2nd part of: Maps to Anywhere

           the two sections before House of the Future are a collection of small seemingly unrelated stories, about a page and a snapshot each. They talk about every day things like taking pictures and rush hour in a unusual way. or they talk about people using one event to illustrate them. Quite a few of them talk about growing up. Becoming the big people, taking a different  view and so forth.
          House of the Future was about his brothers death, thanks for the spoiler on Thursday. It also talks about his parents friends and his aunt Flo (who may or may not be the one from Hurricane Ride). on the title, he suggest in his writing that it is called House of the Future because of the exhibit in Disneyland which he repetitively discussed with his dying brother. But it could easily mean the House of God, we all die, so we are all going to the House of God in the future.
          The other phrase that was used one way but could mean two things was "swimming with the stars." Obviously in the beginning the meaning is clear; swimming with celebrities. However when his mother latter reflects, saying "my son, swimming with the stars" it could mean two things: one she's reminiscing on his brother before the cancer and what he did that summer before it struck. Or it could be referring to the celestial bodies in the air, which most people vaguely believe the souls of the dead are connected to.

on By Any Other Name; first off name acidotes make me laugh, always have. like I mentioned in class about the haunted house at disney world. So these name games I got. In fact one time I made a list of names with a little story attached. See in the LDS faith we like to joke about not being Molly Mormons, who would be the perfect Mormon woman and do all her callings every week, bake her own bread know everyone in her ward(A.K.A. congrigation) and so forth; My joke was to give names like N. Active Member to the people who were in her ward, it was fun and interesting. I also get not being able to find your name at the store, I can't even find a different spelling of my name at the store and it is not that uncommon; actually I can almost never find my middle name either and there  has been a Brianna in one of my classes every semester that I can tell.
       I got to say I totally had a happy freakout when the author metioned Joseph Smith, the first latterday prohphet of my Church. The question about the breastplate I can answer too; the breastplate mentioned was not that of a roman soldier but one of a Jewish preist like in the picture on the left. Although Inonicly Joseph Smith does seem to have rather wide set eyes as well(picture on the right). I personally don't think the stones were still attached to the breast plate while he used them but instead, it has always been my suspition that he used them like one uses one of those magnifying paper weights but instead of just magnifying the words it both magnifys and translates.
         lastly about the title of the chapter Beacons Burning Down; I totally understand and know what it is like to have something you think is really stupid grow on you. I would like to compare this to the joke "I mustache you a question" at first you don't laugh. It's not a funny joke, it's a corny joke at best. Then you find yourself using it the next day on one of you friend, suddenly it's hallarious. That is what I image the author felt like the morning after hearing this line.

   Since it was not clear what we were suppose to post on this week I am going to guess that it was the essay packet reading. When I asked in class you said that the differents between fiction and an essay was that fiction was made up, but the things spoken of in an essay actually happened. The first story, Red: an Invocation, was a little obsesive but perfectly realistic, I suppose. The next two based on memories of family, the last of the short essays was based on history, mythology and fact, but like too many of the stories in the packets you give us had an abupt end due to the packet not containing the entire text.

    The first long essay gave new meaning to essay as defined above. What was written was very probably what happened but like the first story also elaborated on, making the essay less about what happened and more about how the narrator felt about what happened, what the event put made the narrator think. although I am fairly sure the event was someones death it is interesting to note that besides the death of the fly, which presumably happened while the narrator was writing, the event this peice is about is never really adressed.


    The last story is of course not only the longest but a mixture of near all the styles here to used. It is the reacounting of a memory, with historical, mythical, and pratical references, and a whole lot of emotion and thought written down to suplement the raw facts of the event. The narrator even tells us what she thought and did before and after the event to give us more context and closer. I also really liked her reference to the birth of Jesus, saying sending the shepards a letter with an angel on it would not make them "sore afraid," I just love bible quotes.

ok. . . so When It Rains It Rains a River no one talks like that and no one think like that, the reason no one talks or thinks like that is, no one can listen to, or read, that type of phrasing for more then 20 secounds without losing it, I know it happened to me. The repitory patterns were mind numbing the grammer was atroshous and the characters were so bland, I think I may have cried from a brain freeze, I wasn't even near anything cold. also, it didn't get any better in The Singing Fish, and if you want us to read it why not include the whole story intested of just inserting the weirdest parts in a "packet".
Not even going to start on The Falling Girl because it makes light of scuicide.
Skip to August 25, 1983 interesting story, intreging plot, kind of morbid, but still my favorite in this packet. I really like how the author used his own name in the story to add more credit to the words of the odder self. Lastly, The Fifth Story was a little obsesive, isn't every story about something small and seemingly insignificant, but still pretty interesting, I like how she would start back at the begining to explain each change of events in her mind, sort of help you follow her somewhat twisted logic.