Blog Assignmet # 4 - Photograph

The circus is a place for people where society does not appreciate them. Unfortunately society shuns people if they are not “normal” enough. What is normal for society? Normal is where people only care about material things or if they are popular among others. The circus however, does not take popularity or material things into account. Being at a circus, one is care-free and most of all happy. Being in a place where they belong in which society deprives them of. People with dwarfism are people, they are little people. Society does not turn the other cheek with people with dwarfism. It would be better off if there were no people with dwarfism. People like this turn to the circus, it is there place of belonging; their home. Little people need a place of their own. A place in which they would fit in and be happy. A place where people do not judge them for being tiny or awkward. The circus is their answer.

In the photograph there are three people standing behind a trailer parked outside a grassy plain. Two are grown men about the size of a five year old child. They are both wearing long white sleeve shirts and black baggy pants. The one on the left is a lot slimmer than his heavy twin counterpart. Both men have on black boots which seem to be a fashion goofy due to their oversize baggy pants. They both have on flat hats which look like a cast surrounding their heads. The one on the left seems to be holding an animal, possibly a pig. In the middle of these two men is a young boy wearing a white shirt and shorts which is nearly knee high. His auburn hair waving in the wind, who seems unsure as to what is going on. Both men are holding the hands of the little boy. The heavier man in the picture is pointing straight at the camera, possibly to tell the small child to smile. They all have a happy grin on their faces, feeling proud to belong somewhere.    

Blog Assignment # 3 Author's Note

Blog Assignment # 3

The airplane had landed onto a dirt and rocky surface. The passengers all groggily waking up from their sleep. Some rubbing their eyes, while others sipped the last drop of water from their plastic cup. A young woman was adjusting her thin black frame shaped glasses to the bridge of her nose with her index fingers while running her fingers through her short black hair. She was petite for her age with a thin oval shaped face. Her brown eyes darted to the small square shaped window of the plane. The sky was a clear blue and the clouds were stretched over the horizon in a straight line. There were goats and cows on the roads pulling giant carts filled with mechanical parts for an airplane, rice bags, and fruits. Olive colored security jeeps were everywhere. Short and tall tan colored men and women in brown uniforms and small triangle shaped hats were in those jeeps. The badges on the uniforms were reflecting off the sunlight. The roads weren’t even a road, just dirt with cars, people, and animals stepping on it like elephants.

I was inspired to write this as a vignette assignment because my trip to India was the most inspiring moment ever. It was different and not a part of my daily routine life. The essay I wrote is pretty straight forward. There are explanations given if needed in the essay. No one read this assignment, I just figured this would be the best thing to write about. If I had to choose this assignment for a portfolio, I’d definitely proof read this essay and possibly add more to it. Writing a non-fiction piece versus an academic assignment, it is easier to write a non-fiction piece, because there are no rules or guidelines. I’ve definitely learned a lot about descriptive writing with this one essay, which is good because description is my weak point when it comes to writing.

Blog Assignment # 2

Annie Dillard – “Total Eclipse” 283 – 294

“Up in the sky where we stood the air was lusterless yellow. To the west the sky was blue. Now the sun cleared the clouds. We cast rough shadows on the blowing grass; freezing, we waved our arms. Near the sun, the sky was bright and colorless. There was nothing to see.” – Dillard 286.

This quote grabs my attention because, Dillard uses repetition of color and adjectives to describe what is going on in that one paragraph. It is easy to picture what the narrator is seeing in the mind of the reader. I like how she describes the air being lusterless and yellow, instead of just giving no interpretation of air at all. The ending of this paragraph grabs my attention because it also uses a sense of emotion. There was nothing to see; it gives the reader a sense of emotion, a sense of fear or curiosity as to what might happen next.

“All the distant hills’ grasses were finespun metal which the wind laid down. I was watching a faded color print of a movie filmed in the Middle Ages; I was standing in it, by some mistake. I was standing in a movie of hillside grasses filmed in the Middle Ages. I missed my own century, the people knew, and the real light of day.” – Dillard 287

In this paragraph, Dillard describes the eclipse as if being frozen in time and being transported to another era. The narrator seems to be afraid and unsure of what will happen next. I like the comparison between the being trapped or frozen in time to an eclipse because of the sense of uncertainty and emotional fear to the reader.

“Did you see that little white ring? It looked like a Life Saver. It looked like a Life Saver up in the sky.” – Dillard 291

Best metaphor ever in the entire passage. An eclipse is a life saver in the sky. Out of the entire passage the line from the college student is my absolute favorite because it snaps the narrator back to reality and the reader as well. Annie Dillard uses many metaphors and similes in her writing. She also uses a variety of repetition when it comes to descriptive writing. The flow of her descriptive writing is like a river stream which seems to go on endlessly.