Memory

     Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio is a very concise poem but is still very vivid and detailed. From this poem I concluded that the author, a spectator, dreaded going home after attending these high school football games. I found that he was able to escape from his not so pleasant reality. This poem failed to mention any sense of competition among the team, but rather they were just playing for the simple joy of the game. Im sure there was competition; however, that aspect of the game was much more important to Klosterman than it was to Wright, according to his memory. Wright had an interesting way of describing the people by relating them to animals (the women cluck and their sons gallop).
     Three-Man Weave was drastically longer than the poem but was still very descriptive. Too descriptive in my opinion. However, in this essay, the author interacted with the reader a lot more than the poem... adding in many rhetorical questions and dialogue with his interviewee, Barry Webster. Besides that this was a different sport all together, Chuck Klosterman also had a totally different way of expressing his memory of this "forgotten" basketball game. He was appalled that a three-man team beat the Iron Five.
     There is a universality within these sports and the cultures they include. For example, in Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio, Wright mentions Polacks and Negroes, both completely different races. This shows that the sport can be understood among many, constituting the varieties of people in society today. Klosterman also mentions details in his memory that both whites and blacks participated in the basketball game.
     Nostalgia and memory is very important in both of these writings. The memories they recall often tell us which parts are more important to the writer, or which parts left the biggest impact on them. The importance of memory on sports as a whole are also very important. Sports, no matter which one, require a lot that has to be memorized and remembered in order to succeed, whether its different plays in football, or the choreography and timing to all of my dances. Memory is also important in our love of sports; however, what we remember will vary from person to person, because everyone enjoys sports for their own reason. These pieces made me question myself on why I really liked to dance? Hm...
     I would say that these retellings define a community more than a culture. In the poem, the author mentions the different kinds of people sitting in the stands beside him. While all of those people may have different cultures, they all live in the same community and they are all coming together to watch the same high school football game.
     I noticed that both writers described one game. Not just one game, but one specific game. Can my essay cover a longer period of time.. like several events and how they progressed?
     My experiences seem very different compared to both of these pieces; however, I related more to the poem. The football game seemed like his escape from reality. I relate to this with dance. With dance, I can express any emotion I want to without saying a single word. I also like how the poem failed to mention any real aspect of competition. I also relate to this because I hate competitive dance. I really just enjoy watching, or better yet, performing in a good show. Dance is a universal language. It doesnt discriminate against race, gender, or sexuality.
     I really liked how the essay included dialogue, which I might consider using in my essay as well. Both writers have extremely different writing styles, and I feel that I will end up using a combination of both of them if possible. It was helpful reading these to see two VERY different ways of expressing a vivid memory of a sport.