describe it to me (part III)...

Although I thought the end of Brian Doyle's piece, Joyas Volardores was a little odd with strange transitions, I really liked the way he described the hummingbirds in his third paragraph.

"Hummingbirds, like all flying birds but more so, have incredible enormous immense ferocious metabolisms. To drive those metabolisms they have racecar hearts that eat oxygen at an eye-popping rate."

The first sentence is my favorite part. He uses these amazingly big adjectives to describe this tiny little bird. The words make the birds larger than life. Within this little bird is a metabolism that is larger than the bird itself. I also like how he doesn't separate the adjectives with commas--he just places them all together making the sentence read fast... like the little hummingbird.
In the second sentence I like his choice of words. Racecar, eat oxygen, eye-popping: again, very strong word choices make the hummingbird appear fierce as oppossed to fragile.

describe it to me (part II)...

Just a quick note: I wanted to break up all of these description posts because I thought it would be extremely too long to post them all.

I had a great connection with John Updike's An Oil on Canvas. I can't put my finger exactly on what it was about the piece that I found so wonderful...I think it was the way he described his mother and her need for expensive things despite being broke in the Depression.

"Her father had been affluent for a time, and to her last days she had a taste for "nice things," which would manifest itself as Christmas gifts of Steuben glass and cashmere sweaters when she was living on next to nothing."

I see a little bit of myself in his mother which is probably the reason why I like this.

describe it to me (part I)...

First, I would like to say that I am in love with the McQuade/McQuade book Seeing and Writing. After this class is over I know that I will go back and read everything I never got a chance to read as well as go back and re-read everything I've already read. This past week for show and tell we had to find examples of description. I found three that I really liked from three different readings. Here is one:

The Pencil by Henry Petrosky:

"Ink is the cosmetic that ideas will wear when they go out in public. Graphite is their dirty truth."

I like this description because it makes the pen and pencil human. By transforming it from an object into something organic really makes me think about all the possibilities that each one holds.

sexy

I love when I come across a great quote. There are many ways to say one thing, but sometimes, there is just one. I also like finding quotes that make me think differently than I normally do. Words are amazing in the sense that putting them together one way can be ordinary and all it takes is omitting a word or adding a comma that make the collection that much more inspirational or enlightening.

I found this quote in the Drafting section of the introduction in the McQuade McQuade book:

"Writing is a form of intellectual exhaling."

I love that! I really do picture my breath coming out of my mouth and writing words on the page. It paints a very nice, calm picture for me.

Here's another one by Russell Baker:
"...in writing, punctuation plays the role of body language."

I had never thought of punctuation as sexy until I read this. Both of these quotes changed the way that I look at writing. I used to see it as something I had to do; after reading both of these I find myself wanting to write.

Inspiration...

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This book is a true inspiration for me. It is about a woman who does open water swims all over the world and was the first person to swim from Alaska to Russia (they are a lot closer than you might think). I find her stories fascinating. She is someone who inspires me to keep moving forward (in life) even when I feel like giving up the most. The hardships can be conquered if you can push through them to the other side. Not only is her story inspirational but the book is simply written. While I do appreciate all different writting styles, I am a fan of writing that is to-the-point without being vague. If you ever get a free day, week, or month, and are looking to be inspired I would highly recommend reading this book.

Thanks for the info

Okay, no one else may find this funny but I think it's hilarious. I got a piece of junk mail from Delta about my skymiles. Just read the first sentence of this and tell me if you thought the same thing I did. I may not be an expert with words but I feel that the writers of this letter could have done a better job.

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Thanks for making me tear open the envelope and read the "exciting news" that--not only do I have no money-- I have no skymiles. Isn't that just the pickle that goes with the giant crap sandwich that is my day. Thanks, Delta.

Birthday Card

I thought this card seemed to go along with the good grammar that we are learning from "Sin & Syntax." Remember: never end a sentence with a preposition!