SFD- January 19th, 2017

Shitty First Drafts by Anne Lamott was a passage that I felt I could directly relate to.
Anne wrote without a sense of boundaries; reading this passage felt less like I was
reading an assigned composition and more like I was actually talking to Anne, candid and
unfiltered. She wrote with honesty and humor, directly addressing the not always talked
about truths of writing compositions and rewriting them, and sometimes, writing them
again. She was blunt in the fact that she stated that "very few writers actually know what
they're doing until they've done it". That statement resonates with me as a college student,
learning and growing with my writing. Sometimes it feels like I have no idea what is
going on with my composition, or everything just does not seem right, but then reality
strikes again and I realize that most of my peers are probably experiencing the same exact
feelings that I am. This further validates Anne's statement- we are all learning here and to
truly understand and grow as writers we must go through trial and error in order to come
out of the situation as better writers. The language that Anne used throughout her essay
was unique in the sense that her tone, syntax and word choice were unlike what you
would normally expect. She used a lot of dry humor throughout the passage making her
funny and easy to relate to. Anne's sentences were somewhat informal; they were long,
but it went hand in hand with the tone of the essay. Anne chose to name her piece "Shitty
First Drafts", which in itself was unconventional and unexpected. I feel that the title in
itself set the precedent for the whole essay, letting the reader know the type of author that
Anne is and what was to be expected.

Van Goh v. Berham- January 24th, 2017

Vincent Van Goh composed the painting of Dr. Gachet, a man with his hand on his face
who looks to be sad or depressed. Just by looking at Dr. Gachet, you can almost hear him
sigh. Supplementary to the portrait of the man, there are flowers in a vase on the table
next to him that look to be tired and wilted, matching the expression on Dr. Gachet's face.
The backgrounds of the portrait are tones of blues, blacks and greys, which support the
aura of sadness and gloominess.

Electroboy is a memoir written by Andy Berhman documenting the events of his life.
Berhman writes about his deep mental illnesses, going in depth with his battle of acute
bipolar disorder and depression.

Both composers, though different in their own respects, are quite the same. Both Van
Goh and Berhman have deep-rooted mental issues, but they composition as an outlet to
alleviate some of the pain and suffering they experience. Composing can certainly act as
a form of therapy for both of these artists, but it can also have its drawbacks. If left
unmonitored it can become destructive to both the composers and the readers if it gets to
be too dark.
Eating Animals- January 26th, 2017

"To remember my values, I need to lose certain tastes and find other handles for
memories that they once helped me carry." (Pg. 680)

Jonathon Safran Foer gives the readers some insight into his childhood upbringing; sushi
lunch dates with his mother, backyard celebrations where his father grills turkey burgers
or his grandmother's very own recipe for chicken and carrots. He explains to us that,
while all of those things are fond memories, they are just that-- memories.

Foer gets us to understand his view that there are things in this world that take priority
over the want of humans and uses this as his reasoning for raising his children as
vegetarians. In this sense, l completely agree with Foer; the way that animals are treated
just so the humans can have the pleasure of consuming them is terrible, and as the author
states, would be considered illegal if those actions were done to a dog or a cat.