Here is a link to the reading for Monday, Sept. 13. Josh Weil wrote it for the New York Times, where it appeared Aug. 21.
Choose your favorite paragraph. Post a 200-word comment explaining why it is effective and what would happen to its effectiveness if the sentences were rearranged.
Okay, for starters I don’t understand what this article is about or what is happening. But I think that I understand the first two paragraphs so I’ll write about one of those. I’m not really sure how is assignment is supposed to go either but I’ll try.
ReplyDeleteThe second paragraph reads, “But whatever caused the disc to burst and splatter against my spinal nerve, it brought the endless summer of heat and adventure that I had found while living in Northern Africa for a year suddenly, surely, to an end.” This part of the article makes the beginning of everything, without this piece you would have no understanding to the first paragraph or to the rest of the article. This piece tells the reader what happened to the author after the events that he later describes to us. If the sentences in this paragraph were rearranged I still think that it would be just as effective, mainly because there is only one sentence in this paragraph. But without this one sentence we the readers would be very confused on why the title is what it is. I think that this paragraph is very effective because of the importance that it plays in the whole article.
I like the third paragraph better because it reminded me of my child hood. My brother and I are ten and a half years apart. I did not have a lot of summers that I remember with him, but what I do remember, I cherish. We used to go riding our bikes around the neighborhood. When he had his fort we would play on it and spend time together. I always looked forward to the summers to be with my brother. I have not been able to spend a day during the summer running around, acting like a kid again. I still look forward to summers because of the free time I have, and the camps I go to. As in the article said “sharing it with my older brother was what brought summer to life.” This quote is true and for the past two years my brother has been asking if I wanted to go to Six Flags New England with me, but has never happened. I want this to happen so we can bond and just have time between him and me. I still remember the day that we were out riding our bikes and my brother fell, because I ran into him. He broke his arm and there was nobody around to get him to the hospital. I always felt bad because it was my fault. I was only seven or eight at the time so I did not really know what to do. After the accident, he forgave me and did pig back rides all over the house.
ReplyDeleteThat was just why I picked it. I thought that it was very effective getting the point across. The author was talking about his life and the summers he had rafting. I have done tubbing and it was amazing. My dad has done the white river rafting. If the sentences where rearranged it would some what work because there are only three sentences. It would sound that great if you arranged the last two.
ReplyDeleteI don't really understand this article. I also feel like I can best relate to the third paragraph, I know growing up every kid looked forward to summer. For eight and half years I was a single child until my sister was born. As she got older she always wanted to do the same things that I was doing. Whether it was riding a bike, or throwing a ball around. I remember always asking me to go places with me if I had a friend over. She wanted to always be involved. Now that she has gotten older, she asks me to take her skiing, or to a baseball game. Its nice to have someone to look up to you, and someone who wants to follow your footsteps.
ReplyDeleteThe reason why I picked this is because its short and to the point. He talks about how sharing his summer is what really brought it to life. I strongly agree with that statement. Its always better to share an experience with someone rather than experience it alone. I think it would still work if you were to re-arrange the sentences, but I don't know if it would sound that good.
This class rocks again. Still. Yet.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I really liked paragraph 2. The paragraph talked about ever since the author was a kid, he loved summer, and would always look forward to it. The topic sentence was of course the first one. The first sentence pretty much layed out the rest of the paragraph.It talked about the author loving summer because of his older brother making it fun for him. After that sentence, the author goes on to explain with examples. He talks about going to the river with his brother, and blowing up their rafts until they got dizzy. He goes on to say how this made them laugh and laugh for hours.He also gave another example of them riding their bikes together.Overall this paragraph impacted me the most becuase it reminded me of my summers with my siblings. The paragraph worked really well together. It had a very good topic sentence to start off, and after details decribing it. The lines were in good order, and could not be switched around or it would not make much sense.
ReplyDeletethe most effective paragraph to me was the one that read, "Look: There’s my niece between the rows of cherry tomatoes, her hair like a dandelion puff, a pint basket in her hands." and so on. i liked this paragraph because the detail was very well written and unexpected. for example, i have never heard anyone explain a girls hair looking like that of a "dandelion puff." i thought that was really neat and clever. in this paragraph he also speaks of his brother and sister-in-law, as well as his niece, which shows a tight knit relationship between the family. in this paragraph, he also described the envy he felt, because he knew their actions so well he was able to predict what was going to happen, because he sat the entire summer watching them interact.
ReplyDeletethis paragraph, i do not believe, could be rearranged, because he describes their actions in the steps that they happen, and if the sentence structure was changed, it would not make any sense to the reader. he describes where his niece was standing then he used the words "beside her." in the next sentence he writes, "reaching back." these words describe the actions in the order that they happen. he sequenced them very well.
In this reading I found all of his depictions of little details very descriptive, but also confusing. He kept talking about many different places, but all at the same time he seemed to be describing items that were so small it seemed as though his thoughts were really scrambled, which for me caused a lot of confusion. In the beginning he writes, “But whatever caused the disc to burst and splatter against my spinal nerve, it brought the endless summer of heat and adventure that I had found while living in Northern Africa for a year suddenly, surely, to an end.” I don’t feel as though there is enough of a sense that he is no longer able to do much with his back because I don’t feel that there is enough of a transition. Throughout the rest of the piece his voice is too eager to get the idea that he is no longer in the business to be hiking any more. The place where I finally realized that he was truly out of business was when he said, “I could hear the thrill in his daughter’s shrieks, the joy in his low chuckle; I could see pleasure bloom on his face as he watched his wife gather black-eyed Susans from the flower beds. And I understood for the first time how my May-to-September hunt for freedom had cut me off from all the other things that summer could be.” In this part of the passage there is a sense of boredom, loss of hope. This is where is started to understand what it was that the author was really talking about. (word count 273)
ReplyDeleteI think that paragraph three is the best. Not for any particular reason, just because I could relate and under stand it the most. Relations to childhood is an easy thing for me. Summer is a big deal for me. I can remember everything from every summer. Especially the summers with my girlfriend. We spend alot of time together in the summer. Everyday is different, and everyday is better than the day before. Some days we act like little kids, some days we can make love til the sun goes down, some we can just hangout on the porch swing and not say a word and still be the best day of our lifes until the next day comes. I love the summer in so many ways. That is why I liked paragraph three the most.
ReplyDelete