In the Subjunctive Mood, I learned that it is not a tense. The author talks about their time in Spain, and I enjoyed the way they sectioned of their writing into: 1. Ojalá. 2. after words of suasion and negation. 3. with “si” or “como” si. 4. after impersonal expressions. 5. after verbs of doubt or emotions. 6. to express good wishes. 7. in adverbial clauses denoting purpose, provision, exception. 8. after certain indications of time, if the action has not occured. 9. in certain independent clauses. I appreciate the way they set up what she was talking about with the indicative and subjunctive, and how they interwove their personal experiences, dialogue, to what was being taught.

I really enjoyed reading Eula Biss’ “Goodbye to All That.” This was a more traditional narrative style; Biss takes the reader through a specific time in her life, New York. She was witty, incorporated dialogue, varied sentence structure, and used a good mix of indicative and subjunctive. I could really visualize what she was writing about, and that for me is extremely important for being able to continue reading.

The Art of Writing a Story about Walking Across Andora was a unique but effective way to tell a travel story. Having sections with bullet points beneath each one was extremely satisfying and clean. The write was insightful and humorous even though the way that it was set up was almost clinical/pragmatic. Another aspect to this kind of writing is, one that we’ve seen before in this class, where the author incorporates the reader in the narrative by using “you.” You go down the street. You do this. You do that. It keeps the reader hooked because you are interested in seeing what “you” might do next, but it can also be uncomfortable if the “you” in the story doesn’t do something good. I also especially appreciated the attention to historical detail in this writing about Andorra. Essentially, this article meant to function as a guide or a “how to” when it comes to travel narratives. The author gave some helpful advice in situations that have happened to me frequently when writing. For example, what to do when you feel like you are drowning yourself in description that’s all been said before; this feeling of insecurity was very affirming. I loved this one.