Thursday, September 4, 2008
Nguyen's Essay
I’m not saying that I can specifically identify with Nguyen’s student life because mine was incredibly different. I would never even think to write about my schooling because it’s just so typical. I grew up white in a white community in a white public school. I practically lived in a bubble and, obviously, I have never had a problem with being shy. However, there were certain passages that caught my eye. The way they were phrased reminded me of how I felt the same way. “…made me think about college and freedom, and thus made all the years in between disappointing and annoying”(463). Growing up college was never a matter of “if” or “when”, it was always where. Hearing the stories of college from both my parents and living with the freedom they gave me growing up made me very anxious to go off on my own. Ever since I was little I would dream about what it would be like to live in the dorms (or domes as I used to call it). It was a little unusual for a child to want to live on their own, but I’ve always been that way. Anything between now and then has been a little disappointing. As if they didn’t live up to the visions in my head. Now, I know that’s not what she meant when she was thinking about college and freedom, but on some level I think that everyone can identify with her feelings. That was one thing she did well in her essay. She conveyed her feelings in a way that everyone could identify with. She also condensed her essay to include just enough information and facts to give you a good picture of her life and where she is coming from.
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3 comments:
Hey Oli, It's tough to comment on your post because you commented on Nguyens piece differently. Which is cool, to get a different point of view on a different level. After a while it gets old everyone mentioning how they all have their shy moments and gold star moments in school. The whole quote about college and what not is really good because you were able to see the communal relevance, that other people might not have understood, me being one of them. That was good how you could connect that back to the story and be able to find the deeper meaning of what Nguyen was trying to say.
What you posses is a very distinct authentic voice, which you have the ability to really sell a story. You put a lot of emotion and details and passion into telling a story that you make it entertaining and readers want to know what's next. That is what I get atleast reading your story and having conversations with you!
Hey Olivia I really liked Nguyen story but I liked the fact more that you stated that you could not exactly relate to Nguyen. I like hearing from your prospective hearing how it was for you in school. I liked how you said that even though you didn’t relate to the story directly you thought that every related to the story in some small way even if they are not ethnic. As you stated you grew up in a way that was completely different. Even though you grew up different you could still relate to the story teller because of her feelings toward college. Yours and hers seemed to be very similar. I like how you focused the feeling aspect to things in the story.
I really like the way that you went about looking at the essay. Your view was much different than others but I can totally see where you are coming from. I think that I can relate to the same things you can. I also had the where I was going to go decision not the if or when. I think that the way you described her experience and the way that you were able to relate to it was very well written. I also relate very much so to being the average white girl in a white school. I agree with you that se wrote her story in a way that everyone would find a way to relate to it. It was a very well written story and you had somet great observations.
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