Old School Shaming
The theme of this week’s reads reminded me of a recent story from NPR. NPR reported on public internet shaming of the drought in California, or as I like to call it cyber bullying for adults. I have to admit that I’m guilty of drought shaming. Although all my shaming is old-school, employing repeated jests offline to friends who eat avocados or almonds grown in California.
What I’ve Wrote:
Why NineOverfour? | NineOverFour
I published my first short story this past week! The essay is an example of the writing that will be posted on the website. The original length of the essay was a tad longer than the 1600 words in the final edit. While making the outline for this story, I was surprised with how easy it was to come up with crazy roommate anecdotes. I had to narrow down the roommate vignettes to keep the piece from dragging.
What I’ve Read:
“What a Horrible Mother:…” | Salon
The first half of the story had me rooting for the mothers who were publicly shamed. But when I read that the author was one of those mothers, I felt a little slimy. In my eyes, the article was biased and fed me only one side of the story. However after more thought, I came to appreciate the article. The author took control of the narrative and got me to think twice before judging and shaming someone, which is what I expect of good writing.
Swearing Off the Modern Man | NYTimes
This personal essay is a finalist for NYTime’s Modern Love College Essay Contest. Although it’s not the winner of the contest, I enjoyed this piece more than the others. I was sucked in by the secondary love story; the tale of romance between the author and the idea of being old-school.