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From the rest of Moore’s chapters, the memoir chapter seems more informative and rather deep. I was surprised with students preventing themselves to use I in their essays. Is that a current problem going on now? I understand that you’re not supposed to put I within research papers, but come on, you can’t branch it off to a personal essay or your own opinions about something. There’s a certain push from this chapter, making me want to examine my lifestyle years ago and finally put it on paper. The prompts 4 and 6 clicked my brain to pursue and revolve around these questions and bring in a little motivation for my memoir essay.
ReplyDeleteIf it wasn’t just Moore’s slightly stern chapter, Karr set the tone for the rest of her book, “The Art of Memoir.” This is just a preface, but I get to know who I’m about to deal with though reading. Memoirs are about you. You write down an authentic lifestyle, experiences, and conflicts that no one, but you have faced and overcome (or not). There’s little to pull out from the preface, but that this Wolcott guy was mention here, just as Moore mentioned him, too. Pretty much an ass, in my opinion.
And now for Ferguson’s “A Haunting of the Mexican Border,” an interesting memoir about the U.S.-Mexican border and the contrast between the past and present lifestyle. Years that I’ve been living on this planet and the states, I found about the large fence trailing from Texas all the way to California when I was 16 or 17. I thought it was there since I was born. And I never knew that it was an easy tract going above and below the border without a huge obstacle and border patrol agents. Ferguson’s writing style intrigues me. The way of speaking out your thoughts into small sentences is neat. And oh gosh, this might be one of those books that I might just tear up. That last 2 paragraphs from “To Begin” was touchy, the future and the inevitable reality that your parents won’t be with you forever. And of course, portions that made me giggle, such as her enjoying a song and messing up the furniture when her parents are not around and not telling them.
Hector Dimas
In “Writing the Memoir Essay”
ReplyDeleteUsing the word I is finally accepted. Using the “I” is meant to be the subject and I'm excited to start my memoir. I love using the word “I”, many writing professors hate us using the word too much so I found it cool how we can use it for our memoir. I've been excited to start this essay, but also kind of scared. One thing that stuck to me from the chapter where Moore mentions, The “I stands tall and proud” The tips that Moore gave us in the chapter also gave me a better understanding of what exactly does a memoir look like and should sound like. I like how Moore says “don't just tell us what happened show us”. I also think the prompts in the chapter can help me out alot when starting the essay. This chapter has been one of the most helpful thus far. It really goes into detail what a memoir should be.
In a Haunting of the Mexican Border, I found her memoir interesting. I really liked her writing structure and her style. The way she describes and give details was so good. I found the memoir short and wanted to read more. I enjoyed when she is describing her fears, the style she uses is fun and makes me interested in her memoir. Also the beginning of the memoir “ I am not a migratory bird.” I really liked that as well. It comes to show that memoirs can all be different too.
Lizette Garcia
Moore’s chapters, the chapter is devoted to memoirs. In it, Moore analyzed the use of “I” in memoirs, something that for years I was told to stay away from by other professors and heavily in high school. In doing so, better understanding the sound and look of your memoir. Its attention to detail made me both excited, as worried about writing a memoir. IT helped to give me an idea of what was expecting, but like when writing the travel essay, non-fiction is difficult for me. Reading through examples, as well as “Haunting of the Mexican Border,” I found it interesting and examples of what I should be looking for in my work.
ReplyDeleteFerguson spoke of the US.-Mexican border, giving the contrast between the past and present lifestyle. IT gave a powerful analyses of how it really it for Mexican Americans and the risk of losing their family. Utilizing short, to the point sentence structures, it somehow gave more power to the words he wrote. Building the emotion, whether it be through brutal reality or his sense of humor, it is an essential part of teaching what memoirs should look like.
Moore’s “The Art of Memoir,” brought up authentic lifestyle, experiences, and conflicts as fuel for which a memoir to be built. He did come across as a bit pretentious, he set a tone for the rest of the book that can be best described as “opinionated,” though he knew what he was talking about and gave a different view of the subject than Moore. I look forward to seeing what else he has to say
- patrick Diehl -
In Ferguson’s book she is very descriptive and realistic about how she describes the things she sees. The “To Begin…” part seemed a bit mixed first its curiosity, then fear, sadness, and last hopeful. Everything related but she has several emotions towards things. Some of the places she describes I have a clear image in my head because I’ve been to some of them, it helps to understand some of the things that she states. In chapters one and two we can see a human side to her. She deals with things that a lot of us do too. “There are some jobs I can’t make myself do”. I feel the same way. She wants a job that she can’t have because she’s “overqualified”. I think at least we all have heard that once in our life. She lies on the floor to focus on things she can do as a job and that’s something we all do. She goes through the five stages on denial after not getting the job she wanted but finds her job at the end with the production crew.
ReplyDeleteStephanie Cisneros
In Moore’s there were many points mentioned that I agreed with. There were also things that he said which I didn’t know about since I was never taught about it in high school. The first one being how important it is to use the word “I” in a memoir. Also, I was never taught what a memoir was, but when Moore briefly explained what it was I got a better understanding about it. His tips seemed helpful and seemed like something that could hopefully help me when I write a memoir. In Ferguson’s book, just by reading the beginning I found myself drawn to it. I’m not one for massive details but I do think she did an amazing job at keeping the details at ease. The details provided like when she’s describing the shop where they sell art posters, I enjoyed the detailed she gave about it, I was able to picture it. However, I did feel like some parts dragged but I don’t know if it was because I was really tired when I read it or because it just did really drag a bit. In Karr’s book, I had to reread the pages because I would get distracted losing all concentration in the book. I did like that she gives history to a memoir and that it still gets criticized to this day. There are some parts where I would find myself letting out a chuckle like when she says “And I resisted t the urge to slink off to hide under the bed like a dog with a bad haircut”. I don’t know why I found that amusing in a way.
ReplyDeleteMonika Gonzalez
Moore’s , “Writing the Memoir essay” is a very interested chapter specially since we are about to start reading about memoirs. A memoir is obviously has to do with memory, and as Moore stated, that the I is not just a source of insight,but as the subject itself. That there is no shame in using yourself as a subject. I am mean if it’s a memoir obviously it is going to be about you. I feel that Moore is preparing and giving us great tips to write our memoir. He tells us to remember the crucial details and to show us instead of telling us. Also, it is good to do research about the topic you are writing.The more information you write about the better, it will only enrich your piece of writing even more.
ReplyDeleteThe Hunting of the Mexican Border by Ferguson, “To begin” piece was interested to read. I can relate to what she wrote. As a filmmaker she researched hiked trails and filmed in Mexico. I did the same when I travelled to San Luis Potosi, Mexico to film a movie. I was there about a month before shooting began. I had such a great experience with the people. The city of Matehuala was very interesting place to visit because of the ruins and its natural habitat.
-luis rodriguez
I found myself relating to the student in Moore’s chapter “Writing the Memoir Essay”. I used to be afraid of using “I” because I always felt that my writing should be told from a third person perspective. I see how awkward that is when you are writing a narrative, or a memoir. It’s almost impossible to be impersonal. This chapter by Moore was by far my favorite. It is very informative and descriptive, and I always find his advice incredibly helpful. The prompts are worth trying out, even as writing exercises. You never know where it could lead you or what new ideas may come from it. I agree that writing a memoir is not necessarily “navel-gazing”; It’s discovering new things about yourself by really reaching deep into your memories and expressing them on paper. I have always found creative non-fiction interesting, and I am very excited to start writing my own memoir.
ReplyDeleteMary Karr’s preface was unique, and I liked how she referred to it as her “chew toy”. Unfortunately, it was not as interesting as I hoped it would be. I felt like the entire preface was just tedious and wordy. I think that an excessive amount of detail is good, but it is sometimes difficult to understand the voice of the author if we are not used to it. She goes on about various things all at once and I found it hard to keep focus on the actual topic which was being discussed. She jumped from idea to idea way too quickly, I found myself going back to reread. It just wasn’t my favorite thing to read.
I am very excited to continue reading Ferguson’s The Haunting of the Mexican Border. Her way with words had me hooked to the chapters. She is so descriptive and knows how to pinpoint details and emotions by using all five senses. She contrasts the people coming and going to Mexico in a way that really highlights the injustices of Mexican oppression. The contrast with how things were back in the day to how they were now really saddened me. She consistently brings focus to both sides of the border, for it is what she is composed of. Being a Mexican-American, I am able to understand and relate to a lot of the content being discussed, so I especially enjoyed having this book evoke emotion in me already. I admire her writing style and am looking forward to reading more of her book. I thought this book would be more complicated, but by the looks of it, I think it will be a better read than Kerr’s (so far).
-Damaris Cantu-
A memoir is always most true told firsthand, and in "Writing the Memoir Essay" by Moore I think I can confirm it to be true. When one uses a first person perspective in a memoir it reinforces that this is a true story. A memoir is personal and vulnerable, with a first person point of view the reader is reassured that the history surely went down. Moore has yet to disappoint with his ease in translating his experience into useful information. To write a memoir is more that just writing to tell about a memory it's about the true story that is found underneath just the memory. It requires for the author to be honest and dig even deeper that what the experience was, to what the experience now means and how it translates into one of the moments that should be noted. I think it will be fun to tap into some of my hidden memories, sounds scary now for someone who doesn't like to remember the past in moments but rather in experiences. This is where you have to do your research, the work truly begins when you evoke past emotions.
ReplyDeleteMary Karr thus far is quite interesting, I feel as though she has a lot to say but overstates some things. It is how she comes across I suppose, very uncollected or possibly just extremely passionate. I give her the benefit of the doubt because in one way or another she is bound to catch most of our attention.
I am not quite sure if it is Ferguson's way with words or just the way it is extremely relatable that makes me want more of her work. She brings all to life with her effortless details, it creates real emotion and visuals. Not only from a biased perspective am I loving her work.
-Elizabeth Diaz
In Moore's essay, he puts the memoir into perspective by trying to eliminate the fear behind putting yourself out there "...as James Baldwin reminds us, we are always writing from our own experiences..." The chapter goes on to describe how some non-fiction readers can focus on this self doubt leading to "poison on the page". This self awareness, was good information and the quick tips make the start of writing (which is the hardest for me) feel less like Godzilla, and more like a gecko. I really enjoyed Karr's style of writing. I was surprised at how many parenthesis she used, but with someone as educated and experienced as she has, I guess it works. I appreciated her honesty in the facts about the memoir. I fell as if authors like Moore, and Karr, expressing these taboo self doubts or the realities in writing a memoir (seriously) it's easier for me to hear someone explain the process in a less textbook-like structure. Karr says "no matter how self-aware you are, memoir wrenches at your insides..." That a very sobering reality of the barriers that we may build for ourselves that should be expected and over come. I connected this with the "chasing mental rabbits" and "red light, green light" in Previous chapters we covered. I really enjoyed the vivid detail in Ferguson's first two chapters. I read it in Arizona, but saw so many similarities of the Rio Grande Valley and I feel that connection helped engage my interest.
ReplyDelete-Amanda Gonzales
In “The Art of Memoir” by Mary Karr was so interesting, I was lucky enough to get my hands on the audiobook recently so I have been given the opportunity to both hear her speak about the subject of recall, while being able to go back and read it from the book itself which I have on a tablet. Her story of the students and the loss or distortion of information when recalling information from a story they were told is something I was enthralled with basically because I have experienced the same thing. I have a friend that has been going through a lot and my mother knows about it through information I have told her, though I do get details wrong at times and have to go back and correct them next time my mother asks how she is doing. That friend of mine could write twenty memoirs about some of the stuff she has gone through, which has me thinking about what I have to talk about. I have been trying to go through ideas and though I have dealt with things in my life, how they could translated well to paper will be a great challenge.
ReplyDeleteIt was going over to Kathleen Ferguson, there was a use of vivid detail that had me wanting more. I admire her for what she has gone through, evoking emotion that I am not used to while reading. Very descriptive and realistic in its material, it has me questioning my own abilities as a writer as well as motivating me to try and create something of meaning worth reading.
- Patrick Diehl -
In the beginning of the chapter “Writing a Memoir Essay”, by Moore he talks about using I to start a sentence and how it is so frowned upon. I was taught this growing up in school so this part really made me chuckle. I am especially known for using the two words together of “I
ReplyDeleteThink”, which I’m still not entirely sure why that is so bad. But I really like that he said writing a memoir is all about the “I” factor. I really liked his tips, and the questions that he offered to ask yourself I believe will be extremely helpful in writing my Memoir Essay.
In the preface of Mary Karr’s, The Art of Memoir just how she talks about memoirs made me very exciting about reading her book and writing my own Memoir. She discusses how they are now much more popular than they used to be and to me they seem so much more interesting to read, since you are getting to really know how someone feels about something and you will get to experience it through the author's eyes and voice.
In the first 2 chapters of Kathryn Fergusons book, The Haunting of the Mexican Border, I was instantly intrigued. To be honest I was intrigued just from the title, growing up where I did far from the mexico border, then moving here and only hearing stories about how bad it is, made my interests about reading this book peak even higher. I really enjoy how Ferguson uses so much detail in her writing, I feel that I can almost feel her emotions and see what she is seeing. In the first chapter I felt that there were many mixed emotions and she didn't really know how she felt about what was going on, sad or scared, but definitely full of hope for her journey.
Jessica Young