Blog Assignment #3

“The sky’s blue was deepening but there was no darkness.” (p287).  Annie Dillard and her husband were traveling across the state of Washington to see a total eclipse. Not many people can say they have experienced an eclipse; I am one of those people. Yet, Dillard has and you can tell from her descriptions how emotional she was from seeing it. They sky is always a beautiful shade of blue. When it rains the sky turns grey and sometimes when it snows. Yet here you can see the sky’s blue is turning even bluer but it is not becoming dark, which I think is odd. You can tell that Dillard is quite scared even though she is not coming out and saying it. “The sun was going and the world was gone” (p287). As the moon was overtaking the sun slowly the world was becoming darker and darker. I don’t think Dillard was prepared for such a magnificent event. She was very emotional while the world was becoming engulfed in darkness. She knew what an eclipse was she just didn’t know what to expect from it and you can tell by her reaction to everything that was going on that she was not at all ready for it. “It is now that the temptation is strongest to leave these regions. We have seen enough; let’s go. Why burn our hands any more than we have to?” (p288). All she wants to do at this point is leave and she compares to burning one’s hand, if your hand is burnt why burn it some more? She doesn’t want to stay in the area anymore because the eclipse had done something to her and she wanted out.  Much like the clown from the motel, just from her descriptive writing you can tell that she will never forget her experience with the eclipse and just reading her story alone I feel as if I experience the phenomenon also.

#Blog Assignment #3, #ENG 274 #Writing on Annie Dillard, #Total Eclipse

Blog Assignment #2 Vignette piece

A piece from my vignette  "My coworkers and I enjoy a little downtime every Monday at a little spot called Brother Jimmy’s. It’s a bar/bbq restaurant with a Southern theme. It’s quite an intriguing place. They have TV’s all around so you can watch whatever game is playing. The walls are wood paneled and filled with license plates from the southern states. Right by the bar sits this skee-ball machine. I’m not quite sure if anyone actually plays it or if it’s just for show. I’d like to think someone actually plays with the machine. The bathrooms don’t look like most bathrooms. The men’s room is labeled “cocks’’ and the women’s is labeled “chicks”, I think that is quite funny and laugh every time. When we get together we always joke around, whether it’s about ourselves, someone we know or about work."

I wondered what to write for my vignette once I received the assignment but I did not know what to write about. I didn't want to get to personal because that would make it private and homework isn’t private. I think my piece is quite understandable and doesn’t need further explanation. Upon writing this piece I did not have a specific audience or person in mind. I was writing to everyone or rather anyone that would listen. I am not quite sure how I will revise this piece for my final portfolio but I am sure I will figure it out. I have written a few short stories before but it was mainly for English assignments in high school and not because I wanted to. The one thing I learned is writing vignettes are a little hard for me. I am not at all into non-fiction so it was a little hard for me to write non-fiction creatively and make it sound nice. I don't think creative writing is only about personal thoughts, I think it can be impersonal, given the right opportunity. I wrote and revised my piece on a word processor. I used Microsoft Word to assist me.


#Blog Assignment #2,#ENG 274,  #Excerpt of my vignette, #eating at brother jimmys #hanging with coworkers.