Turning Something into Nothing

Based on the essay we looked at in class I decided to commit to reading Chalked Up by Jennifer Sey instead of Shawn Johnson's memoir. While Shawn Johnson's story would have been more relatable and interesting for me I decided that Sey's story has been bottled up enough to make a true memoir. Johnson's olympic experience happened only a few years before she published her memoir and according to the article, a great memoir takes time and privacy; the author's 'valve' needs to explode rather than be forced open. Publishing her memoir so soon ultimately turned her wonderful experience into a short half baked story instead of allowing it to develope into the great memoir it had potential to be. Sey's story is more depressing and the things she experienced shaped how she viewed herself. The book also shows how she learned to deal with the negative image. This memoir encompasses the experience, the result, and the recovery, which makes for an interesting read.

I loved the slam poetry we looked at in class. The poet used one small memory in his life and used it to describe much larger ideas of life. He made a seemingly useless catch phrase apply to things he struggles with and how he gets past obstacles. I have never thought about poetry being a memoir. The way he let something so small explain so much of his life shows that the essay was right; in order to make something out of nothing pressure is needed. He turned a bratty little kid into a beautiful metaphor through years of thought and processing. He was able to show that the need to be in control at a young age never really goes away.

Wait, does she even go here?

For years I have been nearly invisible. I grew up in jeffco and I went to Standley Lake for freshman and sophomore year. Even though I had grown up with everyone there they had no idea who I was on the outside let alone my story, so this pretty much sums up my life.