Nonfiction reading

So last week I was reading nonfiction. I read scriptures, sermons, travel writing, fellow classmates' nonfiction writing, cooking recipes, how to, and another that I'm not entirely sure how to classify. Its a book my aunt gave me when I got married, its called What Every Wife Wants Her Husband to Know. Its kind of a book of advice so we'll go with that as a subgenre. So far its kind of interesting because it is this woman talking about how best to communicate with your spouse and other things like that.

I also read a blog post that was posted on Facebook. It is about Seth Adam Smith (I don't know him)who is an LDS member who went through a crisis of faith and decided to write about what to do when someone is having trouble with their faith. At the beginning he talks about where it started, and how he left his mission early (that linked to another blog post about what he would do if he could go back, also really good). I think that I liked these two blogs because it was something that can be relatable to the reader. It also had some really good insight that can be applied by anyone. An example of this is in the post about his mission and what he would change, I felt like I could relate to him and what he was suggesting even though I've never been on a mission. I think that when writing it is important to keep in mind that readers are more interested when they can relate to something.

New Media Helping Families

http://www.bestplaces.net/city/ga/valdosta

My dad is in the military so we lived several places while I was growing up. One of the places we lived was Valdosta, Georgia. Being the south, it was super hot and extremely humid; during hurricane season, we were at risk because we were in that area that could have had problems. The worst that we experienced was really strong, gusty winds and amazing and scary thunder and rain storms. There were some tornadoes but they weren't near our house. That's where my family and I were living in 2011. It was the year that I would graduate and leave for college. It was also the year that my dad was considering retiring from the Air Force. If I remember correctly, in February (or so) my dad was asked to stay in longer and also to go on a TDY to Afghanistan starting in March. He brought the topic home to the rest of us to discuss and decide what to do. If he left, he would miss my graduation and wouldn't be there when I started college or had my 18th birthday, he would also miss out on a lot of other things. We talked and talked about it for the next few days. My parents decided that they felt like he should go and so my dad told his boss about the decision.

Creative Nonfiction for the week

Don't take this the wrong way... I'm not trying to be rude... It's just my Point Of View as far as nonfiction is concerned.


As I was reading Dr. Burton's post about creative nonfiction I came to the realization (or I came to a better knowledge) that I really do, in fact, not like nonfiction (except the scriptures, but that's pretty much it). I just don't find a good amount of the sub-genres he listed to be interesting. I was considering naming off the ones that I find boring but it would be faster, easier, and a much shorter list if I name the ones I do like. I like some personal essays, some sermons, scripture, some theology, some reviews, and some blogs. The only reason that I could possibly come up for choosing to read nonfiction (other than the before mentioned) would be if I need help falling asleep. In fact, as I was doing the readings for my English 251 class, which were all nonfiction because that is our focus this week, I fell asleep a few times; but there were a couple of the readings that held my attention and kept me awake. I thought I would be interested in the travel writing but it wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be. I might try to learn a bit more about that sub-genre and perhaps write a blog in that style, but we'll see.

This week, I will try to open my mind to some creative nonfiction. I will read some blogs, read scriptures, and maybe read some reviews. I am going to try to stay awake while reading nonfiction and try out writing a couple of blogs using the sub-genres of nonfiction such as about food or traveling.

Does having children force one to grow up?

In Katie Roiphe's article "Do We Secretly Envy the Childfree?" she discusses how people without children are sometimes looked at or thought about. Near the end of the article, she brings up the idea that people who have children must grow up and the people who do not have or do not want children have not and perhaps do not grow up. She poses the following question: "why should you have to grow up if you don’t want to?"

I have not yet had children and thus cannot give an exceedingly meaningful answer; but I don't think that having children forces you to grow up, in the sense that you cannot have fun and such. Yes, you should be a responsible adult who can take care of yourself and others but you can still do things that you enjoy. I find that I can do more fun things when I am playing with kids or babysitting than when I am not simply because they are so much fun. They have amazing imaginations, are crazy and wild and silly, have enormous amounts of energy, and get to do things that grown-ups can't do without them (like some playgrounds, rides at amusement parks, etc.). And so that is why I think it that having children does not force one to grow up in some ways.