Adopted Town

The second part to "The Place You Love is Gone", Adopted Town, is about the author moving to a new house in a new town. She left Akron and moved to Hoboken, Jew Jersey. She dislikes this place a lot. She talks about the town, the street, her house, and why she dislikes everything about it. "At first I lacked the vocabulary to properly term it a railroad apartment, and all I knew was that the interior rooms could have been used to safely process film” (page 68). I love this quote she used because I could truly picture how dark the room is. In high school I took a photography class and I know that to develop film you can’t use real like so I can picture how dark the room is she is describing. Following that she says that “Rarely was food prepared in what was determined to be the ‘kitchen’.” (page 68-69) She describes that the kitchen does not feel like a kitchen, especially compared to her old house. Those quotes help me understand that she is not happy with her new house in New Jersey, and that she misses her old house in a way.

               

The text relates to me in a few ways. For one, I have moved to a new house, other than the one I grew up in. I moved when I was about seven years old and I was forced to give up my old memories and make new ones in my new house. However, my new house wasn’t as bad to move into as hers appears to be. I was a bit excited to move into my new house, although I know I would’ve missed all my other memories of my old house. That was the house I was born into and all my baby and toddler memories were there. I am very glad that I, at least, have the advantage of watching home videos and actually seeing those memories.

Salem, now, is kind of like my adopted town. I am still learning my way around and certain little short cuts, but I adapting to it, kind of like the author did to her new house. I am not usually good with change but Salem is becoming like a second home to me. Methuen will always be my home town and where I grew up but I am slowly adapting to the changes of Salem. The actual University is kind of like my adopted home. It is where I spend most of my week. I don’t like that I’m so far away from my home and my family. But they come to visit, or I go home to visit. I am adapting to both the down and school even though I miss my home. At first meeting new people and seeing all these new places what a little alarming because I wasn’t sure if I fit in here, but after a month or two it gets easier to adapt.

The Place And Memory Project

          This piece I read about was about the BP Oil Spill on April 20, 2010. I picked this topic because it affected so many people. It was known throughout the entire country and was one of the most important pieces on the news for months. The fact that so much oil was being poured into the Gulf of Mexico every single day. It was estimated that 5,000 barrels was being poured into the ocean every single day. That went on for months.

          This story really made me think about how many people were actually affected by this disaster. When the fire of the Transocean Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig broke out eleven men out of the 126 were not able to make it out. That affected the entire crew and those who loved the eleven individuals. Not only were those families influenced but the entire shore of the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana, BP as a company, and many many sea animals were also very disturbed in the outcome. All of the workers who helped with the spill and with the cleaning did as much as they could to help those who were devastated by the event.
 
          In class we were learning about how change affects our home and our lives. As I stated this oil spill affected so many people, not only those directly involved, but the ones who just care about the environment. To think about all the animals and creatures that were forced out of their homes and even were killed, that might also affect people. The people of the Gulf of Mexico and Louisiana were not able to even go near the ocean, and those who had homes near the oceans were not able to live there. That affected them because maybe they grew up there, and now they had to move and leave all their memories because of this disaster. It related to our class because we are all influenced by the changes that happen to our homes and in our lives.


The link to the boston news article website is listed below.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/oil_spill_approaches_louisiana.html

Why is Nostalgia Such a Bad Thing

MHP:" Thank you for saying that. That’s a nice way of putting it. I’m online, I’m on all these lists that are throwing this information at me till my eyes glaze over. There’s a little bit of magic that goes on when you’re researching, or at least the way I do it, which is not methodical. I don’t really know how to research. I think my papers in grad school—I just flunked them all. I don’t really know how to do that. But what I do is a sort of have this faith that if I get into the head and I read something, then it will lead me somewhere else."

-I think when she said this it kind of surprised me a little bit because it is a little ironic. She said in grad school she flunked all her papers. Which is weird because she is now a writer. The questioner stated that her books must have involved a lot of research. She said that she doesn't exactly know how to research, but she just uses a sort of "magic" to do it. I feel as a writer that takes a lot to admit that she did not always excel as a writer.



MHP: For me, in my first book, I could read all the literature on motorcycles because there wasn’t that much. I spent days in the New York Public Library, in the science room, when they still had that, and I did a lot of my research in used bookstores, you know [trails her finger across an imaginary shelf], like that. Same thing with The Place You Love Is Gone. A lot of those were old books that I stumbled on, and when you amass enough stuff, it starts to coalesce. I don’t think about things. I read. I take notes. And then, maybe after a year or two, something will start to take shape and I’ll get out colored pens and I’ll say, This will belong over here. It’s like piecing together a puzzle.

-I love how she said after some time things will take shape and she will start to piece things together. She got much of her inspiration and research done at library and old book stores. This qoute shows how she was dedicated when it came to wanting to write a book. I like how she can say that she will just pick up colored pencils and start puzzeling her thoughts together.


MHP: How many times have you heard someone say they’ve gone back home and it’s changed or it’s gone? I mean, people weep over this. Is it sadness or is it nostalgia? Why is nostalgia such a bad thing? I mean, nostalgia is a longing to return. If you really loved where you came from, if, in essence, you really loved yourself—because that’s what created you—how can you not want that to exist? It’s like wanting your parents keep living. Is it nostalgia when you cry when your parents die? The bad kind of nostalgia is getting lost in it and never leaving. My point in writing about those three places was to say, “Aha, but guess what? I get nostalgic about every place.”

-In this quote she is saying again what we have been talking about in class. She is saying that she looks back on her places she grew up and places she has been and they are all changing. She says, in a way, it's good to see that change, and the only bad change is when you get lost and never return back to your old ways. She is saying that your going to want your old home back because that is where you grew up and "exist". But good things do come to an end at some point.


-Nostalgia is in fact not such a bad thing, in my opinion. It allows us to look back at our memories and cherish those that were important to us. Remebering your childhood is very important because it is what made you who you are today.