This week the e-lit piece C-ya-laterrrr really touched me. So much of the news displays these mass shootings, and terrorist attacks that it we have humans have become desensitized to it subconsciously. I still remember 9/11 like it was yesterday and I have no connection to in any way other than my mom being a war veteran prior to that, fighting in Desert Storm, and her being really numb during that time period knowing war was coming because of it. I was in first grade when that happened and still every year around that time my fiancé tells me I’m doing the thing I always do by watching the many documentaries and movies about the attack. No I had no one in those buildings or knew anyone there, but I feel I just emotionally saw devastation and couldn’t not comprehend totally what happened.

The piece this week told the story of the bother of one of the victims in the Manchester Arena attack in 2017. I always feel we never hear from the families of the victims enough. They always post short news clips of them crying and saying how hard it is from them, but we could never possibility understand how life changing losing someone that tragically and suddenly could be. It’s one thing to lose a love one to old age or an illness you may be anticipating. These are things you can slowly prepare for even though it still hurts, but to walk up one normal morning to a tragedy is unimaginable in many ways. I feel Dan Hett really wanted to release is unsure feelings he had about losing his bother, and this was the most beautiful way.

We never see what goes on in real time for the families who relieve the devastating phone calls about their love ones. We never see what happens behind the scenes at the sites as the families gather looking for their loved ones. We also never see them preparing for the tragic sudden funerals and how much pain their hearts have to carry after all the news cameras go away, all the reporters have asked all of their questions, and after life goes on for the rest of the world. Dan mentioned a lot throughout his writing that time stopped for him and that is a very rare feeling, because in the adult world it seems like everything is always so rushed and hurried. For time to stop around you is very impactful and speaks volumes on how numb the situation can truly make the victims families during these tragic times.

I feel this was a very raw, rich, and authentic piece and at times it was hard for me to read, not for emotional purposes, but because I can simply just not imagine the trauma, pain and, hurt this could cause. This is an experience we all hope to never go through, but for the rare families that have I’m sure this could bond them in ways that are unspeakable.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1LfB_th5oiEDzVPRINUXxbp94U2WIc8L2StBSwOjSAzs/edit?usp=sharing

Two very different pieces in a myriad of ways. Retratos Vivos de Mama is a beautiful piece that is so intimate through not just the words and thoughts within, but the way it is presented. I read what I could in Spanish and translated where needed.

There is something so powerful in the ways emotions flow between languages and the differences. I remember a friend whose second language is French said that reading French authors in their mother tongue , reading words meant to be in French, is a different experience than reading it translated. There is power in words, something we have all echoed throughout this semester. I think we have seen this sentiment of the power in language with Melanie and Xinyu’s works, but I think it is very prevalent here as well in a different way.

How to Rob a Bank is such a fun piece. It is really ambiguous and there is a lot of reading between the lines. It is extremely interesting to think about Electronic Literature that is heavily influenced by technology in a way we haven’t quite seen yet. In a way that is a reflection of where ELit will progress.

This piece had me captivated just from the statement alone. When I read the editorial statement and it said this is a young Bonnie and Clyde-esque love story, I knew I would love it. Again I’m always interested in something that has to do with romance so this was it for me.

How To Rob A Bank was extremely easy to navigate through which made it easier to focus on the story and what was happening. I really enjoyed how the story was told, searching different things like “how to keep a man” “how to walk in the woods”, these few things said a lot about what was happening than what a full page of words would say. I found myself laughing at how inexperienced they were, literary giving themselves away by searching EVERY SINGLE THING they wanted/needed to do in order to rob the bank.

I really enjoyed interacting with this piece! Electronic Literature is how I want to read from now on!! LOL

Giselle’s chosen piece Retratos Vivos de Mamá is in Spanish, and Giselle has encouraged us who do not speak the language to translate it in order to get as much of the full effect of it as possible. I used the Google app on my phone to translate the text on my computer screen; though the translations were not perfect, they were accurate enough for me to understand the story. The piece is about the attempt of the author, Carolina López Jiménez, to tell the story of her deceased’s mother’s life, to trace the life she had before her children. The title translates as “Living Portraits of Mama,” which I think is a beautiful way to look at this piece: Jiménez bringing stories, “portraits” of her late mother to life.

I did not have a way of translating the videos or audio snippets, so although I watched and listened to them, I was not able to understand what they were saying. My understanding is based entirely on visuals.

Jiménez speaks about the mother that only she, her brother, and her father knew. She feels for her mother, having to get up every day with the weight of all those she cared for on her shoulders. She speaks about her mother’s last days, the pain and sickness, and the need to remember her mom in a different way. That is why she created this project; to remember her mother and to tell her story beyond illness and beyond motherhood. She wanted to know and share who her mother had been as a person, not just as a mother or a wife. This is an aspect of motherhood that fascinates me…who a mother is BESIDES a mother, what her life was like before she had children. To me, it feels like after you have children, all of society views you entirely differently. Your identity from before is taken away by them, replaced by your identity as a mother. Something that so touches me about this piece, then, is the refusal by the author to let her mother be remembered as ONLY a mother. She realizes that there were other aspects of this woman’s life and does not want to let them be forgotten.

The author expresses her fears of repeating her mother’s life, of becoming what she was, a selfless woman who sort of gave herself up for everyone else. She fears, too, that the disease that killed her mother lurks within her, too. This reminds me of a quote I saw once in a tumblr post, “mothers and daughters existing as wretched mirrors of each other: I am all you could have been and you are all i might be.” And another quote, I believe from eight bites by Carmen Maria Machado: “There’s something about having a mother when you’re a girl. It’s crushing. Crushing having a mirror that suffers all on its own.” This thought that mothers and daughters are reflections of each other, that they see themselves in one another and see their own suffering reflected back at them. It’s a theme I’ve been exploring in some of my own stories, and a theme I see in this piece as well.

I also really enjoy the way the piece was set up, made to look like diary entries and a scrapbook and so forth, the way it contained photos and documents from Jiménez’s mother’s life. Its construction as an e-lit piece really let Jiménez showcase all of these things and tell her mother’s story.

Though I only consumed what was ultimately a small part of the entire piece, I was extremely moved by it. It’s a beautiful, touching memorial that I’d love to continue exploring more.

I thoroughly enjoyed How to Rob a Bank’s multimodal storytelling approach. In the way that it utilized different apps to tell the story, it reminded me of epistolary stories, those that are told through letters and/or other types of written ephemera. In a way, it even reminds me of certain exploration-based video games like Gone Home where you explore an environment and piece together a story by reading letters, journal entries, etc and examining objects left behind. I love such ways of a telling a story, so it’s really interesting to explore an e-lit piece that uses similar conventions.

The story itself felt almost parodical, though. It was too unrealistic in a strange way, not really in a compelling way that inspires suspension of disbelief. So, I can’t really say I enjoyed the story of the piece or the way it handled it, but I did enjoy its method of storytelling.

Let me start by saying this might be my favorite e-lit piece so far. When I read the editorial statement, I was immediately captivated. Bonnie and Clyde? Love story? Say no more; I’m already invested. I also think it’s very fitting that Nicole picked this piece. Not that I know her very well, but this feels very much like her vibe.

I appreciated the simple navigation. I didn’t have to figure it out; it just was, making it much more enjoyable. I also liked the progress bar. Sometimes pieces feel like you’re going down an endless rabbit hole, which can be draining. Having a progression bar allows me to see how far I’ve come and how much is left, which definitely eased my mind. I noticed that the background color changed depending on whose phone we were looking at. This clearly indicated the situation and eliminated any potential confusion for me. I loved the little details and touches of this piece.

Overall, this piece was really funny. Watching these young people navigate this situation was hilarious, from the Instagram posts documenting everything to the realism of getting sidetracked and going to watch tv and play video games. It felt so real, as I could imagine a 21st-century couple being young and dumb doing this.

I must admit, the last part, “Sister, Sister,” was a bit of a drab, but I loved reading this. It was an amusing adventure that left me constantly wanting more.

Here are my thoughts on “Retratos Vivos de Mamá,” I hope this helps you guys understand this piece & I’m excited to discuss with you in class.

Retratos Vivos de Mamá Review