Orchid Theif

the orchid theif is a very peculiar book. it doesnt have the typical flow of a story and has very large portions dedicated to research in the feild of orchids. susan orlean is a journalist who comes across a very peculiar article about a man stealing flowers. she goes to his court date and falls in love, not with the man, but his passion for flowers. she states several times in the book that she wants to be passionate about something. its not a very outrageous goal. everyone needs something to be passionate about. it gives us a reason to live and gives us something to strive for. i like susan don't really know what im passionate about. laroche and so many others are completely enthralled in the cultivation of orchids. they know the names and scientific names. how the flower came to be. they know where the flower is from and what conditions support the healthy growth of each particular plant. they try new ways to create bigger better more appealing orchids and its all very time consuming, especially when it take seven years just for the plant to flower. its one of those things that pay off in time. you may take several years pruning and watering and feeding the flower and when that first bloom comes it is more meaningful than any other potted plant you could buy at a grocery store. orlean becomes involved with the peculiar flowers while she is building her story on laroche. she takes hours to research the history of orchid cultivation. she researched florida and the seminoles. she tells the stories of many different orchid hunters throughout the ages and how they come to be known. she tells of how men would kill for a intricate flower. this isn't something you could picture happening. two grown men at the store having a pistol fight over who gets the last potted Lillis. but it wouldnt be about lilliss it would be about the elusive orchid. she tells of inventions throughout the years to help form better methods of orchid care. she tells of how orchid enthusiast help build society. these are all facts that she dug up while learning about orchids. she becomes involved in the orchids almost as much as laroche but she never even owns a single plant, although she is tempted several times and offered several plants. this book isn't so much a story but rather a learning experience. the author uses the stories about orchids to find deeper meaning in her life. she spends hours wishing she cared passionately about something but it turns out she is passsionate about writing. but is writing really a passion or is it a way to express your passions?

Thin Blue Line

this was not the typical documentary that I usually watch. It starts out with the story line of the murder of a police officer. you get a little insight to who the supects are and what actions have been taken since the killing. there is an unusual circumstance wher a man picks up a hitchhiker and the two end up spending some time together doing different activities like smoking little pot and drinking a little bit alcohol. not the usual relationship someone has with a hitchiker. after that point we start to get two different stories and you are forced to try and formulate and opinion on whether or not the man convicted is truly the guilty party. it turns into a case of he said she said and we are left trying to determine the accountability of the witnesses and analyze the ulterior motives of the witnesses. there are even witnesses testifying against witnesses. a woman says that the character of the two eye witnesses was questionable at best and that thew two were merely testifying for the money. later we hear a confession from the man who truyly killed the police officer right before he is executed fro other crimes. you see a man who has no reason to be violent but the other lives a questionable life full of small crimes that eventually turn into a life of crime. there was an acception by officials to convict an innocent man rather than to see a teen go to jail for a crime that they could pin on him. there was evidence that he was guilty but due to a "convenient" memory loss many were convinced of the good mans guilt. why would you kill an innocent man just because you feel like this kid needs a second chance in life that he obviously wasted and went back to jail. there was questionable evidence and automatically one man was accused because of his age. its not right and it took almost two decades for someone to realize this injustice and finallly let an innocent man go free

Man on Wire

This is a movie about someone following his passions to an extreme. His passion is even extreme. Phillipe Petit is a tightrope walker and he has been for all his life. Its a passion he loves and practices daily. One day he decided that walking across a rope is not enough anymore and wants to walk across something on a rope attached to something other than a pair of poles. He decides to walk across the towers of Notre Dame, A bridge in Sydney and finally between the twin towers in New York. Why would someone take an art to this extreme. He like any other artist wants to be known for his work and what better way to do it than in the public's eye. He studies wind conditions, elasticity factors, weather, and other conditions he has to take into account for such a high walk. He dedicates himself to the art of tightrope walking. He is highly passionate and resistant to opposition. He spends months planning his walk across the towers. He has to find a way up to the top floor(still under construction)and find a way to string a wire across the two towers. He has to pass security, sneak a cable into the building, acquire necessary tension for the rope to hold against the winds,all while the security is making their rounds throughout the construction site. All the hours of planning and work really takes dedication. It takes passion. He has a passion that many people throughout the years have caught and taken to new levels. This passion for art is really inspiring especially when you take into consideration that Phillipe can never return to the United States. How many people are willing to pursue their dreams despite legal retributions? That is what makes this act so inspiring. This man knew he would be prosecuted as he had with his previous walks but he still kept on. Granted permanent removal from the United States seems like an unfair punishment for a man who merely wanted to take and art form to a new extreme level. A level that no one has ever reached before. Every artist seeks recognition for their work. Painters, Sculptors, Musicians, Writers and Tightrope walkers alike all seek for their art to be known and appreciated.

Response to McElwee

McElwee's Time Indefinite gives us a look into the life of Ross McElwee. The movie captures some of the happiest and saddest moments of his life. He starts off with the wedding between him and his wife. He keeps the camera running through rehearsals, dinners, and all the other activities involved with having a wedding. He even rolls tape on his wedding day. He captures what its like to start a new life and begin building a family. We learn that his wife is pregnant and the two are ecstatic until she has a miscarriage and loses the baby. Later they have a successful child and he shows us his experience as his wife gives birth. He gives us raw footage of his life. He shows us the details of what hes doing as well as his thoughts provided by his narrations throughout the film. He shows his visits to his parents and you can see how fragile they are and later he tells you that they have passed away. The film isn't over more than a few years of his life and in that time so much happens to him. I feel like I have a good sense of who John McElwee is.

Mendel is right in saying the past changes with the present. Your memory is relevant and you are the one who remembers past event and experiences. Teh way I feel today about something that happened years ago might change. I could be an entirely different person than I had been just years ago. When you think about a past event the emotions you feel are in the present. You may recall what you felt at the exact time of the occurrence but, looking back into your past affects your current emotions. That old memory may bring up entirely new feelings that you couldn't comprehend when it took place. Your feelings and thoughts are very important parts of memories. A happy memory of my grandparents might become a sore subject for me after they pass away. Events you once thought were life changing may start to seem insignificant, bland, and uninteresting. I remember being a kid and buying a $5 pack of Pokemon cards and being so excited seeing a holographic card seemingly dropped in my pack by and act of god. Now looking back I should have saved that $5 for a pack of smokes.

Response To Short Takes Essay

Winter wheat was an interesting essay to me because I never had a grandparent tell me stories when I was younger. I never heard any war stories about my grandfather although he was in Korea and most of the things I know about him came through other people. He died in February 2005 during my freshman year of high school and he was the first close relative I've ever had pass away. Most of the stories I heard about him were at his funeral and funerals of my other relatives. My great-aunt told a story about how my grandfather would come home from work, take off his jacket, grab a beer, and then go jump in the pool outback clothes and all. I heard how he loved Cancun and how he requested his ashes to be scattered there. I learned from my father of my grandfather's love for fine scotch and cigars. He was a man that everyone loved but I can't really tell you much about him.

Response to Scott Russell Sanders

Sanders points out the one truly obvious thing about the personal essay that nobody truly wants to admit. It takes alot of arrogance to write a personal essay. The author realizes that they are speaking to the entire world in each line that they write, just like the example of the soap-box orator that Sanders writes about in his opening paragraph. I don't want to admit that I'm arrogant but to an extent I am. However, arrogance isn't necessarily a bad thing, its what will drive an author to get published and learn intricate ways to captivate readings. It gives the author a chance to bring someone into their essay and say "This is who I am, This is what I have gone through, I hope you like it." Through the essay Sanders demonstrates his love for the personal essay. Its true that non-fiction can be harder than writing fiction because the characters are real and the story actually happened. Poets don't often write thousands of words for just one poem, novelists create a story, and journalists quote others without often saying anything about themselves. Essays make the author vulnerable to the public opinions but I believe that that vulnerability is what makes the essay good. People will read your essay and hopefully they will get a feel of who you are, how you think, what you've been through. Reading an essay can let you know the person who wrote it.