Digital Self

 1. Lena Dunham's memoir pulled me in immediately. When I was six years old, death scared the shit out of me. The word alone brought me to tears. Images of death flooded my brain and my chest thumped rapidly. The start of my anxiety which later led me to therapy. So I personally feel a connection to Dunham. Attending therapy at a young stage is a big step. The community memoir I didn't connect with as much. I've never been in a similar situation. However, I must admit there are awkward family encounters every now and then. Out of the two, I see myself more in Dunham's piece.  2. The community blog tells more than it shows. The writer tells me her cousin made herself at home. I'm told she's like the older the writer's never had. The memories are filled with laughter, but where's a memory with them laughing together? There are no sensory details with this piece. I don't see the restaurant they're in. I can't picture the parking lot where they e...

      Nobody likes to read anything they are not invested in. Whether it be a textbook, novel, blog, or anything in between, an uninvested reader will get nothing in return for the time they invest. A good blog should pull the reader in and not let them go until the story is complete. Relatability is a reliable way to engage a reader. For me though, the relatability of these two blog posts were hit and miss. I have not been privy to losing someone I love dearly in an instant. I've seen it happen but I could not connect with it. At times, Dunham's struggle with mental illness strikes a chord with me, but the extremity of her situation pulled me away. Though I was not always able to see myself in their situations, their writing was engaging enough to where I wanted to continue reading. I may not understand exactly what they are going through but I would love to learn.      Out of the two, Cousins was much easier to read. The short descriptions of each mo...

Well, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't relate at least a little to the therapy scenes in Lena Dunham's piece. I did end up having flashbacks to my own therapy experiences where I also played with some of the toys in the therapist's office, the difference is that my parents were also there to talk with the therapist. It's a small thing, but it's something I took notice to regardless. I can't bring myself to say that Lena Dunham overtold her story. It felt like her writing all that down was her own form of self-therapy. Would it have been better if she had trimmed it down? I'm not sure, but certain details were necessary (like what she was afraid of before therapy) in order to create a clear picture. Cousins, on the other hand, I can only describe as incomplete. I feel like I opened up a book, read the last page, and then closed it. If this is the ending of the person's friendship with this girl, then they undertold it and it needed to be longer. I...

   The two memoirs we read this week were short but pack enough information to reflect on. I personally see myself in the cousins story  because I have many cousins that I fight with on a regular. The story was real with raw emotions, conflict and a resolution. Though I enjoyed the other I just did not connect as quickly with the story. The author was doing more of telling her story instead of showing to me. I did not feel like I was being taken on a journey of her life with her. The story about the cousins did that for me. I felted as if I was there while they were arguing. I felted the loneliness of not having each other in their lives. I loved the visualization of this reconnecting tell. Felt like I was family sitting at the dinner table and that is what I did not get from Lena’s story. Although I do get a sense of truth telling from both stories I just wish I was able to be more into Lena’s story. 

  1). A good memoir draws in a reader, so he or she can discover something new. Can you "see" yourself in either of these stories? If so, what?; If not, why? I can see myself in both memoirs. I’ve been known to have my fair share of “irrational” fears just like the girl in difficult girl. I wouldn’t say I was afraid of as much as she was but I can definitely relate to the crippling anxiety of it all. In “cousins”, I could 100% relate to the situation. Having extreme battles with family members so much so that you don’t talk for days, months or even years. Both of us way too stubborn to apologize because we both feel like we have nothing to apologize for. I think this memoir drew me in the most. 2). Do these writers over tell their stories? Do they tell or show? Address the description and visualization? Do you need more details? “Difficult girl” has a lot of details and probably could be considered an “over tell”. There were some instances where I felt like there was a lot of...

 1. The story that I could see myself most in was in the memoir titled "Cousins." After reading the first paragraph, I actually paused for a moment to try and remember if I was the one that actually wrote this story, because the situation is so incredibly similar to what happened to me a few years ago. Even with some of the details like where she mentions her cousin lived with her, and that they met for dinner a few years later were spot on for my own situation, so I think that was able to see myself in this memoir very clearly.  2. I think that the writer of "Cousins" definitely did not over tell her story at all.  Rather than explaining in full detail what had happened between her family and her cousin, where her cousin went, etc., the author was able to use words and phrases such as, "like watching someone take off on a sail boat going out into the Atlantic," in order to allow the readers to read between the lines and still understand the overall meanin...

  1.  The authors of both memoirs have drawn me in different ways. The community blog is relatable and just by reading the memoir I could feel just how much sadness and nostalgia the author felt during the time she could not talk to her cousin. I have severed ties with some people in the past and this blog hits close to home. Lena Dunham’s memoir is not as relatable because I have not struggled with any type of mental illness in my life. However, the author of the memoir was interesting from the beginning. I  only realized that the memoir was long after finishing it. 2.  In the community blog, the writer is brief and tells the story in two paragraphs. I prefer such short yet engaging stories as opposed to long ones because I get distracted easily when reading. Also, short stories tend to give just enough details instead of rumbling about one thing for a long time. Lena Dunham in her memoir  Growing up in Therapy included a lot of vivid description which made the...

  Growing up in Therapy      In Lena Dunham's memoir, Growing up in Therapy, she paints a very thorough and detailed picture from the start. Her description of herself as a little girl dealing with so much fear and anxiety really struck home and drew me in. I can very easily see myself within Dunham in this piece. I am an extremely anxious person and I've been called a hypochondriac by many people over the years. I understand her fears, that feeling of dread that some illness or germ is sneaking up on you at all times. To this day I still assume the worst when I have what seems like an ordinary symptom to anyone else last more than a day or so. For example, if I have a headache for a few days, I will quickly feel the urge to google symptoms of brain cancer or meningitis or whatever worse case scenario that could explain away something as simple as a few headaches. I understand that never-ending fear of the world around you. This allowed me to better understand that I...

    1) Although I can't relate fully to the community blog post #4: cousins , there is a part that I've experienced, not with family though. Every time I fall out with a person I may be dating at the time, reuniting with them is always a bit awkward. We try to communicate like nothing ever happened sometimes but you can cut that tension with a butter knife. "Seeing someone that you haven't seen in so long, but feeling compelled to pull a conversation out of thin air as if not a day had gone by." Man have I been there. "So....... have you still been having those headaches that you use to have?" I always tend that ask some random personal question that may not be the best way to break the ice. Or maybe so, who knows.   I can't see myself going through this with a family member I lived with though. The communication with the family is pretty clear if its on this level. I'm not letting time go by before we address something like this. I'm not too...

  Difficult Girl In her memoir , Lena Dunham promptly sets the scene, painting a quick but effective picture of a young girl afraid of everything. I could relate to this strongly in my late teens, early twenties – not because I was afraid of germs or anything, but because part of my anxiety manifested in OCD tendencies. Lena captures the experience well, as the need for control shifts from one area of life to another. Reading her memoir reminded me of how much I missed my therapist when I gave up therapy and is encouraging. She shows us how she gets better through the interactions with the therapists and those close to her – even when they are not perfect, she is trying to find a way to get well, which is inspiring. I don’t think she over-tells it in this piece – she shows us a lot through the interactions she describes. In the words of the great Fox Mulder, I want to believe. I may have used this quote before, but it really is something I think all the time. I am always inclin...

 1). I can definitely say I was drawn into both of the blogs we had to read. I can somewhat see myself in the "Growing Up in Therapy" blog. I say this because I have always been a super paranoid person. I remember when I was little, any time I got an ache or pain, a sore throat, a headache, I was immediately convinced that I was going to die. Now this is why I say I can somewhat see myself in the blog. I never got to the point that the girl from the blog did. She had a legitimate illness while I did not. I was just a weirdly paranoid kid who always thought I or someone I knew was going to die at all times. The other blog I don't really see myself in. I think because it was a shorter snippet of a blog, I would need to know more before I could make that call.  2). In my opinion, neither writer over tells their story. I think both stories were told well, although I would definitely like more of the one that was on the prompt. I was intrigued and wanted to know more about the...

  Read the two memoirs below (one print/one blog post). In the community blog, analyze the two stories and address the following:  1). A good memoir draws in a reader, so he or she can discover something new. Can you "see" yourself in either of these stories? If so, what?; If not, why? 2). Do these writers over tell their stories? Do they tell or show? Address the description and visualization? Do you need more details? 3). Do you get a sense of truth-telling in these two stories? Lena Dunham's Growing up in Therapy Community Blog Post #4: Cousins She drove off in the middle of the night, out into a massive rain storm nonetheless, without even saying goodbye. It was like watching someone take off on a sail boat going out into the Atlantic, not knowing if you would ever see them again. Two good years were washed away that evening, and for what I still do not really know. For two years she had lived with us and made herself right at home. She was like the older s...

Memoirs are books, and while you should keep it nonfiction, it's important to write in a way that makes your book interesting to the reader. The use of fluidity is to take something from your past and confront it in a way to make it the center of your story. My favorite memoir (I mean I'm pretty sure it's the only memoir I've read, BUT I LIKE IT AND DON'T MIND TALKING ABOUT IT!) is Greg Sestero's The Disaster Artist. There are two sides to the book's story, the making of the movie The Room and everything that happened before the making of The Room. The odd numbered chapters focus on the former while the even numbered chapters focus on the latter. The center of the story is the making of the movie The Room, as well as the creator behind The Room: Tommy Wiseau, who is a major part of both sides. Greg Sestero's career path involved meeting this mysterious and eccentric European guy who seems to make his own career decisions on a whim (hell the reason he mad...

Fluidity has an important role when it comes to memoirs. How can someone write a book about themselves and make it interesting? It takes craftsmanship to design such a story. Memories are fragments. Yet, the writer finds a way to describe them vividly (or not so much) to the reader’s amusement. There are multiple decisions needed to be made when picking these precise memories. What should be omitted is as important as what should be in. The writer needs to be selective in order to not drown the reader with their life story. My favorite memoir would be Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt. Along with two other memoirs, McCourt gives an unflinching account of his life from the slums of New York to the slums of Limerick and back to the United States. Of the three, Angela’s Ashes is the most compelling. Frank is the eldest offspring of an unfortunate “knee-trembler” between two Irish immigrants in 1930. His mother Angela has aunts in New York that force a “shotgun” wedding that leads to six...

  When it comes to fluidity in memoirs, it can be both good and bad. From the article, I feel like fluidity kind of means that you can use all of the differences about yourself for the purpose of writing a memoir. " There is, after all, a fluidity between who we were to other people, who we thought we were, who we think we were, and who we think we are now. And many contemporary memoirists confront this fluidity, either indirectly, or by personifying it, making it the nexus of their stories." This quote from the article is what really made me feel this way and think this way about the meaning of fluidity. As people go to write their memoirs, they will be choosing which persona they want to put into the stories they are telling. The personas that are created by not only us, but those around us, are what allows us to even have memoirs. Everyone sees a different side of every person. My parents see me and see a different side of me than my friends do, etc. We must make the choic...

     Fluidity is possibly the most important thing when it comes to writing a memoir. Fluidity is important when it comes to accurately portraying how we perceive memories and how we portray the self. Memories are a fluid thing. It is not laid out like the pages of a book but instead free flowing within our minds. Memories weave in and out of each other even when we try to accurately lay them out. How we view the self is also fluid. Depending on the place, time, people, and other factors, how we view ourselves can change drastically. The author of the memoir must me conscious of the changes and take them into effect when writing about their experiences and reflections. Northing But The Truth  takes both of these ideas, gives important context to each idea, and emphasizes the importance of using fluidity to write truth about a memoirists self. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/108713.Pimp  Pimp is a guttural, unflinching, and at times, ...

   Fluidity in a memoir is a necessary tactic to move the story forward by creating intriguing emotion that pulls the reader in. I believe it effects the craft of writing a memoir in an incredibly positive light because it makes the embellishments of the story and its characters. I do not believe fluidity alter the facts of a memoir because the fabrication of the truth does not mean it is not factual.  One of my favorite memoirs is by Jesmyn Ward titled Men We Reaped . This is not a traditional novel that reads in chronological order but instead she recalls her life through the five men she has lost within five years of each other. Ward talks about death, murder, suicide along grief and how that affected her life decision moving forward.               “And then we heard the rain falling, and that was the drops of blood falling; and when we came to get the crops, it was dead men that we reaped.”  When I...

  While memoirs should be a record of true events, contemporary memoirists have demonstrated a lot of fluidity between fact and fiction. Fluidity affects memoir-writing because it alters the facts hence defeating the meaning of a memoir. On the other hand, fluidity may help readers better understand the writer because some aspects tend to be boring. Since a memoir is written for an audience as opposed to private journals that are written for private use, fluidity is one of the features that memoirs more appealing to the audience. I have always been averse to reading memoirs of celebrities and political figures. Such memoirs do not seem authentic because famous people have an image to protect. Hence leave out most of the raw memories. However, I fell in love with Trevor Noah’s Born  A  Crime because it gives a different perspective on life. Favorite quote:   I don’t regret anything I’ve ever done in life, any choice that I’ve made. But I’m consumed with regret for the...

  1.       Sharing one’s dreams thoughts and dreams is not a question of duty but rather a preference. Therefore, people who are comfortable sharing their thoughts should keep an online journal but those who are not comfortable should not feel compelled. Myself, I would not write about my most intimate thoughts and dreams online for other people to read but I am comfortable sharing my opinions about some topics. Therefore, I believe that there is a point that people can overshare. For me oversharing would involve talking about issues that I am yet to heal from or .other people’s secrets 2.       The idea of consumption about other people’s lives is not a modern issue as it has been in existence for long. However, the interest has increased because technology today provides platforms where people can easily access other people’s journals. I believe people are interested in reading other people’s journals because of curiosity from t...

     The concept of fluidity in writing is necessary when writing a memoir, or anything relying heavily on a person's memories. Memories themselves are fluid, blurred in some places and crystal clear in others, thus one should expect a book based on memories to have a certain degree of fluidity as well. Every book has some blend of truth and fiction. Fiction novelists are hypocrites for criticizing memoirs as false stories being portrayed as truth as they create stories with bits of truth from their own lives while calling them fiction. All books have elements of fact and fiction, it is inevitable.       The article states "There is, after all, a fluidity between who we were to other people, who we thought we were, who we think we were, and who we think we are now." Fluidity is important in memoirs as our perspective changes overtime, as do the perspectives of those involved. Things change and what was once true may now be false, thus fluidity is a n...

 The idea of fluidity with writing, mixing both fact and fabrication seems necessary when telling a story "based in" the truth. Our lives have very interesting elements to them. Some start of intriguing, and flare off a bit, to say the least. There is a level of truth stretching and bending that helps build a good memoir. I look at it like the truth of the memoir is the structure of the build, it is what holds everything together. The truth is the steel pillars holding the structure up, it can even be the roof and the windows. The parts that get embellished are like the furniture, the kitchen appliances, and the photos on the wall. The structure is very real and keeps the building up, but the embellishment makes the place look good inside.  We all would like to think our lives are of interest and every part would keep people on the edge of their seat reading it but it reality it may not. Real life is unpredictable. The unpredictability of it can push the limits of the minds i...

Relying on a blend of fact and fiction is nothing new in literature. Writing novels began as a means to explore human nature, after all. Historical fiction is an entire genre specifically built on taking historical fact and fictionalizing it., such as My Dear Hamilton , a novel set-in colonial times that explores the life of Eliza Hamilton. The thing with historical fiction, though, is that it is exactly what we expect. We might wonder which parts are true and which are glorified, embellished, or just plain made-up. But the fact of fiction is that we expect some of it to be made up. So, what about memoirs? Should authors fictionalize and sell it as truth? Huffington Post writer Maggie Crum addresses this question. Crum argues that there is a fluidity among our past and current selves - those past and present versions of us as they are perceived by ourselves as well as others. If the self and our perspective of it did not change - was not fluid  - thne we would not be able to concep...

 The tie between the idea of "fluidity" and writing memoirs is something that I find very interesting. The article reads, "There is, after all, a fluidity between who we were to other people, who we thought we were, who we think we were, and who we think we are now." To me, this is unique because when writing a personal memoir about a real life situation, we tend to incorporate all, or most of these things into the story, and into further memoirs that we write almost as if it is like a spaced out timeline of who we think or thought we were/are. In addition, this helps the writer to contribute to their voice, which is something that tends to make readers relate more to them. On the other hand, if this fluidity regarding who we are changes throughout our timeline of writing like it seemed with Elizabeth Gilbert's new book mentioned in the article, there seems to be confusion, or even a negative perspective developed by the readers. Because it wasn't Gilbert...

  Burn Your Journals? I have numerous notebooks where I write down my plans, appointments, and other notes. However, I have never kept a journal where I write down my innermost thoughts and desires. After reading these articles, I realize that it is because I fear that a person would such a book without my knowledge. I know for sure that it is impossible to keep journals private because I have read the journals of other people. While it is shameful to admit that I infringed the privacy of other people, there is a thrill that comes with reading someone’s emotional reactions. It puts a lot of things into perspective. This same reason makes me never want to write a journal because I would feel like I am being stripped of my clothes. But what if my journal is what makes a person understand me better? If kept a journal or a diary, I would want them to be burned or disposed of without anybody reading them especially my family members. Actually, I would not mind strangers reading my diary...

  In your  post with Week 5: (title of your choice), please add the following content: Step 1: Read over "Nothing but the Truth" in this week's media resources. Discuss in your community post the idea about "fluidity" and how it affects the craft of writing a memoir. Step 2: Add a link to one of your favorite memoirs (can be a book or a blog post).  Write a summary, offer a few quotes, and note the catharsis that takes place for you as reader (what did you learn from text). Would it change the reading experience for you if you found out the writer blurred the lines between fact and fiction? Can you tie anything from Step 1? Step 3: Indicate how this memoir would/could transfer to a blog.  Step 4: Respond to two other posters throughout the week about their memoir choices and ideas about blurring the lines.  The fluidity between fact and fiction in writing is something that you may have thought very little about until now. Most of us understand nonfictio...

At some point in time, I would prefer my journals to be burned. Whether that will be done posthumously, I don't know. It would be cool to make a large bonfire and chuck them in. Yeah I think I'd do that. I'll pack them up and drive north to the family cabin. When I get there, I'll make the fire and unload the boxes. Then as the fire roars I'll sift through the pages, reminiscing. The harsh memories will rear their ugly heads. The happy times will warm my heart. I'll remember my past- Then watch it burn.  I don't mean to say I want the past completely wiped out. There are definitely good memories I'll cherish forever and there will be good times in the future that will become my past as well. However, there is more to it. I try my absolute hardest to be present. I've spent so many thoughts on the past and future it paralyzes me. The days I could've spent living I often think to myself. That feeling of regret haunts me.  I do my best to harness the...