I was heading to math class when I saw group of 7th graders were gathered at the window of the classroom the had a view of the city. I joined the group of confused children. We ha no idea what we were seeing or how it related to us. All we knew was that there was a lot of smoke coming from the tallest buildings in the city. We stared until Mr. Weber forced us away.
We sat at our desk, eyes staring at our folded hands. We weren't allowed to look out the the window. Not that it mattered. We felt them fall. Mr. Weber read us a Jewish tale about a fisherman and his son. His son didn't want to be a fisherman so he ran away from his father and became rich. When he lost everything, he came back to his father and became a fisherman after all. I didn't understand why his voice was shaking as he read it. The bell for next period rang and we walked timidly through the halls. Teachers stood in doorways, tears in their eyes. Then the parents started to come. My father was one of the first cause his studio was so close to my school. I came out to meet him and the first thing i noticed was the smell. It hit me like a wave. The smell of burning metal, paper, and flesh was so powerful that it is seared into my senses.
“¡Hey, papi, ahora venido aquí!”. These were the sounds that filled my ears growing up in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. It named for the park with this huge slope where you could watch the sun set on the Statue of Liberty. Summers there were the best times. Our landlords, who lived downstairs, sold piraguas: shaved ice with flavored syrup. I used to beg for piraguas and sometimes I would get them for free because the people downstairs thought I was cute. On those hot summer days the piragua ice on your tongue cooled you instantly. The sweet flavor dripping down your chin released the euphoria that only summer can hold.
Topic Sentences
In Enemies and Friends, literal war is used to depict emotional war.
In How To Tell A War Story, death tests sanity in vietnam.
A Matter of Living the Mystery
The writing has a wonderful mixture of formal and dramatic narrative. There were certain ideas that really stood out to me. First, the idea of living the question rather than demanding an answer. I've found that us young people are too used to instant gratification. Some people try so hard to answer questions just to hear themselves speak.
Another interesting idea was the teacher-student relationship being a performer-spectator. "Students are kept in the grandstand so they can watch the pros play the knowledge game but not interfere with its 'objectivity'." I have experienced this form of education many times and it is a repressive form of teaching. Very repressive and a little safe.
RHETORICAL SITUATION
Look around you. List three popular or scholarly Emerson College texts and describe the "Rhetorical Situation" in which they are placed (these may or may not include the text you end up using for your Rhetorical Analysis assignment). Once you are finished, look at two of your classmates' lists and comment.
Emerson Student Financial Aid Business Card: This is something almost every student must deal with. The process is long and annoying, and most likely once you get through you have almost nothing to show for it, except a couple thousand in loans if your lucky.
List taped near my bed: Laundry, Costume, Computer, Lunch/Dinner. A part of being a crazy emerson student is having pretty good organization. I don't claim to have that necessarily, but I do try. This also would demonstrate what is most important to the person it belonged to.
Writings on the Wall: In one of the handicap bathrooms in the walker building, there are some writings on the wall. Some declaring love for certain professors, some silly pictures, some quoting shakespeare ( my personal contribution).
3. Sarah Buck
I liked the personalness of this response. For instance, I liked when the author said that they were the one who added Shakespeare grafitti to the bathroom. I feel there was a lightheartedness to this whole overall response, which I appreciated.
11/03/09, 03:15 pm
2. Sara Avens
I like the texts that you chose, especially the writing on the wall of the bathroom, which could be really cool, especially at Emerson. For the Rhetorical Situation project, describing one of these texts in extensive detail could be really interesting.
11/03/09, 01:09 pm
1. Alexander Pulido
I'm from NY. I have several family members that were in the city that day. My cousin worked in one of the auxiliary buildings to the Towers. She tells the story in a way that still makes my blood run cold when i hear it.
i can't critique this except to say I understand how you felt.
10/01/09, 06:27 am