Responses to "Writing about General Apache" and "Simplicity"

Response to “Writing about General Apache”

When I first picked up “Writing about General Apache” I was a bit skeptical. I didn’t understand how hearing about a professor’s struggle to write about his student was supposed to matter to me. A reflective essay is supposed share an experience that will benefit the reader, but this sounded like a piece written to express frustration. As I read the essay, I found it enjoyable all the same. Harrington wrote beautifully about his student. I enjoyed the little details he put in, the story about learning the streets of Washington DC from a homeless man, for example. These little details made you care about Harrington’s student, made you want to know his story. Though almost the entire essay was in the past tense, the quotes Harrington included really helped the story feel more alive and true. I think that fact that Harrington wrote this essay after writing the poem and sharing it with his student really made the essay better. You could really feel the sense of looking back. Harrington looked back not only on his writing process but also at the life of his student. It allowed him to slim down all the event and stories into one concise piece that wasn’t too long for the reader or too filled with unnecessary details. I especially liked the ending of the piece. The whole essay was kind of a buildup to the poem. Adding the poem at the end satisfied the reader’s curiosity and reinforced the importance of the subject matter. I don’t think I could put what I got from this essay and the included poem into words, but I did come away feeling a sense of understanding, and that’s what counts.

Response to “Simplicity”

William Zinsser has an incredibly valid point. I really enjoyed reading about his policy on written language. I totally agree that writing is hard work. I find myself doing a lot of the things he talked about. Not knowing what I want to say is probably the biggest thing for me. I like that Zinsser made the point that writing and thinking clearly isn’t something you’re born with, but something you have to work at. He also really put into perspective what writers are competing with when they try to catch a reader’s attention. He made great points and exemplified those points in his writing. I found it enjoyable and informative.