Here are the guidelines:
- Reading responses must be AT LEAST 200 words.
- Include your full name at the end of your comments. Unnamed comments will be deleted.
- From the "Comment As" drop-down menu, choose Anonymous, then click "Publish."
- Reading responses are due by midnight on the night PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading.
I enjoyed Moore’s “On a Regular Routine” and Ufberg’s “The American Diner at Age 143” because they created a similar feeling for me. To better explain that, I do sit down and write everyday whether it be 30 mins a day or multiple hours a day. While Ufberg’s was a more emotional and sentimental value to me. A diner is a diner is a diner. It’s a routine. The waitress at the end when she says that she knows what the customers are going to order before they even sit down… There is a place in Edcouch called Leroys Chicken and Burgers which my dad and I have ALWAYS gone to. This dates back to when I was ten years old to just last week. My father used to pay for my orders and now I am the one who orders and pays. As soon as we sit the waitress says “The usual?” which is sweet tea and fried chicken. It isn’t a diner but what I think makes a diner a diner is the memories and routine. Both of the readings brings out something that I can relate to and I think that’s why I enjoyed them. I enjoy things that I can relate to rather than what I do not know.
ReplyDelete-Marco Garza
We all know that the first think we write as an and any assignment will always be a first , second and maybe even a third draft. That is the beauty of it when, you get to see where you made your mistakes and you can go back and change them instead of turning it in the first time. There is no shame in being wring the first time around or writing something wrong and missing a coma here and there. “On becoming an excellent Rewriter” Moore speaks of this and gives us examples of not only writers but painters as well. We work tirelessly on our writing and sometimes we will have to go back and change a few things. In Johnson’s Article we read and get to know the background of the Gumbo and its origins, as well as its significance to the New Orleans culture. Which is very interesting in the way that this is something Johnson might have taken hours or even days to review. Going hand in hand with Moore’s writing of revision.
ReplyDelete-Christina Velasquez
I really liked the lesson Moore gave us about the child, the adult, and the parent. I never thought about it that way but that it is in a way how I write. I like to sit down and get all the thoughts out before I start making any decisions about what works and what doesn't. Unfortunately I don't follow Moore's advice about leaving the parent silent until the very end and I often criticize myself throughout the whole process. In Johnsons essay about gumbo he tells us the evolution of his cooking technique and why it has changes so frequently over 20 years. I really loved Johnson's essay because I could relate to it. My mom had never made tamales until I was about 16. It has become a tradition of ours to make them every christmas (much like everyone else). The first few years they came out terrible but we have gotten better.
ReplyDeleteDawn Bustamante
Moore’s “On Becoming an Excellent Rewriter” is a solid description on how individuals should go about revise their work fully and wholeheartedly instead of simply changing a few things. He approaches this with the introduction of three viewpoints, which are the child, parent, and adult. These viewpoints are mindsets writers should take on when looking at their work with fresh eyes. According to Moore, we should uphold these forms of writing as they allow us to dig deep and change things we would not usually change. If we did not dig this deep, out writing would suffer, as we would look past what could be changed.
ReplyDeleteJohnson’s “Everyday Sacred: a Personal Path to Gumbo” is an excellent example of how Moore’s advice could be refined into an actual way of thinking and mind process. In his accounts, Johnson explains the lengths he goes through in order to perfectly create a brand of gumbo that he considers his own. By doing this, he is constantly changing is own recipe by adding ingredients given to him by others, which causes his own brand to evolve. Overall, he realizes that this how to create things that are past your own expectations. He states, “No matter what you think you know, keep on asking questions”. This fits how own work, and expresses the ideal Moore describes when revising one’s own creation.
David Leal
A friend of mine had written a paper for his English 1301 sometime back called "Revision as a Process." This paper resonated with me because I agree that revision is an important aspect of writing that I feel that most beginners overlook. Moore goes into detail about how become a good revisionist can help the narrative of your writing. This goes beyond just grammar and syntax and into the writing as a whole. Revision is often saved after a writing, once all ideas have been translated from mind into text and then revised at a later date when those ideas can be optimized. "A Personal Path to Gumbo" goes through the revision process as the author, Johnson, speaks of perfecting his recipe. This can be used as an analogy to our own writing and how the ideas we convey are the ingredients and the narrative as a whole as the finished product, in this case, the gumbo. While certain ingredients may sound good on paper it may not work out in practice. As such revision is important as certain ideas initially presented in your story may sound great but may actually be redundant/unnecessary once it has been revised with a fresh mind.
ReplyDelete-Eutimio Longoria-
Moore's chapter comes at a time when I am struggling to find the energy to revise the many papers/stories I have to turn in this semester. That being said, Moore is, once again, right. But what's new? I was glad to see that Moore made the distinction between copyediting and revising. Of course, he's right: copyediting is important as well, but in my opinion, revising will rank as the more important task at hand. One because copyediting is inherently mixed into revising and two because copyediting is something that any random person could do on my writing. It's often easier for other people to catch my little mistakes than it is for me, even with the help of a word processor. Revising is much harder. Johnson’s piece reminded me of all the times that my dad has cooked for me. He doesn’t make gumbo very often, but when he does, its spiciness rivals my grandma’s habanero salsa. Plainly, it’s amazing. And so is Johnson’s piece. His reworking of a gumbo recipe is literally the same thing as revising an essay/paper/story/etc. only in an edible form (which is better, in my opinion). I love what he says at the end, though, about asking others for the small nuances of their own recipes despite having perfected his personal one. I love to ask my friends, professors, and family to read my work so that I can have different opinions. Each of those groups knows me in a different way and they react to those differences. I like being able to see what they pick and choose and then use that advice (or not) to better my own writing.
ReplyDelete- Angie Acuna
Moore’s chapter, “On Becoming An Excellent Rewriter” was enjoyable. I mean I agree with what he says, I’ve started writing something that quickly amounts to 5 pages in one sitting and then as I go back it becomes less, maybe 3 pages but then it grows into something bigger as new ideas come to mind. During my first year as an English major I took a Creative Writing class. I had to write everyday, had to keep a journal. Sometimes the things I wrote during this time, I did not come to like and yet some of the things I did write then have now become something I take pride in. Even if I was tired from work and school I made it a point to sit down and write. Shifting focus, the food essay, “ Everyday Sacred: A Personal Path to Gumbo” by Pableaux Johnson was interesting. I’m not a fan of seafood yet this does not mean I’m not willing to give it a try. Reading this did not make me hungry, like most readings do. I honestly didn’t know what Gumbo was, I’ve heard of the word but never connected it to something, a mental picture. I googled it and it looked appetizing just not for me and yet when it got to the turkey part I was appalled. I hate turkey. Nope I will not eat it, tried it, didn’t like it and won’t eat it again. Made me even less hungry as I read.
ReplyDeleteAlejandra Rodriguez
Pableaux Johnson’s “Everyday Sacred: A Personal Path to Gumbo” follows the author as he breaks down to us the process of cooking gumbo, going into ridiculous detail when it comes to describing the many ingredients that go into making this meal. Unlike the last food essay, Johnson goes full force in detailing the subject of his essay (the gumbo) and how he changes it from time to time. That was probably one of the things I liked the most about this essay as it really did make me want to try gumbo someday just because of how Johnson describes it. As for Moore’s “Becoming an Excellent Rewriter”, he does bring up some good points when it comes to revising essays and equates it to painters going back repeatedly to correct their mistakes. The TA Approach is something Moore brings up in the chapter when talking about revision, which is separated into three sections: the child, the adult, and the parent. This is basically a theory that we all have three modes of thinking which are the childish wonder you exhibit when creating, the adult logic you use to find rationality, and the critical perspective of a parent when looking for improvement.
ReplyDeleteNarciso Garcia Jr.
Moore’s “On becoming an excellent rewriter” and Johnson’s “Everyday sacred: A personal Path to Gumbo.” Are both similar in terms of the routine. For example: In Johnson’s essay, he talks about the journey that he had through the years learning and perfecting the sacred art of making gumbo. While Moore’s essay is on revising, editing, rewriting, or perfecting your writing or essays. If I had to choose which one was my favorite I would have to choose Johnson’s essay on gumbo only because I can relate to perfecting some sort of cuisine. My cuisine that I learned and am perfecting as we speak is brisket. Now brisket here in the valley… well the state of Texas, is a cuisine. A delicacy and one that I recently learned from my father and I am continuing to perfect today. Moore’s essay was interesting to say the least. I thought it was boring because I for one do not like to rewrite my entire story or essays or papers. I speed read and fix things here and there or I have others read my stuff and input their opinions to better prepare for critics such as the professors.
ReplyDelete-Marco Garza
Moore’s chapter “On becoming an Excellent Rewriter” he goes on explaining the world to revising and essay. To be honest is hard to look back at your work and read it all over again, but it’s even more fascinating when you go back and think of better ideas that could be implemented and others that could go away. To rewrite is to go back with a clear mindset and to see possibilities rather than mistakes. When you rewrite something, you make it better and better isn’t necessarily just comas and fragments, but it’s more of the central idea. Is the central idea of what I’m saying getting across? I’m I resonating with the audience? It becomes something greater rather than just words on a paper. The moment that it starts to become something more than just words in paper is when you as a person connects with the audience. That connection is something that can’t be under looked. In “A Personal Path to Gumbo” he does that he paints the picture so vivid with just words. He connects to the audience and even if you don’t like gumbo you get to experience it through just words. He takes revising a recipe like revising an essay in order to make it better. This were great readings.
ReplyDelete- Abigail Vasquez
I have to agree with Moore after reading “On becoming an excellent writer”. We don’t always get what we want during our first few drafts and that’s perfectly fine. Through revision, we as writers will be able to polish our thoughts or even correct them so that the audience can see what we are trying to paint for them. Constantly revising to improve our work may be tedious, but if anything it is necessary to improve our work. What I really liked was how he broke down revision into 3 stages: the child, adult, and the parent. On top of that he reinforces the stages with explanations to help in understanding the reasoning behind why he labeled the stages the way he did. Once I had finished reading, “Everyday Sacred: A Personal Path to Gumbo’ by Pableaux Johnson, I could see how Moore’s reading tied in. Mr. Johnson had sought to better his gumbo and was at a constant state of revision for his own recipe. There seems to be no end in revision for Mr. Johnson as he only envisions himself improving. It is surprising how dedicated Mr. Johnson is to his work after countless revisions. I do think what Moore talks about revision can be applied outside of writing. Mr. Johnson’s experience is a perfect example of how it can be applied outside of writing.
ReplyDelete-Benito Reyes
In Moores essay "On Becoming an Excellent Rewriter" he focuses on explaining how important revision is. I really liked how towards the end of the read he breaks it down to three different aspects of ourselves, which are the child, the adult, and the parent. I thought it was a great way to kind of break things down because I had never even thought of it that way. As a writer I feel like at times its hard to get rid of areas of your work that don't seem to fit. There are also times where I can honestly say that I don't even want to reread my work, but if I understand that if i were to ever want publish any work that it is important that I do so, so that I am able to revise and polish my work. In Pableaux Johnson’s “Everyday Sacred: A Personal Path to Gumbo” This essay was great to read. He explains the importance of gumbo and the process, and ingredients that go into it. Throughout this essay I couldn't help but think about all the foods my family likes to cook, and eat during the "wet cold" weather. I really liked this read.
ReplyDeleteLeslie Luna
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn Moore’s “On Becoming an Excellent Writer,” I felt that he was just stating everything that we’ve heard before. Obviously revision is important. And the more the drafts you have, the better the overall work will be. The chapter shouldn’t have been as long as it was. Moore simply stated the same thing over and over and I agreed with everything he said. It wasn’t anything new, but I suppose to a writer whose maybe stubborn this would’ve been eyeopening. And in Pableaux Johnson’s “Everyday Sacred: A Personal Path to Gumbo” we read about how he prepares his gumbo and I couldn't help but remember how my dad makes gumbo when it gets cold and it brought back a lot of beautiful memories growing up when all of my siblings and I were little.
ReplyDelete-Joy Perez
Motherf—ing Moore did it again. He managed to get me pumped and my mind blown. Moore’s chapter, On Becoming an Excellent Rewriter, really hit that naughty spot I like to hide. Moore talks about Rewriting(duh!) in this chapter. I actually needed this chapter. Rewriting, Revisions, and more Rewriting are the most important thing in a writers process. I’m well aware of the importance of it now. It took me two drafts to remove asshole. Why? Because I gotta.
ReplyDeleteAt the very beginning, I assumed a good writer produced amazing work without even trying. I thought good writers got it on the first try. Boy, was I wrong. A good writer is patient and willing to examine every angle. Through rewrites and revisions, a good writer knows what will work and what won’t. Knowing what to cut and fix is tough. There would be a line that I wrote that I enjoyed, but it had no importance or helped the story. Yes, its instinctual but it’s also obvious if you pay careful attention.
Johnson’s essay Everyday Sacred: A Personal Path to Gumbo, interwind with Moore’s essay on revision. Through Johnson’s experience with Gumbo, you realize Gumbo is like writing. Johnson talks about his experience with Gumbo and how it transformed over the years. Trial and Error. Writing has a lot of that. It takes many years to get a style and understand what it is you want to say. It took Johnson many years before he added turkey. Writing can be learned but its instinctual, like making the perfect gumbo. I want the perfect sentence but I also want the perfect story. It will take trial and error to accomplish that.
--Mathew Betancourt
Johnson “Everyday Sacred: A Personal Path to Gumbo”, he talks about the evolution of the Gumbo and the cooking technique, as well as the changes over time. This can be related to when we write something and we revise it and change things to make it sound better, but keep changing it until it sounds the best. Revision is important because there may be some grammar mistakes, as well as repetitiveness that may be brought up a lot, but once it is revised and read by different eyes then it will sound great.
ReplyDeleteMoore “On Becoming an Excellent Rewriter” is about how we should revise our work fully, instead of changing and revising only certain parts. The view points are the child, parent and the adult, which I saw as the mindsets us as writers should have when revising. When I write I like to sit down and brainstorm and gather any bits and pieces I can for my writing, before I start taking things apart and revising it. The reason I do that is because then I feel like I never get anything done, because I’m worried about what works and what doesn’t before putting anything together.
-Claudia Anzaldua
"On Becoming An Excellent Rewriter" was another chapter I could really relate to. I'm once again going to bring up my fiction writing, as I feel this topic can indeed apply to fiction. I'm currently working on the third draft of a novel and I've noticed my story greatly change over time. The story that I'm writing now is definitely not the same as it was when I first started. It honestly felt like it has truly gone through stages that can be compared to a child growing up. I look back at my first draft and think "oh man, what was I thinking?" But that's understandable, as my story at the time was very young and just absorbed in everything. A story will greatly change if you truly revise and not just settle for minor grammar or spelling changes. To make a story frow, it needs to given that remodel.
ReplyDelete"Everyday Sacred: A Personal Path To Gumbo" didn't entirely grab me, as the main focus was actual recipes rather than stories evolving from the recipes. But I liked how this essay can relate to the chapter by the author frequently revising his recipe in order to improve it. Maybe it's interesting to me since the focus is describing a recipe, but it's clearly very important to Pableaux Johnson.
Michael McCormick
I really liked Moore's chapter "On Becoming An Excellent Rewriter" because of how relatable it is. I have always liked to just completely be in the moment and not care about small grammar or spelling mistakes, or worrying whether other people might like what I'm writing. His example about the child, adult, and parent voices helped me better understand my own writing process. Like I mentioned, the child stage would have to be my favorite because of it's way of bringing out curiosity and inspiration out of me. Once you are fully submerged in a piece of work, you don't focus on technicalities. Moore mentions the "Adult" stage. I usually get to this stage right before the child stage is supposed to end. The parent stage really lives up to its title because like Moore said, "The parent voice is the one most likely to criticize, make you feel inadequate, or point out what's expected of you in society." It's true. This voice is necessary and crucial at the end of your writing process so that it doesn't cloud your creativity and curiosity and so at the end, you can make sure it is understandable ready for your audience to read.
ReplyDelete-Starleen Rendon