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- Reading responses must be AT LEAST 250 words.
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- Reading responses are due by midnight on the night PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading.
On the last chapter by Ferguson, we see how her marriage might come to an end in the blink of an eye. Only, it doesn’t. They decide to pack up their things and go to Mexico. When Valentin mentions that he is in a country that is not his, but that if he goes back to Mexico, he doesn’t feel like her truly belongs anymore. It makes me wonder how all those people who have been living in the U.S for a long time, feel when they go back home? I wonder if they feel as if they traveled into a different world? My mom came to live to the U.S when she was about 18, yes, we kept visiting frequently, but as the years’ pass, the violence grew. It is not the old Reynosa I remember from when I was a kid. When enthusiasm of spending a week with my family filled my heart. Being able to go to Reynosa, go to the plaza, the Centro and just have a great time. Now we just go to my grandparents’ house and have family time, in the house. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy it fully, but it would be amazing if times were like before, when violence was not so out in the open.
ReplyDeleteIn the chapter by Karr, she tells us how it is good to write in paper and jot down ideas in paper before typing. She also mentions how different styles of writing help us develop different sense of writing for different audiences. I think these techniques are important because it helps us become better writers along the way. What I like most about this chapter is when she mentions that writing out of nowhere is helpful because it also helps us practice.
-Celica Chavez
In Ferguson’s book, she’s still delirious like she has been in the past few chapters but now she’s married! Her tone in chapter 22 changes a lot. She seems a bit more happy, paranoid but happy to be married with Valentin and helping with his citizenship. They have an interview take place with puts both Ferguson and Valentin at their wits end. Then time passes and Valentin has to reapply for his residency, and that makes both of them nervous when time passes and he still has received nothing. I believe that by this point Ferguson just has a general problem with anything that has to do with the border. She sees an border patrol officer and it immediately brings horrible things to her mind. Valentin brings up that he might have to move back to Mexico and this makes Ferguson sad and then he also bring up the possible divorce. Ferguson ignores it and changes the subject. They both pack their bags and are ready to move to Mexico. Over all good book, don’t agree with everything that Ferguson wrote about but nevertheless good book to read.
ReplyDeleteIn Karr’s chapter about roadblock, it seems too short and a bit vague. I learned absolutely nothing from this chapter. Her tools that she uses to crush her roadblock don’t seem to fit what I would do at all. One of her pointers is to write reviews or criticism for an online blog or a magazine. I feel that if I was to do that I would lose complete and total focus from what I was doing to the point I’d be in a worse spot to begin with. My attention span isn’t the best at the moment and just doing this would make it a lot worse on me. I think that Moore had better pointers for this topic.
Stephanie Cisneros
Another short chapter by Karr, there wasn’t much to pull out from this chapter about breaking writer’s block. There are tips, but the only interesting tip from the list is the last one, where write a letter to your characters. For non-fiction, that is possibly writing a real letter to a person you know. I was thinking along the lines of writing a letter to a fictional original character. So don’t unglue your fingers from your keyboard or your pencil and keep writing, no matter what it may be. I guess it is slightly hard to explain writers block, other than the feeling of hitting a cemented brick wall.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting ending to “A Haunting in the Mexican Border” by Ferguson. It’s tragic and sudden to hear of her passing early this month. The class and I were expecting to talk to her some time close to the end of the semester. May she rest and may her book thrive. So on for the last two chapters, she and Valentin are married and facing the difficult task of making getting her husband his citizenship. They are doing everything right, but government is making this as difficult and time consuming as possible. It is terrible that they had to prove that they are married and being asked how their marriage came to be. Those guys behind desk for immigration don’t see love, just money and non-persons. And the last chapter was a beautiful closing to her book, looking back at her accomplishments and journey. It is true that she would’ve stopped at any given time, but she kept pushing. We won’t know if Ferguson and Valentin were divorced or moving, but from all the troubling falls, she grew from her experiences and became who she was and will forever be.
Hector Dimas
In Karr’s chapter although it was really short I did appreciate and enjoyed the ideas she gives out. I am considering doing one of the things that are on her list and try it out to see how it goes. Who knows maybe it’ll be helpful for me and my writing.
ReplyDeleteIn Ferguson’s chapter’s things got intense, she took us by surprised by getting married to Valentin. It was about time that she did. Although I do enjoy the reality that she gives us I also hate it at the same time because I hate the fact that people can be so cruel. I found it really annoying how the interviewer would keep asking Valentin if he was involved with drugs. He would keep pressing into it even after Valentin would repeatedly say no. It’s really heart breaking to know that the Border Patrol can just destroy your car/truck just to see if you have drugs then let you go as if they didn’t just damage it sadly they aren’t able to do anything about it all they can do is just stand there and watch. I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have liked it if the tables have turned. It was really irritating that they both had to constantly send documents proving that their love for one another was real and wasn’t staged. I understand that many people may have gotten married just to become a citizen and later on divorced but because of those who do that it makes it harder for those who really love one another. I did enjoy the way she ends the book.
Monika Gonzalez
In chapter 19 Karr, talks about how to write better and become a crispier thinker. Even though its a very short chapter it gives us good tips when you hit a roadblock. Like she mentions writers need to keep their heads in the game and their hands moving across pages. I like what she says about writing reviews or criticism for an online blog or a magazine. I guess practice really makes perfect.
ReplyDeleteIn Ferguson book, the last two chapters were great to read. I was surprised that she got married with Valentine. It was a sudden turn in this chapter. Like her book as a whole, it is filled with twist and turns. Reading this book is like riding a rollercoaster at high speeds; it has a bit of everything. I really enjoyed it because she talks about so many different things. The filming of her movie, the people she met along the way, the things she went through in the desert, tragedy, etc. Every chapter had a surprised even her passing caught me by surprised. I think it is an excellent book to read in class. It would of been great if we would of had the chance to talk to her about her filmmaking experiences and her book.Sad.
luis antonio rodriguez
In chapter 19 of Mary Karr’s book, (about writer's block) I found her 6 steps to overcome writer's block extremely interesting and helpful. They were different then most things that people tell you and i think that it's good to have many different tricks in your bag to overcome writer's block. I especially liked the 6th tip, about writing a letter to one of your characters of someone who is dead. This is a great tip for just many things in life, I have written letters just when I feel like i have something on my mind. Or when I feel that i need to talk to someone. It's very helpful in many ways.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 22, throughout this whole chapter I was completely nervous the whole time especially during the interviews and every time they talked about them. I seriously felt like I was as nervous as if I was the one being interviewed. I felt that I could feel every emotion they felt. The embarrassment they felt when they had to ask their friends to write letters about their love was just so sad. Then when he talks about not belonging in either the US or mexico broke my heart. Then when he asked about getting divorce I literally started crying.
Jessica Young
Chapter 19 in Karr’s novel is another chapter that is short and to the point. I think the reason Karr makes her chapters offering methodical advice so short is because she expects us to do some work on our own to discover what methods work for us and our individual writing styles. She mentions that she finds writing exercises ineffective for curing the grueling writer’s block, but I personally disagree. Writing exercises have proven to be effective for me because it keeps me writing while also providing a mental break from my work. Other than that, I actually found her advice to be helpful. Her list of tips are definitely interesting, I particularly enjoyed number 5 about memorizing poems and I look forward to trying out a few the next time I hit a roadblock in my work.
ReplyDeleteFerguson's chapters really hit me hard. Ferguson's love and care for humanity is constantly being interfered by the government, but the love and care for her own lover? It's a struggle that she has truly learned the hard way. Valentin being denied citizenship is nothing less than Ferguson consistently banging her head against the wall. These chapters really bring forth her emotions that result from the failure to win the war between borders. The last chapter in specific is extremely metaphorical, which I enjoyed, and encompasses the entire journey she has gone through with Mexico. It's heartbreaking to read about a woman with good intentions constantly being denied her acts of kindness due to the fact that borders are in place. Ferguson really excels at putting into perspective the injustices of the border in United States/Mexico.
Damaris Cantu
Ferguson’s chapters were very melancholy, and chapter 22 in itself was kind of a ride since it the mood changes so drastically from the first couple of paragraphs to the next. Kathryn definitely now understands the type of fear the Valentin lived with since the very beginning of their relationship (well, technically even before, since he had been living in the states for a while so it seems) and I think she portrayed the struggle of gaining US citizenship really well (even if it was technically from an outside perspective, because Valentin was the one who was actually applying for citizenship.) I think the tone of these two chapters definitely sets the finality of the book in stone, and even though it leaves off on a very hopeless note (as in Ferguson has lost hope in America’s immigration services) it does end the book very well.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I don’t deal with writers block very well. Most of the time when I hit writers block, I end up losing interest in my writing and just abandoning it. However, I know that’s not good at all, and it shows in my writing when I don’t ever come back to something since I let writers block win so often. So, obviously, I’m really open to suggestions on how to overcome writers block. I really like all of the tips Karr gave us, specifically the last tip which says “Write longhand letters to your complicated characters, or even to the dead. You’ll learn more about voice by writing letters – how you arrange yourself different ways for each audience – than in a year of classes.”
Ayesha Crutchfield
In chapter 19 of Mary Karr’s book she talks to us about dealing with writer’s block. As writers, writers block is something that we have gone through before, and will inevitably go through again. People deal with writers block in different ways, some take one of the steps that Karr outlines, others have different ways. For example, I feel that taking a couple days off from writing a piece and returning to it a couple of days later really helps. I’m not sure why, perhaps because it allows you to meditate on what you have, and then return to it with a brand new fresh perspective; or some turn to alcohol to really get the creative juices flowing. Another tip that works for me is outlining, literally writing a couple of keywords down on the paper that refer to the topic that specific part of the story is going to be about.
ReplyDeleteFerguson’s chapter was much more intense in a way. She finally married Valentin, which was kind of a surprise, not that they married, but just that it happened what seemed like out of nowhere. I got this sense of anxiety filled paranoia, but it seems that she was a lot happier. I genuinely feel like we finally see some more of the character Valentin, because he opens up when he says that he doesn’t feel at home in the US nor in Mexico. Looking back, I’m glad we read this book. I overall enjoyed it, some parts more than others, but overall a good read.
Jesus Garcia
We were all (obviously by everyone else’s responses) surprised by Ferguson and her marrying Valentin. What they went through in the last chapters is not an easy thing and it is kind of a hard and touchy subject to think about because they are probably not the only ones that have had to experience something like that. But it also makes me think of the people that have done that before, and have gotten away with it . Like the movie “the proposal”, probably the most inaccurate and unrealistic movies about the way the US citizenship process works but you can get the just of it. The government always seems to be giving her a hard time. One thing that I have always loved and appreciated about her is that she is always so raw and real with her writing.
ReplyDeleteAnother short chapter by Karr, I love her short chapters because she gives it to us short and simple. I like the little activities that she leaves us with. I like her second comment or tip. It is kind of like what we do here in class. Read other people’s works and then give our opinions on what we read.
Sorry for my post being late, i thought it had uploaded but I guess I closed my laptop to soon.
Jessica Guzman
Karr’s two page chapter on writer’s block left me wanting more. Karr said to “memorize poems when you’re stuck” they teach us about economy, and I found this so interesting. I’m not one for poetry but although i can’t write it, doesn’t mean I don't appreciate it. I tend to write things in longhand form to help me get a greater sense of my thinking a the time i was writing. Smooth careless slants in my writing are when i’m mostly content compared to bold streaks or solid print which is very rare. I relied on this during my notes of conversation with my father. At times the vivid details were so powerful that the bold steaks turned to print so i knew that it was not a detail i should overlook.
ReplyDeleteFerguson reflects and almost accepts the changes she has made in a reflective consciousness that holistically shapes her human growth. Unlike Karr who has several memoirs, Ferguson uses chapter 23 as a way of giving her book, emotions, and dedication to her life a sense of closure. I particularly liked how she lists the events as if she was validating her growth into humanism as a checklist of accomplishments. She talks about how naive she first was in her travels into Mexico, Ventura and Hiram, the ways she would give water to “thirsty travelers”, and she “could still leave”. This was so moving to me because she choose to be an outsider in both cultures to follow what she believed to be right and her farewell to the desert and ode to colliding cultures, one that she has made herself a home on the line of black and white of our broken immigration system.
-Amanda Gonzales
On the last chapter by Ferguson, we see how her marriage might come to an end in the blink of an eye. Only, it doesn’t. They decide to pack up their things and go to Mexico.
ReplyDeletethank you for this good news !
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