Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Field Trip

          Have you ever had a special location in which you observed so many meaningful experiences? While reading the story, "Field Trip" I realized I can relate my own life, and my own meaningful experiences to this chapter. In this chapter, O'Brian discusses a field in which many personal events occurred, including the location of Kiowa's death, and the casual waiting around that often went down during the war. On page 174, the text says "...bumpy dirt roads and a hot August sun, ending up at an empty field on the edge of nowhere...". I can relate this field to a field that has been significant to me in my life. I, like O'Brian and his daughter had to drive what seemed like a long, vigorous drive, out to a big field three times a week. This field was off of Campbell Road, a bumpy, busy road. I drove to it three times a week to practice soccer with my Albion Hurricane's club soccer team. I created many good and bad memories at this field, for over a span of five years. O'Brian also created many memories on his field. He watched as people came and went, likewise, I watched as people joined the soccer club and left the soccer club. I became best friends with many of my teammates, as well as enemies with the players on the opposing soccer teams. I, like O'Brian, painfully had to watch as some of my best friends went down. I watched girls break their arms, ankles, feet, and legs. I watched girls get concussions and I sadly waited for their return. There were even girls on my soccer team who would have to leave  soccer for many months due to scary surgeries that they had to have.Watching people come and go was definitely sad for both O'Brian and myself, however, you eventually begin to get over it, and you tuck away all your feelings, expecting that one day, they will all come back again. When O'Brian came back to the field, he was expecting all of his tucked away feelings to come out, and for all of his memories from the war times to flow back into his mind. However, O'Brian is mind blown when he steps foot on to the field and just feels pure awkwardness. He could see physically where memories had happened, but he couldn't feel the way he felt the first time it all happened. He felt awkward thinking about the fact that memories that were so significant to him, had happened exactly where he was looking, but nothing was there now, it felt different, and it was hard for him to believe that the memories he had, actually occurred in this metamorphosed field before his eyes. I can definitely relate to this feeling of confusedness and emptiness, even though you're in the middle of a highly-personal, notable location. O'Brian's feelings were shown in text on page 176 "Now, looking out at the field, I wondered if it was all a mistake. Everything was too ordinary. A quiet sunny day, and the field was not the field I remembered. I pictured Kiowa's face, the way he used to smile, but all I felt was the awkwardness of remembering." I also remember specific memories just like O'Brian specifically remembers Kiowa smiling. I remember specific drills that we did. I remember things that people said to me. I remember exact locations that I talked to certain people. I remember certain thoughts that I had during a specific dribbling drill, in a specific location, and even what the climate was. I remember joking with my soccer trainer, Greg, and saying "Greg! It's snowing!" when in reality it was just really cold and rainy... I remember driving up to the soccer fields with my soccer carpool, in my mom's car. We were blasting the song "Fit but you Know it", and Greg started dancing to it! I remember being in a huddle with my soccer team, I was standing in between Giuliana and Adama, and I remember our trainer, Danny, speaking fondly of Elvis Presley. All these memories joined together made the soccer field off of Campbell road a very special field to me. But, like O'Brian, every time I return there, I get the feeling of awkwardness, like things have changed, and something is just not right. Relating the chapter "Field Trip" to my own life helped me farther understand this chapter. Relating the two memories aided me in digging deeper into the details of our two significant locations, specifically our fields.


These two soccer fields are very different. One is very crowded and is creating memories... the other is empty and waiting for someone to come back and replenish their memories.


14 comments:

  1. Awesome job Mia!
    I really enjoyed reading about how you felt returning back to your old soccer fields! The word "awkward" was a good choice for this, because you and O'brien both felt awkward and uncomfortable. Thats great that you can relate it to your own experiences.
    Great job!

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  2. This has totally happened to me! ahhah the feeling is horrible... Great blog post! I love how you related it to your life experiences.

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  3. Great job! I love how you were able to relate this post to something so significant in your own life. That definitely makes your blog post very interesting! It's hard to relate this book to your own life and you did a great job of that!

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  4. Great job, Mia! I really liked how you related the story to something in your own life. I didn't think of O'Brien as feeling awkward when he visited the cite where he had so many bad memories from at first, but now I can totally see that.

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  5. I like how you compared your ideas about the chapter to something you love in your personal life! Overall amazing post!!

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  6. It was very interesting to read you give a personal example of mostly positive memories contrasted with the mostly negative memories that take place in the chapter, but you do a very good job of making sure the two have very similar themes, such as the how he remembers the smile Kiowa used to make compared to the drills you remember running. Overall very good post that tied many things in the story to your own life.

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  7. Great post, Mia! I agree with you pointing out how awkward O'Brien feels when he returns to the field where Kiowa died, but I think there's more to it than just that. I feel like O'Brien feels out of place upon returning because some aspects of the field have changed. For example, it is no longer covered in water. O'Brien has yet to move on from the traumatic experience of Kiowa's death and is out of place because the field has moved on, but he has not.

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  8. I think you are absolutely right that his vision of the place has changed. Going to the shit field, he has already created an image of what the place is going to feel to him; however, when he reaches there, he is severly dissapointed. This only shows that it is not the place that dissapoints us, but the visions we make for the place that does.

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  9. I loved this post, Mia. I can relate to how you feel as I know all the people and situations you talk about in this post, and I really liked how you addressed how when you have such fond memories of a place and you go back to that place, expecting the same kind of reaction and it's just not there. I also loved the details you included about your experience at Albion. Great job!

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  10. I really like how you relate this chapter to yourself, this makes the chapter more personal and relatable! And I really like the two pictures of the soccer fields at the end, it brings a deeper meaning to the story. Good job!

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  11. Mia, I loved how you were able to find so many similarities between Tim O'Brien and your love for soccer. I think that the reason Tim O'Brien feels so awkward when he does back is because it's no longer an ugly, raining shit field. The circumstances changed (like in the photo of the field with no people). You feel differently under different circumstances. Good job!

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  12. I obviously can relate. So many memories were made at Albion. I feel very nostalgic when I reflect upon those memories and those times. I loved that you mentioned Greg and Danny as well. Anyways, I loved this post and I think it was really deep the way you talked about the awkwardness and all that has changed.

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  13. Great comparison Mia! I like how you related Field Trip to a personal experience. I can also relate when you go somewhere where you have so many memories but it feels different and awkward when you go back. Good connection!

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  14. The personal connection you made was really good. In a way, soccer is like war where people get hurt, suffer concussions and other horrible injuries, but still return after "scary surgeries" to play another day. I also thought that your conclusion to the post was quite witty in the way that you described that people make memories. Nice job!

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