Transitioning between Cooper's Maps To Anywhere and the essay packets has been a great experience because they are very similar in creative tone and literary composition. The most important part of reading essay writing is to gain knowledge but in these cases you also see a lot of fun poetry schemes to make the work creative. Though there is still a huge essay connotation present by there being one subject that is clearly being discussed through the reading. The shorter essays in essay packet one was refreshing but not as in depth as the longer ones that end essay packet one. My favorite essay in essay packet one was Total Eclipse.

In the section of Epilogue there was a lot of poetry elements especially with the list that were present like the "Thing to do today" list. It is written in lines instead of paragraph form and within each line there is an emphasis on the emotions felt. For, example the writer lists "dredge the lightest bunches (ASAP). Showing the emotion of readiness and urgency in what has to be done today. Then when the writer begins to write in paragraph form, the texts is still written in very similar forms, like the way poetry would transform into fiction. In Total Eclipse there is the same kind of transformation being made.

From Total Eclipse you can see the same transformation but in a more abstract occurrence. I n the very first paragraph there is a short, detailed, and descriptive paragraph of what someone would imagine an actual eclipse to look like. Then, the story takes off on its on journey of memories that would remind you of an eclipse but not actually seeing an eclipse until the writer finishes going through the imagination. This is very interesting seeing that essays can be creative, catch attention, and beautiful.  

Maps To Anywhere Part Two

This book contains many creative essays. Some are one to two page long observations that give pretext to the story that is told so vividly afterwards. Some stories are more personal to Cooper as you continue reading and those stories are what make this book as great as it is. The essays about his relationship with his father are very good and detailed but the longest entry is entitled "The House of the Future". It is thirty pages long and it is very beautiful. There is another essay that stands out in this book, which is about the death of his older brother. I could not put the book down during the essay about the death of his older brother. 

The language and images are extremely vivid, and the stories are enveloping. I love the quote at the beginning of "The House of the Future" that says " each of my buildings is a further step in my search for clarity."The underlined word in this section title says A Reminiscence which gives the idea that this one of the personal stories from Bernard Cooper. This leads me to believe that the buildings are metaphorical for the creative essays that he's writing to gain clarity within his life which is very interesting. This story in particular lead me to appreciate the imagery, details, and creative intensity of Bernard Cooper's work.

The description of the House of the Future was unique. I like the sentence that states " The  cruciform floor plan of the House of the Future-three bedrooms, two baths-had this caption beneath: "The winged design of your new home assures full daylight for every room."I particularly enjoyed the sections where Bernard Cooper  braided his thoughts about art and architecture, through his impressions of childhood. This is a great collection for demonstrating how the power of an essay is not dictated by length but by the creativity and fullness of literary composition. I really liked how in the House of the Future he talked about many different houses like the Dog house and Fire house. 

Maps To Anywhere

The essays in Maps To Anywhere plot terrain that is familiar and strange in prospective. He begins by writing on subjects ranging from his family to the origin of the barbershop pole. Bernard Cooper also goes into the glimmering surface of the southern California landscape. While doing so, he observes the collision of the American Dream with the realities of everyday life. From the fragments, he discovers landmarks by which he attempts to make sense of contemporary America.

The book was exciting to read for the precision of language. I particularly enjoyed the sections where the author tied together his thoughts about art and architecture through his impressions of childhood. His book was also enjoyed because it's a great collection for demonstrating how the power of an essay is not dictated by length. Really the power of an essay can be fulfilled through many literary techniques. Techniques such as language, style, and description. I particularly like the part of the story that says "Once, Life magazine featured " The Great Cathedrals of Europe," and what I saw, or tasted rather, after turning the pages and licking my index finger, was the bitterness of ink, a flavor that matched the photographs of expressionless death masks, prostrate statues, apothecary jars in which slept silvers of the saints."

That particular line struck me as I read because usually people experience things like that but wouldn't speak of it in an essay. This is one of the many differentiations that Copper points out within creative essay writing. Creative essay writing seems a lot more interesting than the essay writings that I have been introduced to before. I now look forward to writing my own essays and hopefully it is as creative as Cooper's. 

Essay Introduction #1

In this weeks readings I was able to further understand the creativity that is involved in writing essays and any literary work of art. It was in this weeks reading of Essay Introduction that I once again saw a small nothing make me realize a lot of something. Writing is so complex but in the form of simple text so that all complexity is lost within the easy understanding given by these complex thoughts, ideas, and styles of writing. There were even more amazing insights given by the editor's edition of the Preface but still they explained the same concept that is needed to write great essays. Essays are different from other writing styles because there is no room to linger and everything should align literarily. Though there is still room for all the creativity that writers want to explore and readers want to enjoy.

In the Preface of the story I was shocked to be reading a story. Mainly, because this reading was explaining the art of writing essays so I was expecting to get the directions and then maybe see an example of what I was asked to portray. Instead it starts with an example that also explains while the story is going along which is very intriguing because as your getting the directions you see hand and hand how it works together. How even though this was story explaining how a young lady wanted to see a painting that she was obsessed with, you also see how when she gets to seeing the painting it's small with a huge value to everyone. That is the same way an essay should be, as she explains by letting you know that in that small portrait, still lied the amazing feelings towards the work of art. To me that means that even though an essay is not as detailed and long as a book it should give you the same tingling of a book that could go further in depth.

Then the editor follows by explaining that there is a get in and get out feel for essays because you want to fulfill all requirements with less writing which is a lot of work. It isn't easy to understand that you have to maximize and minimize your work all at the same time. You are to maximize your creativity, skill, and imagery while minimizing the length of writing that your composing. Even with the challenge presented in this style of writing I'm certainly ready to succeed its  expectations. Writing has become so fun in this course because of how creative the style of writing can be when applied correctly.

Fiction's Week Three Post

My new post is more about the readings that I found most interesting in our fiction readings. The first reading that I enjoyed was When It Rains It Rains A River by Peter Markus from the book The Singing Fish. The second reading that I saw as enjoyable as well as educating is Polaroids by Lamont. Both stories gave me new insight on how writing a fiction story should be done correctly and creatively. Lamont however, was more of an instruction manual for how to go through each step of writing when it comes to fiction while the exert from The Singing Fish shows the development and picture that Lamont was speaking of in a working piece of literature. I'll begin with explaining Polaroids by Lamont.

In Polaroids the text follows the process that should be taken by writers to produce an good and solid depiction of fiction writing. In the process he explains how the process is resemblance of a polaroid picture by the way it is developed by saying "Writing a first draft is very much like watching a Polaroid develop, You can't-- and, in fact, you're not supposed to-- know exactly what the picture is going to look like until it has finished developing." In this manual by Lamont he breaks down the writing picture into every part that should be incorporated in the finish picture by starting with character. He speaks about although you will like and dislike some of your characters, they will most likely be some variation of yourself. Then he goes into the plot of the story by saying that " Your plot will fall into place as, one day at a time, you listen to your characters carefully, and watch them move around doing and saying things and bumping into each other."At the end he introduces the idea of dialogue between characters to finish the development of fiction writing. In this part he explains how the characters will lead a writer to what they would say and the the writer must get the voice right on their own.

In When It Rains It Rains A River  the process is shown very creatively as the story progresses. First you believe that the story is about two brothers that are human but as story goes along the idea of what kind of brothers they are lingers. You think they're not human because in the story one part goes " And then I raised back that hammer. I drove that rusty nail right through Brother's hand." I know that I have never seen brothers play as rough as that especially when later it says that the brother wasn't shouting in pain. The fact the writer didn't just come out and say that they weren't human is what helped to draw the readers attention as while let the reader watch the development of the story. These are the things that I will take into much consideration as I continue to write fiction stories.

Writing Fiction Packet #2

The second fiction packet included more detailed works of fiction: more literary skilled, focused, and lengthier stories. Though there were many differences between the first and second fiction packet, there were also similarities. Such as the introduction to characters in both were very detailed with imagery and other sensual words so that readers join the story instead of being told a story which is a major difference. My favorite work in this packet was Thalia Field's Point and Line. Even the title sounded intriguing but what I adored was its complexity in meaning. Differences are what make everything and everyone an individual so lets explore the differences in writings from one to two.

In fiction packet one the stories were short and the meaning was obvious like "Survivor" spoke of not wanting to survive after his lovers death. The meaning has to be obvious though because the shortness makes it unable to linger through the story without leaving the story as substance without meaning. In fiction packet number two the stories were harder to figure out and lingered into a lot of different ideas to prove its main point. Just as I will explain about my favorite story Point and Line.

In Point and Line the author uses many different characters to describe a psychological issue within the narrators mind. The beginning lines start with "A cat wanders around your legs," giving the cat characteristics such as "a cat collects itself to jump". A cat really wouldn't be described as collecting itself seeming how that is a human like characteristic. This is one of the many times that the narrator personifies animals and things around her scenery. Later in the story she speaks about a billboard in the same way saying " A billboard rises across the dusty sunset, saying something about buying or driving a new cat." I believe that narrator is giving their own life story through the eyes of different objects and even a person at one point in the story and that is awesome because with a title like point and line you'd think it be an easy read but she makes you think that even the simplest of things can be complex!

Writing Fiction Packet 1

My initial response to fiction writing was this is a really great way to convey messages that could be actual events in life. That was my response because of the first poem Survivor that really caught my eye. The poem talks about a real life situation that could occur in a homosexual relationship because of societies approach toward the gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual community. Writing can sometimes shine the light needed to effect change and bring about movements just like the Harlem Renaissance age of writing. This was greatly seen through the poem.

Survivor as well as the poem Famous Hats conveyed deeper meanings towards things that already exist in everyones rim of knowledge. Survivor talks about how gay lover wants to die before his lover so that he doesn't have to deal with the stress from the family that never approved of their family member decision. Then, it is even more noticeable that he is in someway speaking to society to right this wrong because no should be thinking of these type of questions when thinking of the death of a loved one. Famous hats take the step further into history and explains Napoleon hats.

He says that he wore many hats in a figurative way. Meaning that his mind was so creative that it could be broken down into many different aspects. This is exciting because he always wore a hat but no one really thought of it in such a way. The finishing lines were even greater than the first because it says that he always remained the same even through the different hats as the boy he was born. That is interesting because often times people lose sight of who they are along the way to success.