What accounts for the narrators' struggle with her Dad?

As a teenager all you want is your family to be normal. Unfortunately most of us are not that lucky, and that is the case in “Shooting Dad” The narrator tells us about her very annoying and embarrassing relationship with her father. The two could not be more different, or have two totally different points of view on the world and politics. He a gunsmith, who belongs to the NRA, and shoots crows from the front yard, and his daughter the musician and artist and has the “go green” mentality just never could get along in those oh so painful teenage years.

The narrator was not just embarrassed by her father being a gunsmith it terrified her. She hated guns and could not fathom the idea of ever shooting and killing an animal just for fun. She tells us of the years her father spent in the garage making his guns, and her in her room which was known as the “obstacle course of musical instruments.” These years were especially hard on their relationship. They could not understand each other and they were equally stubborn, unwilling to recognize and accept each others differences. It was not until she was a grown adult, no longer living under her parents’ roof that she was able to realize that someone had to give, and it was going to have to be her.

Her father had been working on an eighteenth century cannon for quite some time, and it was an ambitious project that took many years. It was the biggest project he had ever taken on, and with his daughter feeling like she needed to be a “better daughter” saw this as an opportunity to try to understand his love of firearms. She thought it a good idea to call up her father and ask if she could come visit and watch him shoot off his cannon. To her amazement she had a blast! She enjoyed every minute of it and found the explosion of the cannon exciting. It was then that she realized how much her and her father were alike. As she describes they are “both smart-alecky loners with goofy projects” They may love different things but they share the same type of passion for that which they love.

"Coming Home Again"

In “Coming Home Again” Chang-Rae describes the relationship he has with his mother. He was her only son and her first born; so naturally, he held a very special place in her heart, only he could fill. It was only fitting for him to come home when his mother needed him the most. She had grown very ill, fighting her battle with cancer. She was in her final stages of life when Chang-Rae discovered some truths about his mothers’ regrets and emotions she had been hiding for years.
Chang-Rae had decided to move into his family’s home once again after years of being away. At fifteen his parents sent him to boarding school which he says “was part of his mothers plan to change his character” Before he was sent away to school, he and his mother were not getting along. He was a teenager who had become “dismissive and bitter” towards his mother, finding her ignorant at times. They had slowly grown apart while he was away at school, and even before he had left their relationship had changed. After coming home to be with his mother at the end, he realized how much she regretted sending him away. She said, “I make big mistake. You should be with us for that time. I should never let you go there” and he asked her why, and she replied, “Because I didn’t know I was going to die.”
His mother obviously felt guilty about her decision to send him away as a teenager. She felt as though she had missed years of her sons’ life that she will never get back. The years she lost with her son only became more important and more painful to think about as her illness progressed. Her son knew this and tried to comfort her but knew that she would hold that regret until she was gone.

Chapter 46 Summary

Chapter 46, titled “Writing about text” gives us an idea on how to actively read a text and form a summary .A text could be an essay, articles, books, advertisements and even images. While you read, it is important to understand what point the author is trying to share with its readers. It is also important to actively engage yourself while reading. You want to highlight ideas that may provoke ideas or make you ask questions about certain statements. After you have read and make notes you should start an outline summarizing what you have taken away from the text. What has the author given you to write about? You may want to make a list of main points that support the authors thesis. Another way of showing your understanding of a text is to write an essay that analyzes it, which will briefly summarize the text but will focus on your own opinion of the writing.
“Writing about text” will definitely help me with the summaries we do each week. I think by the end of the semester I will have mastered the idea of annotating while reading. I have already learned in these few weeks that actively engaging myself while reading is a significant tool. Having a structured outline to reference back to while writing an essay will also be very helpful.

Badlands of New Mexico

The image I have chosen is a dear one to me, and looking at it you may not see any people and it may look foreign to most of you, but this is a place that is oh so familiar to me. This is an image of the Zuni Mountains looking out from El Malpais National Monument. The Zuni Mountains are set in the high desert of New Mexico close to where my parents were raised and my siblings were born. It is also where I have lived out some of my greatest childhood memories.
The Zunis are incredible mountains surrounded by molten lava poured from ancient volcanoes millions of years ago. The lava spreads out all around these mountains creating an amazing black, jagged base for the mountains. As kids this was a place for exploring, especially kids from California who had never seen actual lava, it was something else! There are also ice caves hidden throughout theses mountains which are incredible. They consist of tiny narrows which bring you to a crawling position most of the time until you come to a large opening in the cave, and you see enormous icicles hanging from the roof of the cave and every inch is covered in an ice that glows of greens and blues, it is really amazing!