Sunday- essay

The essay packet we received last week was pretty interesting. There was one that stuck out to me, being the hummingbird essay. Well since we have to write about another one I started to try and find one other then total Eclipse. So i came across one that I could kind of relate to so I guess that's the one I will discuss.

Sunday By Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
I liked this because in the beginning it says "white people couldn't cook;everybody knew that." I found this to be somewhat funny because my Grandpa is 100 percent Indian and he is always going on and on about how food white people cook is bland. Although he doesn't have much room to talk because he can't cook either. Anyways I also found that funny because my dad and I love to cook, and my dad is one of the best cooks I know. He and I are always in the kitchen trying out new sauces to marinate meat in, or just experimenting with new recipes. My dad has always been big on a healthy meal, and cooking everything just right, and no eating on the run. SO when that was brought up in the story I really enjoyed that.


Another reason I liked this essay is because of the images I got. When he would talk about the secrets of the Coleman family he would say the fatback, or a couple of ham hocks and a long simmering time. I could picture all of it. Maybe its because I love to cook and I do it so often so I just know exactly what he is describing. I liked this essay because it reminded me of home, and had a story I could follow and enjoy. Even though the story made me hungry and miss home I loved it because it made me think of my dad and out bound to the kitchen and together!

Essay packet one

While reading the essay packet there was a few of them I liked but I would say the one that stuck out the most to me would be Mute Dancers: How to Watch a Hummingbird. When I first started to read it I thought it would be a dumb piece of writing on a hummingbird and what they do, or how they do things. Turns out it was a piece of writing all about hummingbirds, but I have never been so interested in a hummingbird in all my life. It was the way she would describe and compare each thing a hummingbird does to something else, in great detail.

For example when she says, “Like a small fury of iridescence, a hummingbird spends the day at high speed, darting and swiveling among thousands of nectar-rich blossoms”. She made that sentence so I don’t know loaded in words which made it more interesting. She could have just said hummingbird’s hummingbirds fly fast going to each flower for nectar, instead she gave it a little oomph to make it come to life, so you as the reader can picture it. Also she compares the hummingbird to a cat, saying they drink the nectar like a cat would milk but faster. I enjoyed the way she kept my attention, but I also like how I learned so much about a hummingbird without being bored.

Ackerman describes these tiny little creatures as if they are the most interesting thing on earth. She makes them out to be an engine almost, like the birds’ heart beats 36 times a minute while sleeping and then in the morning has to get it to 500 beats. That’s kind of like a car engine, when it’s not in use (sleeping) the engine obviously isn’t working hard, but when it’s time to go somewhere and you start it up the engine starts working fast.  Ackerman said hummingbirds usually die in their sleep because they go from 36 beats to 500, this would be extremely difficult for anyone to do. That goes back to the car engine as well, if the car is older or just is having problems starting it is hard to get the engine going and eventually the engine dies.

Another thing I enjoyed about this reading is the stories Ackerman told about her friend being on “their” property, or her walking in the rain forest.  It gave to piece that personal touch it needed instead of just all facts laid out on a piece of paper.

Fahrenheit 451

So recently I started reading this book called Fahrenheit 451. I wasn’t sure if I would like it but I actually started to enjoy it. This book is by the same author who wrote 1984 which I actually hated the only reason I read it is because it was for one of my classes. SO you can only imagine why I thought I would hate this book but so far it isn’t bad. I haven’t gotten too far but this is what I’ve read so far.

Guy Montag (main character) is a fireman who burns books in a kind of advanced American city. In Montag’s world, firemen start fires rather than putting them out which you know is pretty weird. The people in this society do not read books, enjoy nature, spend time by themselves, think independently, or have personal or meaningful type of conversations.  What the do is drive very fast, watch excessive amounts of television on wall-size sets, and listen to the radio with head phones attached to their ears. I found this to be pretty interesting considering that is kind of what is happening in the world right now. When I walk to class I see so many people with their head phones attached to their ears blaring music.  

Now this part of the book I just read  today. Montag meet a kind seventeen-year-old girl named Clarisse McClellan. Clarisse was always asking him these really intense questions about his life and with these questions and her unusual love of people and nature Montag realized he lives a very boring, empty life. Over the next few days Montag experiences a series of disturbing events. First, his wife Mildred, attempts suicide by taking a bottle of sleeping pills. Then, when he responds to an alarm that an old woman has a stash of hidden literature, the woman shocks him by choosing to be burned alive along with her books. That’s as far as I have gotten in the book and honestly I can’t wait to read more!