Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Reading Response #15: Ferguson, Chs. 3-5 & Karr, Ch. 2

Post your reading response to all of the readings below. 

Here are the guidelines:
  1. Reading responses must be AT LEAST 200 words.
  2. Include your full name at the end of your comments. Unnamed comments will be deleted.
  3. From the "Comment As" drop-down menu, choose Anonymous, then click "Publish."
  4. Reading responses are due by midnight on the night PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading.

10 comments:

  1. Karr's chapter on recalling memory and semantics behind writing the non-fiction essay are interesting and insightful. I like how she calls attention to the fact that most of us tend to embellish the truth and that this can be represented in our writing. Karr also goes into detail about recalling past events offers a few suggestions on what to write and not write about. "The master memoirist creates such a personal interior space, with memories pieced together, that the reader never loses sight of the enterprise's tentative nature." (p.16). This is an important quote. Memoirs will be inherently nebulous, especially if they are from long ago. This makes memoirs interesting to read because there is the human element in them.
    Fergusons's accounts of the dog bite is one example in which the truth might have been a bit embellished. We don't know whether the owner of the hotel they lodged in really wanted Yellow Dog shot or not but it makes for a interesting, minor antagonistic character. She also recalls trying to make a film and her experience with the Mexican Navy. When describing the vessel they are in she states: "It's bigger than buffalo, bigger than dinosaurs..." (p.38). Of course this is embellishment being used to describe the vessel but it drives home the point of the enormity of the object she is witnessing.

    -Eutimio Longoria-

    ReplyDelete
  2. Both The Art of Memoir chapter 2 The Truth and Contract Twist Writer and Reader and The Haunting in the Mexican Border chapters 3 - 5 were very interesting reads. However, Mary Karr's chapter on truth (Chapter 2) was very informative as I now know more or less what exactly is a memoir and what are the contents of a "good" or a well written one. Which, for the most part is truth and the act of embellishing truths. I for one am guilty of embellishing some truths when I tell stories to friends in order to impress them but I digress. I really liked how on page 9 of Mary Karr's book she uses Stephen Colbert as an example of setting up a certain standard of truth to make us look good (Embellish). She herself goes onto saying that we can hide behind the fiction label and uses Truman Capote's and Philip Roth as references as they altered their stories by selling as a non-fiction novel when in reality they were fiction novels. We aren't all good at remembering certain memories so it is easy to make things up especially when we have vague memories. Our vague memories are labeled as dubious memories while its our clear ones that matter the most. And that is where embellishment of the truth can play a major hand.

    -Marco Garza

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am a-okay with Karr’s chapter on embellishments and bending of the truth in memoir because it will inherently happen no matter what. That’s just the way our minds work. We don’t remember everything. We remember feelings or maybe just a few words of a conversation that really struck us. And even if we do remember, our mind shifts the angle ever so slightly each time we tell the story. Something will change because it’s like reading a book; each time you tell it, you remember or focus on something else. Our memory is entirely and extremely subjective. In Ferguson’s chapters, the biggest connection I see to Karr is the embellishment. Ferguson does an amazing job of metaphor and really knows how to bring her story, every aspect of it, to life. My favorite part of the three chapters is where she describes the storm in chapter 5. She says, “It’s bigger than buffalo, bigger than dinosaurs, bigger than the Pleistocene, bigger than prediction, bigger than order.” This is exactly what a storm feels like. For the most part, I don’t get the feeling that Ferguson has trouble remembering certain parts of her memory. If she does, I can’t even tell.

    Angie Acuña

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mary Karr’s second chapter, “The Truth Contract Twixt Writer and Reader”, is all about truth and nothing but the truth as well touching upon embellishments that can be found in nonfiction. Karr basically talks about how nonfiction writers will often take the opportunity to exaggerate or fabricate details to make themselves or an event sound a certain way that may cast them in a more positive light or seem more exciting than what they are in reality. This is something I always try to avoid, but usually end up resorting to when I can’t quite recall specific details of certain events or what order they happened and attempt to reconstruct them to the best of my ability with an embellishment here and there. Chapters 3-5 of Kathryn Ferguson’s book are examples of how to use embellishment without completely distorting the reality of your recollection of past events while also giving the readers enough substance for them to be intrigued as well as not bog down the story with descriptions of mundane or monotonous details that are better left out. This is most clear in the third chapter when she describes what one experiences upon entering Mexico and appealing to our five senses, most notably with our sense of smell by the way she describes the smell of smoke in the air and its different sources as well as exaggerating the storm in chapter 5 and making it out to be some primordial force that seems much more bigger than us.

    Narciso Garcia Jr.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I wonder a lot about my past. What I write is it the truth or is it biased because of what I felt at that specific moment. I try to look back on a lot of things and I remember and yet I don’t, it’s so hazy and that haziness makes me wonder. Karr mentioned at one point that her mother threatened suicide when she tried to find out more about her mothers past to heal her own past. I wonder. I blamed my mom for many things when I was young and it makes me think, what if I blamed her to shield myself. Would me listening to her now change what I’ve believed in up till now? Am I being fair? Memoir is something that scares me. Something I don’t ever think I’ll try to publish. I’ll write it for myself and I might share it with people close to me but that’s as far as I’ll go. Now for Ferguson’s chapter 3-5 I really enjoy when other people want to learn about other cultures. I really like the opening of chapter three where she talks about the smoke. It resonates with me. I mean if I go to Reynosa as soon as I cross the boarder I smell food, the bistek being cooked for tacos, the elotero cooking the corn for an elote. Smoke. Her trips through the chapter, the people she meets. I really like this one paragraph where she talks about Mexico not being what we think it is but being much more.

    Alejandra Rodriguez

    ReplyDelete
  6. The past for me to a certain extend is difficult to remember. I build up a wall to hide emotion or for me to not feel pain. Through these past 2 years I have tried to face my pain and learn to not feel hate. That is something that for me is extremely hard. It’s hard to just let go and pretend like nothing happened. A memoir is something that for me would be difficult to write about, but it would be a great therapy and just face my own fears. Karr gives us tips and guides us on to how we could write a good memoir. A good memoir doesn’t necessarily have to be all true but close to the truth. You can’t always remember every single detail from your past but you remember emotions, smells, people, but not necessarily date, time, and place. So as long as it is your truth and its close to it would be okay. Ferguson took me back to my own remembrance of when I would go to mexico with my family and spend weekends at my grandparents ranch and the smell of tortillas de maiz and barbacoa and some menudo on the side just pierces through my head. Ferguson described her story in great detail I enjoyed this weeks readings.
    -Abigail Vasquez

    ReplyDelete
  7. “ Do you promise to tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help me God?” Every sworn testimony starts with this. But when is it really the truth entirely? Some words or actions might have been left out or it might be the writer who makes their memoir more colorful than it really is. Is that where we go wrong? Or is it the best way to write? I myself in my own writings make my words more colorful than they really are to embellish it more to catch the readers attention. Or just simply keep them engaged. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a little extra salt to the tacos as the saying goes. As long as the main point of your memoir or anything non fiction stays the same. Sometimes also, it’s hard to remember every single detail so the author has no other choice at time then to add some words or “truths” that never actually happened. I believe this is what Mary Karr was trying to bring forth in her chapter.

    -Christina Velasquez

    ReplyDelete
  8. I really liked chapter 2 of Karr’s The Art of Memoir. I liked it because it addresses an issue that I’ve always had with nonfiction writing. How to maintain your accuracy when memory is so flawed and biased. Especially on page 18 when she discusses dialogue. She quotes McCarthy’s advice on memoir writing saying, “They (Dialogue) ae mostly fictional…Only a few sentences stand out.” I really like that this is addressed because even if we are telling a story out loud, just a day after it happened, the dialogue is never accurate. We say “he was like” or “she said something to the effect of” instead of concretely saying “he said” or “she said”. Even 24 hours later we can’t recall the exact word so how can we be expected to be 100% accurate a year or two later, or even a lifetime later? I really liked the chapters we read from Ferguson. I’m sure she had gaps in her memory, but she covers them so flawlessly you’d never be able to point them out without her help. I am really glad we are reading it because I feel like it is a good example of the things we’ve learned from Karr and Moore.

    Dawn Bustamante

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ferguson allows the reader to see the experiences through her writing. I am unable to tell her emotions when reading so I assume that she must have been in a calm state of mind that Karr mentions. During the times I write, I am able to write out thoughts in my head. Not all the time are these thoughts good or bad, but I end up writing them. There are times in which I admit I need better structure, but I never know where to start. I have the tendency to get lost in my writing when it comes to remembering an event. I have had many unpleasant memories in which I have experienced betrayal, loneliness, and even suicidal thoughts that I have kept to myself. There are times in which I build a wall around me and I have the fear of letting anyone through even in the form of paper. Admitting this now, is also challenging for me, since I do not like to openly admit certain things. I don’t tend to mention or show the conflict in person from my experiences as I burrow them inside. Writing extremely personal experiences are hard for me as I do my best to forget some of them. Karr mentions not to write about negativity if we cannot handle it, due to us needing to be in a calm state of mind so that emotion does not get in the way of truth. A clear mind would help with avoiding hindering emotions that can warp memories.
    -Benito Reyes

    ReplyDelete
  10. In Karr’s chapter 3, she discusses truth in memoirs. What stood out for me, was the idea that memoir can sometimes be fictionalized. Even an author who is writing a memoir, that author, may make false claims. He/she could make themselves to be the hero, withheld important information because it might reflect poorly on the writer. Memoir is about finding the truth. Karr also points out in a earlier chapter that its difficult to recall past events. You may think, it went down this way, but it went down another. You can swear on your children on how strong your memory is, but sometimes that may not be the case.
    Its important to do research. Get together with past friends and relatives, and hear their side of the story. Then again, Karr also says, she tries her hardest to make the truth right. Memoirs may no be absolute but they can be very close.
    In Ferguson Chapters 3-5, I found them kind of boring. I rushed through because I found no interesting story going on. I like chapter 4, how she talks about the movie theatre and festivals her friend has. Then it transitions into Ventura’s home way too quickly. I am not saying I hate this book but my patients are wearing thin.
    --mathew betancourt

    ReplyDelete