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- Reading responses must be AT LEAST 250 words.
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- Reading responses are due by 10pm on the day PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading
A memoir “is about trying to understand the vexing mysteries of human existence.” Dinty always finds a way to talk to me personally. I don’t know why but I always feel like he is talking straight to me. Every week I read his points on a particular essay subject and every week I happen to agree. A memoir is essentially the writer’s memories on paper. A memoir can use personal experience for reflection. The writer can write everything that happen to him first and then reflect on what he learned. We as human beings always have questions in our mind. Were always asking why? Why are we hear? Why do we die? Is there something beyond death? Are we alone? “These questions may have no immediate answers, but reading about other people’s lives, other people’s challenges, and other people’s small victories gives the reader fresh perspectives, i.e., more ways to consider the questions at hand.” That whole statement I completely agree. I think that’s why people love to buy memoirs. I was in the military and that’s no big secret, and I hate to admit this, but I read memoirs about soldier’s experiences in the field and it some of the best writing that I have ever had the great fortune of reading. I’ve read memoirs about the Vietnam War and how the soldiers had to struggle in the deep dark jungles. The fever from malaria that soldiers would die from. The fear of constant guerilla attacks from the Vietnamese. Also how young some of these soldiers were who didn’t get the chance to go back to their respective families. It’s a perspective that helps me understand my military brethren’s even more. If a civilian were to read them than they too would understand more about those experiences. Memoirs can also be very therapeutic. It can help someone who has a lot to say but doesn’t know how to say it. It can be a story about complete emotion and that itself is the experience. I’ve read Mary Karr’s preface and a lot of what she was saying was the exact same to Dinty. I decided to write more about Dinty today just because personally it just resonated more to me. Keep in mind I’m not saying Dinty is the best writer of all time because we all know he does have some problems in his writing, but personally I just happen to agree with him. I like his points, I like how he presents them, and it has helped me become a better writer. I think. I hope that when we start reading Mary Karrs book that it too will have the same effect on me.
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Juan Garcia Jr
I like how Moore reminds the reader that when writing a memoir we should not just tell the story but actually find some kind of meaning in it. He also tells us that we shouldn't just tell the story but also add some details. Details in a memoir are very important because they can help the reader of our memoirs really understand or actually feel like they are vividly living those past experiences with the writer. If we are writing about an event that happened several years ago, it is easy to forget all the details. I like how Moore suggests that we do some research because it is actually true that remembering something pushes us to remember more things that happened. For example, talking to a family member and hearing their side of the story can help us as writers to recollect the past. I did not agree with Moore when he said that are we not a victim or a hero, that why would the reader believes us, i think that sometimes due to certain events in our life (depending what we are writing about) we can be either a hero or the victim. As the authors of our memoirs, we are expressing how we viewed/felt in this situation, and it is possible that we are the actual victim/hero and we aren't just saying it as self flattery or pity.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Karr when she talks about her feelings towards fiction and nonfiction stories. I feel like i can identify with memoirists but never with novelists, to me novels are just for entertainment.
Word count 268
Jennifer Millan
I have never really thought about memoir in any way. Maybe because it has never interested my personally or maybe I just didn’t know too much on the subject but it has definitely peaked my interest. I’ve always thought of memoir as writing someone’s life story, and that’s it. Moore goes on to talk about how it isn’t just that but rather writing about some part of your life, a moment, a memory, that has defined you in some way, shape, or form. Looking for a piece of your life that you want to show to people that has impacted you on such a deep and personal level. That is what memoir is, but you can’t just write about it either. You have to make it into an experience that the reader gets enthralled and lost in. You have to have them connect with your writing and allow them to relate to whatever it is you are talking about in the story. Additionally, Marry Karr speaks more or less the same about what Moore is saying in her preface. One thing that was interesting was the topic about memoir essentially being such a cop out and overrated way of writing. Many believed it to be a way for writers to get the attention to themselves by writing about their life and getting sympathy and I don’t agree. Memoir is a way for someone to write about and share their many experiences so others can relate as well as providing an interesting story. It is like gossip, we all want in and want to be involved in the gossip of someone and their lives and this is very much the same.
ReplyDeleteAmaury Cabrera
Word count 280
Memoir essays are all about you. All “I” experiences. Moore preaches there is no shame in using yourself as the subject because essentially memoirs are about yourself. About a time in your life, an event. He goes on to describe that in non fiction memoir and the personal essay are taught separately when in fact the two overlap. The only difference between the memoir and the memoir essay is that memoir essays add reflection at the end, whereas memoir just chronicles moments in that life event. I think I have been writing memoir essays since before I knew they were a thing. My favorite style of writing in nonfiction is memoirs. So I tend to write the same only my writing follows with reflections. I found it interesting to read his tips for memoir writing. They were the following: 1) Always show, never tell. Actions will always speak louder than words. “I was sad.”- Show me. What was your body language? What did you do? 2) Research. You may not remember everything from a specific day, but someone else may have. 3) Neither hero or victim. Dont pick a side for yourself because the struggle of being in between is the best part. I actually enjoyed this chapter.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading the preface from Karrs book. Her overall voice in the chapter makes it really enjoyable to read. I have a feeling the rest of the book wont be a drag if she continues to be this witty. I also really liked it because she talks about she became obsessed with memoirs and that is basically me.
Amanda Victoria Ramirez~
The readings foreshadow much editing to our memoirs as memoir writing is not just about “going for the juggler,” but craft achieved through revisions as Moore has advocated for us to. In addition to “going for the juggler,” memoir writing also calls for reflecting on the “juggler (Moore 28). As we write our story, we come to terms with it. Either embrace our downfalls, minimize our success to keep us humbles, or open new doubts to keep our minds open. It must be done in the memoir. Karr romantics the memoir yet humanizes for addressing our fears of memory (Karr xxi). As Moore says it is important to face the “white paper,” Karr states it is important to nevertheless write about our story as we can always research it (Karr xxi). I would like to argue memoir writing is not any different than a travel piece. Last week, during both of my critique sessions, I had my classmates say they wanted to hear more of “how I felt.” Sharing our emotions is humane, and I believe this natural tendency pours into our writing. Therefore, when writing in our travel pieces, you can tell when we include our reflections. I would also like to argue, as write our memoir pieces, we don’t necessarily have to include a written reflection. As we have discussed in class before, when a narrator focusses on certain objects, or the lack of focus, are just as important as what the narrator openly shares with the reader. In this case, I prefer to be shown, and told.
ReplyDeleteAlejandro Sanchez
Moore’s chapter about memoirs was very helpful because it gives helpful strategies on making your piece more than just any old story. Attention to detail is very important in memoirs because you really want to put your reader your story. This kind of piece should be a story about a time in your life. A memoir essay also has a reflection at some point during the story this is what separates a memoir essay from a memoir. You must give meaning to your story and find a central theme or something you learned from the memory. One of the strategies Moore gives is to show don’t tell. Paying attention to detail is very important because you want to make sure your reader is able to put themselves in that story and see it happening. Research for this story will include asking those who are part of your piece to make sure you get all the details correct. It’s also important to tell the story as it happened and not pick a side or make yourself a hero. Karr’s piece was more or less the same as Moore’s chapter. I really liked the part where Karr talks about the the way memoirs will make you battle with yourself. This piece should force you to engage with your own emotions and figure some stuff out. I’m pretty excited to write this piece because it’s always fun to revisit a memory especially if I am going to analyze it for a second time.
ReplyDeleteOlivia Hinojosa
I feel like I have read this Preface before or read something similar to it, but rereading helped me further understand what the memoir meant to the author. Mary Karr talks about how the memoir genre has become more popular amongst readers now than ever before, when people didn’t include nonfiction into the genre of literature. She defends the nonfiction genre and glorifies the honesty and “derivation of events” it brings forth. Karr talks about how the best memoir essays are the ones that shape your past’s meaning with a powerful reflection. They give you the ability to pull what you’ve learned from your life experiences and put it on paper while making sure you’ve captured the reader and made them your child. Personally, I like the fact that the genre places the everyday person and their unique struggles/ experiences on a pedestal for all to learn from. Dinty Moore has a similar respect for the memoir and gives the writer tips on how to improve your writing. I found research to be helpful when writing my travel essay. I looked back at a time when I traveled the Americas and because it was more than five years ago, research helped me remember details. I found the two pieces to be similar but enjoyed Mary Karr’s style a little more since she includes specifics. As a political science major, I enjoy realistic and purposeful work, and I’m less interested in the novelists with their deliciously written works. I prefer reading something that is edifying and productive.
ReplyDeleteM. Sarah Sanchez
The beginning of Karr’s piece was not particularly motivating or inspirational. I could not identify with the urge to imbibe ourselves in memoirs. She writes about how readers become thirsty for reality and thus imbibe themselves in the memoir. Personally I never tire of fantasy lives and novels, I enjoy loosing myself in the lives of characters and seeing the story through their eyes. It is because of this that I am unable to connect myself to memoirs, that is not to say that memoirs cannot be enjoyable, I have read a few that I personally enjoyed. However, the entire genre of memoirs as a whole do not bring the same joy to me as they to do to Karr.
ReplyDeleteIn Moore’s piece there is somewhat of an echo to what Karr said at some point in her preface. Both Moore and Karr say that memoirs are made to be enjoyable by the author, it is the author’s duty to write about an event and to reflect upon it in a way that will allow the readers to be sucked into the novel. They way that they are able to do this is by writing about something seemingly insignificant to the author, but to the reader it may be something that they themselves have never experienced. These seemingly insignificant stories should then be reflected upon in such a way that makes everything lead up to a revelation of truth. However, authors should not make deep revelations about any random thing, it should be based on something that can have meaning to the authors and readers lives. For instance, you can write about the way that the kitchen smelled/smells whenever your grandma makes your favorite dish and the way that the dish made you feel and how it connected to life events, and this will have meaning for the author and reader and thus will create a good memoir. If you try to write about brushing your teeth in the morning, then you may not be able to write it in such a way that will have meaning to both the author and the reader.
Karina Gonzalez
Word count: 354
I thought it was cool when Dinty Moore pointed out that many teachers use the “never use I” rule, because I remember being taught this in grade school and thinking how dumb it was. I’m glad to see I was right! In all seriousness though, I always had a problem with using “I” in my essays when I was younger because it didn’t seem right reading it out loud. It wasn’t until I got into college that my writing began to make more sense. Writing the memoir is obviously all about you, which is fun to write but then I feel it’s possible to run out of things to say. It kind of goes back to when Moore described his life as boing and he compared it to other writers’. This is the problem I think I might run into when writing the memoir. Moore’s strategies were definitely helpful though and I’m sure I will be using them when we begin writing the memoir.
ReplyDeleteSomeone mentioned in their response that they can relate more to the memoir rather than the novel. Although this is true, I think it’s important to remember that a memoir is not just a story but someone’s personal story. Perhaps it’s easy to put yourself in someone’s shoes but everyone’s story is different. That’s what makes the memoir so interesting and entertaining to read.
Karina Saldivar
I like how Moore starts the chapter with how students have been taught to not to use “I” in their writing. Many students will go far out of their way to never use I in their writing. Like in Moore’s example it carries on to other types of writing students do, even if it is supposed to be an assignment such as a memoir. Moore mentions reflection which is an important part of the genre of memoir. If you are just recreating events it may not give readers an incentive to keep reading. I think I am guilty of this at times when trying to write pieces about myself. But like Moore mentions in practice writers usually will have some sort of reflection in their writing, it is bound to come out in the writing. He also mentions some tips to writing like showing the reader events not just telling. While this is irritating advice to receive because it is subjective to some extent, it still is important. Just listing things instead of “showing” them will be less impactful to the reader, but again it is subjective to some extent. Side note, not cool that Moore compares all males to those which he just described as bad mannered.
ReplyDeleteIn Karr’s preface she has an interesting way to describe the effect memoir has on the writer. She describes writing a memoir as “knocking yourself out with your own fist, if it is done right.” I thought this was an interesting way to describe memoir and I think it has a lot of truth to it. You can’t not be investing in memoir because it is your story and if you are writing something meaningful to you there will likely be a lot of reflection. Perhaps if the events are not meaningful to you memoir will not have this “knock out” effect, and it may not come across to your readers either.
-Jesus Alexis Prado
Both Karr and Moore, I feel are on the same page when telling writers how to go about the Memoir essay. I enjoyed Karr’s tone, almost humorous, as she tells us you can’t be afraid to basically be open when you write, “Unless you’re a doubter and a worrier, a nail biter, an apologizer, a rethinker, the memoir is not your play pin.” It’s as if she were saying, you just can’t be a baby about what anyone else is going to think or feel. She says the first step is having a fierce urge to try and re-experience your own mind and body and “throbbing heart alive inside the most vivid stories of your past.” Moore also wrote in his quick tips to not only tell us “why grandma’s lasagna was the best” but also to tell us “layer by layer” to give the reader that insight. I took to heart two things that Karr said and that is: “If you weren’t haunted by those stories you wouldn’t be writing them” and “Nobody can be autonomous in making choices today unless she grasps how she’s being internally yanked around by the stuff that came before.” I found this to be true in the sense that when you’ve been through enough crap you are more than likely smarter or more aware of things for when and if something greater comes by later. Karr says that what may stop us from being truly naked to our readers is hiding behind our egos and myriad masks. Reading her preface inspired me, as I hope inspired every one else, to dive into the sea of my memories and stories. I’m hoping for my scuba fins and knocking myself with my own fist!
ReplyDeleteLisa M Serna
I like that Moore brought up the subject surrounding the use of “I” when writing essays. While some professors still share the notion that the I is some form of taboo in writing, I am glad Moore clears up some doubt many may still have. I too was one of those students who had been hammered into believing that writing "I’s" in essays was something that should never be done. I spent years avoiding personal writing. Now that I am in college, and allowed to freely write in any way I like, I sometimes find it difficult to shift from my proper writing style and creating my own. The memoir sounds like an interesting essay because, while Moore and Karr both say it is not, it is an essay about myself and my experience. My writing will be like a ride that I am inviting the reader to take with me. The memoir, in my opinion, is a personal way of connecting with them and sharing said experiences along the way. Being able to have a deep connection with the readers through writing is something every writer hopes for. I must admit, I have a terrible memory and was a bit concerned when first reading about this topic, but as Moore mentions doing research is a big part of the writing. If there is an event that I want to write about but do not remember it in its entirety, I can ask someone who was there with me about what they remember that I do not.
ReplyDelete-Jennifer Gutierrez
In Dinty Moore’s chapter “Writing the Memoir Essay” he discusses how to write a good memoir. He says that not every personal issue or event is worth writing about and it is important to remove oneself from the role of victim or hero. He also emphasizes how many critics are extremely judgmental over writers who have created a memoir. I did like his advice for ways to start a memoir. Some of the topics he suggested seem a little out there but they do make me think and to think brings curiosity which can only be cured with knowledge, or a story. In reading Mary Karr’s “Preface” a lot of her points were similar to those of Moore, even her mention of Wolcott the criticist. I felt like her point of how a memoir is much more interesting than that of a fictional novel was over written. That is to say that I feel as if the entire preface was consistently saying the same thing over and over again. I do agree that not everyone can adequately write a memoir and it needs more than just events to make it worth reading.
ReplyDeleteSheryl Cavazos
Personally, I enjoy the memoir. I think it is a beautiful means of communication and an even better method of introspection. There is this saying my mother repeats, “en cada cabeza hay un mundo” and I find it to be so very true. Memoir is a way of showing people your world and all of the mysteries it holds. Moore was right in expressing the importance of the “I” because memoir is about the “I”. It is about YOUR experiences and what they reveal (or don’t) about human nature. I find memoir to be the most capable form of writing in terms of achieving catharsis. Memoirs allow for a person’s experience to transcend outside of one’s own “world” and into our collective one and I think Karr sees this and introduces us to the possibilities that are awakened by the retelling of experience. “No matter how self-aware you are, memoir wrenches at your insides precisely because it makes you battle with your very self—your neat analyses and tidy excuses.” I love this because it is the absolute truth; this that Karr is describing is the removal of any and all the facades one adopts and a long hard look at what is uncovered as frightening or beautiful it may be.
ReplyDeleteAndres Trevino
These chapters were to prepare and introduce writing the memoir. I think they were very useful! This way our class was not just thrown into the water without any idea how to swim. It also leaves some excitement about writing the memoir by not giving everything away in the beginning. Karr explaining the memoir as something that can be so incredibly personal is very accurate. Though it is important that was is shared, even if it is so personal, must also be accurate to the best of the writer's abilities!
ReplyDeleteDoris Tolar