Introduction to The Literary Studio
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 13th, 2019
Ansel Elkins’ “Going to the Movies Alone” that begins by describing different scenes to movies and ends by describing leaving the theater. Elkins uses an immense amount of imagery throughout the entire poem, but my favorite is in the last six lines: “and I go out the door marked EXIT and into the winter night, the […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 13th, 2019
The Heaven of Animals Here they are. The soft eyes open. If they have lived in a wood It is a wood. If they have lived on plains It is grass rolling Under their feet forever. Having no souls, they have come, Anyway, beyond their knowing. Their instincts wholly bloom And they rise. […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 13th, 2019
Ron Rash writes “Burning Bright” in third-person limited omniscient about a woman, Marcie who has a late husband, Arthur, and a second husband, Carl. The town she lives in in North Carolina is going through a drought and someone is setting fires in the woods. Marcie begins to believe Carl, her second husband is setting […]
Posted in Poetry on Apr 12th, 2019
Meg Day’s poem “Batter My Heart, Transgender’d God” discusses Day’s complicated relationships with both relationship and gender. One of the first striking things about this poem is the title. One of the common mistakes people make in discussing trans issues (by which I mean, things that affect those who are transgender, as opposed to how some […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 12th, 2019
“Parables” is a poem by Susannah Nevison about destruction split into five sections. The first speaks of darkness and how it grows in prisoners. The darkness, the evil, eventually pins the person down as others, the legal system and citizens most likely, watch. This darkness is man made and on occasion given to the person, […]
Posted in Essay on Apr 12th, 2019
What’s unique about Elizabeth McCracken’s “Toward a Unified Theory of the Donut” is that, while it’s a personal essay, the most we learn about the author herself is through the singular lens of donut. Unlike the heavily probing essays we’ve read (and written) in the past several weeks, this one explores the place of donuts […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 12th, 2019
“Teenage Lesbian Couple Found in Texas Park with Gunshot Wounds to the Head” is a powerful piece of poetry by Meg Day. The speaker does not directly reference the incident that the poem is named after, but instead refers to the violence women face at any given point. Day herself crafts the poem expertly with […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 12th, 2019
“Wind” by Ted Hughes is a short poem about an unhappy relationship and how that makes their house feel like a storm. The speaker begins by saying the house has been out at sea all night, which creates an image of solitude and a feeling of being lost. This is a similar feeling to how […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 12th, 2019
“In the Cemetary Where Al Jonson is Buried” by Amy Hempel is a short story about taking care of a loved one experiencing the process of dying. It resonated with me, as when I read it I had recently spent a month taking care of a dying loved one. One of the most terrible things […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 12th, 2019
“Musee des Beaux Arts” is a short poem by W. H. Auden and focuses on suffering. Auden chooses to focus on the way suffering goes unnoticed. The speaker tells of people going on about daily activities- eating, opening windows, walking- and how they don’t realize others are suffering while they do so. There are some […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 12th, 2019
In the essay “It Will Look like a Sunset,” Kelly Sundberg goes between two characterizations of her ex-husband: One as the kindest, gentlest partner she had ever had, and one as her abuser of eight years. While the two seem diametrically opposed on the surface, Sundberg’s essay, and others like it, reveal that this is […]
In Kelly Sundberg’s personal essay titled “It Will Look Like a Sunset,” she addresses many issues. She addresses what it is to love; she addresses what it is like to not want to be a single mother; she addresses the role a woman plays and how she looks after everyone besides herself. She addresses wanting to […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 11th, 2019
In Kelly Sundberg’s personal essay “It Will Look Like a Sunset”, we follow the events of her experience with domestic violence and her eventual decision to leave. Sundberg does an excellent job in playing with duality throughout her essay. We are met with Caleb, her husband and her abuser, and taken through his character completely. […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 11th, 2019
“It Will Look Like a Sunset” by Kelly Sundberg was probably one of the most powerful pieces I have ever read. The pain she spoke about and the way she wrote it made it so real, she held nothing back. I thought it was especially brave of her to not only discuss what bad her husband […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 10th, 2019
When ever you hear stories of domestic abuse you only get a general picture. Man beats his wife. But there was something about the way Sundberg bounced from reason to memory that really paints the picture of what she actually went through. While reading this, it felt almost insulting to put it down and not […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 8th, 2019
Salman Rushdie, in his essay “Out of Kansas,” presents an intriguing, insightful analyzation of the famous film and book The Wizard of OZ. He starts by explaining how the production inspired him to write his first story, entitled, “Over the Rainbow.” As a young boy he and his family traveled a lot and amidst […]
Posted in Essay on Apr 8th, 2019
Salam Rushdie writes a film analysis titled “Out of Kansas” based off of The Wizard of Oz. In this review, he begins by discussing journeys that have caused him to read these stories and compare and contrast Bollywood stories with Hollywood. Rushdie writes of places and Oz: England was mentioned it felt as exciting as any voyage beyond […]
Posted in Poetry on Apr 8th, 2019
In The Last Psalm at Sea Level by Meg Day, I read a poem titled, “If There Had Been Time for Healing.” I would have done it on the road – carved out a corner of that map & lost myself in its thick-clustered veins: I’d double back on potholed highways & stop alongside those lined […]
Posted in Essay on Apr 5th, 2019
What I found most interesting about Salman Rushdie’s film review and analysis of The Wizard of Oz, “Out of Kansas,” was his comparison of an American classic to the typical Bollywood style of film common during his childhood. My roommate, a girl from Lucknow, India, has gotten me into Bollywood movies (albeit more current ones […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 4th, 2019
Nell Boeschenstein in many words described everything I’ve been though in the past year. Though breast cancer wasn’t something I had to worry about, I still wen through a surgery that cause me to loose 2 pounds of. breast on each side because of an accident. Though Im not a stranger to breast surgery, the […]
Posted in Essay on Apr 3rd, 2019
First of all, I think we can all agree that the best moment in this essay is when Nell spends an entire paragraph listing different words for boobs. Secondly, I read this essay months ago when I googled Nell (like I do all my professors– sorry!) and ended up finding her website. I read a […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 3rd, 2019
Nell Boeschenstein’s essay, “A Few Words About Fake Breasts” takes the very serious topic of breast cancer and puts a rather playful, humorous spin on it, while still fully addressing the fact that breast cancer is a terrible trial to go through. Throughout the essay, Boeschenstein brings in the element of humor by referring […]
Posted in Essay on Apr 3rd, 2019
One of the best parts of Nell Boeschenstein’s “A Few Words About Fake Breasts” is the entire paragraph she designated to the different names for breasts. There are, it seems, many words for the real deals: melons, jugs, hooters, tits, titties, cans, the girls, rack, knockers, fried eggs, tatas, bosoms, bazookas, bazingas, bazongas, ninnies, grenades, guns, pillows, […]
Posted in Essay on Apr 3rd, 2019
“A Few Words About Fake Breasts” written by Nell Boeschenstein, is a personal essay about a memorable event of her struggle with undergoing a double mastectomy. In this essay, Boeschenstein discusses in personal detail her thought process of undergoing such a procedure, within her writing it’s emotional and deep yet still shallow. Boeschenstein makes such an effort […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 3rd, 2019
“A Few Words about Fake Breasts,” by Nell Boeschenstein is a personal essay written in the second point of view. It’s about Boeschenstein’s experience and struggle with the aftermath of getting a double mastectomy to reduce the risk of breast cancer that runs in her family, and today’s societal norms. She first explains why she […]
Posted in Essay on Apr 2nd, 2019
Nell Boeschenstein’s “A Few Words About Fake Breasts” is a personal essay that chronicles Boeschenstein’s struggle with breast reconstruction after a double mastectomy, and brings to light the contradictions between today’s feminist culture and society’s standards of beauty. The piece is a first person essay written in the second person. The intimacy of the emotions […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 1st, 2019
The Fourth State of Matter by Jo Ann Beard really made me think about who I am as a writer. She uses details that doesn’t over do her point but it’s is direct and focused on a specific goal. She plays with our minds as if she has our minds in her hands first starting […]