Open Letter to Cormac McCarthy

Dear Cormac McCarthy,

Reading your book The Road has really given me a new perspective on the future that our world is heading. Before the recent few months, I have not given much thought to how the actions of today and yesterday will effect tomorrow. I wonder how we as a people, as a race did not stop and think about the consequences of our actions and why now there is such an increased awareness of the problems we have created for ourselves and children. I want to thank you for creating a story that exposes the almost certain future.

Along with your reveling of the future, The Road showed how human kind resorts to our most basic survival instincts when things get tough, losing our morality, humanity, and compassion. I believe that the majority of people want to think that this will never happen and that the human race is better than it actually is. Through reading your book, the world will gain a true understanding that underneath all of our evolutional progression, we are animals, and will behave as so when necessary.

Another interesting thing about your writing that interested me is your unique style. The way that the text does not fit “the mold” of what is considered good literature makes you stand out as a creative writer who is not afraid of self expression.
Chelsea Dawkins

Defend The Poet!

Charles Bukowski's Dinosauria, We is an alomst flawless prediction of how our world is today. When reading the poem, it is hard to imagine that it was written over thrity years ago. The title itself explains the meaning of the poem. Dinosauria, We compares us to the extinct prehistoric creatures that we know as dinosaurs. In the poem, descriptions about our current recession are referenced. "As the supermarket bagboy holds a college degree" "Into the sight of broken factory windows of emptyness" "Into hospitals which are so expensive it is cheaper to die."

The end of the poem however, is very disturbing. It has lines that talk about the rivers and oceans drying up, all vegitaion dying, men will eat other men. While reading this, I was reminded of the novel The Road. The apocalypitic descriptions are very similar between the two works of literature. Maybe McCarthy got some of his ideas from Bukowski. Or, maybe they were both trying to warn us about the future.

A Direction The Class Needs

I do not feel like the class needs a new direction. In my oppinion, the way that the class is structured now is fine. The class discussions that we have are better than reading out of a text book. The things said in class are more memorable than the things that I read in the text book. If i were to change one thing about the class, it would be to get everyone in the class to participate in the discussions. I think that hearing more people's view points allows us to better understand the subject and to completely formulate our own oppinoins. One thing that I like about the class is the journals. They allow us to express our feelings on topics that we do not cover in class. However, I think that we should talk about these journal prompts in addition to the discussions. Besides those two points, I believe that the class is in the best direction.