The Coles Museum: A Short Story

Douglas Crimp begins his essay by delivering a story about a librarian, Julia Van Haaftan and how she was interested in the photography organization at the Art and Architecture Division of the New York Public Library. In addition, Crimp delivers his most enlightening and meaningful point by explaining how Julia Van Haaftan is also now a “director of the Photographic Collections Documentation Project”. She discovered several lost books and photographs, which she researched, re-categorizing, and placed them under the photography or art category in the photographic collection. I found this section of the essay entertaining because it demonstrates that the history books can get lost

On the first day of battle, many soldiers were sent in to the area between our land and our enemy’s land, what we call “no man’s land”. It was muddy and the tanks were unable to make it through, leaving our men vulnerable. So many men died that I began to lose hope that I could ever return back home alive.

Beginning my love of reading an early age, I was never the type of child who was drawn to fictional stories. As an 8 year-old child in West Virginia, I was recognized by the local library for my love of biographies, autobiographies and recollections of world events. This love has continued throughout my adult life, desiring to read novels such as “We Were Soldiers Once…and Young” by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore rather than watch the major motion picture “We Were Soldiers” starring Mel Gibson. Even though the motion picture received multiple awards, when reading the recollection of Mr. Moore’s accounts, the feeling of loss, distress, anxiety and fear can be felt in each word that he has written while reliving this horrendous war.

The memories and feelings that the memorial brings forth from the veteran are the driving force to the tone of the poem. The poems is heavy and heartbreaking. It clearly shows that the visit to the memorial has an enormous impact on the author. The author describes several different visions he has while at the memorial. The visions that he has are as real to him as if they were physically present. The author makes it easy to see and feel things through his eyes. The words used to describe his thoughts and feeling evoke emotions of sadness and at times, even despair.

For the seventeen Soldiers portrayed in “The Things We Carried” by Tim O’Brien, the physical pain was very minimal weight to carry compared to the emotional scars that they will carry throughout their entire life. This story does an amazing job portraying full human emotion that anyone put into a situation would feel, such as heavy guilt, sadness, anger, lack of motivation, perseverance, horror, and false security. All of these are notorious feelings that every soldier back in history, and now still feel when they are on a mission. “The Things They carried” shows a deep vulnerability of everyday human’s thought process during times of great stress, that before, wasn’t considered by the general public and media when speaking about what it

Leila Aboulela writes “The Museum” in a way that can make the reader feel like they are connected and present with the characters. Held in a prestigious university in Scotland, the University of Aberdeen, “The Museum” highlights many difficult challenges that can be faced in a lifetime, and that makes the story even more relatable. Leila Aboulela really knows how to capture her readers, which makes her story so memorable. Aboulela uses explicit adjectives to describe common things that advance the story even more. For example the reoccuring color blue on page 372 that evokes the sad feeling that Shadia develops throughout the story.

With intricate detail the author explains these events as frightening and overwhelmingly difficult to tolerate. Beah, exposed to combat at age 12, was traumatized by battle and portrays details of the horrifying events through imagery. “When the rebels finally came I was cooking... My heart was beating faster than it ever had. Each gunshot seemed to cling to the beat of my heart.”

I remember the smell, the sounds, the taste of blood. I remember seeing my comrades fall beside me, the sting of the cuts. The numbness as I fell alongside them, the sadness, the tears. The price of war, I believe my father said that to me before he died. I remember being lifted and carried, I remember a laugh. Then I felt my mind slowly becoming numb, and soon my mind was consumed by the darkness. Like a wildfire it spread from the farthest of places, destroying everything in its’ path. It was over, the war was lost, hope gone; at least until today….

a) I really liked this poem; I thought it was very vivid and memorable. It made me feel angry and sad for the soldiers that died and for the suffering of the other soldiers, their injuries, their trauma and the conditions they had to endure. My daughter also read this poem and it affected her in a similar way; it made her feel sad, angry and ashamed for the things that happened. (71)

Simone Simon could never forget the day the tall, burly Baltimore county policeman, named Jim Barclay, pounded on the family's front door in Sparks, Maryland. It was Saturday, October 13th, 2000. The interruption came without warning, propelling the household into a state of perpetual turmoil. The time was exactly nine-thirty a.m. Simone knew this because while the knock commanded her attention, she still managed to shift her eyes from the mahogany entry door to the chrome-plated clock hanging on the dining room wall. She still remembered vividly how the knock made her jump as it vibrated through her chest. It reminded Simone of the blast heard from the WW1 cannon during the reenactment of the battle of Gettysburg she attended in elementary

Even with today’s technological advancements, it was still difficult to understand exactly what the U.S. soldiers were going through during the Iraq war. However, Brian Turner’s poem, “The Hurt Locker,” acts as a first-hand account of the true horrors and pains experienced by the American soldiers. Through Turner’s use of poetic form and structure, diction, and figurative language he enables the reader to understand the trauma and suffering these soldiers were forced to endure throughout the war.

Shells exploded all around us, peppering us with shrapnel. Over the past months, I’d watched friends, enemies, and innocent bystanders die. Every time someone fell, I felt the briefest flicker of guilt. Had it been my bullet? Was more blood on my hands? Some nights I yelled, hoping more than just God and the stars would hear me; some nights I cried, praying no one was listening. Around me, I saw grown men falling to bits, their nightmares screaming them back to reality as they echoed through the trenches. Reality was no better than their nightmares.

operation: save bleu prologue Bleu had been taken over by the Nanobots of the future. My country had remained in the past for so long that modern technology was very distant to them. If you ventured out of Bleu, the Nanobot army would attack you and take you prisoner. It would be, no doubt, an unpleasant way to spend your life. I’m guessing this is why my parents shielded me from reality for so long.

This was actually my first visit to this museum since I have gone to Kennesaw. My expectations were pretty high initially upon going, because I have heard so many things about it from my peers. Just by their opinions, and my love for art I have myself, I was actually excited about going in to take a look. I must say, I was not disappointed by any of the art work I saw in there. I really enjoyed the exhibit of work from some students from a high school around this area. It really shows that the college really supports the youth of the future and their passion for art as a whole.