Blog #5 Why We Crave Horror Movies

I chose to write about the article about Stephan King, and why we crave horror movies. This is my favorite article so far, I found it very interesting because I am somewhat of a horror buff myself. This article starts off by saying, "I think that we're all mentally ill;those of us outside the asylums only hide it a little better." Then later in the article it says, "If we are all insane, then sanity becomes a matter of degree." I think the point of that is saying that we are all just crazy, but the ones who hide it are the ones who are a part of society! When I think deeper into this, I believe it is the root of all horror movies. Why do we pursue and watch these movies? They convey the insanity, disorder, and hysteria that modern day society can't. The world may not be a perfect place, but it certainly isn't as corrupt as some of the movies that are made. They make us think and ponder.... "Hmm what if the world was this bad," Or "What makes this Non-Fiction to how the world really is." The article then goes into why we watch these movies. The article promotes the fact that we do it because we want to show that we are simply not afraid. I believe that this is true, but also that some of us do it because we are afraid, we want to overcome these fears maybe. Some of also just like the feeling of being afraid. There are so many different aspects as to why we crave these horror movies.

Blog #4 Malcolm X

For blog #4 I decided to write about Malcolm X and his "Literacy Behind Bars." In this article, Malcolm X describes his experience in a Boston prison and how it transformed him into the Pan-American advocate that he was famous for. Malcolm begins by the article by saying that prison was the best thing that he could have ever done. Malcolm X improved his penmanship and his vocabulary by constantly copying the dictionary word for word, and reading it word for word. He eventually copied the whole entire dictionary into his tablet, and made reading and writing his life in the prison. This seems so surreal to me, with what the world has now. Malcolm X went from hardly reading into a famous intricate voice in America. Present day we have tutors, teachers, and resources. All Malcolm had was books in a prison. In the article Malcolm X says, "Up to then, I never been so free in my life." I loved this quote because I feel like educating himself gave him the strength to keep going and free himself from his mind. He took himself somewhere else. He becomes so intensely obsessed with books, he hardly sleeps, and he reads in the dark. He finds a sanctuary in prison. I never understood why Malcolm X was such an inspiration and so highly regarded. But it certainly makes sense to me now. He went through difficult times and changed history with his own struggles and strength.

Blog #3 Shitty First Drafts

Wow! This article makes me feel so much better about writing a first draft! This article is taken from author, Anne Lamott, and her book Bird by Bird. The depiction is intended to give anyone the courage to write a first draft. Better yet it is much better to get that crappy first draft out. That no matter how terrible it is, you have to get it out on the table. Lamott makes a great reference, she says, "The first draft is the child's draft." She then goes into detail about this by saying just go with every childish inner thought you have. But why start a first draft with the thought that you know it will be atrocious? Well, because almost always you learn from your mistakes. And when you roll around to the second draft you'll know exactly what to do. This makes sense to me, there has been many times where I have sat down to write an essay. A one time, get an A+ on the first shot kind of essay. It's nerve wrecking and could take hours. So why not write a crappy essay really fast and have the second come out better? Sounds good to me. Anne Lamott says in her book, " You need to start somewhere, get anything down on paper." This was a great article to start out a Writing 095 class with. 

Blog #2 The Price of Reading Is Eternal Vigilance

In this weeks reading, " The Price of Reading Is Eternal Vigilance" we meet a 53 year old editor of The Book Review named Anatole Broyard. He begins the article by noting that he is just learning to read. He then begins going through his certain attributes that he has acquired through his respect for books. He explains that, " He saw them as absolutes, faits accomplis, and nonnegotiable." The way that it crossed me is that Broyard was almost afraid to read these books that he bought and kept immaculate and clean in his home. It is interesting to see the perspective of someone who is just beginning to read at an older age, since so many of us learn to read at a very young age, none of us can recall what it was like when we started. Broyard begins to tell us that when he purchases a book it is solemnly and completely his to do with what he pleases. He "Opens it, occupies, and stomps around in it." He certainly overcomes his fears of ruining or mistreating any of the authors words. He puts himself entirely as one with the reading, he argues with the author, he even visualizes that the book has a voice. I really loved the way that Anatole Broyard came to the conclusion that every book, good or bad had something good you could get from it. All you have to do is read it properly and it could be a great piece of writing.

Blog #1 Introductions are in order!

Autumn Lyman~

Hello fellow Writing 095 class. I'll start out with a little bit about myself, I moved here to Eugene about a year ago from sunny LA California. I moved here right out of High School in hopes of putting myself in a challenging and new environment. I can be very shy and reserved at times and I was hoping by making myself extremely uncomfortable in a complete new state I could break my shell! So far, I have met some really great people as well as grown fond of Oregon quite a bit. My favorite part is escaping the immense heat in California. In my twenty years of life, I have accumulated many likes and dislikes. I enjoy photography, watching horror movies, and eating anything with chocolate in it. My kitty holds a special place in my heart, music can always cheer up any mood that I have. My fascinations include: Zombies, fashion, books, tattoos, and owls. My dislikes include: (Beware of weirdness) The smell of wet dog, sunburns, weird words such "Lukewarm", and constant cracking of body parts. I also dislike rhetorical questions, country music, people who stare, and hypocrites. I look forward to our class! :-)