Maddy Smith

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From The Measure of My Days

From The Measure of My Days by Florida Scott-Maxwell “We are people to whom something important is about to happen. But before then, these endless years before the end, can we summon enough merit to warrant a place for ourselves? We go into the future not knowing the answer to our question… Yet it is the end of our procession through time, and our steps are uncertain” (706). Word Count: 266 This author’s writing style has been very different than most we have read so far. Her writing was very philosophical, encapsulating her deepest thoughts about life. Ruminating about every little detail and question that went on in her head, opened my mind to these kinds of thoughts as well. Her statements started off strong, each going deeper and deeper until they ended in a question which brought up another new thought. Her way of thinking and writing seemed to show her identity as a person because of how much she went into detail about how she thought. I think a lot of her story deals with h...

From Lost in Translation

From Lost in Translation by Eva Hoffman “When my friend Penny tells me that she’s envious, or happy, or disappointed, I try laboriously to translate not from English to Polish but from the word back to the source, to the feeling from which it springs” (388). Word Count: 270 This excerpt was very interesting to me in the fact that the author was very focused on the dialect of the English language. Coming from Poland and that being her first language the vocabulary that she used throughout the story was very impressive. She picked part each word that people spoke to her and noticed very subtle things that I don’t think we do as native English speakers. She really focused on the complexities of the language and the differences between Polish and English. For example, common English phrases that we use on the daily might be seen as impolite or something that she wasn’t used to saying. I think this story really opened my eye to the complexities of different languages and what different...

From Zami

From Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde “But most often, her differences was like the season or a cold day or a streamy night in June. It just was, with no explanation or evocation necessary” (497). Word count: 254 I thought this quote was an interesting interpretation that the author had about her mother. It seemed as though her parents were very disciplinary towards her and her siblings, but she still looked up to her mother in a lot of ways. She was able to teach Lorde a lot of things she might not have realized when she was younger. Especially during the times when they were facing a lot of oppression, her mother was there to guide her and bring many words of wisdom. I can’t imagine what it was like for Lorde to grow up during this time, especially being legally blind. She mentions her hardships that she went through going to a catholic school where she felt it wasn’t the place for her because of her disabilities. Also, she used this to her advantage and was...

From Mules and Men

From “Mules and Men” by Zora Neal Hurston “A candle was burning at each of the four corners of the clearing, representing the four corners of the world and the four winds” (418). Word Count: 250 I thought that this excerpt was very eye-opening to the different cultures that Zora was a part of. The dialect throughout her story was something that was hard for me to read at times, but I thought that it made her story more real and brought it all together. Voodoo is something that is very unfamiliar to me, but her story was very descriptive in that it made me understand it a little more. When she started working with Turner, I think it really inspired her and showed her the different symbols of life, opening her eyes to a new perspective. Bringing Voodoo into the community, I believe, helped enrich it with new cultural ideals. Getting a glimpse of what it was like to live during this time and having to experience the things she went through made me appreciate her story more. I include...

From Meatless Days

From “Meatless Days” By Sara Suleri “… and shortly after the government decided that two days out of each week would be designated as meatless days, in order to conserve the national supply of goats and cattle” (737). Word Count: 261 This chapter was very interesting to me in the sense of Sara’s relationship with food. It was discussed in the majority of the chapter which I think emphasizes the importance of it in her life. I think that at some points there was a misunderstanding of what some of the food she was consuming actually was. Was told to her by her mother that kapura was a sweetbread when it was actually testicles. I think that this was a distraction for her when she was little so that she wasn’t turned off by the idea of what it actually was. This is why I think the kind of food they eat is very important to their cultures as her mom is lying to her about what it really was. I think something that must have been a struggle for her was being at home but engulfed in...

From Motherwit

From “Motherwit” by Onnie Lee Logan “ 'There ain’t no mo’ I can do’. That is the worst feelin' for the mother at that stage of labor. Mostly those contractions is the worst” (488). Word Count: 251 I thought that this story was interesting, yet hard to follow because of the way of her dialect. The way that Katherine Clark helped write her story in this way put a better picture in my head than if it would’ve been written in proper grammar. It really emphasized the understanding that people who might not know how to write or write very well still have stories to tell. I think that the title plays a huge role in her story. She was a midwife, following in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother, and even though the way she spoke might have made it seem like she had a lot of intelligence, she did. She was very involved in her job and helping women deliver their babies and I think that she was very helpful toward them. She was always speaking with inspiring words to these women...