Total Eclipse

When I first read Total Eclipse, it honestly didn't do much for me. I really didn't make much sense to me, and I guess I didn't give it a chance, so going into the class discussion on Tuesday, I wasn't very enthused. But after looking at it a second time, I really started to like it. It stuck with me that the main character was genuinely afraid of this eclipse, like it was the end of the world. It's hard for me to relate to that because I haven't experienced an eclipse, but I can imagine how bizarre the experience can be. The sky doing things that it normally doesn't do, people gathering to see the sky do these weird things. It has to be a very surreal experience.
I also love how she's describing this story with very dark imagery, like how everything reminds her of death and how everything seemed "wrong." To me, the way she described everything made her descriptions stand out from everything else I've ever read. There are so many ways to describe an eclipse, but I've never heard one described as, "A piece of sky beside the crescent sun was detaching." Describing something like that gives it a very haunting image. She didn't make this event sound beautiful, she made it sound almost macabre, which is what I like most about this essay. She made something that everyone describes as amazing or miraculous become disturbing, like she was facing death itself.

Essay Response

After reading the essay packet, the one essay that stuck with me was "Things to Do Today" by Joe Wenderoth. I just love that throughout the whole list of things to do, a lot of things are really vague and non-sensical, like #63 "Nudge the drowsy lumberjack." In fact, a lot of things in this list almost make sense. It's almost like it makes sense, but then I do a double take on each task, and then it doesn't make sense any more. For example, #85 "Let yourself 'go'." Now, at first glance, it's a normal statement. Let yourself go. But the quotes around go give it another deeper meaning. Go. Go where? Go what? Go who?

And even though it's slightly frustrating, I really like how confusing and sometimes non-sensical this list is. It makes you think, even though the thoughts it makes you think don't make any sense to yourself. I really like stuff like this. It's up to interpretation, and every different interpretation is right. Even if the task doesn't make sense, it does at the same time. Crazy.

Ben L.