Response to "Household Words"

This piece was so focused and overtly political that I really wouldn't have thought of it as "creative nonfiction".  It read more like a persuasive essay with a clear thesis that it tried to argue throughout.  I think the author, for the most part, did a good job of backing up her claims, though a lot of her support were simple appeals to the pathos of the reader.  I would like to point out that, based on my own experiences (which are, granted, anecdotal), European cities have as much or more homelessness as those in America, and that people in these cities seem to have the same attitudes attributed to Americans in this essay.  Also, I think the link between watching the woman being beaten up at the stoplight and the plight that is homelessness in America was an obscure one, and I don't think that it added much as an introduction.

Response to "The Dead of Winter"

This piece was very moving for being so short.  I think it encompassed a lot of issues that women may have to face, and particularly it dealt with abortion without getting overtly political.  The honest, almost confessional tone of it made it seem very personal and realistic, and the artwork made it even more so, particularly the frames depicting a fetus with wings (presumably angel wings?) and her reaching for it.  It was sad but not overly so, only enough to make the author's point, I think.  I also enjoyed all the depictions of snow and winter, because I think that such a "cold" setting and tone was appropriate for the piece.

Response to "The Things They Carried"

Demetria Martinez's "The Things They Carried" was a short work, but accomplished much in its roughly two pages.  The whole thing was just the creation of a certain image or sentiment.  It asked for the reader's sympathy when detailing all the things found left behind by the corpses of Mexicans that attempted to immigrate to the U.S.  Some of the things listed were mundane, normal, or expected, and others, like those that implied the deaths of small children and babies, were quite emotionally gripping.  The essay, though short, offers an interesting perspective on immigration and has a strong emotional effect on the reader.