Size 6: The Western Women's Harem by Fatema Mernisi

Fatema  Mernisi is morocco feminist. This story is about Mernisi going to a department store and the department store lady told her that she only had size 6. She became very angry and did not understand why they only carried to size six. At the start of reading this I could tell its going to be about a women’s life. I was not very excited but after reading this it has been good. I could see why she was so worked up about how western women are so small. Most morocco women have to hide their face and the have to live in harem. A harem is a forbidden for men to go there. Women in western countries have to care more about their bodies then Muslims. American Women are sometimes the most scrutinized because of Hollywood and all the actors being so skinny. That pressures women to lose weight and look good. You could tell Fatema wrote this in a very feminist way. In the end I did like the story even though it was about boring stuff I don’t care about. It had a good story line and was very interesting to read. Women should not be criticized for what they look like. 

A Man Who Was Mean to His Dog by: Anne Lamott

I like this story by Anne Lamott even though it is about a man who hurt his dog really bad in front a whole bunch of people. I liked the way that Anne Lamott wrote, she really drew me in. the man who hurt his dog needs to go to jail, that is such an immoral thing to do to an animal. In the story, Sam’s mother learned something from what she witnessed. For a moment, she felt extremely vulnerable and she did not want her son, Sam, to see her in that state. She wanted him to see her as a strong woman and she felt terrible for not speaking up when she had the chance. She had an epiphany in the middle of all of what was going on. She realized that everyone is loved for who they are even though that may not be fair sometimes. When I see that dog getting hit, I imagined my own dog getting hit and that hurt. I would never let anyone touch an animal like that if I had control over it. That is unbelievable. That dog did nothing to deserve that. Anne Lamott is a great author and I really liked her writing style. 

The Price We Pay By Adam Mayblum

I liked this reading a lot. It brought back memories on what had happened on that terrible day. The author, Adam Mayblum did a very good job on this essay. He did use a lot of short sentences which made me read it faster. After I was done reading it I realized that the author’s main purpose was to inform the audience about a personal account of what happened on 9/11. This can be considered as a narration because it was a personal account of an event. There were a lot of fragmented sentences in this essay but I still understood what the author was trying to convey.  He was trying to convey that the hijackers did not terrorize America but rather united America. I was not expecting to be reading this from the title; the title misleads you into thinking it will be about something different in my opinion. The author did a good job in creating a mental picture of the events that took place. It really felt like I was there with him running down those stairs of tower 1. In the end, I really learned a lot from this reading. I learned that life should be treasured more. 

 

Once more to the lake by E.B. White

I did not like this reading it was too hard to understand and read. The author put way too many things in on sentence which just made it difficult comprehend what he was trying to convey. Other than that I thought it was good story line. E.B. White is an educated man I can tell by his schooling and the number of his successful books. Some of his most successful are Stuart Little, and Charlotte’s web. These books are some of the most famous children books. Some of White’s metaphors do not make sense like when he compares putting cold swim trunks on to the “chill of death”.  I can relate to going to the lake in Maine because as a kid my dad every summer would take me to the same lake in Michigan. I have some of the same memories as White does like getting up early to go fishing in the lake before everyone gets up. Some of White’s sentences are so long and have too much going on that I just get lost and after I don’t understand his point. In my opinion White was nauseatingly descriptive. Even though he was too descriptive It was a good reading.

Shitty First Drafts by Anne Lamott

I was very skeptical about this reading because of its name, but after reading it I’ve realized that everyone if going to have a shitty first draft. Anne Lamott says the first draft is the child’s draft, where you just let the information just pour out and not worry if it’s not coherent. She explains that even professional writers have first drafts. Anne herself has trouble writing that first draft. Almost all good writing begins with terrible first drafts. She refers to the first draft as a down draft second as the up draft and the third as the dental draft. That’s a great way of putting it I think. Anne learned from being a food columnist that you can never have a good paper without having a crappy first draft. Lamott suggests that we should ignore the voices that are in our heads and put them in a mason jar for safe keepings. After reading this I’m not as worried about writing my next paper because I’ve learned that everyone worries. So I should stop worrying and just get something down on the paper. I thought Anne was funny the way she put everything. It made this reading more interesting to me.