Blog Assignment #7

This course has helped me grow as a writer by allowing me to write about different topics. I might not have written a memoir on my own time, because I don't really like to write about things that are personal to me. I feel as if the more open you are about writing, the better it will be - if you allow people to experience real emotions that you might feel or have felt - it becomes more relatable. Also, the description pieces helped me differentiate between too little and too much description. I'm not one for too much description, I don't tend to like pieces that are mostly description because I feel like it is too much and takes away from the actual story. I like pieces that get to the point, with little description - enough so the reader knows what the author is speaking about.

Blog Assignment # 5

I was having a bit of a hard time deciding who I would interview. At first I wanted to interview my Grandmother, because she's been a foster parent for the last 50 something years and I thought that was very interesting, but too personal in a way. Although I can see how it could be entertaining to read, I feel like I've written enough personal pieces this semester. I wanted to do something simple, about someones job that I might find interesting or maybe interview someone who I had some misconceptions about. I would ask typical questions, or at least questions that allow me to ask others - something that would flow easily into the rest of them. I feel like during some interviews people have a lot to offer, but in the interviewer just don't know how to get it out of them.

Blog Assignment #3: Historical

I've chosen to write about one of Sebasiao Salgado's photos of Miners.

In one of his many photos, there is a single man or boy who is standing - slightly shifted, with his leg turned and his hands on his hips as if he were a model. It's not as flamboyant as it may sound, but it seems as though he is mocking someone in this photo. He has a smile on his face, somewhat coy, his eyes are innocent and he's peeking upwards from behind his lashes. His pants and clothes are dirty - he's actually covered in dirt, mud and he looks soaked in some kind of liquid, but it doesn't really come as a surprise seeing as how he's a miner. His skin is streaked with it, especially around his eyes - where the streaks look like tears. It looks as if he is wearing some kind of burlap sack on his head. His shirt is rolled up to expose his midriff - provocatively in a way - showing off his bellybutton. It is tucked into a the part of his shirt that isn't torn and tucked through to resemble some sort of bra or a shorter shirt than he had originally been wearing. Something that catches my eye about this photo is one of his eyes. One of them is dark and the other very light - as if he is completely blind in one of them, or maybe it's the angle, but there doesn't seem to be a visible pupil - or iris. He seems to be optimistic, despite his seemingly tear streaked face.