Junkyard quotes

1.  The government long ago stopped caring about the best interests of its citizens, maybe they did the first 100 years but not now.  Now they care only about money, how to get it and get the most. If they seem to care now, its only to keep them in power. 

2.  To serve and protect is written on a police car: What they serve and protect is THEIR best interests.  Their biggest interest is money and generating as much as they can for their bankrupt county or city.  This way, their fat fucking pensions will ensure they can still smoke cuban cigars once they retire.

3.  As the cop left me on the side of the road at 3am I saw "to serve and protect" written on its car.   He left me on the side of the road to walk home in one of the most dangerous of all zones in Atlanta, at 3 am.  Where I was walking was a 5 min car ride but a 30 min. walk and he knew that.  Where the hell is the CIVIC DUTY IN THAT!              -------Friend of mine who got laid off and hadn't gotten her unemployment yet.  She had to let her insurance lapse in order to pay rent. You know, keep a roof over her head. The cop towed her car, 1 mile away from her house.  In East Atlanta! on Moreland Ave.! which is zone 6 ! A neighborhood with an enormous reputation for being laden with criminal activity. 

JUST AN FYI

For anyone who read my random write "Dogstars and Rednecks"  I now can say I am OVER my Dog The Bounty Hunter obsession! 

Reading Response A Good Man is Hard to Find

I am trying to figure out why I didn't like this story as much as I usually like our readings.  Maybe its because I do not believe that "The Misfit" went to jail for something he doesn't even remember.  I feel that is what lost its credibility to me. If someone goes to jail, they are probably going to remember what they did that put them in prison.  However, the more I think of the Old woman, the more I feel closer to the story, and how my own morbidity would end up writing a similar story.  Usually I determine if I like a story, or poem, etc if it can meet one of the following criteria:
1.  If there is something cryptic, am I willing to read it again?
2.  Do I immediately want to tell someone about what I just read, and then write something.
3.  Do I think about the story in complete silence, rehashing everything I remember about it, playing the scenes over and over in my head?

Usually, if I do one of those three things, I like a story.  I wanted to want to try and read this short again, but I didn't really want to.   NOW AN HOUR HAS PASSED AND I RETURNED TO THIS POST.  This short has left an impression on me, because I keep thinking of the old lady sitting in the back in between her 2 grandchildren and her ungrateful agitated son Bailey.

Random writes 1 and 2 for week one of prose

 This is a fictionalized portrait of the last day of Jack The Rippers last victim. 
Part 1

Cecile pawned off her husbands only pair of gallies. It was a calculated risk going down to the docks once Jimmy told her where Harland was passed out, but one well worth the reward: five shillings! Now she knew that those old boots of his were not worth near five shillings, but she always gave her fence, Billy, favors for free. In return, he always took care of her when she had something tangible to give. Billy knew she would now be able to drink and have something to eat. Food is what she would normally do without whenever she had coins in her hand.

Cecile headed down the cobblestones of White Chapel, stale bread in one hand and pint of warm gin in the other. She flaunted both the gin and the bread to all who saw her on the street. They never shared with her if they had a turn in luck, so why should she share with them. Nope, it was only Harland who ever gave Cecile anything without wanting something in return. As the gin began to take effect on her malnourished body, she began to feel more and more sentimental towards Harland. She turned up the bottle towards the raining sky, emptied it and decided she would work all night and all weekend long. She wasn't going to stop until she had enough money to buy back Harland's boots on Monday morning. He wouldn't be able to go to work Monday without boots. Realizing he goes out every week trying to muster up some type of work for the both of them made her feel foolish and ashamed for taking his boots. Even though they weren't legally married, he always treated her as a wife, sharing his gin, bed, food, and never laying a hand on her. Even when he was stupid drunk. She was lucky like that and she knew it. Other working girls had real husbands who would send them out to work, but then take their money, and beat them for doing it with other bloks to begin with. So, Cecile heading in to the first public house she saw, bought a pint of beer, and scooped out her first customer.

As the night drew in, Cecile wasn't doing half bad. She had 3 customers and each one of them also bought her a beer as well as her earned her a silver sixpence. Tired and blind drunk she headed out towards the docks to see if her beloved Harland was there.  Harland was always "her beloved" when she was drunk.

RANDOM WRITE 2
Point of view in 2nd person Hans the chicken plucker


You wake while the sun is barely etching over the horizon, and even though your internal clock is set to 5:30am, its never easy.  This is why you decide to sleep in your coveralls.  Waking up already dressed gives  you an extra 15 minutes of sleep.  But that's not the only reason you chose to sleep like this.  When you were a lad at the young age of 6, your grandpappy, (whom you were named after from the old country) told you this was how he slept.  Grandpappy is your hero, always was and always will be, so trying to be like him is something you always strive to do.  The only problem with sleeping in your coveralls is the feathers.  They are everywhere.  Placing your bare feet on the cold slates of dark brown wood sends a jolt of chills up your spine, waking you up more than a strong cup of joe.  You look for the feathers to save you.  Seeing a pile at the end of your bed, you use your big toes from each foot to create a pile and move them closer to you.  Now you're able to stand up on the cold floor but the feathers are between your feet and that darned wood.  Sliding your feet, careful not to lose any feathers from under you, you head towards the bathroom door.  You keep your socks on the towel rack, just like grandpappy and once you've safely made it to them, you know its going to be a good day.  If you had lost your footing, or lost some feathers while sliding to the bathroom, it would be a bad day.  But today, you are going to have a magnificent day plucking chickens. 

Junkyard quotes

1.  Dreams are personalized myths and myths are personalized dreams.    Joseph Campbell

2.  The English language is a smorgasbord of beautiful possibility.     Ian Dury--- Ian, was telling his young son the process he goes though when writing a song; while remembering its all up to you, and you can do anything you want with words

3.  Its kinda like word vomit on a page.  Trista in Wednesday's class-----As soon as she said it I wrote it down, but now I can't remember what it was in reference too.  

4.  There is a couple of ways to avoid death, one of them is to be magnificent, this is my favorite way.     Ian Dury Again.

5. 

Reading Response Ch.1,2, and shorts Still Week 1 of Prose

Chapter one reminded me of my youth and how excited I used to get going to the public library (I even had a sensory memory where the smell came to me.)  Le Guin states that when you are a child language is playful, fun and easy to fall in love with.  I agree because that was my experience.  This reading reminded me to not take (every single thing) I write so seriously.  It should be an enjoyable experience.  When we grow up, there is a societal concept that play is for children, and yet we do find ways to play as adults.  It makes sense to incorporate this idea into writing since it is a creative act and creating scenarios, characters, drawings, colorings, etc. is what we do as forms of play in youth. Alliteration, onomatopoeia and repetitions are playful and useful tools that i forgot were options.
As far as 1/3 1/3 1/3 went, I understand the importance of reading it right after covering how important character development is, character names, dialect.

Reading Response Week 1 for prose

Popular Mechanics was pretty cool.  I seemed to like it more after our class discussion. I would assume this is  pretty common for enthusiastic english students since literary criticisms/discussions gives you a better understanding of what you are reading.  A deeper understanding allows a better appreciation allowing a more concise opinion.  A new concept I learned from the discussion is reader denial.  I think I have read a lot of things in which I experienced reader denial.  And whats funny about that is,  I think I knew all along I was in reader denial but I was in denial about it.  Anyways, like I said in class, after I finished reading Popular Mechanics the image of the baby being torn in half entered my mind but just as quick as it came my rationale threw it right out.  And just like Yeeva, the biblical story of the baby being cut in half by two women claiming to be the mom also entered my head. Another experience I had from reading this story was the vivid images that came to me even though there was an absence of details.  I saw the little house they  lived in and felt the silence and sadness that lingered there as sure as the air is present. 

After reading the intro to Steering The Craft, I am anxious to get started with this portion of the course.  I  always read a books intro, but this one was actually enjoyable.  Her conversational style relaxed and excited me instead of stressing me out / intimidating me on the process of developing good writing skills.