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- Reading responses are due by midnight on the night PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading.
I really loved at the begging when Karr was talking about memories and how when you get reminded of something or your reconnect with someone from your past the memories just come flooding back. That is something I have experienced a lot because you dont think you remember that much until all the sudden they all just come flooding back. I really thought this was an extremely interesting piece, how she describes everything and how the kids reacted to her Little scene that she puto n with her coworker, literally made me laugh but was also so interesting. The human memory has many flaws, although it is very cool when you remember things like she said you very easily miss things and time is very hard to recall unless you have a photographic memory.
ReplyDeleteI personally really enjoyed chapter 3, I really liked how she was repetitive when describing things, I think i mostly liked it because she made it interesting like it was repetitive but it was still different. For example in the beginning when she was describing the smells of different smoke when you cross into Mexico, it was very informal and it almost made you think you could smell it. Personally for me it made me think of a time that I had smelled something similar to what he was describing. I also love how she describes her love for Mexico and how its not just the food because she can have that at restaurants in the states.
Jessica Young
In chapter three “ The Haunting of The Mexican Border”
ReplyDeleteI enjoy how Ferguson explains how she sees Mexico in her own perspective. I feel that she lacks a little more detail in some areas. For example how she talks about the smoke this and the smoke that. I have gone to Mexico plenty of times back then, and I don’t remember smoke being a big memory. Unless the ladies were cooking. One smell I remember is the smell of dirt. I remember my tias turning on fires outside to cook their homemade tortillas de maiz. I wanted more from her. I do remember the big mountains and how hard it was to walk up the roads. I am not stating she is lying or anything of that matter but, she at times sounds as if she is complaining a lot and then tries to cover it with some oh but the margaritas are great. Also another thing I didn’t enjoy is how she moves from one subject to another subject very randomly, and I loose interest. It feels as if she is rambling.
In Karr’s first chapter “ The Past Vigor”
This one quote stood out to me the most. On the very first page “we look at the world once, in childhood. The rest is memory.” This quote is very interesting and it had me thinking about my childhood. I have a really good memory, but some things I remember feel like a blur, and I am not one hundred percent sure if it happened. Karr mentions on page 4 “Getting time wrong is a common memory screw up, even for the young.” I think this is true. I might have been too small to even talk but it is a memory for a reason. It had to have happened for me to even think about it. This chapter had some helpful insights, but again I feel like they ramble through the chapter.
Lizette Garcia
In Karr’s I liked how she compared storing memories to a lot of clowns coming out of a miniature car. I sometimes come to the thought about how our brain is able to store so much. I got a bit confused when she starting going into detail about the experiment she did on her student. However, when I went back to reread it I understood what she was doing and thought it was a fun idea to do, to see what her students would have remembered from the encounter they had saw. She did a good job at giving information about the mind about why sometimes we think we remember something happening one way when it happened in another way.
ReplyDeleteIn Ferguson’s I really enjoyed the details she gives, she doesn’t drag the details to the point where you get bored but where you can picture everything making you wanting to know more. I also like that she gives some information about the history to Raramuri its nice to know and gives me a better incite about why they call themselves that. Her transitions from the present time to flashbacks aren’t sloppy their well written out making it easier for the readers like myself to understand. I think it’s interesting how she doesn’t drag out the same things in every chapter. The transition from chapter 3 and 4 are different, one starts off with details of her surroundings while the other starts off with dialogue. Although she may be repetitive on how she gives details and the history of the places she’s at, it doesn’t mean that they are all written in the same way.
Monika Gonzalez
I really enjoyed reading chapter one,The Past’s Vigor by Mary Karr. I liked the way she stars with the quote by Louise Gluck, “We look at the world once, in childhood. The rest is memory. The way she explains certain types of memories that one encounters in a lifetime. There are traumatic memories. A traumatic memory is hard to forget.There are memories that you dig for and like to relive them. There are memory aces which are or have that photographic recall especially if it was a great experience.. I like the way the author compares the memory with a pinball machine; it messily ricochets around between image , idea, fragments of scenes, stories you’ve heard.
ReplyDeleteIn the haunting of the Mexican Border chapter three, Into Mexico and chapter four, Movies by Karr were great chapters to read. I like the way she describes in detail what she experienced in Mexico. Especially in the beginning of chapter three when she writes about the carne asada, it really made me hungry. I really enjoyed reading these two chapters because I can relate to some things she writes about. I can relate to Mexico and its surroundings because every summer we travelled to Mexico to visit family. She describes roads, people and food which brings back memories. As a filmmaker myself I can understand her idea of traveling to Mexico and wanting to find out more about the Tahauramara people to make a film. It does’t matter if its a documentary or a feature film its always good to do research on the topic.
-luis rodriguez
I really enjoyed Karr’s chapter, because it felt like she was being extremely honest and realistic. She is completely honest when she explains her fear of getting details wrong. I think writing a memoir will be hard specifically because of the fact that you are the sole story-teller, and it’s all based on your point of view. I really enjoyed her example with her students and the fake confrontation she concocts with another faculty member or student. I wouldn’t even be able to imagine what I would do if I had a professor play me like that, especially as an introduction to a concept.
ReplyDeleteIn Fergusons chapters, I really enjoy all of the details she gives, along with how realistic her trip is described. I also really enjoyed her sense of humor when dealing with her eccentric friend who I can’t remember the name of………. Anyways I really liked their relationship, because he’s able to rope her into doing things she probably wouldn’t have done by herself (like taking the trip.) I don’t really like how her sentence structure constantly changes, it stilts the flow of her memoir, and I feel like it also makes it seem as if she is switching tones rapidly. I also really enjoy all of the Spanish she blends into the story, and I especially like that fact that she hardly translates. I’m not sure if the physical copy has translations in the footnotes, but the iBook version I have doesn’t. Without translations, Ferguson doesn’t baby her non-Spanish speaking readers, and it’s totally unapologetic and I just really like it a lot.
Ayesha Crutchfield
From Karr’s chapter, “The Past Vigor’s,” the environment we encounter throughout our lives can trigger memories of the past. Usually these affects would remind us some a moment in time. At other times, something may jog our memories to forgotten tales left deep within our brains. I’m as good with memorizing certain events in life. There’s gaps in-between my life and I would find them less interesting. That odd little exercise of causing a ruckus in Karr’s class with an argument with another professor is a demonstration of how well we are with memory. But there would be a more precision than accuracy of memory and most of the details and recollections are morphed and interpreted in different ways. For example, a family story as perceived by many family members. One may say that Uncle Joe punted the cat thus caused the bookshelf to topple over and crush the dinner table last Thanksgiving. Another may say that Timmy scared the house cat, causing it to panic and hit the bookshelf. Or the little kids rough housing causing the incident to occur. As writers, we must tell the truth in our creative non-fiction pieces, but sometimes our memory isn’t as “20/20.” As Karr says on page 7 when being told that she is amazing at recalling everything, “Obviously, I can’t. But I’ve been able to bullshit myself that I do.”
ReplyDeleteThere are instances within chapters 3 and 4 of Ferguson’s “A Haunting on the Mexican Border” of such memory jogging. Through her hiking trip around the Copper Canyons, she remembers her time in kindergarten when she had to make mountains out of color scrap paper. Another is the dog bite, when she recalls a rancher dying from a bite from his beloved dog. If that weren’t the case of jogging some memory, the doctor that treated Ferguson’s bite also recalls a rancher being bit and was experiencing psychological distress and avoiding the look of water. And lastly, her time with Ventura and how she relates his humor and delayed punchlines just like her father. I kind of see why last class that many of peers were seeing too much of jumping back and forth within the chapters. I sort of felt like I was bouncing from one wall to the next, but I’m sort of tracking.
Hector Dimas
"The Past Vigor" by Karr is like an entrance to one's past and how it can be difficult to captivate it. Karr mentions how one scene of one's past can bring far more memories that otherwise wouldn't be recalled. I always find it hard to recollect my memories especially when they are one's that I want to repress. Karr mentions that when we are surrounded by others that we share our memories with we tend to reinforce them into our long term memory. I suppose that since I don't share my memories often I don't benefit from this effect. I don't think that I am a great story teller, if I were I suppose I'd have a better ability at recalling my memories. I find myself to double think my truth about some of the stories that I do share of the memories I believe to recall. Karr says that she too struggles with doubt. "I do my best, which is limited by the failures of my so-called mind." It's true that sometimes we can't recall all do specific detail, even those highly trained sometimes can't recall everything.
ReplyDeleteFerguson's Ch 3 and 4 are a bit reminiscing of some of my memories of Mexico. She open's her third chapter with this smoke idea, I understand her position in noting that it is significant. However I start to think that maybe her memory is just making some of these up, she just ties them together, because she remembers the smoke she thinks of all these instances. The way she recalls is a bit unreliable, she doesn't seem to come across as confident in the story she is remembering. However, I think that some of her memories are just coming to her while she attempts to explain them so I don't blame her. Over all she brings her memories to us as best as she can. I enjoy it because I can think of having some of those same experiences.
-Elizabeth Diaz
Like Karr, I too people watch. At a time in which everyone is so engrossed in gaining social approval from tiny blue thumbs and hearts, it's interesting to see the mannerisms of people and their reactions/interactions in real life. I enjoyed reading about her students and although her methods may be more appropriate for teaching your own children life skills, she's still employed right? I took a lot of information on the memories aspect of the chapter. The ability to recall certain details that might not be there at all and the ways in which we can verify our version of the truth. I appreciated the McCarthy tips she provides us to kind of back her "I don’t have all the answers position" (17). I think it's important that, as not only writers, but in general, there is so much we can learn from others and being openminded to exploring other's views and concepts that work for them and adapting them to fit our lives or archiving them if not applicable at that moment. The details in Ferguson's 3rd an 4th chapters are easier to reflect on after lecture today. The position where her erratic sentence structure is strategic in reflecting her mental thought process just makes so much more sense, and is going to help in the next chapters. I did learn a lot on rabies and the makings a film festival that didn't interest me very much prior. I suppose like our lives, you never know how you meet and how they can significant enrich your life or the opposite. This chance she had with meeting Guilio and Claudia, took her life to an alternative route that may or may not have aided her success of satisfaction in this journey. The details and ways that she gives the reader this "insider" type knowledge was appreciated even if it was kinda boring.
ReplyDelete-Amanda Gonzales
In Ferguson’s book, I really like these chapters because the places she mentions I know where they’re located and I have also been to them. One of the places being the Catalina Mountains those are several mountain ranges that go from Tucson, Sahuarita, Green Valley (where I live), and other parts. Being in between that entire wilderness is breathtaking and beautiful. I like how she describes parts of them and also other parts of Arizona.
ReplyDeleteOne part that I like that Ferguson included was when she gets bit by the dog. She gives enough details for us to know how she is, how the dog looks like, how the bite on her looks like as well. It’s a clear image of what is happening. “Suddenly she leaps up and bites my calf as I swing my leg into the truck.” There is another part where Ferguson finds a gypsie and is amazed about everything about her. The way she describes her is also an excellent form of imagery.
In chapter 4 Ferguson describes the film festival and everything about it, how it started, how it is now, and even who goes to it. At first I thought this was too much information but after reading, that information is very helpful in understanding what she is doing and also where it’s going to take her in her travels.
In Karr’s book I loved how she explains that a “memory is a pinball in a machine- it messily ricochets around between image, idea, fragments of scenes, stories you’ve heard”. And that’s true, whenever we go back to a memory it leads from one memory to another and to another. Overall it was a good chapter.
Stephanie Cisneros
ReplyDelete