Book Club Post 1

For my book club project I am reading "The Working Poor: Invisible in America" by David Shipler. So far this book has touched upon the issue of poverty as universal, affecting people of all different races, genders, and locations across the United States. The story focuses on those individuals who live right above the U.S. government's poverty line, which they wrongfully give a specific monetary income value. However, this number leaves out many individuals who are equally in need of assistance, due to their varying personal situations. I think this book sends an important message that many young people are unaware of, tying into the "Invisible in America" part of the title. Shipler places a face to these heartbreaking and inspiring stories, making the issue of poverty more understandable. I truly admire many of the individuals in this piece, because they remain strong, even when the odds are against them. It is important to refer to them as individuals and not characters, because Shipler specified that none of these people or stories were fabricated. I appreciated Shipler's use of details and imagery in his scenes. I think this employment of visual imagery helped Shipler's characters become more real and relate-able to the reader. I am looking forward to continuing to read this story, because growing up in the city, poverty has always been an issue on my mind.

9/20/10

 I found the chapters we read the first night of class very interesting, and helpful in developing my writing. I think that the order of the chapters relates to how important each element of writing is, which would rationalize why transaction was the first chapter. After reading each chapter, transaction seems like the most significant element of writing, so it is fitting that the author decides to begin with this chapter. Although all of the elements listed are important to a piece of writing transaction defines the quality of the entire piece. I think every chapter covers specific things to remember when writing, but also gives examples of how the elements such as simplicity, style, unity and words can be used effectively to improve writing. Each chapter also supplies the reader with examples of writing that could benefit from employing these devices. I found the chapter on unity the most helpful, because I think that is the area which my writing lacks. I found it interesting that there are different types of unity in a piece of writing, such as unity of pronoun, mood and tense. Prior to reading this chapter I thought unity had to do with the overall flow of the story, but this chapter broke it down into several smaller pieces. I think this approach can help me improve my writing, because it offers several smaller aspects of writing to focus on. This makes it easier to understand what exactly to look for when building strong unity in a piece of writing.