Guterson's Suburbs

The primary difference between the suburbs described in the story and where I grew up is huge--I grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere in Owensville, Ohio. Unlike the layout which Guterson describes to be "designed, organized, and executed by a corporation," everything that was done in the town that I lived was done in order to keep food on the table for your own families, and to provide for each other. The kids don't sit inside and watch tv, they help with the chores that come with trying to survive off your land. For entertainment, we would circle up and tell stories or play in the woods. We did not have rapists lurking amongst us, and for that reason everyone was allowed to roam freely around the town. People didn't steal from each other because everyone was poor-no one had anything nicer than anyone else that someone would like to have. There were no WalMarts or McDonalds, we had an IGA (independant grocers association), a Gramma's Pizza, and a movie rental store ran out of someone's living room. There were no major developers when we lived there, and due to that there was a serious lack of jobs. Therefore, it was unheard of for someone to play tennis or golf in the afternoons. Everyone got along pretty well for the most part, and as far as I know the only change to Owensville is that we got a BP/Subway across from the courthouse to compete with the Sunoco gas station right on the edge of town.


Either we had a good community of good people, or we had a community that was great at keeping secrets.

My home

5 Memories/Feelings about home:

1. Moving in! (Wrong name on my door)
2. Going home to my mom's house
3. Cleaning up throw up
4. Having my cousin come to stay
5. Grocery shopping/laundry/cleaning


If someone had approached me last week to ask me where I considered my home to be, I would have said Brentwood, Tennessee. However, upon returning home to Brentwood, I found an empty house with the majority of my things packed into boxes. When I started school at the University of Tennessee, my mother decided that it was time for her to return home to England, and my father has lived in China for the past five years. Also, since most of my friends are away at different schools with different fall breaks, there were not that many people around town. To me, the definition of home is where you are surrounded by family and friends, and that is not the case in Brentwood. When I got back to school on Sunday afternoon I saw several people I knew and I was surrounded again by people that care about me. It is for this reason that I consider my home to be my dorm room at school.

"hot"

"What makes a man or woman "hot"?

Confidence
Being in shape
Having a good smile
Having an attractive face

hot people:
rory cochrane (when he was younger)
brad pitt
david beckham
channing tatum

boy for a day?

if i could be a boy for a day...

...i would:

pee off the porch

and

walk around with no shirt on

and

shave my head

and

hit somebody

and

not wear make up

and

not worry about wearing clean clothes

and

and let my room get really messy

and

wear a hat backwards

and

be stupid/rude

Strong/Army Strong

t-shirt:

Observations:
Back of a black t-shirt with white words:
There's Strong.
Then There's Army Strong
and yellow letters:
goarmy.com

Inferences:
The army says people can be strong, or take it one step further by becoming army strong.
the www. is left out of the website because sometimes people ignore websites

The army has an advertising campaign that says that there are two kinds of strong: just strong, and army strong, which is a step above just strong. This shirt is an effective visual argument towards the intended audience which is similar to those already wearing the t-shirts; young men and women who are interested in going into the military. The shirt is effective because it is not overwhelming, but simple which is important because people usually glance at shirts other people are wearing, so there can't be too much on them.

Pictures for homework

click on them for the full pictueres

My weekend

Kristina-
Hey. Even though you were with me alllllll weekend.. let's recap:

Friday after my last class Kyle came and picked me up in his big red truck. We drove all the way back to Franklin without getting in any wrecks.. which is surprising because Kyle's truck is too big for one lane on the interstate...
When I got home I went to the garage to get my car. Then I went inside my house to ask my mom where my car was. My crazy mom took my car into the shop to get the seat fixed, even though I was soooooo proud of how well I had rigged it to stay up with a dog leash, jump rope, and suitcase strap. Sooo since I had no car all weekend, you came and picked me up!

Then we went and picked up Sean and Austin and Gino and went to downtown Franklin and walked around for awhile until that got boring. And then we all went back to Sean's house to watch a movie. That night was kind of uneventful..

Saturday I woke up on Sean's couch and everyone else was already up which was cool I guess because it was really easy to find a ride home.. Then I went to Opry Mills Mall with you and the only thing we got was food which is kind of stupid considering how far we drove to get there.

Then I went home, took a shower and got changed then went back over to your house. We hung out there for a few hours and then Kate and Jayne came and then we went to MTSU to hang out with my friend Buddy. Buddy introduced us to some of his friends (one of which drove like five miles on the sidewalk next to the street and almost died...) and we all went to the Sig Ep fraternity house. And from there we got in all sorts of trouble and I don't know how/when I got home.

And I'm out of time to write anymore...
later



Grandma!

Hello! How are you doing? All is well over here at the University, and there's not much to report on. The weather is very nice, but very hot, too. Over the past weekend I went home to check up on mum before she heads out to England to see you all. We had a really nice breakfast on Sunday morning (although she did make me order from the kids menu), but unfortunately we did not actually get to spend that much time together. I spent most of my weekend traveling around Williamson County trying to catch up with some of my friends that I have not seen for awhile. I even went all the way out to Murfreesboro (which is about a fourty-five minute drive) to see my friend Buddy! Anyways, there isn't much more to tell, so I will write again soon!

I hope your weekend went well,

xoxo

Grace