The Pulitzer is Following Me

This is a warning: the topics discussed in our class will follow you where ever you go.

I have a very interesting story to tell today. This past weekend I went home with one of my friends to Midway, Georgia which is near Savannah. We decided to stop at the old cemetery there because it is known for ghost encounters and all those shenanigans. Here are some photos which don't to it justice for the creepiness...but it will give you an idea.




Those are just two veiwpoints and what was beyond the wall was enough to give you chill bumps. Many confederate soldiers and their families are buried here along with hundreds of people from that time period.

Anyways, on to the interesting part of my story. We quickly walked past an information wall and something caught my eye...the word "Pulitzer." I stopped to read knowing this would be something interesting to blog about!

The winner of the 1982 Pulitzer prize was a work entitled "Mary Chesnut's Civil War" edited by C. Vann Woodward. Which is a rendition of a book called "The Children of Pride: A True Story of Georgia and the Civil War" written by Robert Mason Myers. This book consist of letters sent to and from a highly influential person in Liberty County Georgia during the Civil War, Reverend Charles Colcock Jones. Jones owned a plantation and served as a missionary to slaves. He,himself, did not believe in the institution of slavery.

It was at the Midway Graveyard that Reverend Charles Colcock Jones is buried along with his wife and 2 of his children. I was able to take a picture (althought low in quality) of the information wall as well as Jones' grave.




This is where I caught site of the information.



This is the grave site of Reverend Charles Colcock Jones.

I found all of this very interesting and was excited to do research and find out about the book and the Reverend himself and I hope you found my findings interesting too!

Paul Guest's Works and Challenges

I'm not sure if everyone had the opportunity to go to Paul Guest's poetry reading while he was on campus, but it certainly left me thinking about how fortunate I am, and how talented he is. While he read his poetry, there were moments where the audience was amazed at his ability to fit humor, sadness, and thankfulness into one poem. If you do not know, Paul Guest if confined to a wheel chair due to paralysis from the neck down. It astounded me that he was able to be so accomplished even with his disabilities. Even though I heard some of his works there, I chose to use one of his recent collections to do my paper and presentation on. I wanted to express the amount of enjoyment I find in reading his works. If you have the chance during the summer I highly recommend you pick up one of his books and take each poem to heart. I can't say much more, as it will be said in my presentation on Tuesday :) I can't wait to introduce the class to this intelligent and creative author.

Imagining the Summer - A&P

After reading John Updike’s short story A&P, the only thing that comes to mind is the desire for warm weather, flip flops, and swimsuits. The imagery in this story is worded so elegantly that the reader is able to picture themselves within the grocery store in which the story is set. The exquisite descriptions do not stop with the setting, the speaker clearly illustrates other characters as well discussing exact details in the events of the story.
While reading the story, I was able to feel the small town charm of the setting, as well as the quaint setting of the A&P grocery store. The speaker gives explanations of the placement of the objects around him, and clearly lays out the path of the main characters throughout the store; “back my way along the counters, in the aisle between the checkouts and the special bins.” (561) With these details you are able to imagine the front of a grocery store with the checkout lines all in a row, with small advertisement stand-ups out in front, with a boy standing behind one of the registers. As he is standing as his counter, he watches three girls walk down an aisle; “all three of them went up the cat-and-dogfood-breakfast-dereal-macaroni-rice-raisins-seasonings-spreads-spaghetti-soft-drinks-crackers-and cookies aisle,” (561) This list of all the items on this aisle allows you to create an excellent mental image of the store, and provides specific details in order to fill in missing pieces of the image. The speaker does not stop with just describing the setting, he allows your imagination to be continually unperturbed by offering details about the characters as well.
There are three characters described in great detail throughout this story. All three are girls, who all have bathing suits on and have just walked into a grocery store. The speaker takes time to talk about one girl individually; “She was a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it…” (560). Although he focuses on only one sense here, the sense of sight, it still offers enough to feels as though you are standing in the store next to this girl. With the thorough descriptions of the characters you are able to understand the story and place yourself within it. His explanations of the events in the story are also descriptive.
The climatic point of the story, is one where the speaker quits his job as a cashier. He hopes to catch the attention of the girls who have just left the store; “so I say ‘I quit’ to Lengel quick enough for them to hear, hoping they’ll stop and watch me” (564). With the way he so casually says that he quits provides you with the emotional setting of the event. This awkwardness can be felt through the words written on the page. The author is able to make you feel incorporated into the story through the solidity of his words.
Specific details and descriptions of events and characters allow you to be more engaged in the story you are reading. These specifics progress you through the plot keeping you hooked on the basics of the story. Being offered the opportunity to create a picture of the setting in your own way makes reading the story more enjoyable as well as aids you in remembering the specific events of the story. John Updike did a wonderful job with fine points and word choice which invested me in the story and kept my attention.


Updike, John. A&P. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Michael Meyer. Bedford/St.Martins. Boston, Mass. 2009.