The Significance of Relationships

"Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind" (Lilo & Stitch).  The importance of family is large in our culture.  Mother's share a very unique bond with their child since they gave birth to them and father's tend to be role models for their children.  Siblings may disagree at times but they love one another and look out for eachother.  Husbands and wives are married because they posses the most powerful emotion towards one another, love.  The relationship between individuals and friends is also extremely important for our culture since human beings are social beings.  
In the short story, Sonny's Blues, by James Baldwin the relationship between individuals is exemplified.  The characters in this text do not openly communicate with one another on a regular basis, but when the final chance approaches they finally open up.  For instance, the narrator does not possess the knowledge that his father had a brother until he is talking to his mother for the last time before her death.  Also while visiting his mother she asks for her son to promise her that he will watch our for his brother Sonny because she senses that she will not be around anymore and that Sonny will need guidance (mother's intuition).  Yet the narrator loses contact with his dear brother for over a year and then one day see's his brother's name in the newspaper because he has "peddling and using heroin" (Baldwin 402).  But later that day a friend of Sonny's comes around and discusses Sonny's situation with his brother.  The relationship of beings is what gives us the will to push through.
Some of the relationships in this story are bumpy and the individuals do not always know exactly how to communicate with one another.  Not all families are completely open though so this scenario is perfectly realistic.  At one point the narrator attempts to communicate with his brother after the service for their mother had ended but he did not know how to say what he wanted to in a way that his brother would listen and actually take into consideration what he was saying.  The relationship between Sonny and the narrator break the cultural code of siblings watching out for one another at all times.  And the mother breaks a cultural code by keeping a secret from her children about their father's brother until her children's adulthood.  Families are supposed to be there for each other and share important things with each other whether they be good or bad.  Family is supposed to be of utmost importance to all.

The Importance of Memory

This piece was very intriguing to read. It opened my eyes to a lot of concepts. At first I just thought it was a silly story about a young girl. Yet after the memoir she went into so much detail and description of the process of memory, writing a memoir, and the significance of first drafts. I usually tend to loathe first drafts but now that the author of “Memory and Imagination,” Patricia Hampl has shown me the significance of first drafts I understand them. Hampl compared first drafts to the first time you meet a person. A sort of first impression you have. Whether it is good or bad it can lead to something beautiful and elaborate.
Throughout this text I was thinking about events that have happened to me, particularly negative ones that stick with me. I know I must let them go or conquer them but Hampl is right when she states, “We carry our wounds and perhaps even worse, our capacity to wound, forward with us” (53). In personal experience I have carried this particular wound with me for a few years now and I still let it affect me. It can be quite difficult to forget the bad and focus on the happiness. I try to remember that the bad times make us stronger and help build us into the individual we are.
I had never specifically heard of memoir writing in such detail and in reading this piece I definitely learned a great deal about how wondrous memoir writing can be. Memoir writing can help writers find out who they are and assist them in piecing together events to find the meaning and reason. This piece did not particularly make me question anything I believe; yet it gave me a better understanding on memoir, negative events, and life in general. I had never thought that writings may not all be truthful and factual. I had always put trust in the writer and believed all that they had to tell. I enjoyed this reading because it made me think and I love when I am led to deep thought and contemplation of events or concepts. I hope to write a memoir myself in the near future.

After reading "A Good Crot is Hard to Find"

A Good Crot is Hard to Find by Tita French Baumlin is a piece of writing out of the norm.  This piece had several compelling aspects in it.  I found it incredible that such an assignment could be given to the class, where students are asked to write in "Grammar B" and find a technique that suited them.  The fact that they thought it would be an easy assignment interests me.  Students always say how tedious writing can be and how they want to write their own way.  But given a situation where they have the opportunity to write in fragments, crots, personal techniques they hit a wall.  I never really thought about how we are "so locked into traditions."  It sort of makes sense though, I mean we've learned since early schooling days to write this way and complete your thought and add your thesis in here.  I feel that if more students kept a journal where they wrote whatever they wanted they might have had an easier time completing this assignment.  I know from personal experience having a journal was nice for me because last year we were required to write a page in our journal everyday.  But we knew that nobody would be reading it, it was just a chance for us to write and express ourselves. 
This text was different and none of it made me feel uneasy or resistant but rather I remained open-minded and excepted the differences.  I like the fact that students were helped by the teachers example but made up their own ways to complete the assignment.  "A Good Crot is Hard to Find," it may take practice but do not be scared by it's irregularities.