When José Olivarez writes “Maybe I Could Save Myself By Writing,” he is, among other things, telling us one version of his education narrative. Project #1 for ENG 1101 will ask you to write your own education narrative, or one version of it at least.
After you read Olivarez’s essay, write a comment below that’s longer, maybe 300 words:
- Find a passage from his essay that catches your attention and include it in your comment below. Why does it speak to you?
- Using Bunn’s questions, who is writing this essay, and what is its purpose?
- Using Morrison’s distinction, are you reading this as art? What does that help you see or understand, either about what Olivarez is saying, or about how he’s writing it?
- What makes it an effective piece of writing (if you agree that it is–or what makes it ineffective if that’s your reaction).
- What makes it an education narrative?
- If you were going to write your education narrative (and you will!) what would you think it should include?
- What else do you want to say about Olivarez’s essay?
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The passage that speaks to me would be “How to read like a writer” by Mike Bunn, since I like the way he describes reading the text with all the techniques and ways people use to write. Reading Morrison’s essay explains that a story has two parts, the words and your mind that will make the story mean to you in a very different way then others given the fact that we all think differently on things. The purpose of Bunns’s essay which was written by himself, is to teach people that while we are reading, we arnt just looking at the story but also at the techniques in the text that some can possibly adopt. All these essays make it an educational narrative since they are teaching us based on there point of view and there point of thinking through years and hours of writing. I believe it’s an effective piece of writing given the fact that it opens the eyes of some to not just the main story but also to the techniques used to write it. I might include the past maybe to know what got them into writing and maybe past troubles that they had to face. What id like to say in the end is that I really don’t like reading or writing but it’s nice to see how fancy they sound in text. The end~
A passage from Olivarez’s essay that caught my attention was, “If it weren’t for gravity, I might have floated away” because he saved himself by writing. To further explain, he moved to Mexico and felt left out even though it was his home town so he started reading books from Latino writers. He stated how he needed to read about the Chicano movement and the young lords however his school curriculum did not support it. Although, his school had a poetry club and when he saw his classmates perform he stated, “I felt something bloom within me”. As simple as that, Olivarez found his passion and started writing in which he claimed saved his life. The person who is writing this essay is someone who is lost and wants to find their place in society and tries desperately. According to Morrison’s distinction, you could definitely read this as art because it all started from Olivarez not fitting in to society to him trying desperately to fit in and then he found his passion that “saved his life”, it all develops overtime and revolves around him not feeling welcomed at home. The fact that everything revolves around the origin is one way this is an effective piece of writing because whatever happens later on in the passage still comes back to the fact that he felt out of place and lost. What makes this an educational narrative is that you can see how desperately he tries to learn about his culture and how it helped him later on because it showed him his passion for writing. One thing I would include in my education narrative is how the past can still always effect the future one way or another.
While reading “Maybe I Could Save Myself By Writing” by Jose Olivarez, there was a passage that caught my attention. That passage was “If it weren’t for gravity, I might have floated away.” Olivarez refers to him being able to express himself through his poetry as “gravity” and if it weren’t for that then he might have floated away or in other words not having the opportunity to learn more about himself and who he is as a person. Before arriving in Mexico to visit his grandparents for a month, he always felt as if he didn’t belong in his hometown Chicago and felt like he belonged in Mexico. This passage speaks to me because if it weren’t for my mom and the rest of my family motivating me to stay focused on school I would have lost interest in it and chose a different path in life.
As I was reading “Maybe I Could Save Myself By Writing” I read it as art. I believe art is when someone is able to express themselves through any form of art whether it’s writing, dance, drawing, etc. Recognizing Olivarez’s writing as art helps me understand that he used poetry/writing as a way to find out the type of person he is, expressing his feelings, and reaching out to help others who may feel like they aren’t heard and give them a safe place they’re able to feel comfortable in. Being able to recognize Olivarez’s writing as art gave me an opportunity to not only understand what was written but to also understand how he’s writing it. I believe Olivarez’s writing was written in a way of wanting to inform other people to take the time to figure out what keeps them grounded and learn more about themselves.
An effective piece of writing is when a writing has the qualities of making a point and writing has a clear purpose. The writing “Maybe I Could Save Myself By Writing” is an effective piece of writing because it has both qualities. The writing has a clear purpose which is to take the time to figure yourself out and who you are as a person. If i were to write my own education narrative it’ll consist of a purpose.
While reading “Maybe I could save Myself by writing” by Jose Olivarez, the passage that caught my attention was “If it weren’t for gravity, I might have floated away”. From my perspective, The word “gravity” meant that when he found poetry/writing he was able to understand and learn from himself as a person, which claimed to save his life. He stopped himself from “drifting away”, meaning he didn’t just accept that he was misfit in society, he changed himself through poetry and expressed himself as who Jose Olivarez is. I believed that Jose wrote this to show others who were like him to keep trying and find a place in society or in life in general. Life something that we should all enjoy, and to make the most out of it. I see this passage as “life’s tips”, Jose Olivarez expressed how finding poetry helped him find happiness, we should all find something that makes us happy before it’s too late. What made Jose’s writing effective was adding his personal experiences where many could relate to, everyone one experiences this at some point of their lives. I would’ve included the hardships and past troubles that he had to face before getting to where he is now. Something that I would’ve included was how the past was a necessary thing to get to where he is now in the present
There is a passage that speaks to me directly in “Maybe I Could Save Myself By Writing” by JosĂ© Olivarez. This passage is “It didn’t make sense in the United States.”I feel that this passage is very strong for me because I am an immigrant and I was born in the Dominican Republic. My mom brought me to the United States. At first it was very difficult for me because I missed my family and friends. I couldn’t find myself here in the US at the time, but I realized that I had been brought here for a better life and education. Based on what I read about Bunn, I think Olivarez is a writer who read as a writer because he read a lot of books by Latinx writers to see how he compares to them and finds himself when he was lost.I think based on Morrison’s distinction it is art because the way Oliverez expresses himself in how his writing saves his life and for him writing it is passion, making the words when you read this essay catch you. What Olivarez is saying makes me understand that life is difficult and when you are out of place maybe something that you really love and are passionate about can save you. The essay is effective in the way that it inspires young people to look for things that can help them when they don’t feel good about life in general. What makes this essay educational is that it is mostly for young people who are going through a bad time like Olivarez or even worse, which means this essay is to save the youth life and do not have any kind dangerous words. If I were to write my educational narrative, I would say that it should include components like Olivarez did to cut through people and persuade them.
A passage from Olivarez essay that caught my attention was “Why Older People Have Always Trashed Young People”. This passage spoke to me because I’m in a young generation and I have encountered many people that claim “we aren’t doing nothing with our lives” or “All we do is stay on our phone” or “back in my days”, I’ve heard a lot of the same things stated in the essay so it’s something I can relate to. The writer of the essay is Olivarez speaking through his younger self’s perspective, I’m sure we all experienced this, we were all young once. The purpose of the essay is to illustrate how the older generation views the younger, why they do, and why they are wrong. They compare then to now but everything is evolving the way we dress, walk, talk, and society. One reason the older youth “Trash young people” is fear. The essay states “We want our kids to adopt our politics, our causes, our sense of meaning. In our children, we seek immortality. But then they grow up, and we discover they’re not us… We will slip into nothingness, remembered by nobody, having left no recognizable impact.” We are indeed one of their greatest legacies and for most, they’re only. They fear the idea of life going on without them and no one remembering them, the future is left in our hands. Every generation trashed on but ever generation does well. According to Morrison’s distinction, this can be read as art because the younger youth is being judged for unfair reasons and assumptions. When they are wrong and shouldn’t think that way. This helps me understand different points of view and why people feel this way. This is an effective piece of writing because he also speaks for all point views and uses many different examples for a better understanding. What makes this an education narrative is how he is teaching the older generation their flaws in the way they view the younger generation and showing the younger generation why they feel this way. Something I would include in my own education narrative is how understanding something is important and confidence is key.
The passage which catches my attention is “maybe i could save myself by writing”. Jose Olivarez was born in Mexico and he moved in united states in his young age. When he was a teenager he thought that he did not belong in United States. He thought that his hometown was the place he needed and wished to be there. He thought his loneliness and all the unpleasant feelings would fed away if he would go back in Mexico. But when he arrived in Mexico, he did not feel any better, he felt just as out of place as he felt everywhere else. He realized that it has no about the location, he would feel the same even if he would be at the other side of country. And then he started reading books, which changed his life and helped him defeat all the unpleasant feelings he was worried about. Book saved Jose.
Bunn’s essay “who is writing this essay” explains, that by reading you are not only learn the story, you also learn how to be in writers position, and learning writing skills. Using Morisson’s distinction, i read this essay as art. It shows you how did Jose Olivarez found his passion, and how did his passion saved him from losing himself. Many teenagers have this problem this days, and i think that Olivarez is explaining to them that they need to find their passion ( what they enjoy to do ) which will help them to find their path. Olivarez’s essay is educational narrative because it explains and teaches you, that people should find what they enjoy, or what is their passion, and they should follow it.
If i am going to write my educational narrative, i will try to explain how did i got to the point which i will write about, and what to do to use my educational narrative correctly.
I would say that his essay is great, but he could add more details how did the book saved him from floating away.
One passage from, Maybe I can save myself by writing, that really captured my attention was “Every fact can be turned into any number of stories”. This is very relevant in our modern days as this seems to be the root of many problems and opinions. When a person hears a fact they make of it as they wish. In school this has always been the problem as one student here’s one thing and creates a whole new story that then becomes a dangerous rumor. Also when there is a fact there are different opinions that are created which leads to different stories being created. This leads to huge arguments that could easily be avoided. This shouldn’t be the case with facts and stories as it’s very problematic. The person writing this essay is a student who went through many things in his life, especially in school. I believe its purpose is to allow students who may be going through similar problems to know that they aren’t the only ones going through things and that there are solutions. Many people reading this may look at it and realize that maybe there is a solution to all their problems. When I read this as art I am able to imagine and connect what he is saying to personal or similar situations I’ve witnessed before. I may read a line and think about myself and what I’ve gone through, or think of what I’ve heard of a similar situation in the lives of others. This piece of writing is effective as I know it can be a helpful guide for others who share similar experiences. Jose Olivarez came to the U.S at a young age not knowing english which is what a lot of kids go through. They come to a foreign country not knowing the language or culture. This could be tough on them but reading this piece of writing can help them with solutions. This is a great example of education narrative since Olivarez narrates his experiences in school as well as his personal life. My education narrative would definitely include burdens I may feel are on my shoulders or the stress and procrastination I’ve gone through in these last few years. Overall, Olivarez’s essay gave me an insight on his situation as well as many others who go through similar struggles. It also gave me an idea of what I would like to write about in my education narrative.
A passage from Olivarez’s essay that caught my attention was, “I wanted to write poems in a way that might give a young person in similar circumstances some comfort” because there are teens out there who might think they’re alone and might not feel like they belong anywhere. It speaks to me because Olivarez overcame the challenges he faced and found a passion that worked out for him. He wants to encourage others to do the same by not giving up and exploring different things. According to Bunn’s questions, the person writing this essay is someone on a journey to finding who they are through their culture. The purpose of writing this essay is to show the audience how reading, writing, and poetry play a significant role in Olivarez’s life. According to Morrison’s distinctions, this essay could be read as art because it shows Olivarez’s growth from being someone trying to get through each day to becoming actively involved with poetry. In one part of the essay, he mentions how he “felt something bloom within me” when he saw his classmates perform their poems the first time. It was as if he had found somewhere he truly belonged. The way he shows how he struggled to find a place to belong to and find his voice through poetry in a poetry slam club is an effective piece of writing. He also provided some of his memories from his past and included how his Mexican culture impacted him. The essay is an educational narrative because Olivarez started to think outside the box and look at different perspectives from what he was being taught, what stories were being left out, and another way a story could be written. If I was going to write about my education narrative, I would include things that have impacted me to the person I am today, like my culture, the languages that I speak, and so on.
Olivarez’s essay is so powerful and vivid and filled with language that both makes his point and shows his love of poetic language. Reading the lines that you each chose as one that stood out to you reminds me of that double purpose of his writing–impact and art.
Did anyone who feels like they don’t like reading feel like they connected with this essay?
I know some of you wrote about relating to his experiences with feeling connected to another country, or about generational conflicts–thanks for opening up and sharing about yourselves! An education narrative isn’t necessarily one that educates its readers, but rather one about the author’s education experiences. Does Olivarez write about an educational experience you can relate to? Or does he use a technique that you feel would help you write about your own educational experiences? If you answer yes to that last question, then like Bunn suggests, you’re reading like a writer!
We can come back to talk more about Olivarez as we think about Project #1, for which we will reflect on our own educations, whether formal or informal, the message we want to convey about our education, and the techniques we want to use in writing our own education narrative.
One passage that stands out to me comes early in Olivarez’s essay. He writes “I attended public schools in a working class south suburb of Chicago called Calumet City, where teachers taught via the banking model of education: We were empty bank accounts, and it was our teachers’ responsibility to deposit facts.” The idea of education as some kind of banking transaction comes from educator and philosopher Paolo Freire. We can read more of his work on this from his foundational text, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, especially Chapter 2. I’m not expecting you to read all of this chapter! But there are many relevant passages so I can’t quote them all. Here are a few important passages to get you into the text, and please reply here with additional passages if you find them helpful.
“Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiques and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat. This is the ‘banking’ concept of education, in which the scope of action allowed to the students extends only as far as receiving, filing, and storing the deposits”
Freire terms the opposite of the banking model of education “problem-posing education,” and writes this about it:
“the problem-posing educator constantly reÂforms his reflections in the reflection of the students. The students –no longer docile listeners –are now critical co-Âinvestigators in dialogue with the teacher. The teacher presents the material to the students for their consideration, and reÂ-considers her earlier considerations as the students express their own.”
Can you think of examples of the banking model and of a problem-posing model from your own education? What worked and didn’t work in each? How does having terminology for these concepts, or knowing these concepts exist, affect the way you think about your education, in the past, in the present, and for the future?
A passage from Olivarez’s essay that caught my attention was “if it weren’t for gravity, i might have floated away” because listening to the poetry slam club saved him from himself by writing. In a way saying he found something that he was interested in while in his time in his hometown. Furthermore while he was there he felt out of place like he didn’t belong and he felt like he needed to read about chicano movement and the young lords and anti-gentrification organizers. While he was in high school he was his classmate’s poetry slam club then he states “ I felt something bloom within me.” meaning that olivarez’s had found something that interests him where he claims it saved his life. The person writing this essay is a person who is out of place and trying to find his/her place in society. According to Morrison’s distinction, you could say this is sort of art because in olivarez’s essay it states he is lost and tries to find his place in society and poetry “saved his life” as he claims. What makes this an educational narrative is that he is trying his best to understand his culture and how it helps him in the future in the passion of writing. One thing I would add to my educational narrative is the past little more about where he came from and how it changed him into the person he is today.
In the passage Olivarez talks about how he doesn’t know where his place is, with parents that are immigrants from Mexico, being born in the states and having trouble getting into an elementary school since he doesn’t know the English language and had no help to go into the school, and just going through school life not knowing where he belongs. even when living with his grandparents in Mexico for a month he didn’t feel like he belonged when he tried to tell them where he was from he would have to explain to them but they would say that he was American. He uses stories from different authors to understand or get some sort of understanding from others of how he is feeling. Once he figured out his connection with poetry he discovered this connection to the writing that would ultimately give him that closure he needed and created that writing that he so dearly needed to read for himself. What caught my attention in this passage is how poetry, reading and writing was able to give him that closure he needed for himself that discovery of knowing what you want to do for yourself is something that is difficult to find for oneself that “floating” sensation he had was a true connection to something that would ultimately change his life for the better and give him a sense in who is is and is no longer lost.