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.
No comments:
Post a Comment