For this assignment I chose to look at the reflections that my peers wrote for the Great Allentown fair. Writing that piece was enjoyable for me and I wanted to see what my peers thought of the fair. Upon reading their reflections, I was taken back to the fair but able to experience it in ways that was different than when I originally went.
One part that I kept coming back to in Zayna’s piece was the second sentence of the first paragraph. The whole of the paragraph transports the reader to the fair, highlighting the small, special parts of the experience that evoke the nostalgia that she speaks about later on in the piece. But the second sentence, when she mentions “scrambling to find a parking spot”, that part just sticks out to me. Zayna spoke about how the rides sparkled and excited children but the mention of the parking spot, which is usually stress inducing but in her piece isn’t, made the whole thing seem real.
Ryan’s reflection of the Great Allentown Fair made it feel less than great and I think that’s ok. Most of the reflections that we read in class were positive, feelings of nostalgia or wonder but not inadequacy. In his piece, Ryan spoke about how his hometown fair compared to Allentown’s and it seemed that Allentown did not impress. My favorite comparison was of the funnel cake. Ryan made it quite obvious that he thought that the Allentown funnel cake did not stand up without saying it. “The first thing I noticed about the funnel cake at the Allentown Fair was that it was a dollar cheaper. Which I soon realized it was after eating it.” The disappointment is so clear and he isn’t explicitly stating it.
I think that the way that Maya started her reflection of her time at the fair made what she had to say all that more meaningful. She starts by saying that she doesn’t like fairs, and that this one wasn’t any different, but then she continues. She could’ve just talked about the fun that she had at the goat snuggling exhibit but instead she said that she was miserable. Writing about her experience this way made what she had to say more important because you know that it was important. Important enough that it made something that is typically negative positive.
