Ohio University Literary Festival

     This past week, Ohio University hosted it's Spring Literary Festival.  The festival brought in many writers including Bryan Doyle, Dorothy Allison, Marie Howe, Charles Johnson and Robert Pinsky.  This festival is awesome because it gives students, and facility, to see and hear from "real life" writers.  In class, we have read works from both Bryan Doyle and Dorothy Allison.  Getting to hear from these people live presents the opportunity to put a voice to the words we are reading in class.  It really makes the literature come to life and gives it more meaning.

     I am really excited I got to sit in to hear from Marie Howe, an incredible poet.  As she spoke, she read several poems from other poets and discussed how their writing techniques are effective.  She challenged everyone there to try to incorporate some of these techniques into their own writing.  One thing that I particularly liked was using a double negative to create a positive.  In the poem "Archaic Torson of Apollo" by Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke writes, "For here there is no place that does not see you."  Howe said that by saying there is no place that does not see you is more effective than saying everywhere you are seen.  That really stuck out to me and I am going to try to incorporate that into my writing.

     I think the literary festival is a great thing here at OU.  I am thankful I was able to attend and will try to go back again next year.  It was an awesome event.

One Job, Two Views

     For this week's reading, we read, "Glen Stribling, Service Station Owner" and "Dave Stribling, his son and partner," from Studs Terkel's, Working.  Both of these men work in the service station that Glen owns.  However, these two men both offer very different views on what it is like working there.

     We first read about Glen Stribling, the owner of the service station.  Glen seems to love his work.  He says, "My average weeks usually run to eighty, ninety hours...Oh, I love it.  There's never a day long enough" (545).  Readers can see that he is doing something he really loves and enjoys doing.  Also, because of his age and experience, people often request service from him.  He says, "The fact that I got gray hair, that helps in business...They always want to talk to Glen.  They respect me and what I tell them" (547).  He seems to have a lot of pride about people always wanting service from him.  

     On the other hand, we read about Glen's son, Dave.  Dave seems so enjoy his job, but it is certainly not his passion, as it may be Glen's.  At the very end, readers find out Dave's true passion is music.  He says, "I like to play music now but I don't have the time...I like to play but you can't do both.  This is my living.  You have to look at it that way" (551).  He makes it seem as if he could make a living off of playing music he would be doing that, but he can't so he doesn't.  Readers can also see that Dave thinks his father is a bit too traditional.  He says, "You can buy equipment, it might cost a lot more money but it'll do the job faster and easier.  He'll go grab hand tools, that you gotta use your own muscle" (549).  I personally agree with Dave, if there are tools that can make jobs easier, you might as well utilize them.

     Both men seem respectable and seem to have good work ethics.  Neither one seems to despise their work.  But readers can definitely see that Glen has a lot more passion for his work than his son, Dave.  Something to think about... Does Glen have so much more passion because he is the owner of the service station?  Since he invested so much of his own time and money into the station, he may have much more pride than Dave.