Short Stories

Ashley C. Ford, “THE YEAR I GREW WILDLY WHILE MEN LOOKED ON”

As I read this title, I could not help but relate to this memoir. There is nothing like being able to relate to something you read; it allows you to feel better about the feeling, or the situation you were in, or better yet, that time of your life. Being hungry for love is a very common struggle, but some do not fully understand the feeling or concept of it. In this case, she needs love, not intimate love, she needs pure love, and she didn’t get any.

Kyoko Mori, “A Difficult Balance: Am I a Writer or a Teacher?

I had some understanding about some things in my life after reading this memoir. The dreams, the god awful, confusing dreams I have, I can see now that they can come from anxiety, etc. This memoir is very eye opening for me. It definitely opens your mind up to the world and people’s careers, or what some call their career. They are just a job if you don’t love it. A career to me should be something you love waking up to everyday, and that’s the feeling I got from this author; she put her heart into her writing, and her career. She expressed eventually, that in the classroom, the private and the public can come together, and she can be both a writer and a teacher. Even though she is had to put aside her own writing in order to prepare for the class and to conduct it, she’s bringing her writer’s mind to the discussion at hand. I took a lot away from this memoir, which is encouraging.

Scaachi Koul, “There’s No Recipe for Growing Up”

I have never been to India, but it sounds very intriguing after reading her memoir. The food sounds to die for, considering how she talked about it. The time she moved out, it took her a few years before she craved her mom’s Kashmiri food. She also said, she misses the things that hardly matter, like how her potatoes always ended up crescent-moon shaped, or the way her parathas were always triangular and puckered. I do miss family; it makes me feel like I should be closer to mine. So, in other words, this memoir gave a deeper meaning. I am sure that was one of her intentions.