MEN OVERSEAS AND TTTC (IMPORTANT)

This blog is relevant to the videos that we watched today!!

Men Overseas, The Videos from Today, The Things They Carried

The stories of these men are breathtaking. I have no idea what it feels like to be involved in a war. However, these guys make it seem like I am right in the middle of it.

The Things They Carried relates to the videos because they mentioned, "lotus," which was something that they "carried," or used. They used this, to me, just like the fighters in TTTC because it was used every night, just like soldiers today use alcohol to ease the pain.

Pain. That is a word that people use on an everyday basis. But to people know the REAL meaning of this word? According to dictionary.com it means physical suffering or discomfort caused by illness or injury.This is very true but to me, it has a much stronger meaning.

The pain I feel when someone says something ugly, when I hurt someones feelings (I feel guilt too), or especially when I get hurt. GO CHEERLEADERSSSS

On another note, my great-grandfather fought overseas in World War II. Personally from the stories I have been told, he "came home" with the same utter shock that our U.S. soldiers do today. Even though he past before I was born, and returned from war many years ago, he felt and saw the same disappointment with America.

Everyone is so concerned with what the celebs are wearing, what the new "fad" is, and how much they can spend. This is not the way America should be acting. "In God we trust." That is written on every dollar bill. We see these words every day and don't even take a second look. I feel like these words are not held up in our economy anymore. Wait, not only people of our country but the government itself! "God Bless America" that is our national anthem...so let's actually mean it.

So come on people!! Let's help out our troops! I know our school gives them so much recognition but we still need to spread the word. They used to not be recognized when they came home from war (for the historians). I know we do that today but they are DYING over there.

PLEASE PLEASE

<3 elizabeth

TAAS, Assignment 1

1. Complete pages 10-11 in The Art of Styling Sentences (TASS). These pages include exercises for Pattern 1, plus its three variations.

2. Respond to the following prompt in a comment. You must use at least 3 vocabulary words and at least two variations of Pattern 1.

Tell me your favorite ways to procrastinate.

David Sedaris

David Sedaris was born in 1956 in New York, but grew up in North Carolina. When he was about 20, he began keeping a diary. A man named Ira Glass, who had a radio show on NPR, discovered this diary. He then started to have a lot of success as a writer. In the early to mid 1990s, he started publishing his works, usually in the form of short story collections. These books included Barrel Fever, Naked, and Me Talk Pretty One Day, which won a prize for humor. During this time, he also began working for NPR, airing on This American Life, a radio show that shares essays and other written works.

For more info:

http://www.npr.org/programs/specials/lists/sedaris/

http://www.barclayagency.com/sedaris.html

http://www.facebook.com/davidsedaris

Andrew Porter

SS- Hi Andrew Porter! How are you doing?

AP – Pretty Good, you?

SS- Great! So can you tell me a little about your childhood?

AP – Well, I grew up in Lancaster Pennsylvania, and I was the youngest of three kids.

SS- Oh wow, do you still live there?

AP – No, I currently live in San Antonio where I am an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Trinity University.

SS – Oh wow! Is that your alma mauter?

AP – No actually, I graduated from Vassar with a B.A. in English then I went to the University of Houston for my M.F.A. for a year, but then I transferred to the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop for the second year.

SS- Why did you decide to transfer?

AP – Actually I had a girlfriend there at the time, and she loved it.

SS – Well, it seems that you are quite educated in writing, how many works have you published?

AP – Well, I have one book out currently called The Theory of Light and Matter.

SS- Oh is that the one that was read on NPR’s “Selected Shorts”?

AP – Yes, that was the one.

SS- Are there any fun facts you can tell us about the process of writing it?

AP- Well, I don’t know how “fun” of a fact this is, but when I was in the middle of writing it, I went out one day. When I returned my whole entire apartment had been cleaned out. Everything had been stolen, my TV, my clothes, including my laptop with all my stories in it, the back up disks and the brief case with the hard copies of my stories. They basically took everything I had ever written up until that point in my life, so I was left with nothing. After that for 2 or 3 years, I lost my love for writing. I moved to California and I was struggling to get by. I also lost my confidence to write. I couldn’t just sit down and write anymore, so much so, that I almost considered applying to law school. I still remember the day when I went into Borders and bought a book about the LSAT’s that was a really depressing day. But a few months later, I got a call from a college in Baltimore that wanted to interview me to be a visiting writer at the school, and I ended up getting the position. That really helped put me back on track.

SS- Oh no! That’s awful! Well obviously you finished it and everything worked out! I am aware that you have won many different awards for this book, can you name a few?

AP- Oh, haha well I have won a few, but two of the biggest were probably the 2007 Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, and was selected as one of the 100 Distinguished Stories of 2007 by Best American Short Stories.

SS- Those are both very prestigious awards! Congratulations! Our class recently read your story Hole, is there anything in your life that relates to this story?

AP- Not really, but I did have two older siblings, like the character Tal has an older brother.

SS- Interesting, as a kid, did you know you wanted to be a writer?

AP- Actually no, but I was very interested in the arts like visual art, and music. I actually used to write music in high school. And in college I wanted to be a filmmaker, it wasn’t until my junior year of college, when I took a fiction writing class that I thought about being a writer. I had a very kind professor who encouraged my writing, something nobody had ever done before. And as you can see, I followed my love of writing, and it has brought me here today.

SS- Awesome! Thank you so much for your time!

AP-Thanks!

Departure by Andrew Porter Reading

Discussion with Andrew Porter - Part 1 Part 2

Peter Singer

Peter Singer was born in Australia on July 6, 1946. His parents were Jewish, and during the Holocaust they were forced to move to Australia. Pater's father imported tea and coffee and his mother practiced medicine. He attend Scotch College and the University of Melbourne and he earned a B.A in philosophy and history in 1967, then in 1969, he earned a M.A in philosophy. Later in 1969, he entered the University of Oxford. While he attend the University of Oxford he joined a vegetarian student group. This inspired him to write one of his best-known and most influential work called "Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for our Treatment of animals" in 1975. He has spent A LOT of his time and money for animal rights. You all probably know him best for writing "Peter Singers Solution to World Poverty". Peter tries to get people to donate money to charity in order to save all of those that are desperate and dying of hunger. Peter lives back to his home town of Melbourne, where he spends his time with his wife, Renata, and has three daughters. When he is not reading or writing, he likes to spend time hiking and surfing. Peter singer is currently 65 years old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb2z8HAr7QY

A Poem....About Ernest Hemingway

by: Presley Wilson

Ernest Hemingway was from Oak Park

In Illinois where he never saw anything like a shark

He later describes it as a town of "wide lawns and narrow minds."

And his parents were Clarence, a doctor, and Grace, a music teacher as we will find.

He is the second of six children of Grace

Who might have been emotionally in a weird place

She dressed him like a girl and his older sister as a boy

Like they were little toys

He ended up hating his mother, by the way. He was an excellent student athlete who

Boxes, plays football and writes for the school newspaper and yearbook, whoo-hoo!

He didn’t go to college but he worked as a writer with Kansas newspaper whos guidelines

weren’t very kind, and stuck with him through all of time

Use short sentences, short first paragraphs, and vigorous English, which he ended up

doing all his career, yup!

Another thing you will find a lot in his writing is themes of childbirth and fear of dying

"Indian Camp" is an example of his depressing stories that make you start crying

He Tried to join the American army but was rejected,

he helps the Italian army, and receives metal of bravery when he was hurt and affected

“a great sportsman - liked to portray soldiers, hunters, bullfighters - tough, at times primitive people whose courage and honesty are set against the brutal ways of modern society, and who in this confrontation lose hope and faith.”

Is a way to describe Hemingway, and how he wasn’t exactly safe

He does weird stuff, like brings his pregnant wife to watch a bullfight in Pamplona

to toughen up their unborn son, he never wants a daughter, like one named Ramona

Hemingway's first child, John "Jack" Hemingway, is born, Second son, Patrick

The third, Gregory, who changes it to Gloria when the fact that he’s a cross dresser clicks

This infuriates Hemmingway, he later joins the navy, gets a bronze star

But His father commits suicide, which probably made Ernest feel sad by far

He won the nobel prize: 1954

With 10 novels, 10 short story collections, 5 non-fiction works and probably more

(unpublished that is)

He had four different wives, im not sure but maybe one of their names was Liz

Suffering from depression, alcoholism, and physical ailments he commited suicide

And from this world he went bye-bye!

Tobias Wolff

Tobias Wolff was born in Birmingham, Alabama, was expelled from college, and served in the Army during the Vietnam War. While all these things are interesting, it is his writing that has gotten him the majority of recognition. He has written short stories and memoirs. His writing was spread across many genres including fiction and nonfiction. Wolff used his experiences in the Army and a troubled childhood as motivators for stories. Tobias Wolff wrote very deep stories that upon examination leave many readers not knowing whether to believe in what they know as of then or what Wolff has brought about through his writing. A specific example of this is in Bullet in the Brain, which was about an unhappy book critic being killed and seeing his happier years flash before his eyes. Another piece of writing by Tobias Wolff is This Boy's Life, which is a memoir about his childhood which was full of abuse after his mother divorced his father. Wolff was the victim of his Stepfather's abuse while also enduring an uncertain life with his mother which includes moving around and uncertainty. This piece was later made into a short film which starred Robert De Niro and also Leonardo Dicaprio. On top of this Bullet in the Brain was also made into a short film which starred Tom Noonan. Now in his later years, Tobias Wolff serves as a English Professor at the University of Stanford and also served as the Director of Creative Writing for a few years. Tobias Wolff has lead a very accomplished life in which he forced people to ask themselves deeper questions and really focus on their life and the choices they make. His influence on literature will never be forgotten in years to come.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgl7n0_tobias-wolff-reads-from-bullet-in-the-brain_news

A video of Tobias Wolff reading Bullet in the Brain

Antonya Nelson

Antonya Nelson was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1961. She is a well-known, prominent author of short stories as well as many novels. Today, I have the pleasure of talking to Mrs. Nelson.

SH: Good Morning Mrs. Nelson! Lets start by telling our readers about your education.

AN: Well, I received my BA from the University of Kansas in1983 and my MFA from the University of Arizona in 1986. Now, I am giving back that education to the next generation by teaching in the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers as well as in the University of Houston’s creative writing program.

SH: Oh that’s great! How about your career? What short story collections have you written?

AN: I have written four short story collection so far: Female Trouble, Family Terrorists, In the Land of Men, and The Expendables. They have been featured in Esquire, The New Yorker, Harper’s, and other magazines.

SH: Oh Wow! How about your novels?

AN: I have written four novels as well. They are Living to Tell, Nobody’s Girl, Talking in Bed, and Bound. My most recent one is Bound, which I wrote in 2010.

SH: Now its time to brag about yourself. What are some of your achievements, awards and honors you’ve received?

AN: Haha! Well, The Expendables won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction and Talking in Bed received the Heartland Award in fiction. Some of my books have been The New York Times notable books in 1992, 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2002. I was recently named by The New Yorker as one of the “twenty young fiction writers for the new millennium” which was very exciting. I am the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grand and 2000-2001 Guggenheim Fellowship. I also received the Rea Award for the Short Story in 2003.

SH: Wow, congratulations on all of those achievements. You must be ecstatic! So, what are you up to now?

AN: I divide my time up now between Telluride and Houston with my husband Robert.

SH: Thank you so much for taking the time to take to me today. I truly appreciate it and it has been a pleasure.

AN: No, thank you. It has been fun talking to you.

Here is a link to an excerpt from one of Antonya's novels. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130650582

Top Ten Reasons to Read Ian Frazier

TOP TEN FUN FACTS ABOUT ME, IAN FRAZIER

(and why you should definitely read my work)

by: Ian Frazier (with ghost writer Lizzy McGee)

1. Let's face it; I'm pretty funny. Most people call me a writer AND a "humorist." Not to toot my own horn, but two of my works even won the Thurber prize for American humor. ("Coyote vs. Acme" in 1997, "Lamentations of the Father" in 2009)
2. After I attended the Western Reserve Academy, I went to Harvard University. I'm practically another version of Mark Zuckerberg, except I even wrote on the school's publication, the Harvard Lampoon.
3. I started writing for The New Yorker in 1979, just ONE year after I graduated! (experience? check)
4. I was born in Cleveland Ohio, home of the Cleveland Indian's baseball team. (If you're in to that sort of thing.)
5. I don't specialize in one area of writing because I don't want to have one expert subject that I write about. Instead, I write a variety of different things, including non-fiction, short stories, and, back in the day, even for an "adult" magazine in Chicago.
6. I went to Siberia FIVE TIMES to research my latest book, Travels in Siberia. To hear me talk about my travels there, click here.
7. I live in Montclair, New Jersey, the home state of Jersey Shore. (My ghost writer thought to mention this fact to help keep the interest of this younger audience...)
8. My wife, Jacqueline Carey, is also an author. We have two children, Cora and Thomas.
9. I wrote a book called Dating your Mom, which The New York Times critic James Gorman describes as "one of the best collections of humor ever published.
10. I have AUTHORITY as an AUTHOR.

"For me, I just believe that I have paid enough attention, worked hard enough, done whatever I had to do to persuade myself I have authority"

Have I convinced you yet? Go read one of my books!

Bibliography/ For more info:

"The Believer" Interview with Ian Frazier

The New Yorker website

Harper Collins website

Wikipedia

1. 
   

Peter Singer

Welcome back everyone! Yesterday I had the pleasure of interviewing one of the world's most famous philosophers, Peter Singer. Here's an online transcript of the very exciting, yet informative interview. Hope you all enjoy it!

RN: So Peter where are you from?

PS: Well Rohan, I am ethnically Austrian, but I was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1946. My parents are from Vienna, and in 1938 they fled to avoid the backlash against Jews. Unfortunately, my grandparents weren't as lucky and perished in a concentration camp.

RN: Wow, that is very sad, but I'm glad your parents were able to escape.

PS: Yes, thank you.

RN: On the topic of family, do you have any siblings Peter?

PS: I have one sister, Joan. She has always been very supportive of my career.

RN: That's good to hear. But where did you get started? What's your educational background?

PS: Well for grades K-12 I attended Preshil in Melbourne and later Scotch College, from which I graduated. For college I attended the University of Melbourne and earned my degree in 1967. There I studied law, history, and philosophy. I guess you could say it was there that I really cultivated an interest in philosophy.

RN: Wow, how impressive!

PS: I'm not quite done yet....After U of M I attend the University of Oxford where I earned a bachelors in philosophy. Now in addition to being an author I also work as a professor at Princeton University.

RN: You seem very educated!

PS: Yes, well...

RN: So, what was the first piece about philosophy you wrote?

PS: That would have to be my thesis, Why Should I be Moral. It was quite good. You should read it.

RN: I bet it was! I would love to. Anyways, what can you tell the viewers of your most popular book, Animal Liberation?

PS: Yes, in the book I discuss my views against speciesism. That is, discrimination on the grounds that an animal belongs to a different species. Thus, I believe that humans should treat other animals the way they would treat other humans. So we should not eat other animals! My book is often viewed as the most influential of the animal liberation movement.

RN: Wow, that’s interesting! Any other books you’ve written that were super popular?

PS: Well, most of my books are very popular, but one of my favorites is Practical Ethics, which has 3 different editions. The first was published in 1979 and the third this year in 2011! It is an introduction to applied ethics, that is how we can use apply ethics to our daily lives, and it covers many ethical issues such as race, sex, infanticide, abortion, euthanasia, embryo experimentation, and obligation to assist others.

RN: Yes that seems like one of your more comprehensive books and looks like it includes a lot of your very diverse, and somewhat shocking views! For a full list of Singer’s publications you all can visit http://www.utilitarian.net/singer/, and for more knowledge of some of his views you can visit http://www.princeton.edu/~psinger/faq.html.

Anyways, Peter, one of my favorite articles of yours was The Singer Solution to World Poverty. But I have to ask you, do you donate any money to charity?

PS: Yes Rohan, I actually donate 25% of my earnings to charity.

RN: That’s great Peter! Hopefully more of us will start to do the same. Oh, and it looks like we’re out of time. Thanks for being on the show Peter!

PS: My pleasure

RN: For those of you who want more information on Peter, you can visit http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/singer.html

Caroline Alexander

Chris- "Hello everyone. I'm Chris Lonen, and welcome to our 9 o'clock news broadcast. Today I will be talking to General Jack Hatcher who recently returned from Iraq due to a gunshot wound in his left shoulder. We will be talking to him about his experience and what he has to say about war itself. Please welcome our guest everyone."

Jack- "Hello, thank you so much. I'm pleased to be here. Of course returning from war due to an injury is never what I hoped for, but I'm recovering fine, and I'm happy get to see my family again."

Chris- "Oh yes. I'm sure that your family was glad to see you."

Jack- "They were. It's actually hard though to adjust to from being in a war and defending yourself all the time to returning to normal society. I'll admit it's been a little bit of a challenge. I read an article though called, "Back from War but Not Really Home," by Caroline Alexander that I thought gave an interesting point of view on how soldiers feel when they return. I'd say it somewhat identified what I felt."

Chris- "Really? What was it about?"

Jack- "Her work compares soldiers returning from war as going through many of the same problems that Odysseus went through when he returned from war. Many of her works are actually about the Odyssey or have some sort of Mythological content. She wrote a book called The War That Killed Achilles, The True Story of Homer's Iliad and the Trojan War that is also about war and some of her views on war."

Chris- "Like what?"

Jack- "Well she has some interesting views on war. She believes that war is, in its very nature something that is tragic and should be something that is viewed as devastating. She says that sometimes through all these stories about heroes in war, we get this idea that war itself is an opportunity for glory when it really is something that is very destructive."

Chris- "Wow. That seems like a pretty bold thing to say. Do you agree with her opinion?"

Jack- "I mean, no. To some extent, of course if war could be avoided that would be the ideal situation, but I think it's unreasonable to say that there's no glory in fighting for your country and defending your people when it's what is necessary to keep people safe."

Chris- "Yeah, I can definitely see where you'd think that. Do you find that a lot of people agree with you?"

Jack- "People agree with parts of both points. Even I agree that war can have awful affects on soldiers, communities, and society. I think that's what she wanted to convey to her readers. I do wonder what experiences she's had in her life that have lead up to her writing about war and having strong opinions about war."

Chris- "That's a good question. Can we get someone to see if they can find the answer? Jane? Can you find us some more information on Caroline Alexander?"

Jane- "Yes, of course Chris. Caroline Alexander was born in Florida to British parents. She studied philosophy and theology at Oxford and has a doctorate in classics from the University of Columbia. She has written three books: The War That Killed Achilles: The True Story of Homer's Iliad and the Trojan War (2009), The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty, (2004) and The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition (1998). http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jan/16/war-that-killed-achilles-review is a good place to go to see a review of her books. From 1982-1985, she taught classics at Chancellor College which is a part of the University of Malawi. She has written for The New Yorker, Granta, Conde Nast Traveler, Smithsonian, and National Geographic. She currently lives on a farm in New Hampshire."

Chris- "Okay, but could you find any information about why she's so interested in writing about war?"

Jane- "No actually. We couldn't find anything."

Chris- "Interesting. I guess we'll just have to let our minds wonder. What do you think could have made Caroline Alexander so interested in writing about war?"

Donald Barthelme

Donald Barthelme, born April 7, 1931 in Philadelphia. As a student in 1951 he wrote for the Houston Post. He was drafted into the army in 1953, arriving the day they signed the peace treaty. He worked for a short time as an editor of a army newspaper, before returning to his station at the Houston Post. He taught at the University of Buffalo and Boston Collage. In the same year he became the Director of the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston and also published his first short story. During his life he would write over 100 short stories, and twelve books. Many would consider his father a demanding person, and that coupled with a rebellious teenager would be the inspiration of some of his stories like The Dead Father. Mr. Barthelme was known as someone who enjoyed his drinks a little too much. Mr. Barthelme used a style in his writing called "flash fiction" in which he compacted all the points of his story into a few pages.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Barthelme

A reading of "The School"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpzY4-wo4EM

Tim O'Brien

Tim O'Brien was born in Austin, Minnesota, on October 1st, 1946. When he was 23, he was drafted into the military to fight in the Vietnam War. While in Vietnam, he first began writing, and his service in the Vietnam War has a large influence on the work that he wrote both during and after the war. He writes both fiction about the Vietnam War and about his own experiences. Some of his more famous work includes:

• If I Die In A Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home (1973), a memoir of his experience during the war
• Going After Cacciato (1978), a novel about the Vietnam War which won the National Book Award for fiction
• The Things They Carried (1990), a collection of short stories about the Vietnam War

He has also written other books and currently teaches at Texas State University in San Marcos. He doesn't have his own website, but information about him can be found at this site, a fan website, and on Wikipedia.

Joan Didion was born in December 5th 1934 in Sacramento, California and at a young age she was asking her mom to borrow her adult books to read. For her education she went to kindergarten and first grade before she started to move around because of her fathers involvement in World War 2. In late 1943 her family resettled is Sacramento after years of moving, but she used this experience to help write one of her seventeen books "Where I Was From" 2003. Growing up she went to UC-Berkley and left with a Bachelors of Arts in English, in her senior year she won a writing contest hosted by Vouge and the winning prize just so happened to be her job. Her writing style was influenced heavily Ernest Hemingway who taught her the meaning meanings within a sentence.

here is one of her essays on self respect http://mallaryjeantenore.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/an-essay-worth-sharing-joan-didions-on-self-respect/

Joan Didion

Joan Didion (1934), the name has flow to it. It's not long and easy to pronounce making it an ideal name. The problem is that the name's simplicity has no relevance to the author's experiences. Mrs. Didion faced problems that proved difficult to put up with not to mention the many situations she was put in that left a lasting impression on her life. As a young girl she began to write yet didn't see herself as a writer until she was a published author. Also at a young age she was an ambitious reader, calling herself a, " shy, bookish child." She attempted to overcome timidness through acting and public speaking. She went to kindergarten and first grade but was held back by her father's direct involvement in World War 2. She was only able to return to school at age nine due to constant relocation. Her home town of Sacramento still left a nostalgic feeling in her heart.

After attending Berkeley she was hired by Vogue and ranked up quickly associate feature editor. She married John Gregory Dunne from Time Magazine and they had a daughter named Quintana. Tragically one night in the winter of 2003, her husband had a heart attack and died. Only in August of 2005 her daughter died of massive hematoma. This seriously effected her overall character. Looking back on her Odyssey we can only wait for her rebirth, because in my opinion an award from literature just won't fit the job.

Judy Blunt

Judy Blunt was born in 1954 and raised on a cattle ranch in a small town called Phillips County in Montana. She used her childhood as inspiration for her most well known book, Breaking Clean. Judy won several awards for her book, such as, the Whiting Writers' Award, the PEN/Jerard Fund Award, and many more. Breaking Clean was also recognized as one of the New York Times' Notable Books. Another one of Judy's well known books is Not Quite Stone. She writes poems and essays as well, which have been published in The New York Times, Big Sky Journal and Oprah Magazine. She is currently living in Missoula, Montana working as a professor at the University of Montana. For more information on Judy Blunt, you can read about one of her interviews on powells.com. Or if you want to read an excerpt of Breaking Clean, visit this website.

Tim O'Brien

Tim O’Brien was born on October 1, 1946 in Austin, Minnesota. He moved to Worthington, Minnesota when he was twelve with his family: a younger brother and sister and his parents. He got a BA in Political Science Macalester College. He was drafted for the Vietnam War in 1968, and from 1969 to 1970, he was in the Americal Division.

Here are some fun facts about him:

-He used the land around Lake Okabena, the lake near Worthington, as the setting for The Things They Carried (1990).

-He went to graduate school at Harvard after serving in the war.

-His writing career started off with If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home (1973), which is a personal memoir about his experience with war.

-He won the National Book Award in 1979 for his book Going After Cacciato (1978), which is also set during the Vietnam War.

-He currently lives in central Texas where he teaches every other year at the Texas State University in San Marcos.

Other books by this author include:

• Northern Lights (1975)
• Where Have You Gone Charming Billy? (1975)
• The Nuclear Age (1985)
• In the Lake of the Woods (1994)
• Tomcat in Love (1998)
• July, July (2002)

Also, he has written quite a few short stories, which usually end up as different chapters in some of his books. One example that I read was The People We Marry (excerpt prior to In the Lake of the Woods). Another interesting short story is actually the beginning of The Things They Carried. In both of the short stories, the opening sentence really draws you in, which is a really good trait that Tim O'Brien possesses. Also, the end of the short story isn't closed; it doesn't conclude with a "happily ever after," it keeps you wondering about what the author mean in that last sentence. After we discussed the short story In the Land of Men by Antonya Nelson, it got me wondering if the ending sentences, or for that matter, any sentences within these short stories are "loaded" sentences with double meanings. Maybe there are loaded sentences, and maybe there aren't. You'd have to read them to find out...

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois on July 21, 1899. He was a reporter before he became a novelist and went to work for The Kansas City Star after leaving high school. He worked there for six months and then signed up to be an ambulance driver in Italy during WWI. He saw many gruesome things during this time, and those memories are present in several of his pieces. During the war he received the Italian Silver Medal of Bravery, along with several serious injuries. The war was not the only thing that affected his writing. Indian Camp (the piece he wrote that was in our reading packet) was written a couple months after the birth of his first son. His wife went into labor while he was on a train, making it impossible for him to get to her. The emotions in the story come from the fear he felt when he thought she might die in labor without him by her side. He is known for his unique writing style and outlook on life. Here is a link to a site of his quotes that show off his personality. You can also read more about him on his wikipedia page.

Caroline Alexander

Curious about the Trojan War? Want to read a unique and brand new retelling of the war? Caroline Alexander's, The War That Killed Achilles, tells the Trojan War in a whole new way. This story, in many people's opinions, is beautiful, and one that can relate to all wars, even the ones being fought today.

Alexander was born in Florida in 1956 by two British parents, has written numerous peices that have been recognized world wide. She has lived in not only the United States, but Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean. Alexander studied theology and philosophy at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. Then she went on to get her doctorate in classics at Columbia University in New York. Alexander has published works to The New Yorker, Granta, Condé Nast Traveler, Smithsonian, Outisde, and National Geographic. She is mostly famous for being a journalist and author. Some of her other more famous works include The Bounty, and The Endurance.

To learn more about The War That Killed Achilles read this review and watch the attached video. If you like what you see than I highly suggest you purchase the book. You can purchase this book online here, or at your local bookstore.

Antonya Nelson

Antonya Nelson was born,(1961) raised, and educated in Wichita, Kansas. Later she attended the University of Kansas and Arizona where she received an MFA in 1986. "In the Land of Men" was her story in our summer reading packet. It was published in 1992. She is married to another prominent author, Robert Boswell, and they have two children. One son named Noah and one daughter named Jade. They both attended New Mexico State University. She and Robert share the Cullen Chair in Creative Writing at the University of Houston. She splits her time evenly between Telluride, Colorado, Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Houston, Texas.(YA!) Some of her other works include: Short Stories: " The Expendables" (1990), " Female Trouble" (2002), and "Family Terrorists" (1994). Books: "Living to Tell" (2000), "Nobody's Girl" (1998), "Talking in Bed" (1996), and "Bound" (2010).

Here are a few fun facts about Antonya:

1. In 1999 The New Yorker Magazine selected her as "1 of the 20 best young fiction writers in America today."
2. She has received many honorable awards including:

• National Endowment for the Arts (1989)
• Guggenheim fellowship (2000)
• Rea Award for the Short Story (2003)
• United States Artists (2009)

Here is a quote that Antonya said, " There are a thousand things to hear about, informationally, daily, but the thing that doesn't go away is the one to pay attention to."

I like this quote because although you hear so many things that you might think are pointless, you will always remember the most important thing and it could help you in the long run.

To find out additional information on Antonya Nelson, please feel free to visit the following websites:

1. Antonya Nelson
2. Wikipedia

James Thurber

James Thurber: My Life at a Glance

Exclusive: this is the final work of James Thurber and has been kept hidden by his wife until now.

I am James Thurber and dying of pneumonia is not the way I would have chosen to die. I was born in Columbus, Ohio, 65 years ago. When I was a child I was shot in the eye with an arrow while playing a game with my brothers. Sadly, I went blind in that eye and my vision began to deteriorate in my other eye. I was not able to graduate from Ohio State University because my awful eyesight prevented me from completed the required ROTC course. After I left Ohio State, I began working at The New Yorker a while later. There I met a fellow staff member, E.B. White who wrote the novel Charlotte's Web. He always supported my work and always encouraged me to draw my cartoons. Funnily enough, due to my terrible eyesight, I had to draw these with black crayon on a giant piece of paper. I have been told I am a very witty and funny person. This is probably while all my writing contains wit and humor. What I believe to be my wittiest story would be "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty". In this absurd story, Walter daydreams about who he wishes he was and by the end Walter imagines he is in front of a firing squad, smoking. Now who in their right mind would smoke in front of a firing squad, smoking. That is what the most ingenious part of the story is, the absurdity.

Before I go I would like to part with your my favorite quotes from myself. First, "All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running form, and to, and why." This seems to fit well since I am dying. Lastly, "Early to rise and early to bed makes a man healthy, wealthy, and dead." If I may say so myself, this is a very clever spin on Benjamin Franklins' famous quote, "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."

My last wish it for my work to be forever preserved in my house for all the world to see. Maybe at my house people will learn more about me and some of my more entertaining quotes.

Tobias Wolff

Welcome back to 92.4 The Book, your home for classic short stories in the car!
It's your host the Librarian, and today boy do I have something special for you!
Today I have in studio with me none other than the man himself Tobias Wolff!

L: How are you doing Mr. Wolff?
TW: Oh please, call me Tobias.
L: Well Tobias, we've read quite a few things on this station of yours, and you always seem to get the fans calling in putting forth their artistic views on the short stories.
TW: Oh really? Well I am glad everyone has enjoyed them! Which stories have you read?
L: Well, the main story we have read was Bullet in the Brain but we have also read Hunters in the Snow.
TW: Oh those are some of my most well known pieces!
L: That they are, so Tobias tell me about yourself in five sentences or less.
TW: Okay, well I was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1945. For high school I went to the Hill School which is a boarding school, and Concrete High School in Washington. Then out of high school I was taken into the Vietnam War. Then when I finally got back I first went to Hetrtford (Oxford) College and got my degree in English. And finished my education by finally getting my Masters of Arts in creative writing from Stanford University. And now, for those who did not know, I am a short stories writer and an English teacher at Stanford University. So, there are my five sentences.
L: Oh.. you actually said six, its okay thought! I can see why you didn't become a math major!
TW: Hahaha and I loved English.
L: Well I am sure hope you did after all of your success and awards! What different type of awards do you have again? Tell the listeners how good of a writer you are!
TW: Well I am being humble when saying this, but I have won the Rea Award for the Short Story, the O, Henry Award on three different occasions, and finally the Story Prize.
L: Do you hear that guys! That's a total of six different awards, that is incredible.
TW: Well its less about the awards and more about the writing for me.
L: Good insight Tobias, so final question before we have to leave these beautiful people, what would you say made you most famous and skyrocketed your career?
TW: I would have to say The Boy's Life, which were my memoirs.
L: Well you heard it here folks, go out and buy The Boy's Life if you do not already have it, well thank you so much for coming Tobias, I hope you had a great time on air with me, the Librarian, and having all of our listeners listening in on you!
TW: Well thank you for having me on today!
L: Well folks it is now the end of short stories time with me, the Librarian, and next up is personal narrative hour with, the Archivist, but before you go do not forget to check out the website where there will be a link to a video of Tobias Wolff reading another short story of his called Say Yes. There will also be a picture of him we took of him in studio up on the page. Then finally there will be one last link to his faculty page at Stanford University. Well that is all, I hope to see you back here tomorrow at our usual time, 3 p.m. See you all tomorrow!

Andrew Porter

Andrew Porter was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1972. He was the youngest of three siblings, and is a critically acclaimed author.  I was lucky enough to have this conversation with him one afternoon over the telephone.
Paige Poe- "So, tell me about your education."
Andrew Porter- "I got my B.A. in English from Vassar College and my M.F.A in fiction writing from the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop."
PP- "Wow. What have you published so far?'
AP- "I published my first book of short stories, The Theory Of Light And Matter, in 2007. It was pretty exciting!"
PP- "I bet. I've heard you have won lots of awards for it, which ones were the most significant to you?"
AP- "My book won the 2007 Flannery O'Conner Award for Short Fiction. Also, several newspapers named it the best short story book of the year. Recently it was republished by Vintage/Knopf. All of those things meant a lot to me, especially since this was my debut book."
PP-"So what are you doing now?"
AP-"I am currently in San Antonio; I work at Trinity University as the Assistant Professor of Creative Writing. In fact, I am almost late for my class so, I'd better run. Thanks!"
PP- "I wouldn't want you to be late! Thank you!"

For more information on the Amazing Andrew Porter, you can visit his website:
Andrew Porter's Website

Or you can use Wikipedia.

Donald Barthlme

Donald Barthelme: Author of The School, notorious alcoholic and an exceptional writer. Born on April 7th, 1931 in Philadelphia, PA. Barthelme spent much of his adult life in Houston. Among his accomplishments in Houston was being one of the original founders of The University of Houston Creative Writing program. I really liked researching my author. He was a very interesting guy. He was married four times, drunk a lot, and was an amazing author. Other than The School, he wrote many stories, I read "Me and Miss Mandible". The opening sentence draws you in, trust me. I found some quotes by him that I really liked:

"Write what you are afraid of."

I like this quote because it's inspiring. What do y'all think?

and

"And I sat there getting drunker and drunker and more in love and more in love." (Sixty Stories)

I like this quote, even though it was in one of his books, it relates back to his personal life. He got drunk a lot and he also must have been in love a lot, being married four times.

Overall, I really enjoyed researching my author and I love reading his writing and plan on reading more.