Anne Lamott (1995) Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

The Author., Ann Lamott is writing about writing. Mostly about how to complete your final draft of anything. It will always start with a first draft. Everyone’s does, no matter who you are. This is an interesting article that was a homework reading assignment in English 111. During our first few English classes at the beginning of my first semester of school in some 30 something years, our assignments were to write. Lamott really has this whole concept of first drafts down perfectly. After my first assignment, when all I did was get the facts down on paper, I had my husband read what I had at that point. Well, I will never again do that. That was one of the most depressing days in my life. I cried and realized that there is no way that I will be able to write anything, ever. But, since then I have learned and I am in total agreement with the author here. Your first attempt at writing anything is really going to consist of sometimes very illogical thoughts and mostly facts. This is also very similar to our lives. Think about it. You remember as a child your parent’s telling you, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. We sometimes have to try, try again at many things in life. If we don’t fail sometimes and learn from our mistakes, we can never appreciate our successes when we have them.

Our final drafts will usually always be a success. We have to take the time to have a first draft and not be embarrassed by it. As the author states, write like no one will ever see it and then you can revise it. That is exactly what happened to me. I will always write my first draft as if no one will ever see it, and I will show it to no one, because I know that the final version will be well worth reading. And so I hope that my English teacher agrees.

Perils of Indifference - Elie Wiesel

The author Wiesel is writing about the Holocaust and about being a survivor, himself. This speech took place in 1999 in Washington D.C. He is addressing a group which consists of the President of the United States, Members of Congress and other survivors of the Holocaust including himself. He is trying to inform his audience about what happened for than fifty years ago, that he was apart of. He is extremely grateful to the American people for his freedom.
He tells us about Auschwitz, www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/timeline.html and how the prisoners were abandoned and wrapped in torn blankets, feeling like strangers to their surroundings. He has used pathos by showing us the tragedy and how these prisoners no longer felt pain they were essentially dead and didn’t know it after all the trauma and pain they experienced. He is telling us that now we are entering into a new millennium, a new century. He is concerned about how the century will be judged. He tells of a history of wars and assassinations, (Gandhi, Kennedy, Martin Luther King,) so much violence, and indifference. The word indifference means “no difference”. He states that indifference is a sin and a punishment.
He is using logos by telling of the depressing tale of the ship, know as the St. Louis. What happened to the human cargo, nearly 1000 Jews who were turned back to Nazi Germany. The ship was already in the U.S., why was it turned back? The author is confused about Roosevelt, who was a good man why did he turn the ship back, why didn’t he help and let the refugees disembark? Why the indifference. Thousands of people suffered in concentration camps.

He makes sure to tell us of some good things that happened during this century also,. The defeat of Nazism, the collapse of Communism, Israel’s peace treaty with Egypt, the peace accord in Ireland. What about the union of the United States and NATO to intervene in Kosovo, and save all of those refugees.

He is addressing the President and Congress to be sure that this type of indifference never happens again. He is trying to persuade the audience by using ethos and explaining the horrific historic events that occurred to open the eyes of the world so we can work toward a better new century.

Forasteira Having it all

This article is about having it all. This is and has always been a good subject for many fashion magazines. Back in the early ‘80s there was a lady by the name of Helen Gurley Brown who was the Editor of Cosmopolitan, 1965-97. http://www.nndb.com/people/889/000022823/. She was also the author of “Having it All” which was published in 1982. According to Brown, the necessities for a happy life are success at work and she says, of course, love. The main idea is that women can work full time, have a family and take care of a house and be successful at everything.
This writer Glittah, http://thaismendes.blogspot.com/2008/09/having-it-all.html from London, United Kingdom feels that this is a myth. She, herself, has too many interests and not enough occupations. I can speak for myself and some of my friends that as much as we might want to be a success at everything, there are only so many hours in a day and sometimes it is just not feasible to be great in everything. My experience with working full time and going to school has been if nothing else a tremendous challenge. The late nights doing homework, the early mornings trying to get to the gym and then get to work and come home and get dinner and go to sleep, only to start all over again tomorrow. There are always things on our to-do list that never get done. They get moved over to tomorrow’s date in hopes that we can get it done then. Sometimes it works and sometimes it gets pushed yet another day away. And the result is a very frustrated woman with a long to do list. We should try and make the best of today, get done what we can, but still remember to enjoy life because tomorrow is in fact another day.

Diagnostic Essay

My husband and I have always dreamed of seeing Charleston, South Carolina. People have always told us how beautiful it is and we finally found an opportunity to go. We decided to drive to Florida for Christmas break 2006 to see our grandchildren, Lucy and Rean, who were 3 years old at the time.
We rented an SUV and loaded it up with what seemed like everything we owned, and a lot of really good music plus our yellow Lab. We were looking at a 14 hour trip but with our new plan of seeing Charleston it would only be about 8 hours. We were able to find a hotel that accepted pets and everything to this point was going smoothly. When we arrived we went out for dinner and then got some rest.
Our plan was to spend the next day doing the tourist thing. We awoke to a beautiful clear sky and sunny day. We took our camera walked, up and down a lot of beautiful tree lined narrow streets and alleys. We found an old Church that dated back to the 1800’s. We spoke with the pastor who invited us to stay for their noon service. This church was the most beautiful we had ever seen, all handcrafted pews and columns. The entry doors were solid wood, twenty feet tall and extremely heavy. There was the original pipe organ on the second floor and the pulpit was two stories high, so the people sitting upstairs could also hear. The stained glass windows were absolutely gorgeous. We stayed for the noon service and then continued on our excursion through downtown Charleston, and there we found an old time rustic pub and had lunch. At this point we were dog tired. Our next plan was to get a good night’s sleep and continue the trip to Florida.
When we arrived in Florida we were greeted by our son and daughter-in-law and our grandchildren; Lucy and Rean. We decided that we were all too tired to cook. Shawn had worked all day and Kayla was running all day after the twins and we had spent the day driving. We loaded everyone into the car and all went out to eat. We were just so excited to see our grandchildren. They were talking up a storm. You see, this was only the second time since they are born that we were able to get to visit them because we live so far away.
The next day was Christmas Eve. We marched everyone off to Christmas Mass and then we celebrated with a buffet meal at the other grandparents house. Everyone exchanged gifts, the kids and all their excitement, wrapping paper flying all around. All the laughter and giggles, there is nothing more satisfying than seeing Christmas through the eyes of a child.
Then came the day finally came that we had to say our good-byes. We were very sad to leave our little Lucy and Rean, but we were anxious to get home. Our drive home was rather interesting, all the time listening to all of our great music. You see my husband, Rondy, is a music lover. We own a large selection of tunes, from Frank Sinatra to the Rolling Stones. As the day progressed it went from bright sun to threatening skies. By the time we reached So. Carolina we found ourselves in the middle of a horrendous thunderstorm. The cloud to ground lightening was spectacular and you could see it for miles. The thunder was so loud it shook your insides, the sound of rain was deafening and we couldn’t even see the hood of the car. We got to the half way point of the trip and found a truck stop which allowed pets. Well it was truly just a motel and rather creepy for all of us. It was a very small room with the entrance opening to the dark and creepy parking lot. The heavy storms continued through the night and even our doggie wasn’t happy. I don’t think anyone slept and at 4 am we just decided to get in the car and go. We really couldn’t wait to get into our own beds. Upon arriving home we quickly unloaded the rental car to return it. After cleaning it up and putting all the music away in the house we returned the rental car. It’s nice to travel and visit family but it’s also nice to be home. We were finally home and this was the end of our trip; except for one last tidbit that will always make this vacation memorable.
My husband is a big fan of the Traveling Wilbury’s. Some of you may remember them. They were a rock group from the ‘80’s and this one disk is out of print. It was one of our favorites during our trip and for many years since we met. One day, my husband decides to play it and it is nowhere to be found. We both searched high and low and realized finally that we probably left it in the rental car disk player. Well it just had to be, since it was not anywhere in our house. We now start a search on line and at all the music stores in town to try to find a copy. But it was nowhere to be found. There was, however, a copy available at a steep price from Germany, which he bought. A year later it shows up. You guessed it, we had it all along. It was misfiled in our music collection with the Christmas albums.



Revised Diagnostic Essay -

Charleston, South Carolina is a beautiful city www.charlestoncvb.com/. People have always told us how nice it is and we finally created a reason to go. My husband and I have always talked about going but we never had the opportunity. We decided to drive to Florida for Christmas break 2006 to see our grandchildren, Lucy and Rean, who were 3 years old at the time. We rented an SUV and loaded it up with what seemed like everything we owned, and a lot of really good music plus our yellow Lab. We were looking at a 14 hour trip but with our new plan of seeing Charleston it would only be about 8 hours. We were able to find a hotel that accepted pets and everything to this point was going smoothly. When we arrived we went out for dinner and went back to the hotel to get a good night sleep. Eight hours on the road can be very tiring. Our plan was to spend the next day being tourists. We awoke to a beautiful clear sky and sunny day. We took our camera and walked up and down many, beautiful tree lined narrow streets and alleys.
We found an old Church that was built in the late 1700’s, 1752 to be exact. http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/projects/geoweb/participants/dutch/Historic/Charleston.HTM ).

We spoke with the pastor who invited us to stay for their noon service. He also gave us a tour and explained about some of the history of the Church. This church was the most beautiful we had ever seen, all handcrafted pews and columns. The entry doors were solid wood, twenty feet tall and extremely heavy. There was the original pipe organ on the second floor and the pulpit was two stories high, so the people sitting upstairs could also hear. The stained glass windows were absolutely gorgeous.

We stayed for the short noon service and then continued on our excursion through downtown Charleston, and there we found an old time rustic pub and decided to stop in, because at this point we were dog tired and needed some lunch. Our next plan was to get a good night’s sleep and continue the our trip to Florida.
When we arrived in Florida we were greeted by our son and daughter-in-law and our grandchildren; Lucy and Rean. We decided that we were all too tired to cook. Shawn had worked all day and Kayla was running around all day after the twins and we had spent the day driving. We loaded everyone into the car and all went out to eat. You can imagine the fun we had at the restaurant with 3 year old twins and trying to keep them quiet. They were talking up a storm. We were just so excited to see our grandchildren. This was only the second time since they are born that we were able to get to visit them because we live so far away.
The next day was Christmas Eve. We marched everyone off to Christmas Mass and then we celebrated with a buffet meal at the other grandparents house. We exchanged gifts, the kids were all excited, there was wrapping paper flying all around. All the laughter and giggles, there is nothing more enjoyable than seeing Christmas the joy in their eyes.
Then came the day finally came that we had to say our good-byes. We were very sad to leave our little Lucy and Rean, but we were anxious to get home. Our drive home was an interesting experience in itself. All was good and we were listening to all of our great music. You see my husband, Rondy, is a music lover. We own a large selection of tunes, from Frank Sinatra to the Rolling Stones. As the day progressed it went from bright sun to threatening skies. By the time we reached South Carolina we found ourselves in the middle of a horrendous thunderstorm. The cloud to ground lightening was spectacular and you could see it for miles. The thunder was so loud it shook your insides, the sound of rain was deafening and we couldn’t even see the hood of the car. We got to the half way point of the trip and found a truck stop which allowed pets. Well it was truly just a motel and rather frightening for all of us. It was a very small room with the entrance opening to the dark and creepy parking lot. The heavy storms continued through the night and even our doggie wasn’t happy. I don’t think anyone slept and at four o’clock in the morning we decided it was useless and we should just get in the car and head home. We really couldn’t wait to get into our own beds. Upon arriving home we quickly unloaded the rental car to return it. After cleaning it up and putting all the music away in the house we returned the rental car. It’s nice to travel and visit family but it’s also nice to be home. We were finally home and this was the end of our trip; except for one last tidbit that will always make this vacation memorable.
My husband is a big fan of the Traveling Wilbury’s. They were a rock group from the ‘80’s and his favorite disk is out of print. It was one of the more listened to during our trip and for many years since we met. One day a couple of months later, my husband decides to play it and it is nowhere to be found. We both searched high and low and realized finally that we probably left it in the rental car disk player. Well it just had to be, since it was not anywhere in our house. We now start a search on the computer and at all the music stores in town to try to find a copy. Trying to find an out of print disk is like searching for a needle in a haystack. Finally, there was, however, a copy available for a steep price from Germany, which he bought. Of course, now since we bought one wouldn’t you know, about a year later the original copy turns up. You guessed it, we had it all along. It was misfiled in our music collection with the Christmas albums. It makes sense we had it on our trip for Christmas in Charleston.
So the moral of this story is to enjoy your family when you can and be sure to file your music in the right order.

Reflections of English 111 Here we are back at school

Here we are back at school. It has been a very long time since I was in school. After graduating high school I did attend several classes at the local community colleges on Long Island, where I was raised. I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to be when I grew up. Then suddenly some unexpected curve balls were sent my way. You see both parents became ill and I was forced to get a full time job, there was no extra money to pay for my college tuition. So I attempted to pay for a class here and there and then just got comfortable with working full time. You guessed it as usual life if full of curve balls. It was rather a difficult task to work full time and support myself in an apartment. Because I didn’t have a degree I found myself going from job to job and not having a career. Unfortunately, at this time in my life college again took a back seat to working.
So here I am many years later and I think or I am pretty sure what I want to be when I “grow up”. I was able to take a couple of classes a few years ago to help me get into the medical field. That was my first attempt at having a direction. Since then, I have decided that I want to help people learn to eat more nutritiously and to help them try and prevent some disease. I am currently working a full time job in a medical office but have realized that this is as good a time as any to plunge right in and get back to school.
English 111 has been my latest and final start back to college life and I must say it has been an experience. At first I wasn’t sure that I would be able to do well. I worked very hard and I hardly saw my husband. If I wasn’t in class, I was tucked away in a spare room of our house working on yet another paper. It seemed that as soon as I finished one I was already working on another. It was rather stressful at times and I hope that I have learned how to write. Although, I am sure I still have a long, long way to go before I call myself a writer. At first I thought, English will be easy, not realizing how much work would be involved. Some might say at least you got it over with, but I am glad that I took it first. It has really taught me proper writing techniques that will certainly go a long way for me for the future of my college career.
I feel that at this point, which is much later in life, that English 111 was a stepping stone to help me be more successful in getting my degree.