KY2L Final Thoughts

The concept that lead to the book is quite clever: trying to figure out why musicians become so much more famous after their death. And I understand that along the way of his actual trip it became much more than just a roadtrip for a magazine article- hence the reason for pursuing the idea for a book. But with all the references to the 'ladies' in his life, I feel the book becomes more of a quest to figure out his life rather than the deaths of other. Don't get me wrong, it was an easy read (and I am all about easy reads for college classes) but part of me is still trying to understand how this book ultimately ties into this creative writing course. And, as previously discussed in class, I was lost a lot of the time when he made references to certain songs that I was not familiar with. For example: I was really lost when he was relating the women in his life to certain songs. I wanted to understand how he was describing him, but I could not make the connection for I was unfamiliar the mentioned songs. Now I know I could probably look up the songs in order to better understand some of the texts, but with as many songs and bands as Chuck mentions, it would be something I was constantly doing making the book more of a hassle than an enjoyment.
Overall, I'd say it was a good book, but with the generations only getting older, I do not know how much longer this book is going to last for the future students of this class.

KY2L Pg. 141-194

Who buys $1,000 glasses for themselves, let alone ones they do not want? And his other reasons for buying them- (1) to avoid an argument (2) to avoid a further excursion to other eyeglass stores and (3) to get laid- do not help the opinion I already have of this Chuck Klosterman. The whole decision just sounds ridiculous- more so because of his reasonings behind it- but after getting a sense of the person he his from reading his book, I can see how he would make a choice like that.

The brief section where Body Integrity Identity Disorder was mentioned caught my intention. I never knew a disorder such as this existed or that anyone could ever be compelled to mutilate their body by chopping off limbs. It was odd and grotesque to say the least.

I did enjoy his elaborate telling of the night he spent with his Nemesis and Uma Thurman. The fact that all night he thought something was going to happen between him and the girl and then nothing ever did. Just another example of how his life seems to be driven by (a) music and (b) believing that every girl wants him (or maybe that's just the vibe I was getting from the book.)

Did anyone else get taken back by the $160 a month apartment he use to rent?

PostSecret

I was absolutely fascinated by this site and the idea behind it. (Makes me wish I would have thought of it.) I noticed that it seems to have evolved artistically from the simplicity of writing on a post card to writing on NetFlix envelopes and photographs. It was very interesting to see how people have taken a base idea and transformed it as their own- sometimes helping to reflect their secret concretely and other times abstractly.

At my college we have a bulletin board inspired by PostSecret. One day a photograph of a sunset was posted. Written across the photo in white ink it said "sometimes I wonder if anyone would care if I didn't wake up in the morning".

A few weeks later another photograph was posted. This was a photo of a sunrise. In white ink it said "yes, I would". . . I wish I could tell the person "thank-you" because the sunset was mine.

After reading this, I sat for a while because it was profoundly moving. I wonder if the creators of this project ever imagined the effect they would have on others all through just sharing a secret on a post card.

A Brief Companionship (Limerick)

A snake and a mouse became friends.

A bond no one could comprehend.

But once dinner came,

Things weren’t quite the same.

The friendship had come to an end.

This Past Week...

Welp, I have a lot more going on in my life this week than a a few weeks ago. My grandma has been in the hospital for the past week. Her progress has been up and down. One day she's doing fine, and the next she's on life support. There's no need to feel bad. She's 93 years old and has been trucking along like a trooper. I would say she has lived a long, fulfilled life. This past weekend my brother was admitted into the hospital. He was diagnosed with a staph infection in his leg. The hospital tested the infection, and it in fact, returned positive for MRSA. He spent the entire weekend hooked to an IV that fed antibiotic through his system. After disinfecting the whole house, washing sheets and towels, and throwing out the bar soap, he is home recovering. My aunt and cousin from Oregon arrived in town on Saturday to visit for the week since grandma (her mom) is not doing too well so we have opened up our house to them to stay at. All and all, I'd say its been nothing short of boring for the past couple of days.

Here's to a snow day on Wednesday!!! Wear your pajamas inside out for me Tuesday night!!!!

Winter Haikus

Bitter, cold night wind.
Blowing with no sympathy
and unforgiving.
__________________________________________

Softly flowing down,
white ice crystals from the sky
blanketing the ground.

Four Poem Picks

My First Best Friend by Jack Prelutsky kind of reminds me of a Shel Silverstein poem. It was playful, humorous, and had a punch line at the end, reminding me of last week's class discussion.

The Dancer by David Tucker evoked me to visualize an image while I was reading. This was a poem I re-read a few times in order to make sure I understood each line. There was one line that particularly appealed to me. Tucker described the dancer spinning as 'a blue rose on a nail,'- The blue pertaining to the color leotard the dancer was wearing which the author informed the reader of in the beginning of the poem.

Summer Job by Richard Hoffman was a piece that I could not understand how it was considered poetry. It seemed more like paragraph exert from a book. As my schooling went on, I became more familiar with many different types of poems- free verse, non-rhyming, distinctive line structures- but this particular poem caught me off guard. The entire verse is dialogue from one person. I feel like it had an underlying message, but I had a hard time figuring it out.

The Catch by A.E. Stallings I feel might still have me puzzled. When I first read it, certain lines in the poem made me think that it was about a husband and a wife who had a child and the child was putting a strain on their relationship. Then I re-read it and felt that maybe it was not that simple to understand (poems always have me critically analyzing them since they can be so complex at times.) Other lines did not fit with my interpretation. However, I still feel as though the poem is about a couple who is struggling with their relationship. What that struggle may be, I have not yet determined. Or maybe my original interpretation was correct and I am just over thinking it...