Essay #3 Initial Response
Tag: Response
Ross Gay Reading Response
- Respond, in your own words, and referencing your own experiences, to the validity of Gay’s question: “What if joy and pain are fundamentally tangled up with one another?” //
I love this quote, it’s such a great example of the saying “two sides of the same coin.” Absolutely the two go hand in hand, you can’t have one without the other. Light and darkness, yin and yang, joy and sorrow.
- Gay advocates that we “lay down our swords and invite sorrow in.” What does he mean? Do you agree? Why or why not? //
When Gay says to “lay down our swords” he’s telling us to surrender, to accept that sorrow is a natural, unavoidable emotion. Yes, it will feel uncomfortable and unpleasant, but when it’s ready it will leave and you will be okay. Yes, it may come back, but you will be okay.
- What, very specifically, incites joy in your life? Make a specific/descriptive list of at least ten things: the moment just before my favorite band walks on stage; walking through crunchy leaves; the feeling after a difficult but fruitful conversation, etc. Be as specific as possible. //
I don’t know that I can give you ten examples. As someone with major depressive disorder intense emotions- either positive or negative, are difficult to come by. But I know that I love animals, they bring me joy. I know I shared in class sitting in the giant tortoise pit, but I can share so many more times when animals have brought a smile to my face, a light to my darkness.
There was an 8-month-old alpaca named Lennox (picture attached) who needed to be harness-trained. I was more than happy to get him started, and even though he was nervous he did a great job and I was so proud.
There was a feral cat at the cat shelter I volunteer at named Jax (picture attached) who was having trouble opening up and letting people in. While we see this all the time, there was this fear in his eyes, this defeated demeanor that stuck with me. After working with him for months and we were at the petting stage, I guess I crossed a boundary when I pet near his butt. He nipped at me and then instantly backed up and looked fearful. I would never purposefully hurt an animal, and I understood that Jax was just setting a boundary with me. But when I held out my hand and he let me pet him again showed me that he was finally beginning to trust, maybe for the first time. He gave me slow blinks, nuzzling my hand, and I did my best to reassure him that setting boundaries and communicating is okay.
I remember my first solo animal rescue, a hypothermic skunk. In the state of CT it’s illegal to house a skunk because of their frequency for rabies (so don’t tell anyone…) and no one I called would take him. So I did, I put him in a cat carrier on top of a heating pad with a bowl of warm water in my garage. And a couple of hours later he wandered away on his own. The first rule of animal rehab is to not name the animal so that you don’t get attached, so I only named him after he left- Frosty (picture attached).
I hope this suffices…
- What do you notice about your list? What does the list reveal about you and the ways in which you engage with the world? //
Well, obviously, animals bring me joy. Helping animals brings me joy. Being around animals brings me joy. I love animals, and I feel sorrow and grief when I lose one. Working in rehab is hard, but loss is a part of life. “It hurts just as much as it is worth.” And that pain means it’s worth it.
Zadie Smith Reading Response
- Who is Zadie Smith, and why should we pay attention to her essay?//
Zadie Smith is an English novelist, essayist, and short story writer. She became a tenured professor in the creative writing department at New York University in 2010.
- In what ways does Smith “distinguish between joy and pleasure” and how do these distinctions match up with your own interpretations of the two experiences?//
I think Smith’s clearest differentiation of pleasure and joy comes on page 333. “I “have” pleasure, it is a feeling I want to experience and own. A beach holiday is a pleasure. A new dress is a pleasure. But on that dance floor I was joy, or some small piece of joy, with all these hundreds of people who were also a part of joy.” Here she differentiates joy as a state of being and pleasure being something possessive or to have something. While this is a pretty clear cut way to see it, I think it’s much more blurred than she’s presenting. I think the two could very well go hand in hand, but the idea of being vs possessing is an interesting take that I’m inclined to agree with.
- According to Smith, why is joy difficult to manage, and live with? Do you agree with her? Why or why not? Practice using a complete Quote Sandwich (utilizing a direct quote from the essay) within your response.//
(Top) Smith proposes that joy is difficult to live with because it is so intense that it can consume you as a while. She says, (Middle) “It doesn’t fit with the everyday. The thing no one ever tells you about joy is that it has very little real pleasure in it.” (334-335). (Bottom) Joy just can’t fit cleanly into a monotonous, normal day because of how all encompassing and strong the experience is.
- In a well-developed paragraph, respond to the following question: What’s the value of reading about, thinking about, and discussing joy?//
I think that the value of discussing joy is so important, especially now, with all of the fear and uncertainty of our everyday lives. If we lack joy in our lives, what better way to mimic it than to talk and think about it with others?
- How does Smith’s essay overlap or connect or contradict previous readings from this semester?//
The most prominent thing that connects these readings to me is the way they’re written. They’re so personal and individual and experiential. I think that might be why I have a harder time relating to them… As much as I enjoy this kind of writing, it’s hard to relate to and form and argument around. But that does’t mean it isn’t an interesting perspective to see and hear from.
DFW Response
- In two healthy paragraphs, summarize the speech and show (with framed quotes and paraphrase from the text) what you believe to be the author’s three main points/arguments. Support with textual evidence and include your own initial response to the material. //
David Foster Wallace’s speech “This is Water” is a commencement speech to the graduating class of 2005 at Kenyon College. He begins with an assessment of the liberal arts education that the students have just received, saying that their teachers were “teaching you how to think” (Wallace p. 1). But what does that actually mean? What were they teaching them how to think? Wallace proposes that the most important thing they learn is “to be just a little less arrogant. To have just a little critical awareness about [yourself] and [your] certainties.” (p.2)
Wallace continues, asking the graduates to look outside themselves and consider that everyone around them are suffering just the same, if not more than, they are. “It is extremely difficult to stay alert and attentive, instead of getting hypnotised by the constant monologue inside your own head.” (Wallace p. 3). How do you escape your own head to realize that there are others around you? How do you breathe when you realize that everyone around you is suffering? What do you do when you can’t tune them out and focus on your own struggles? That’s what I wish DFW had talked about more in his speech, because that is just as important as how important he highlighted looking outside of yourself to be.
- Do you agree with DFW’s main arguments? Why or why not? Explain. //
Yes, 100%. This is was such a fun read and I was so actively engaged the entire time. DFW is so amazingly articulate in his descriptions of adulthood and human suffering. I only wish he had validated individual suffering- saying that what you feel is real and important, that you don’t have to constantly be looking out to realize that everyone around you is also suffering, or possibly suffering more. Your own struggles are real and valid.
- Do you believe DFW is referring to empathy, even though he never uses the word? Or is he hinting at something else? //
I think DFW is very clever in his wording- never quite defining the emotions and experiences he’s talking about as nothing more than “thinking” or being “well-adjusted” (Wallace p2). He’s stressing the importance of looking outward when all we’ve ever known is how to look inward. Doing so is so much more than just empathy.
- Find one DFW quote that evoked a strong response. Paste the direct quote from his piece, then write a few sentences in which you challenge or support his statement. //
“Anything […] you worship will eat you alive.” (Wallace p5). WOW. Where do I even start!! This is such an amazing one-liner. I had to take a second to really let that whole paragraph sink in. To propose the idea that what we idolize and hold most important are the things we’re insecure about is such an incredible idea. I never thought about it like that before, but it makes so much sense.
- How do DFW’s main points interact with those of Paul Bloom (from our last reading)? //
DFW’s main points are difficult to connect to Bloom’s “Is Empathy Overrated” because Wallace never explicitly defines what he’s talking about as empathy. However, they do share some similarities of how we as humans take our biases and place them onto how we view others. Bloom goes into detail, expressing that we can’t empathize with people different from us, like victims of sexual assault (p. 3). Wallace says “consider the likelihood that everyone else in the supermarket’s checkout line is just as bored and frustrated as [you are].” (p. 5). Wallace suggests that we can only empathize with someone in the same situation as ourselves, just as Bloom proposes.
Bloom Response
- In two healthy paragraphs summarize the piece and show (with framed quotes and paraphrase from the text) what you believe to be the author’s three main points/arguments. Support with textual evidence and include your own initial response to the material. //
Paul Bloom makes three main points in his discussion. First, he suggests the idea of empathy being used as a spotlight, and our lived experiences aim and brighten that spotlight. Second, he says “The real problem is that we don’t have enough empathy for other people.” (Bloom pg2-3). Third, he proposes moral situations in which human empathy can’t be used reliably and puts others at risk. Ultimately he wants us to know that he is against empathy in the moral domain and that there are better ways to go about using your morals to interact with people.
My reaction to this text summed up into one word is “frustration.” Here comes another professional to comment on something that has been so influential in my lived experiences. Bloom seemingly forgets the concept of sympathy in his writing, not even bringing it up as a solution for alternatives to empathy. I believe that what he is describing as a spotlight isn’t empathy, he’s mistaken empathy for sympathy- and there’s a big difference. Empathy is thick, all-consuming, and overwhelming, which means that plenty of people don’t have the mental intelligence and capacity to use their empathy to its fullest potential.
- Do you agree with Bloom’s main arguments? Why or why not? //
No, I do not. Bloom wants his readers to think more deeply and reflect on their use of empathy when the emotions and actions better match the definition of sympathy and the ability to use compassion.
- In what ways does Bloom challenge your initial understanding or perception regarding empathy? //
I don’t think Bloom challenges my definition of empathy. I want to challenge his perception of it though. Bloom uses a spotlight as an analogy for empathy when it’s so much more than that. Even for neurotypical people empathy isn’t a pointed source that can be aimed, it’s more a room’s dimmer switch. Neurodivergent empathy is a whole other beast (think a light control board for a theater).
- Find one claim Bloom makes that evoked a strong response. Paste the direct quote from his piece, then write a few sentences in which you challenge OR support his claim in your own words and experience(s). //
“Further, spotlights only illuminate what they are pointed at, so empathy reflects our biases.” (Bloom pg2) was the quote I chose for this example. True, all-encompassing empathy doesn’t care about your biases. Maybe your sympathy and compassion do, but not empathy. Empathy is unconditional and is felt for all people, regardless of what you think about them. The idea that empathy is something that can be turned on and off and aimed is just incorrect, empathy is felt and can’t be placed upon someone by choice.
Lammot Response
- From what Lammot has to say, is writing a first draft more about the product or the process? Do you agree in regard to your own first drafts? Explain. //
Lammot says that shitty first drafts are meant to be just that- shitty. The most important thing to do is dump your brain onto a piece of paper so that you can mold and create something in your second draft. Product and process are equally important, as one is almost impossible without the other.
For me, my writing process is almost non-existent. I don’t do well getting my thoughts cleanly written into nice flowing paragraphs, I get them jotted down in bullet points with sub-points explaining more. Writing any kind of flow is so difficult for me because I have so many ideas that I want to talk about that don’t always relate to one another cleanly. So for first drafts I really believe its the content and thought process that is the most important. If you have something to start with it makes it all the more easier to link and flow and connect your ideas together in one big long essay.
Chen Reading Response
- Who is Adrian Chen? And how does his background/areas of expertise help inform you about his perspective as it relates to this article? //
Adrian Chen is an American blogger, writing about internet culture and it’s impact on the general public. At 39, he’s written for a slew of different publications and websites as well as created his own “humor publication” for Reed College. His most written about platforms are 4chan and Reddit, and that says a lot and I believe he knows what he’s talking about.
- Write a brief summary, using your words and direct quotes, of Megan Phelps-Roper’s personal transformation, as described in Chen’s piece. Be sure to include 2-3 direct quotes, framed properly. Choose quotes that help illuminate changes Phelps-Roper experienced along the way. //
Megan Phelps-Roper’s personal transformation really began with the death of actress Brittany Murphy. While other church members reacted with glee, praising God for another worthy smite, Phelps-Roper felt conflicted. She’d loved Murphy’s work and when she continued through her timeline to see others mourning the actress she didn’t post about it like she normally would have. As the church of Westboro started to preach more aggressive stances about God’s opinions on human feelings and emotion, Phelps-Roper felt a conflict within herself that mirrored the public’s concern about the church.
- In your opinion, how did social media embolden Phelps-Roper’s initial message as a spokesperson for Westboro Baptist Church? How did interactions via social media influence her drastic shift in personal belief? Use at least two direct quotes, framed with help from our discussion/slides on Quote/the Quote Sandwich method, to support your claims. //
Social media emboldened Phelps-Roper’s baiting on social media. She “was exhilarated by the response. Since elementary school, she had given hundreds of interviews about Westboro, but the reaction on Twitter seemed more real than a quote in the newspaper.” (Chen pg3) With people reacting and talking directly with her, she felt the need to continue to grab the public’s attention however she could. And with what the church had raised her to believe, it was often hateful.
- “Anybody’s initial response to being confronted with the sort of stuff Westboro Baptist Church says is to tell them to f*** off,” said blogger David Abitbol (Chen 79). But it was less-aggressive communication styles that “got through” to Phelps-Roper, that in part influenced her to reconsider her belief system. What style(s) of conversation (consider message, tone, perspective) had the most impact on Phelps-Roper? What might her story teach us about confronting hate speech? What about redemption? //
As uncomfortable as hate speech is, to put it lightly, the only way the people spouting it will listen to you is if you agree with them. They don’t often want to hear anything other than what they believe in, that’s what makes talking to each other nowadays so hard. It can be very easy to get emotional and frantic when trying to explain hatred to people in person, but online you have the opportunity to be patient and craft a carefully written response. You have the chance to actually talk with another person who otherwise would be at each other’s throats. Unfollow is just one example of a brainwashed individual learning to listen to something that isn’t the dominant personality in their life.
- If you were to meet Phelps-Roper today, what question would you want to ask her, and why? //
After reading Unfollow I’m not sure I have any more questions for her. I would praise her for her bravery in questioning the church and her family- it’s not an easy thing to do.
