Total Eclipse

The essay "Total Eclipse" by Annie Dillard seemed a tad odd to me. I found Dillard to be a bit overly dramatic about a natural occurrence. Throughout the essay she acts as if the world was ending, but it was only a total eclipse. Besides that point I thought it was a fantastically interesting essay to read, because I most likely will never be able to view a total eclipse. The descriptions were really interesting to imagine especially when she starts talking about things starting to look like a movie filmed in the Middle Ages (although there were no cameras whatsoever in those times). The quote: "The hillside was a nineteenth-century tinted photograph from which the tints had faded" really allows the reader to understand what it was like to be in that moment. While reading the essay I kept questioning if Dillard was the only one who was feeling this way, or if everyone thought that this occurrence was awful? Personally I believe if I had the chance to view a total eclipse I would be more happy than distressed. Science interests me and I think it scares Dillard for the most part. I was also wondering what her husband thought the whole time and after. Did he feel the same way, or did he think it was the coolest thing he had ever seen? Overall I really enjoyed the essay and I liked how I could almost picture what it was like to be viewing the total eclipse in 1979.

Talk of the Town Articles--My Thoughts

The first article by John Updike reminded me of what my Aunt Debi went through on September 11th. My aunt was in a meeting in a building nearby and actually saw the first plane smash into the tower. It was interesting to read these articles because I was so young at the time and it seemed that adults tried to sugar coat the truth a little bit so we wouldn't be scared. Now that I'm older watching documentaries and reading articles about the tragedy really help me understand how bad and eminence the whole thing was. I especially understood this quote: "this was not quite real; it could be fixed; the technocracy the towers symbolized would find a way to put out the fire and reverse the damage." When emergencies happen people can't help but think that everything can be fixed and nothing bad is going to happen ; everything will be alright. Sadly that feeling is rarely right, we cling to the tiniest bit of hope there is. I liked that the article was written by a bystander who witnessed 9/11 first hand, it helps explain the whole story in depth in a way that someone who wasn't there can understand.

The second article by Susan Sontag bashes American officials and the media. I agree with Sontag about the fact that everything wasn't ok, but of course the officials and the president is going to try to keep America calm and not shaken. If the leaders of our country gave up and became scared and stoped believing in America, we would have been in more trouble. After such a tragedy a country as a whole has to move on like normal and not show weakness. I appreciated how Sontag included the question: "How many citizens are aware of the ongoing American bombing of Iraq?" There are always two sides.