Start of story

The hazy sky envelopes the city with no discernable edge, thick with misty droplets.  The sun hides behind this monochromatic mix of city and sky; its only proof a cast of absent light over stone streets littered with cardboard boxes of fruits and fish, frogs and turtles.  The air carries the smell of stale sea water and rot across peddler's wide chapped cheeks as they hover over blankets and tarps, tin and turquoise lining each.

I close my eyes and yellow light falls in a circle over an old cream floor.  A desk sits in the middle, wooden and heavy.  The only other object is a large metal filing cabinet placed directly behind the desk and everything outside of yellow light fades to black.  I know I am here by the clacking of my shoes against the floor.  I open a drawer of the filing cabinet and retrieve a single manila file.  It is wet as I open it and it drips down my arms, pooling at my feet until I can see my reflection in its puddle.  I look up to haze enveloping a city with no discernable edge, the sun hiding behind a monochromatic mix of building and sky, it’s only proof a cast of dull light shed over stone streets.  Cardboard boxes of fruits and fish, frogs and turtles litter the roads and the air carries the smell of stale seawater and rot into my scarf.  Peddler’s wide cheeks grow chapped as the hover over blankets and tarps, tin and turquoise lining each.

Response to Fiction Packet One

I like most of the stories in the fiction packet.  Morning News was interesting to me and made me think of what I would do if told I was going to die soon.  I wonder where he drew the inspiration for this story, if he knew someone who was ill.  

Survivors was a grim story.  A homosexual couple each dying of AIDS and one man realizes he wants to die first so he doesn't have to deal with the aftermath of his partner's death and spend his last days on earth burdened.  I think both of these works are shockingly honest.  When faced with death, how would any of us react?  Probably not much differently, even if we like to think so.

Wallet made me laugh.  The old man's scheme to catch a thief reminded me of one of those old silent black and white films.  

So far, I am really enjoying the fiction segment of this course.  All of these short stories were enjoyable to read and I'm impressed that the authors can create such vivid, complete stories in just a couple paragraphs.  

Response to Bird by Bird

I found the first portion of Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird a really enjoyable read.  I think the subject matter is helpful for anyone trying to improve their writing and I really like her style.  She is humorous and stays informative.  I also like that she (as I assume all writers do) uses what she knows from personal experiences to illustrate her points.  I like her writing, and because of that I expect she knows what she is talking about and I am inclined to follow her book's advice.

Although I was already familiar with some of the techniques Lamott suggests, I have never before been instructed to write at the same time every day in an effort to train the brain towards creativity or production of more meaningful (as in writeable) thoughts.  Although writing is neither my focus throughout school nor my career path, I do enjoy it and this is a tactic I will try.

Response to City Eclogue

Ed Roberson's City Eclogue was a difficult read for me.  Often I need to read poems several times to find meaning, though reading Roberson's works through and through I still see sporadic piles of words across the pages.  There were sections of poems (though no poem in it's entirety) that I enjoyed, but did not necessarily understand.

Within the section Beauty's Standing, there is an italicized portion on page 12 (page 71) titled Beauty's Standing (II):

It has       of those decorator's centuries
that hollowness,       that emptiness that who


all this was for don' sit here,       is not
here       and this is, whatever it is


A people's time as a chair;       their hunger---
a bowl, an ornate dinnerware;       the fill---


one piece of unknown use short,       its failure,
by the thousands


                        of the bellies now a currency,
a pattern, a simple handiwork betrayed


Roberson is writing about a room, possibly a dining room, from a different period of time.  It is extravagantly decorated and to me, he sees it as either a time passed or a waste.  He calls it empty, they hunger for something which can be filled with material.

In addition to Beauty's Standing (II) and the section Beauty's Standing, Roberson writes another poem of the same name on the page (37) prior to the section.  Again the literal focus is a room, full of decoration yet somehow empty.  I'd like to know the background on these poems and how they are all related.  I think the language of them is beautiful and I really enjoyed those excerpts over the rest of the material.

Response to Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

Write a blog post that discusses any of the poems from the poetry packet. Be specific, use examples, explain your points and be thoughtful in your response. (3-5 thoughtful and comprehensive paragraphs.)

     Wallace Stevens' Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird stood out to me because of the likeness to traditional Japanese poetry, of which I am a fan.  A collection of 13 short poems, each verse is comprised of strong natural imagery, seemingly abstract thoughts and the mention of a blackbird.  It is my interpretation the Stevens is not literally writing about blackbirds, but using them metaphorically in various meanings.
     Verse I, "Among twenty snowy mountains,/ The only moving thing/ Was the eye of the blackbird." is my favorite of all thirteen, even if I don't fully grasp his meaning.  Stevens' starts off with a vast, bleak, and what I assume to be barron landscape of huge, white mountains and he focuses in on a tiny, living eye.  An eye, not even the entire blackbird but it's eye.  A small part of a small being among a giant scene.
     In verse II, Stevens' writes "I was of three minds,/ Like a tree/ In which there are three blackbirds.".  Here, I think he is using the blackbirds to mirror man's trio of mind, body, and soul.  He could also possibly mean the id, ego, and superego.  In any case, he is describing three birds to one tree, three parts to one mind.
     In verse IV he states "A man and a woman/ Are one./ A man and a woman and a blackbird/ Are one.".  First he refers to the two human forms, male and female, and unifies them as one.  He adds a blackbird but still, they are one.  How can a blackbird unify with man?  They are both alive.  Perhaps Stevens' is saying that all life has value, that all life is unified.
     Stevens' starts his poem off in winter.  In verse III, he references autumn.  In verse X he mentions green light, possibly spring air or a summer storm.  In verse XII he says "The river is moving." which makes me believe the weather is warm.  By verse XIII he writes that it is snowing.  This poem goes in a full circle of seasons, possibly representing the life cycle or something else cyclical.
     I think this poem was written about a lot of things, taking life for granted or overlooking the beauty in simplicity, to name a couple.  However, since Stevens' is notoriously ambiguous and writes with the intent of provoking the reader, the entire meaning is not yet clear to me.
   

A brief(ish) introduction

I'm Diana and this is my first semester at Eastern.  I grew up on the South side of Chicago and moved to Japan after graduating high school in 2004.  I spent the bulk of the years since traveling Asia, as well as the US, for my job.  During some of that time I completed my first few years of microbiology prerequisites through correspondance while trying to figure out which direction of science or medecine to pursue as a career.  In July of last year, my boyfriend and I made a big move from Shanghai to Ann Arbor when he was accepted to one of UMich's graduate programs.  I had been wanting to return to school for some time so I seized the opportunity when it presented itself and wound up here.  Although I started school with aspirations of becoming a clinical microbiologist, I have ultimately decided that career wise I want to be involved with a more hands-on practice.  Viruses and bacteria will forever remain my nerdy obsessions, but I have chosen to pursue occupational therapy.  I give myself no other option that to get into UIC's OT graduate program next year so I dedicate nearly every waking second to schoolwork and my volunteer hours.

In the spare time that I have increasingly less of, I travel- small trips, big trips, anywhere and everywhere!  I am absolutely fascinated by languages, cultures, cuisines, and experiencing life outside of the one I was born into.  I also enjoy writing (though I hope most of it never sees the light of day), reading (mostly fiction), learning new words, baking things to stress eat later, yoga, and spending time with my boyfriend Marc and our cats B and Cricket.   :)

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