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- Reading responses must be AT LEAST 250 words.
- Include your full name at the end of your comments. Unnamed comments will be deleted.
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- Reading responses are due by 10pm on the day PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading.
In this chapter Karr has tips for dealing with writing about people that are close to you. She does this by telling her own story and showing that she was open about hers even though it was not necessarily a story that someone would be super trilled to tell. Like Karr I think we all have stories we do not want to share openly with other people, but if we choose to share we should tell events honestly. Karr has a few points on perspective and how we should advise the reader how much of your point of view is subjective, or when we are making a guess at someone else’s point of view we should not act as an authority. She also advises to consider how your point of view may be wrong when writing. Not always have we be right or will be all the time in the future and letting the reader know you may have been wrong, or definitely were wrong, will give them a better impression of you as a person and writer. When someone cannot admit they are wrong it is very bothersome and a reader will definitely pick up on this. The Ferguson chapters were eye opening. Living here in the Valley close to the border you hear many stories about border crossing, but I have never heard accounts such as the ones Ferguson wrote about. Also she really puts her experience into perspective when she mentions numbers of deaths and the numbness associated with hearing many similar stories. Experiencing that aspect of the border first hand is something that definitely would be life changing for many.
ReplyDelete-Jesus Alexis Prado
While I do agree that approval of others is sometimes necessary when writing, I do not completely agree with Karr’s methods. I feel like they are going above and beyond when it comes to the people they are including in their memoir. If I am going to write about an event that just so happen to include others who were not quite on board with me including them in my writing, I would still do so. I would alter their names and slightly change their characteristics, because, after all, it is creative non-fiction. If I ever did decide to write a memoir and thought about getting it published, I do not think I would ask for other people’s permission or send them any of my drafts. I feel like that is just an unnecessary thing to do because, even though Karr has been lucky, many may run into the problem of others denying use of themselves into a story. I was hoping Ferguson’s chapters would continue being a bit more interesting, but in all honestly I kept getting lost. I had no idea what Ferguson was talking about until half way into chapter 14.I liked how Ferguson describes her experience with the border and how she included facts and details of the border. What I do not really see though is how Karr’s chapter goes hand in hand with these chapters. That kind of threw me off when reading but then again, Ferguson’s chapters are all pretty hard to keep up with in general.
ReplyDelete-Jennifer Gutierrez
In this chapter Karr talked about the difficulty of writing about the real people in your life. I have thought about this particular matter a lot because I feel like honesty is important in writing but so is the privacy of those who may not want to be in your story. Karr explains how she generally sticks to three ways of handling this situation. She notifies them in advance and gives them a chance to shoot the idea down. She keeps the pages about them private until she is done with the piece. In the end she send her work to all those involved before printing. Karr also states that she personally doesn’t write about people she dislikes which probably saves on a lot of awkward conversations. I find it therapeutic to write about upsetting events but in that case I think believe changing the name or certain details wouldn’t be too hard for me. I wouldn’t want to give them the benefit of being in my story anyway. Another important thing Karr talked about while on the topic of honesty was to write what really happened even if you were wrong. It may be hard to write from the perspective of someone else but you should speak with authority when explaining the opinion of someone else. If you don’t agree simply brush over what their opinion was and move on without explanation. I think that there is a very fine line between telling a story and simply disrespecting someone through your writing. Like Karr said, never use jargon to describe someone, the description of someone should go into way more detail than simply calling a character in you piece an alcoholic. I didn’t really see any reflection of this in Ferguson’s chapter but in her book she has yet to describe anyone bitterly enough to notice.
ReplyDeleteOlivia Hinojosa
I liked Karr’s chapter. I found it refreshing the way that she tied in her memoirs to convey her point. To be honest, I think I was much more interested in Karr’s memoirs than Ferguson’s chapters. Karr’s advice on how to handle publishing sensitive information relative to your loved ones was practical though I think in my case it is not of particular relevance. I don’t enjoy publishing deeply personal work. I do enjoy creating imaginative variations of my own experiences or observations so I think if I stay under the umbrella of fiction I won’t have to worry about offending anyone close to me. Though I feel that if I ever do find myself in a situation in which I must reveal some dark truth that could offend or destroy reputations, I won’t shy away from doing just so. I do think it is respectful to notify the party before such publication occurs but I would not ask for permission to speak my truth. “If you had to live it, you get to write it.”
ReplyDeleteFerguson’s chapters were actually enjoyable. The border scene had enough tension to drive the story forward in a higher gear than previous chapters. I wish there were more movement in the story similar to these two chapters.
Andres Trevino
The shortest Karr chapter we've read this far! It has an important topic, though: how a writer should deal with writing about loved ones (specifically loved ones, not your enemies) in the real world outside the memoir. Karr even gives a list of advice to prepare loved ones for what might go out into the world and be read by complete strangers. Karr also reminds readers that though the writer might remember an event a certain way, their point-of-view maya in fact be incorrect. Because of this, it is important to strive to be as accurate as possible and consider what loved ones may remember about events written in a memoir.
ReplyDeleteThis chapter does give an extra perspective on Ferguson's memoir. It also makes writing about loved ones seem not only painful for those that read the memoir, but also possibly dangerous in Ferguson's case. Though she changed some facts and names, she did also include quite a bit of information on her friends. She also included a picture of a priest who helped immigrants. Are they safe?
Doris Tolar
This particular chapter helped me with an issue I am facing at the moment. Including someone in your memoir. The chapter was short, sweet, and to the point. Karr states that everyone remembers a certain event differently and in their own perspective. She also states that it might be best contacting the person you are including in your story to make sure you have all the information correct. Although it's difficult for me to contact the person I'm writing about in my memoir, since we're not on speaking terms, this chapter helped me with making sure I'm stating the facts, despite it being difficult. Ferguson's chapter wasn't that intriguing, no surprise there. Although she states at the beginning of the book that she changes some names due to privacy, the fact that she included the picture of the priest that would help illegals contradicts the privacy stated.
ReplyDeleteMayela Montenegro
I really wish I would have read the chapter when I was supposed to just to engage in the class discussion. Karr's chapter was great and personal. She opens with saying how dealing with family matters varies greatly. I know that personally I do not like to come forward and openly share the issues that I have with my family. Karr suggests that maybe this has to do with gender. It is common and almost historical to see men kill their fathers and have sex with their mothers. But when women talk about issues in their family relationships it seems to taint their femininity and make them seem masculine. Women should have the same freedom to express their situations whether they are sexual or just personal. I really liked the list she gave towards the end of the chapter as well. I though number 3 was beautifully put, "If you're writing about somebody you hate, do it with great love." Sounds like something straight from the Bible! I was thinking about writing about somebody I met and instantly clashed with in my travel essay but I felt that I did not really know how to without coming across like a complete jerk. I also felt that writing about my conflict with this particular person would make me seem less feminine and rude. Thanks to Karr I am going to confidently "drag out the dirty laundry" in my essay and not give a rats ass.
ReplyDeleteM. Sarah Sanchez
In Karr’s chapter 12, “Dealing with Beloveds (on and off the page) “ she discusses how to go about informing people in your memoir, that they are in your memoir. I think this is very important in the sense that if you’re going to have someone discussed in your story, it’s best to at least give them a heads up. I think it’s true that we all remember the same interaction differently because we all have different ideas and emotions towards certain things. I’ve talked about memories with my siblings and they’ll end up recounting a completely different story but we were all there and we all experienced the same thing. So something that could have been traumatic for someone, could feel completely different to someone else even if they were right next to you. So in order to get everything down right, it’d be preferable if one was to get both sides of the story just to fact check. But again, it’s your own story, so in the end its about what side you want to tell. For example, in Ferguson’s chapters, she is writing about her own experience and what she felt and saw and how she perceived it. We don’t know the full story but we are experiencing what she herself went through, through her own eyes.
ReplyDeleteMonica Casanova
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ReplyDeleteKarr talks about being aware of when we are writing about loved ones. She mentions notifying them in advance and sending your writing out to them before publishing. I would only tell the people whom I am writing about that I am writing about a certain incident and my thoughts, perspective and feelings. There is a few I have no contact with, so I am unsure as to how to go about that or if I should since “justice” has not been served. I guess it’s okay to write about my stores just for class and me for now and worry about the legal stuff later. I want to also learn to just write out the events without giving a name or title to my “offenders” and “kind friends” and let the readers decide for themselves. As far as Ferguson she does talk about the trails, and incident of finding bones and also a priest who helped immigrants. Going back to Karr’s piece, I wonder is Ferguson told the priest she would be writing about him and if it were okay and if anything would affect him for that or if he is still around?
ReplyDeleteLisa Marie Serna