  She also loved Sally, which I found totally gross, and strange for this era.    Because that is frowned apon.   I liked how this is over one whole day.  I would love to write something like this, about my day, my everythought and thoughts of people near to me.  Mine would probably be a much larger piece of literature.    I really liked the insane world of  Septimus, I wish he would have gotten better, instead of killing himself.  This story by far has the most characters!  It was a very time consuming story, but it was worth it.  I loved how it went time by time.  Time was obviously important to the author not only because she told us times but big ben was a big symbol for Mrs. Dalloway.

A Room Of One's Own

themes I see- Money ( if that can be a theme),girl power, society
I think the title has to do with women in this society, where men are superior.  A women needs her own room to do whatever she enjoys.  Which wasn't very common, though men had studies where they could just sit and smoke a pipe if they pleased.  Not only should a women get a room, she should get her own independent life-style if she desires!  Our country built of equality has never really gotten the equal part down.  The white men seems to rule over everyone; once slaves, women, children and now gays, the poor, when will it end?   
        I love how she explains that the books written about women were  "been written in the red light of emotion and not in the white light of truth"  This is typical man, getting all fired up about a topic before they know facts. I found it ironic she talks a lot of women's freedoms, yet since she has the inheritance, she doesn't work.  Maybe working back then for women wasn't something of freedom.  The end of Chapter 2 was great because she envisioned all the things men, women doing too! 
        The picture she paints in Chapter 3 of the women who are the important in a story, are really not important all.  She says they  "Some of the most inspired words, some of the most profound thoughts in literature fall from her lips; in real life she could hardly read, could scarcely spell, and was the property of her husband "  This is sad and true idea she has found.   She also finds it impossible for any women to have written in the time of Shakespeare due to the lack of education.  The character she creates, Judith Shakespeare, I found it a bit odd to go into such great detail to prove her point.  I love the point she makes at the end of ch. 3,   that a genius mind must has no obstructions.  All artists much overcome a lot of opinion from the outside world, but women suffer the most from it.   To be a success you must block out what  is going on outside, and take your mind to it's own place to create works of art.