Blog #2: With Blackbirds Following Me

This blog feels like a rehash of last week’s, but I’ll endeavor to write about my changed perspective in light of our class discussion and the “eye” and craft essays we’ve read since then. I still think that creative nonfiction is about humanity for the most part, but sometimes it’s about connections. The “I” essays seem a lot more self-contained to me, a lot less about connections as they are about the self. In the “eye” essays, I see a lot more connections. Those connections can be between the author and a lot of things, but the essays are still about the author, even if they take a broader scope. Through the author’s connections to and descriptions of things outside him/herself, the reader learns more about the author.

“I” essays seem a lot more contemplative, and other people besides the author may only factor in briefly, like the cruel children or the men in “Mirrorings.” These people are not fleshed out fully, because that’s not important to the examination of self and personal growth that the author wants to put forth. “I” essays are blatantly about the author.

In the “eye” essays, however, we learn about the author through their connections, as I said before. In “Secret Ceremonies of Love and Death,” we learn a great deal about the author through her connection with and description of Karla Faye. We also learn more about her contemplations on death than we do about Karla’s or Dana’s perspectives. That’s because even though Lowry is talking about Karla, she’s still herself and just because of that, the essay is far more revealing of herself than anything else. In “eye” essays, the essays are ostensibly about someone or something else, but almost always ends up being more revealing of the author than who or what the author is talking about.

In my opinion, that’s the difference between the “I” and “eye” essays, the “I” essays are blatantly about the self, with all the mess and well, I’m sure someone else used a better word for this, emo-ness that can come along with that kind of inward perspective. The “eye” essays can still examine the self through the vehicle of connection. By doing that, the authors of these essays can avoid the fine lines between emotionality and whining that seems to be a slippery slope in the “I” works.

Also, no, the blog title seems to have nothing to do with the content of this blog, but if you take a look at what most people think about the band those lyrics come from (Linkin Park), you will see that they started out with inward focused lyrics, and now have a good mixture of outward observation and inward looking. They are both "I" and "eye" so HA! I can use the lyrics from my favorite band.