"Shiloh" by Bobbie Ann Mason

“Shiloh” is a story based on a marriage which is falling apart. We have a man who was a very hard working man until her got in a truck accident. When he got in a truck accident about four months ago he ended up injuring his leg. He has steel pins in his hips and will probably not be able to drive truck again. He is now secluded to the house and this is when the problems begin.
His wife is use to him being gone most of the time and while he is gone she is use to running the home the way she sees fit. With him being home all the time she feels like she is living on pins and needles. She feels as if her husband is there to annoy her. He expects her to fix good home cook meals everyday of the week. His wife is use to only having to fix special on special occasion when he is coming home. She works as well as taking care of the house. Her husband lying around all the time causes her to get angry with him. Leroy decides he is going to build her a nice log home. She tells him if we don’t have the money for a new home and that he needs to get a new job. Finally her mom talks her into going on a trip with her husband. On the trip she tells her husband that she wants a divorce. He is trying to reason with her and she just walks away.
What drives her to tell her husband that she wants a divorce was her worst secret was revealed. Her mom caught her smoking at that point I feel she decided that she was tired of living a lie. She decides to come clean with everything and tells her husband she want a divorce. Her husband also has some secrets of his own. He is a pot head and his mother in law doesn’t know it.

"Half and Half" by Amy Tan

Half and Half’ was based a family crisis which has caused the mother in the family to lose faith in her religion. At first she was a woman who always read the bible. She treasured the bible more than she treasured the family. One day the family decided to go to the ocean to enjoy the weather. The mother was very carefully not to go on the days that were marked as jinks. She only went on the days in which bad things weren’t suppose to happen. This day they got to the ocean and everything was going good. The mother had instructed the older daughter to watch her younger brother. The younger brother was too close to the shore and next thing she knew he feel into the water. She wasn’t able to do anything because she was so scared. Her mother turns around to check on her brother and asked her where the brother was. She is only able to point and they go running to rescue him. Unfortunately they are not able to save his life. Bings dies and the mother makes her daughter go back out to the river to rescue her brother. Her mother felt that god would bring their brother to the shore so he could have a proper burial. When she cries out to god and god doesn’t listen she decides from that point on that she is not putting her trust in god anymore. She throws her bible on the shelf and never picks it up again.
At the beginning of the story the daughter that was watching her brother and he died under her care decides to tell her mom that her and Ted are getting a divorce. Their marriage was good until they started suffering from financial problems. Ted was doctor and he ended up making a stupid decision. He decided to help a patient with spiny veins of her face by sucking the red out of the vein. Instead this left the patient paralyzed a droopy smile. Once he lost his confidence in his decision making skill he started making me make decision. I had never been in charge to make decision and he would get angry at me. This is why my marriage fell apart.

"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker

“Everyday Use” by Alice Walker is a story based on two young girls. One girl named Maggie is a very down to earth. She is not pretty like her sister because of a terrible accident. When she was younger there was a fire and she got burnt. She has scars down her arms and her legs. Maggie is very shy and she has a very low self-esteem. She has lived her life in the shadow of her sister. She knows she will never be pretty like her sister. She has found a local boy whom she has been dating for a while. They have falling in love and she is suppose to marry him.
Dee her sister is a very arrogant person. She thinks the world revolves around her. Dee has gotten married and returns to the home to get some pictures and some family heirlooms. The first thing she does when she gets to the farm is show off her clothes and her jewelry. Next she takes out her camera and takes a picture of her family. She is not taking the pictures because she loves her family. She is taking their pictures for money purposes. Dee makes sure she is not in the pictures because she is ashamed of her family. Next Dee tries to talk her mom into giving her a quilt. Her mom knows she is going to sell the quilt and so she refuses to give it to her. Instead the mom says the quilt belongs to Maggie as a wedding gift. For once in Maggie’s life she has ranked above her sister.
The mother of the family is a hard core African American mother. She had to take care of the family all by herself. She didn’t have the support of a husband to help her take care of the farm. She was characterized as a big black woman. Dee is ashamed of her mom based on her appearance and her home. The mother says she wished she could have the welcome home greetings that you see on tv, where the mother and the child embrace each other with a great big hug.

Extra Credit "Writing Symposium"

I was able to meet Ron Rash in person on April 22 at 12-1 pm at Watuaga Campus. He is a wonderful speaker and I enjoyed listening to him. He started the seminar by talking about his family. His family were descendants of the Navenjo people and they had fought in the civil war. He proceeded to read about a woman named Lilly and how Lilly represented his own family. Lilly was faced with the confederate soldiers and at that time they took whatever they wanted from the union families. Lilly had offered the confederate to take her chickens to eat and her horse. She then started to bargain with the confederate about leaving the horse and having his way with her. She convinces him to going to the root cellar. This is where the change of events take place. Instead of him having his way with her she ends up killing him. She had a sowing needle in her hand and ends up stabbing him to death. She then locks him inside the cellar and goes in to take care of her family. This story was a replica of Ron Rashes family based on how they were treated during civil war.

Next Ron Rash started elborating on the character Serena in the book called "Serena". Serena was a tough lady a lot like Lady McBeth. He had intentionally left out why Serena was an evil person. Ron Rash said once you give a character an excuse for being evil then their behavior is not as tramatic. If they don't have an excuse for their behaviors then it makes them even more psychotic. At the beginning we have Serena who is having really bad dreams. Then the dreams stop when she starts training the eagle. The bad dreams stop because she is at the stage of purifiying herself. Serena really did love her husband because he is the only man who was able to decieve her. He was able to decieve her into thinking he was on her side instead he ends up giving Rachel money to escape the wrath of Serena. Serena wanted Rachel's baby killed once she found out she wouldn't be able to have a family of her own. At the end of the story Serena ends up marrying a Nazi man named Joseph Mengele.

Lastly Ron Rash talks about Rachel and her role in the novel. At first he talks about how Rachel was not mentioned much at all in his rough draft. He stated he knew something was missing in his novel and couldn't figure it out. One day when he was driving down the road and he finally realized what was missing from his novel. He knew he had to give Rachel a better role in the story. Thoughts started over flowing and the next thing he knew was he was getting a speeding ticket. Rachel really loved Mr.Pamperton and ends up pregnant with his child. She ends up raising the child on her own without the support of Mr. Pamperton. At the end of the story she ends up with Joel a very good down to earth guy.

Why did he choose WAYNSVILLE?
He choose this place because of the family ties he had there. He also choose this place for historic purposes. This place was known for it's logging industry. He also chooses this place because of the location. It is the last place in the Smoky mountains.

Rhonda Massengill "Poems" by Nikki Giovanni’s

Nikki-Rosa
I really liked this poem because it reminds me of my childhood. No I’m not black but I was raised in a very poor home. I remember how some people felt sorry for us because we didn’t have much growing up. I remember feeling the opposite of how others felt about our life. I felt blessed because we had each other. We were happier when it was just us then when we had money. We had to rely on God to put food on the table because my dad didn’t make enough money to put food on the table. He is a very hard working timber cutter. Still to this day he works as a saw miller. If it wasn’t for God providing us with cloths, food, and ability to make it financially we would have starved to death. At this time family stuck together. We would combine all our food and feed the family. There were many of times my parents went without to feed us kids. We were blessed even though some would call it cursed.

I’m Not Lonely
T his story reminds me of the loneness that a sibling has when their brother or sister leaves the nest. I have a younger sister and there are six years between us. I remember how lonely it was for her when I and my older sister got married. There were times when she felt all alone and had no one to talk to. When you are use to someone being there it is hard to live life by yourself.

Poem For Black Boys
I know this poem is based on the history of what the African American children went through but I found it hard to read. It is hard to read stories based on the abuse the African American people went through. It talks about the white police men how the African American men had to hide to prevent them from being abused. Then there was the comment which was based on the Revolutionary war. It was a game called burn baby to where black men were being lynched. This term alone gave me chills to think young men were being burned because they chose to protect their family. I couldn’t help but to cry when they mentioned burn baby. Last he talks about black people killing each other in gangs to become the leader. This is still going on today to where people are killing each other so they can be recognized as the top dog.

Rhonda Massengill "I Stand Here Ironing" by Tillie Olsen

“I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen was a story about being a single parent. Being a single parent during the time when women had very little rights was hard. Women were force to put their children in daycares which weren’t up to standards. They had to work long hours to make up for the wage differences that men could make.
Emily is the little girl that is thrown from one home to another. The first problem this little girl suffers from is the lost of her dad. Her dad decides to leave because he can’t handle the demands of being a parent. The mother is forced to find a job and Emily has to stay at a neighbor’s house. Finally the mother finds a job working at night and she sends Emily to stay at her dads’ house. In the mean time the mother is trying to get enough money to be able to get her daughter back. Finally she gets the money and the child is two years old. The child returns to her mother’s home but life is not easy for her. She is subjected to a terrible daycare where the teacher is verbally abusive to the children. Her mother’s hands are tied and she ignores the abuse. Her daughter continues to stay in the daycare till she goes to school. Next her mother ends up pregnant and while she is giving birth to her sister Emily is left at the house by herself. She ends up with the measles and at the time she needs her mother her mother isn’t there for her. She is running a high fever and she calls out for her mother but her mother says she will be okay. She doesn’t go to comfort her child in fear her baby sister will get the measles. This is the beginning of a lifetime of sibling rivalry among Emily and her sister Susan. Emily feels she will never be good enough. From this point on Emily has learned not to rely on her mother. She learns to seek approval by other people and focuses on her appearance. She ends of using comedy to cope with her lifestyle. She is loved by her audience and rebels against education. She decides to throw away her life as student and focuses on her life as an entertainer.
Mother finally realizes she has can't change time and her relationship with her and Emily is permently destroyed. She will not be able to undo all her misfortunes and she must learn from her mistake. This is why she is dedicated at the end to be a good mother and house wife. With the help of her new husband she is able to give the other children the life she has longed for Emily.

Rhonda Massengill "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Conner

“A Good Man is Hard to Find” by O’Conner is based on extended family and their lifestyle. In this short story we have two women with very different lifestyles. The grandmother is the head of the house and what she says usually goes. The wife is subjective to her husband and does what her husband says for her to do. The grandmother is worried about her outward appearance and states our looks will determine whether we’re women or not. The mother on the other hand, is more worried about the well being of the family. Lastly we have how the grandmothers’ selfish ways end up causing the death of the family. She directs the family to go to a house off the main road. In the mean time they end up going down a dead end road and wreck the car. This could have been avoided if the grandmother would have admitted she was wrong about the turn to begin with. Instead of her admitting she was wrong she convinces her son to continue down the road. Right after the wreck they are approached by three men. The grandmothers’ mouth gets them in trouble from the beginning. She says I know who you are you are the man they call the misfit. The man who escaped from prison and the man say “yes’em I am that man”. The grandmother is trying to reason with the misfit in saying “I know you’re a good man” and the misfit says “nome. I ain’t a good man”. Shortly afterwards they take her son and grandson Bailey into the woods and kill them. The grandmother realizes she needs to start praying in order to save the family from the mess she got them into. The misfit kills all of them but the grandmother; he waits till the last to kill her.
What I felt was unique was the way the grandmother had died. She had died looking up toward heaven. I found this scene to be ironic because she never accepted the death of Jesus. One thing is for certain was the grandmother had forgiven the misfit for what he had done. This is played out when she touches his arm and says you are like one of my babies. This angers the misfit and in return he kills her. The misfit states at the end that she would be a good woman if every minute of her life someone was there to shot her.

Rhonda Massengill "Serena" by Ron Rash

What did you think of the main character, Serena, and her motivations?
Serena is a very self centered individual. She is very smart and she knows how to get her own way. She is able to manipulate men into whatever she wants them to do. The first person she is able to manipulate is her husband. She ends up taking control over his business and runs the business the way that she sees fit. Next she is able to manipulate one of her husbands worker. She talks her husband into keeping the logger on their payroll even after he has cut his hand off. The reason that she keeps him on their payroll is because they went in half on some land. She manipulates him into signing a contract that prevents him from evaluating anything on the land until the timber is cut. She uses this against him and he ends up killing for her. At the end of the novel he goes as far as to kill her husband. Lastly she manipulates another worker into making a bet with her. The bet is that he will go two weeks without a paycheck if she is able to guess the length of the tree better than him. He was known for being able to guess the measurements of the tree better than any of the other timber cutters. She wins the bet and through her winning she convinces her husband into firing him. That is exactly what her husband did was fire that worker.
Compare and contrast Serena and Pemberton.
Serena and Pemberton are both people that are self centered. They spend their life using other people to get what they want. They both love each other more than anyone else. The difference is that Pemberton starts to change throughout the novel. He starts to feel responsible for the safety of his son. He ends of sending some money to help his son out and then his wife finds out. She is still ruthless and tries to get his son and his mom killed. At the end of the novel she ends up killing her own husband. She has compassion for animals and her husband doesn’t.
Compare Serena with Rachel Harmon. How are they alike and also different?
Rachel is not selfish. She is a people pleaser. She lived her life trying to make her dad happy. Then she lives her life trying to be the best mom ever by making her son happy. She refuses to push her problem on Pamperton even though he is the father of her boy Jacob. She even risk her own safety by running from her problems instead of dealing with them. She does this because she knew how hard it was to live life without a mom and didn’t want her son to go through the same thing. Serena on the other hand is very selfish. She will use any and everybody to get what she wants in life. She is not able to have a child of her own. She got pregnant and lost her child and the ability to conceive again. The way they are alike is that they both had to deal with the lost of those they loved. Rachel’s mom left her while Serena’s family died of an illiness. They both had a romantic relationship with Pamperton. They were both raised in the mountains.