Traveling the Maps: Maps to Anywhere

So, back to creative essays. This time the class and I had to read Bernard Cooper's Maps to Anywhere, a collection of his creative essays. Some of these essays range from his personal life with his family, to, for example, a barbershop pole. They're interesting, incredibly creative, and insightful and thought provoking. I'm not talking about the general means of being creative. I'm talking about how just a simple word can provoke these images and thoughts about that particular object. In a way, some of his essays in this book remind me of one of my assignments for creative writing class, the first essay assignment where I picked the word "book." Before I go too far into that (since those are not what the blog posts are about) I will continue to go back to Mr. Cooper's lovely book. I am going to talk about some of my favorite parts of the book so far (up to about page 65), and this one is going to be a long one so sit back and relax.

Now, in the last blog post I talked about how I wanted to run the other way when it came to creative essays, but now I want to retract that statement. I am not sure what made this change, but it did. So, I want to start with a part that I can relate to within the first long essay. It is the section "By any other name" within the section of Beacons burning down. Why this particular section? As you can tell by my title of this blog, that my name is actually fairly common, so how can I relate to a name like Bernard? The answer is simple, my spelling is not as common as my name, and finding items with my name on it is very hard. Though, that is not what this is about. The whole Beacons burning Down section is a glimpse into the start of Bernard's life. Not by a "start" but getting to know him more before diving into the remainder of the essays.

Without a doubt, I think my favorite is "Rain Rambling Through Japan." I know why it is my favorite though, because of the fact that I am such a language buff and listening to the world that is filled with such language. Language of other animals, language of rain, you can learn more about your environment when you are paying attention to your surroundings, the language of the world, instead of just being nose into your phone or earbuds in for you to listen to music. But that is not my favorite part of this little essay. I love the comparison between turning pages quickly (for translating or just in general discussions), with the falling of the rain, the downpour. I encourage people to listen to the world around them and listen to the rhythm of the downpour one day. 

The last one that I will be talking about would be within The Wind Did It section. The language within this section appeals to me more. I feel like I am not just reading about his relationship with his father, I feel like I'm experiencing it with him. I really liked this line, "The worst by far was coiling the hose, a task he claimed I could never do well, though he made me do it again and again. Heavy and green and recalcitrant, the hose would snake in the wrong direction and cramp with kinks I couldn't undo." The reason behind why it is one of my favorite lines is well, the way he described it. I always imagined a hose as a snake when I was younger, and to know that just one other person liked it too, makes me happy. I would add more, but I will not have anything for in class discussions, so I will add more to the next one. I can't wait....