Brallan Gantiva
Kymberly Barron
Enc1101 6-9:40 pm
October 21, 2013

Reader response #3”A Wobegon Holiday Dinner “

A Wobegon Holiday Dinner is an essay, that Garrison Keillor shared a memorable Thanksgiving that he had with his family. Which he recalled after calling his cousin “Duke” (Mary Ann) of an embarrassing episode that she had in thanks giving years ago, when she vomited at that thanksgiving.

This essay takes back years ago, when I had to witnessed an event that is really similar which happened to Keillor’s cousin. We were taking dinner with my sister, we were eating grilled steak. But there’s was something really weird in her grilled steak, which had a big piece of fat on it , and my sister ate it , and she puked all over her plate. It was really disgusting, and disturbing. Since then I hate grilled steak.

Questions 1-4 A Wobegon Holiday Dinner

1- Keillor clearly chose a particularly memorable Thanksgiving to share in this essay. What does the vomit episode contribute to the larger story about how his family celebrated Thanksgiving? The vomit episode

2- Celebrating holidays together is often viewed as one way communities – including families – stay strong. Yet, in what respects is Keillor’s essay a response to the assumption ‘ communities provide us with a sense of stability’

Keillor’s family Thanksgiving tradition were unchanging to promote a sense of stability. But his Thanksgiving tradition with his family aren’t always like it looks like to be. His essay brings out the worst of his family which not creates family togetherness.

3- How does the author contrast the differences between the tensions or fights in his family with those of his fiancée’s family? How does his use of humor allow him to make this comparison?

The author compares both families’ behavior: his fiancée’s family argue a lot, over silly things. Unlike his family that argue about important matter. His humor allow him to make this comparison to his fiancée’s house, witnessing their fight which he actually enjoyed, without worrying getting embarrassed. Because I mean you don’t want to get embarrassed by your family in front of other people.

4- In the last lines of the essay, Keillor writes, “life is good. Even when it is lousy, it is still good. “What does he mean by this? In what sense is this final statement the lesson of the essay?

“Life is good. Even when it is lousy, it is still good. Keillor meant by this quote that life always isn’t good. There’s always up and down in life. Life is fair with anybody, but as long as we are healthy, close to family, and thank God. Life is good even when is bad. Keillor say this quote in an optimist sense. Because he thinks life is good even when it’s bad.

Sensory Adjectives

Sight: 1. angular 2. flat 3. big 4. fluffy 5. black 6. blonde 7. blushing 8. glowing 9. bright 10. huge Taste: 1. acidic 2. bitter 3. cool 4. creamy 5. salty 6. savory 7. sour 8. spicy 9. Juicy 10. hot

Smell: 1. fresh 2. bitter 3. rotten 4. smoky 5. clean 6. sweet 7. burning 8. stinky 9. spicy 10. putrid

Touch:

1. bumpy 2. hard 3. icy 4. dirty 5. dusty 6. sharp 7. plastic 8. smooth 9. soft 10. slippery

Sound:

1. buzzy 2. crackling 3. crash 4. scream 5. cry 6. growl 7. moan 8. tinkle 9. tinkle 10. squeak

The World that Surrounds You

The sound of a big city at rush hour can be pretty annoying, especially the place where I came from which is Bogota-Colombia. Bogota Colombia is big city, not as roomy as it is Florida. At rush hours in Bogota can become hell: people talking out loud, the screaming of the people on the streets that are trying to sell their stuff (something like hawker), the loud sound of buses, splash of the puddles in a rainy day, the bark of the street dogs, and the honk of all the vehicles. From my point of view it is not like in Florida at rush hour which everything is normal, is not like Bogota.

The feel of a warm bed on a winter night it is like touching heaven with my hands. My bed in winter night, becomes the best place to be in. my bed gets so comfy that you just don’t want to get out. I love when it is winter, when cold air rubs my blanket to keep them cold. How softy my blankets gets really soft when I wrap with them, and the smoothness of my pillows, it is like I’m using clouds as pillows. Also I love to flip my pillow to get the cold side, when the one side gets hot.

The sound of a lunchroom full of teenagers can be pretty noisy. As a recalled when I was in high school in the cafeteria since the entrance you can hear how loud it was. You could hear the whispering of some students in the waiting line, or the yelling of the ones that were pretty noisy. The cafeteria is one the place where you can hear a lot of cursing words from the students. The laughs the sound that you hear the most. Even a couple of time I saw people cry for particular reason. Whines were heard the most during the test weeks, especially on the Fcat season. I heard people complaining how annoying is the Fcat, and how boring it was.

The taste of my favorite food usually is sweet. I love my food when it is sweet stuff. For example I like sneakers, milky ways, Hershey’s, for me those candies are really tasty. Also I really like spicy stuff. I like spicy stuff but not as spicy as Mexican people like. Mexican people impress me how spicy the cook. I used work in Mexican restaurant the used to give food, but it made me sick for the amount of spiciness that had on it; it gave me an allergy. Despite of that incident I still love spicy stuff. I really hate tasteless stuff like some vegetables, for example: cauliflower, and broccoli, for me those 2 doesn’t taste anything. I mean I like things to taste something acidic, bitter, cool, creamy anything.