Karina Ramsey
Dr. Carrie Hall
English 1121
02/05/19
Gilyard’s reading was very interesting. I like the fact that Gilyard is a storyteller. With this being very personal to him he wrote it in a way that draws his audience in. Something that Gilyard did in his writing that I would like to do in my own writing is, be able to organize my ideas, especially when it comes to writing about my life. There is so much detail that can be included when writing about personal experience, so I liked how Gilyard was able to transition into different parts of his story, but not get lost with providing too much detail. For example, when he mentions how he started failing classes like gym. In the next paragraph as a result of failing classes, he started going down the wrong path and started committing several crimes. He connected his failures in school to his failures out of school. I also liked when he mentioned his reason for getting out of the drug life “The truth of that proposition was as clear as the bright caps of angry ocean waves hurtling toward a shore in clear darkness.” He was able to use two literary devices, simile and imagery to explain his clear state of mind in that moment, which is something that I would also like to be able to do in my writing.
