Mr. Ravioli

I thought this essay was a little strange but had some great detail and creativity in it. I thought that this essay was great in that it displayed how busy new yorkers are and being from outside new york city i can understand what gopnik is trying to do. I also like how he was able to use the little girl to express his views and beliefs. That was the most creative aspect of the essay. I did not understand why she had this imaginary friend that she rarely saw. Does gopnik have friends that he rarely see? I would hope so or he has some serious mental problems. I also thought if the little girl is getting this kind of attention from mr ravoli which is very little is gopnik trying to say that he does not get enough attention. This essay seems to be gopnik crying out for help. All i know aboutthis essay is i think this is gopnik feelings being displayed by this little girl.

My Sister

I thought there was allot of information jammed packed in 2 pages of writing. I loved how there was such a difference between the two siblings, i mean my brother and i are allot smiler then them but maybe thats because we are both boys. The part that disturbed me was how she hit the bird and deer with her car and did not really care, whats wrong with this girl, sounds to me that she is on her way to being a mass murder, that how it all starts, killing helpless animals.

The Fishing Story

First of all i want to say that this story had the best opening paragraph of any of the essays. There was so much description. The line i raked her sandy, flat,northwest Florida yard really gave me a clear picture in my head of the setting in the beginning because i go to Florida allot. Also the fact that we are meeting the writer of the essay gave me more of a incentive to get into it and understand it.
I start to feel bad reading this when she starts loosing her memory, thank god i cannot relate to this because i have all four of my grandparents and they are all generally healthy. I could not imagine the pain people are going through, the thought of someone forgetting my name or who i am that is close to me would eat me up inside. I can totally relate to the relationship she had with her great grandmother because i have an amazing relationship with my moms parents especially my grandmother. I don't know why or how but we have just bonded and she has told me that im her favorite. I think i feel the same feelings for my grandmother as Beth does for her great. Im looking forward to meeting her in class.

Ashes

Yea so this had to be the worst of all the essays. I could honestly care less about this family's problem of Sidaris sister getting married. That is one of the most common situations in today's world and today's various forms of entertainment like movies, TV shows and books. come on like i have not herd this before. The only part i found was odd was how the father came to terms with the mother being diagnosed with cancer and her inevitable death. He was totally focused on the wedding. That is so odd, how do u shut someone out like that, someone who you have vowed your life to. Makes no sense to me.
If i was in his position i would not of wrote a essay about this for me this would seem like a subject i would not make public. It shows the dysfunction of his family mainly his father. Where his priorities were and what not. I feel for Sidaris but i really thought this was a dry piece of writing.

The Love of My LIfe

In the first sentence of this essay i was already like are you kidding me. She is cheating on her husband a week after her mother died. I was like this is no way to mourn a love one. But then i got thinking maybe she was doing the random acts of sex to dull her pain of her mother. How gross that may sound it kinda makes sense it is kinda the same as a person cutting them self to dull the pain or drinking to do the same. Ever person is different people cope with pain in different ways.
I noticed how in the middle of the essay it occurred to me that it was getting repetitive in the fact that she misses her mother and feels bad for cheating on her husband. We get the part of her mourning her mother and dealing with that by screwing random dudes without real names. lol But how can u love someone like her husband as much as she says she does and still do sexual favors to random guys. Come on she is talking out of her ass then.
I don't understand how her husband did not go crazy right there and then when she told him that she has been having sex with numerous people over the past 2 years. That is like the ultimate betrayal in my mind. In the end it was a interesting but twisted essay at the same time.

The Fourth State of Matter

I did not like this story at all i thought the whole thing was pointless and not entertaining but the ending was good. She lives in a house with animals everywhere that just seems gross to me. I honestly don't care about some one cleaning up dog beds and squirrel shit like that's not entertaining for me. But i did feel for her and getting divorced because my parents are divorced a d it was very hard on everyone especially my mother. The only part of the essay i like was the twist when she called in sick and everyone at the office was killed. That's just freaky especially how today is the anniversary of September 11th and how my father was suppose to be flying that day and he called in sick or the same for my friends dad who decided to start late that day in the trade towers. It seems to me that her luck and my dads and my friends dads luck is just dumb luck nothing else to it .

101 ways to cook a hamburger

This essay was good in that it showed how confusing it is to be a homosexual. When Theresa asked him straight up "are you a fag"? i was like wtf what kind of person is so straight forward on a topic like that. I thought it was very rough on him and totally impacted his thoughts and feelings. Also his mothers response when he asked her what fag was also kinda harsh. How she flew across the room and grabbed him by the shoulders was strange because she asked him did someone call u that. It sounded to me like she knows something, like maybe he could very well be gay because maybe his father was gay or something. What im trying to say is it sounds like the mother is hiding something. I thought it was good how he moved on in the end.