Letters from Section 10

In section 10 of A Letter From it talks about how the road that it will be for him in the future is a difficult challenge, because there will be economic problems to deal with. It is as if he is saying that that he should read, and listen to what they are saying because it seems like it can be important to him. What he is listening to talks about economic problems that it says will take place in the future. It seems to relate to the book he had received for Christmas as a gift. Being that he is also on a long car trip too, it seems to have a certain aspect of it that can make the car trip seem much more emotional, with relating to the radio he is listening to, and the book he has. For the main character when he is listening to the radio, and when he says pieces to the puzzle, it is almost relating to his own life, and what he is doing in the current moment.

Section 1

I think section one is about J.D Daniels family tree, and  to show his reader's the depth and history of where he came that he was allllllll Kentucky. It was generation after generation, and Daniels explains this in a very funny sarcastic way, like for example when he speaks of who I believe to be his grand mother, he say's " Elmina Dixon married Bryant young millers boy, and they bore a girl name Mary Bothena Doctor Bohanan Sarah Lucritia Miller Rock, who , mercifully, named her own son charlie." to me he lighting up this section when he explains that each of his family member had a three name minimum. 

Section 9

      The main character seems to be an interesting individual. He starts off section nine explaining how she was headed down a highway, and basically described what she saw along the road which tells me that he is a very detail oriented man or rather he is very observant.  He proceeds to go into explaining how his ex-wife cheated on him. The way he explained it he seemed quite nonchalant about it, which kind of threw me a loop. He up until this point has been oddly descriptive about everything he had to talk about. I just found it weird that him discussing his ex-wife cheating on him was basically something that just happened, there were no hurt feelings behind it. He gave more detail about the men she cheated on him with. He didn't even seem hurt by the fact that the men she cheated on him with so happened to be his friends. Especially with his second friend, Gary. He didn't seem bothered at all that his wife was with him, in fact it seemed like he could clearly see why she did so based on Gary's appearance. In this section he gives a lot more of a description on Gary and his relationship over the relationship he shared with his ex-wife.    

letter

I haven't been to Williamsburg or Kentucky but I have been in Florida. My letter would be as similar to Dombeck's. In his letters he does talk about the place and its location like how he mentioned the distances of places and the cities that are around but he also talk about the environment  In section 13, he starts out by saying that he was in Kentucky but not for the reasons he thought. He continues by talking about the physical features that Kentucky as. "I passed Daniels Mountain and Manito hill, Out past Tin Can Hollow" and "When boone was asked if he had gotten lost in that forest, he said: I can't say as ever I was lost, But I was bewildered once for three day" He really he lost into Kentucky as he keeps reminiscing and describing everything that comes across.

18

What i read was a moment when she was driving and the radio was playing. the man from the radio was talking about how to prepare yourself for an economic crisis with God. He explained how to change adversity into advantage. He started saying some verses that were confronting the main character and that made him feel as if it was God punishing him for what he had been happening. He cried, that made me feel as if what has been happening was really touching him. He did not wanted to hear the word, "God" but the "Word of God". He wanted to have an actual experience with Him. 

Section 2- Letter From Kentucky

This part of section is a flashback in his childhood. He talks about how was Kentucky identified as from different perceptive views and the history. What he learned in school about Kentucky changes every time as he grew older. In additions, he gave different pronunciations of Kentucky and the meaning behind it, such as, in first sentence, he stated "As schoolchildren we were taught that the word Kaintuckee came from Ka-ten-ta-teh, which meant, in Cheroke, 'the dark and bloody ground'."

In section 15 John D Daniels was talking about his past memories about the grocery stores, the church and his memories about his father, he mentioned the first time he saw his father cry was at the church, the second time he saw his father cry was while he was strangling him and accusing him of being gay and telling him that he would cut his hair off. The third time after accusing him he would regain his sense and tell him I am vietnam veteran what is happening to me, then he mentioned that he dared his father to cut off his hair, then he smashed him against the wall, through the doorway thrown him onto the bed and strangled him and that was the third time he cried. In this letter the author is recalling his experiences he had living with his father which was very abusive.

Letters from Kentucky, section 4

Section 4 sheds some light on author J.D. Daniels' childhood. He writes about a repair shop that he'd worked in on two different occasions- once as a summer job, when his father had warned him that this job as a repair shop attendant could be his future if he didn't "fly straight". The second was when Daniels inevitably didn't fly straight and ended up dropping out of college. He reminisces about the different branded trailers that came in, and the way his coworkers would fool around. He concludes this section by remembering his reading of The Faerie Queene- an old English epic about virtues, and his musings of one day jumping off the Second Street Bridge.

7

This section reminds me of the state of Texas because of all guns. First of all, the town has a lot of drugs. One boy got shot by the police for having 37 shell casings of Meth. The second gun related was when a neighbor dog killed 2 chicken because the dog didn't have food, so the grandfather wanted to kill the dog for his 2 dead chickens.

Section 11

 In Section 11, J.D. Daniels describes the main characters experience in church. Throughout this section, the main character is forced to attend multiple prayers on certain days and tells us how this cycle was repeated by the pastor as a method. She then compares this relentless method of teaching from her pastor to her gym teacher. All of this had formed her into this person who now is unholy and doesn't attend church as she used to. She referenced herself as a sinner because of her driving by the places she used to attend as a child.

Section 5 + 6

In Section 5 of Letter From Kentucky, J.D. Daniels writes about the paranoia his friend, Allen, felt over a white van being parked across his house. He recalls Allen telling him that he believes the FBI has come for him, and J.D. believes it too because of the amount of drugs Allen has in his house. The FBI wouldn't stake out for nothing and this is what they're paid to do. J.D. told Allen he would see him later but that never happens because Allen was sent to jail.
In Section 6 of Letter From Kentucky, J.D. Daniels writes about the different places he's driving by. He tells a short story about a old woman that lives where he used to live and about a pastor that once helped him move furniture as he's driving. He continues passing by places and specifically naming them until he turns on the radio and hears about an individual, that believes in God, trying to get people to help them out. After that, he says "something" for the next places he drives past as if he got distracted.

"Letters from Kentucky" - Section 12

In many cases, people from the South are very religious.  In "Letters from Kentucky", this is proven to be true, in the section I was assigned, Daniels is reminiscing about his childhood and his roles as Jesus and Judas in the passion plays at his Vacation Bible School.  What is extremely ironic is that he is apart of this play to celebrate their religion, but the father seems to be so cruel.  Daniels even writes, "He cooked and served at the Wednesday night church suppers and was happy to do it.  But he didn't have time for what he called churchified people". It strikes me of this idea that people only want to be good on "church time", and think that makes up for them to be nasty and impure every other moment that they exit the doors of God's home.  With the fathers excerpt after that paragraph, he's going on and on that his God doesn't care what he's doing so why should all these other people be so worried about him? Which, I kind of do understand, but he's just not the nicest person, so I also see where they're coming from too. 

Section 3 Letter From Kentucky

In this section, the author goes back to Kentucky. He describes the cold air and his surroundings of where he grew up. The most important setting of this section of the essay is the bar across the street from his house. Its called the B & B Bar named after the owner Bill. He describes and retells the many things he has witnessed at this bar such as fights, snorting pills, prostitution, losing money, etc. With these stories you can analyze he spend a good amount of years at this bar.  He states how this bar is the only bar that knew what he wanted and when he walked in the drink would be set up for him. This section ends with " I dont know where the bar went". It shows how everything has changed from what he remembers about this location in Kentucky.

section 17

In section 17 J.D Daniels talks about his father. how old with age his character had completely changed from the one the author knew as a child. he says the man who saved his life from choking was then convinced he had the power to choke him himself. At the ending of this situation he starts to explain that this person who he knew or knows had died time and time again. i think this symbolizes the reinvention or changes the father has portrayed through the authors life.

Letters from...

Both of the essays this week are titled "Letter from ______." (This is a series from The Paris Review.) How are these essays about these particular places? What do the narrators and the characters in these essays tell us about their locations? Have you been to Williamsburg? How would your letter be similar to or different from Dombek's? Have you been to Kentucky or anywhere else in the deep South?

Both Letters in "The Paris Review"

The two letters in the Paris Review book are extremely different.  I thought they might have some kind of relationship because of the titles, but was very mistaken.  The "Letters to Williamsburg" is a little vulgar, but I feel her piece is all about the setting and she incorporates herself into the entire piece as a way of finding herself.  In "Letters to Kentucky" you kind of get the same feeling.  The voice of the letter is talking all about his home and his father, maybe I'm not grasping the deeper meaning to both of them, but I need some kind of outside ideas or clarification.

Hi everyone I rewrite the poem arrange marriage
Arrange Marriage
Stealing glances at each other
For the first time they met a shy smile
Heart beating tum-dumm.........
As they sit in silent.

Observing their families come and go
One side calm the other in mayhap
Fat uncles making jokes as if they think, it is
Something to make fun about.

The women sitting in a corner quietly
Whispering children running around
And men are not allowed to joined

In total silent the couple steal glances
At one another as a silent message is being
Sent across bringing two strangers together
They jumped apart as they parent approach them

Faces red as tomatoes as they were caught
In the act a silent so deafening was around
The atmosphere you could hear a pin drop
As the pair stand there with their mouth wide open

Not knowing what to do?
The marriage was fixed, both parents made their decisions
It was a moment that they two would never forget.

My Song

My Song

I was never the one you said you loved, so I'm not going to continue anymore. Now I'm moving forward because once I looked up to the sky, I understood

You never loved me everything I lived for was just a lie to see me smile.

  You never loved me but I understood that I never belonged to you.

You were that love where I gave the purest of my being. But I won’t stop, I am going for more because I understood

You never loved me everything I lived for was just a lie to see me smile.

  You never loved me but I understood that I never belonged to you.

Not everything is lost, I am going for more

There is a world waiting for me to be conquer

Authors Note: This piece is actually a song I wrote in Spanish. It was inspired in an experience I had. I tried to translate into English to see if it works as part of my collection as a hybrid. I feel unsure if it makes sense because of the translation. If you guys have any comments I would happily accept them.

#JusticeForZainab

#JusticeForZainab

She keep this burdening agony,

built deep inside her bones.

She cry to herself,

hoping, her voice would be heard.

She didn’t know what was going on,

Because she was only 7 years old.

what could she have done?

For once she felt her skin rip apart,

She knew it just begun.

Public Writing Project REPOST

Public Writing Project

To meet this requirement, you can go to a reading. Here are some listings:

http://www.bookforum.com/events/

And check out the Center for Fiction in Midtown:

http://www.centerforfiction.org/

They have frequent readings and even a literary magazine that you can submit to.

There's also the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in the East Village:

http://www.nuyorican.org/

Bowery Poetry:

http://www.bowerypoetry.com/

And the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church:

https://www.poetryproject.org/

 If you'd rather submit your writing to a publication, I'd suggest Newpages.com:

http://www.newpages.com/magazines/literary-magazines

or Poets &Writers:

http://www.pw.org/literary_magazines

Nowadays, many mags will allow you to submit your writing via the internet. We'll talk more about submitting your work, and I'd be happy to speak one-on-one w/ you about this too.

If you'd like to start a lit journal and publish yourself and your friends (inside or outside the class), I can show you how to set up your own blog on blogger (though there's a lot of free platforms like Weebly and Wordpress).

If you know of any other resources that aren't listed here, then please recommend them on the blog.

The Story of of

 The story reminds me of Russian nesting dolls. You open a doll and inside is a smaller doll and inside that is an even smaller doll and so on:

How can you name a story, "The Story of" (or "The Story of of")? "Of" is a preposition which means that it's a connecting word. You can have "The Captain of the Team" but you can't have "The Captain of" b/c it makes no sense. Is that the point, that the story makes no sense? But that's not entirely right b/c the story does make some kind of sense or, if not the sense that we expect a story to have then at least it has an internal logic, doesn't it? It's got rules. Some questions:

• What are the reasons for having "Dirty Norma" stories opening and closing this collection?
• What happens again and again? What seems to develop over the different stories? 
• What's the reoccurring story about Kanakas and Drake and copyright infringement telling us?

Alone

I think the mother shouldn't have left her 14-year-old daughter alone. She should have left her with a babysitter. I know that she wanted some time alone but she should also have think about the safety of her daughter. 

The story of pt 2

I am confuse because there are two "The Story of", one in the beginning and ending. However, the second one seem to continue from the part 1 and there some changes how Norma met Dirty Norma. Also some scenes repeat, when she called the hotline. To me, I feel like the second one gives more details on characters and stories, such as epilogue on some scenes. While reading it, I have some questions, why did she brings back the same story? Is it kind of continuation of story? and  Why she use it in beginner and ending?                                                                                        

Finishing "Dark Dark"

After reading the last short story in the novel, I was shocked. I loved that Hunt went back to the first story and continued it to complete the stories.  However, I do feel like the last story was also the most confusing, did anyone else think so too? Both Norma's throw me off and then they find the stenographer pad and it seems like its predicting the future? Not really sure, can't wait to discuss this one in class.

Samantha Hunt Story

In Samantha Hunt's story about when she thought there was an intruder outside, and she told her husband to check to see if there was any. There had at first been nobody outside, when they looked. But then a few minutes later they heard a sound again. They heard a voice, and the sound of a cough again. They checked around the other side of the house to see what was there. When they got there to see what it was they saw out in the distance a figure of a person far away from their house. They weren't sure who it was, and started talking about it, as they were looking at the person in the distance. Being that it was in a field with a far distance that the figure was in they were determining who it was, and also what they should do. They went out to try to see the person who it was in the field. As they were approaching the figure in the distance they had heard he was making the same sound as they heard, and then heard him say other things. They shouted at him who are you, and then he turned toward them to say I am looking to check out the property. They didn't believe him so they told him what he was doing here, and told him to get off our property. He seemed like strange man, and did not listen to them, and had been arguing with them. There was a problem going on, and they were not sure how to handle him, because they did not know who he was. The couple was convinced he was a thief, and had did not like him being on the field. The man then left, and they were unhappy with what had happened with the man. They seemed like they had to figure out what was the problem. Weeks later they found out that he was a thief, that came from another part of their town. There had been complains of him stealing things, and being a constant worry to other people. They had to deal with this, and eventually come up with a way to prevent him from coming onto their property, and into their home. Now they also had to make him not want to be on their property.

Samantha Hunt

Overall, Samantha Hunts readings were very luring. Although reading the stories on my own made them terribly confusing, Samantha Hunt's appearance last week helped clarify my confusion on some of the stories. What really made me wonder and left me on edge was when Norma was about to kill her husbands sister. I liked how she left the reader on a cliffhanger but at the same time I really wanted to know what happened. When Samantha Hunt read a part of her story it really showed us as a class how an author thinks and how she reads the story as she envisioned it to be read. I am thankful for her coming to QCC and giving me the opportunity to hear her read.

A Love Story

The brief heading involving hormones and receptors are mostly based on middle-aged couple, in most of these couples life's after they have kids they sex life's becomes non-existence because they are busy working and providing for their families. Forgetting that they are individuals with needs and wants. This causes a lot of conflict between middle-aged couple. I think the writer's is trying to tell her readers that it does not matter how old you are. You still have those feelings of being wanted and needed.

Arranged Marriage

Stealthy glances
At one another
The first time they met
Anxious smile
No words spoken yet.

Friends and discord
Came i-two-a bin
One's family
The others is in an uproar.

Big- bellied uncles
With funny jokes in abundance
Some below the belt
All wanting more

The ladies tittle-tattle
In a quiet tone;
Children not welcomed
Men do not enter.

In total ruckus
The couple secretly
A signal from the eyes
As the couple connected
To each other.

Hands joined
Flew apart;
Blushing in the face
An awkward start.

A tongued-tied silence
Prolonged the air ;
Far from talking
What a dumbfounded pair.

A Love Story

In "A Love Story" There are a series of brief stories near the end w/ headings that are kind of hormones and other receptors that play a part in the female body. What are these headings for? What do these various stories have to do w/ the main story that the narrator is telling? Did the wife ask her husband to go outside and check for intruders or did she just kick him out? When she lets him back in, why do they decide to leave the door open?

New Yorker Interview

When Samantha Hunt's story, "A Love Story," was published in The New Yorker last year, they also published this brief interview w/ her. Check it out!

The yellow

The Yellow has a strange plot.  I think I have to reread the story again for better understanding. The female character, a mother loved her pet dog, but why did she want the guy to kill her dog? Is is it too much to work to take care of her pet? I have so many questions about the story. It states that the dog came back to life again while they were making out? That part made me lost.

Samantha Hunt

Overall I felt the dark dark has complex stories that have to be reread the stories to gain some kind of perspective. Honestly even after rereading the "the story of" I was still lost. I was concerned on whether norma actually murdered dirty norma, but after hearing ms.hunts explanation I became at ease knowing that she only imagined it. In the end no one was really harmed. Also there was some confusion with the story "All Hands" I was a bit lost on the reasoning for having all three of the narrators having slightly similar stories, but once again after hearing ms.hunts explanation it made a lot of sense.IIt didn't make any sense in the first few times of reading it because they all were inspired by her opinion and stories she has personally heard from the original source. There is no way I could have known or rather comprehend clearly how the stories were relevant to each other if she did not take the time to do so. I really appreciated that she took out time of her day to give us some insight on her stories because I believe it will make it easier to read the rest of the stories in the dark dark knowing a little bit of her thought process.

Samantha Hunt

My first impression about Samanta Hunt was her hair. Because in the book and in the blog image it looks so beautiful and I thought that was photoshop or something. But after seeing Hunt in person, her hair looks the same as in the blog and book picture but more gorgeous. Also, I like her humor and how she keeps smiling and telling jokes because it shows that she's a happy person. Because in the blog image she doesn't look like a joyful person. Or maybe she was just pretending to be humorous?

Samantha Hunt's story time (Monday Class)

At first, I was confused after reading "All Hands " and I thought her book title "The Dark Dark" gives a scary vibe. However,  after her explanation in Monday class, it gave me a clear understanding of her stories and why did she choose her title. I really like some of her life experiences and how she connected to her stories.

Reactions - Reading & Greeting

After reading Samantha Hunt's stories and meeting with her today, it was insightful and so inspirational.  I really enjoyed meeting with her.  I love when she was talking about the idea that just because things aren't real doesn't mean they're not important to our everyday lives.  In all her stories the characters reach their moment of darkness, which was exactly why I love that she went with "The Dark Dark" instead of "The Beast" for the title.  Also, with the magic concept, I caught myself being confused in the stories, "Cortes the Killer" and "The House Began to Pitch"because I was waiting for their magic moments.  I was waiting for Beatrice's horse to come from the ice and Ada to do something to Chuck.  "The House Began to Pitch" was very confusing for me in the beginning, but the ending it all ties together about why she'd rather lie about why she left instead of saying the truth.  Ada's story was just all together so powerful and I feel like she is a metaphor that shows her strength to fight through anything, like the hurricane thats formulating in the story.  It's also really interesting now that we've met Samantha Hunt to read her stories and have them open new doors for our reading because now we have a better understanding of her whole process and just the entire motive for all the stories she created that have a piece of her in all of them.

The Dark Dark

Now that you've read the first half of Samantha Hunt's story collection, I wonder how you would characterize the stories. Several of them seem to have a magic quality. A woman and her husband turn into deer in "The Beast" a dog comes back to life in "The Yellow." How did you react to this magic in what seems like, otherwise, a realistic story?

What stylistic things did you notice about the stories? The intros/conclusions? The dialogue? (Notice how she gives us one half of a phone conversation on p. 12.) The plots? What about the role of babies and/or animals in the stories? What do they seem to symbolize? Did you recognize that "All Hands" is told from two different perspectives? If not, reread it. The first half is told from the perspective of a man, the dock worker who falls over the side of the boat. And the second half is told from the perspective of the woman who works at the high school where the teenagers are all getting pregnant. Why is it told this way?

Monday's Class

I hope you all had a great spring break. Just a reminder: Tomorrow, we will meet in S-112 for Samantha Hunt's reading. In preparation, please read up through p. 125 of her collection of fiction.