Kate Lebo's essay notable essay "The Loudproof Room" succeeds in defamiliarizing her hearing "disability." Defamiliarlization refers to the process of taking something mundane, ordinary, and oft-overlooked and presenting it in a new light, in a way that makes it seem fresh, new, sudden, and alive.
Lebo's defamiliarization rings most clearly in the first sentence of the final paragraph: "Disability can create sensibility." If this were an academic essay, we would call this her thesis, but since this is a personal essay, we might call this the essay's epiphany, the moment of truth. Another method Lebo uses to foster defamiliarization is metaphor, of which this sentence is a prime example: "When my otolaryngologist says everyone's ear has three windows and that at least one of those windows must be closed to maintain balance and prevent vertigo, he turns my eardrum into a breezy little house." In this way, Lebo's metaphor changes her medical condition into a home, which is an odd--and effective--way of framing her "disability." Finally, Lebo uses alternate definitions of dehiscence in the fifth and sixth paragraphs to invite the readers to consider two contrasting ways of seeing her life: as a "flower bud that's about to burst into bloom" or two spots in the skull that "have thinned to two tiny gaps." Is Lebo's dehiscence a gift? Or a flaw? In this essay, it's both, and this ironic, defamiliarized perspective allows us to step back and examine our own lives in a similar manner.
1. In your "Lost & Found" essay, for what term, word, or idea might you explore alternate definitions?
2. How might you use a metaphor in your essay?
3. What might your epiphany be?
1. I will focus on the meaning of existence because that definition changes from person to person, but primarily I will focus on the meaning of existence through a religious perspective and nonreligious perspective.
ReplyDelete2. I will use a metaphor to give example to different life experiences, and perspectives. I will use a lush landscape versus a barren landscape to compare hope and nihilism.
3. "The same question can offer different answers."
1. I would like to explore alternate definitions of anxiety, focusing on fear of what might happen and anticipation and excitement over a future action or event.
ReplyDelete2. I might use a metaphor to describe the feeling of anxiety, maybe a sentence such as, "Anxiety could be either the release of endorphins after a run or a bear trap that crunches one's ability to function".
3. "Anxiety can create a variety of possibilities".
1. A term or word that I would want to explore alternate definitions would be love because love means something different to everyone.
ReplyDelete2. A metaphor that I would use in my essay would be me trying to explain the feeling of love, like knowing when you have fallen in love.
3. "Love can mean so many different things/feelings for every person"
1. I would use one of these terms: worry, anxiety, fear, or shyness.
ReplyDelete2. I would use a metaphor to describe how one of these terms feels like or how it affects our life.
3. Overwhelming worry is motivation necessary for success.
1. In my “Lost& Found” essay, I will explore the idea of “hate”. Hate can be used in many different contexts and different meanings to everyone.
ReplyDelete2. A possible example that I could you would be: “Hate is a black hole, consuming all that’s good.” Anything pertaining to hate I could use for a metaphor in my essay.
3. You have to care about someone or something a whole lot in order to hate it or them. If you didn’t care then you wouldn’t waste your time focusing so much energy on that object or that person.
1. I would like to explore the idea of love. I would also like to include the idea of stepping outside one's own comfort zone.
ReplyDelete2. I would like to include a metaphor illustrating life experiences while finding "true love." I will describe how a man and woman progress through a relationship.
3. Love is not always an easy endeavor; ultimately, loving someone may require venturing out of one's own comfort zone.
1. In my essay I will explore the different definitions one might have of a fulfilling life.
ReplyDelete2. I might use a metaphor in my essay by comparing definitions of a fulfilling life, on opposite ends of the spectrum.
3. A fulfilling life; a virtue or a disadvantage.
1. I would use alternate definitions for "abuse". There are different types of abuse and it is very important to refer to it appropriately in order to avoid reduction of the situation and to make an impact it is supposed to make.
ReplyDelete2. I would use a metaphor in my essay by trying to compare the transformation of the mind to a change of heart.
3. The epiphany would be how women have healed through Buddhism.
1. In my "Lost and Found" essay, I would explore the meaning of the word love and what it may mean to different people according to their social classes.
ReplyDelete2.I would use a metaphor for the terms "money can't buy love". Describe how depending on the social class, it defines what love means to certain people.
3."Love depends on where you stand financially"
1. I will focus on the meaning of love. Love comes in different forms and people can experience love in different ways. Not everyone will love the same and show love the same way.
ReplyDelete2. I think that I might want to add a metaphor about love.
3. Love can be shown through different contexts. You can show love in your own way and there is no right or wrong way to show love to someone.
1. I would like to dive and explore the meaning of the word “purpose”, as the definition for this, changes for everybody.
ReplyDelete2. The metaphor I would implement into my paper is something along the lines of not knowing one’s purpose can generate a sensation of feeling lost; or knowing exactly what one is meant for can make somebody feel found. It all depends on their outlook and situation.
3. Once your purpose is clear, life is bound to become much smoother.
1. The idea that I might use is life because people have so many different interpretations of one's life.
ReplyDelete2. I would use a metaphor to compare life to something such as a story and how theres a beginning, a middle, and an end.
3. A life is much more than someone's simple actions, it is their adventures, endeavors, successes, and failures.
1. In my essay, I will focus on the meaning of love or fear.
ReplyDelete2. A metaphor I can use is one that distinguishes the difference between those who love for materialistic stuff and those who truly love a person for who they are.
3.The most important things in life are not things.
1. In my “Lost & Found” essay I would explore alternate definitions for life because many exist but not everybody lives. Also, I would explore what It means for many to actually live.
ReplyDelete2. I would use a metaphor to compare life to the actual feeling living gives to the human existence.
3. To live is to exist, but to exist is not always to live.
1. In my "lost and found" essay I hope to explore the idea and meaning of love as well as the hurdles and fears that come with it.
ReplyDelete2. I want to use a metaphor to compare the idea of actually being in love with a person or just being in love with the feeling.
3. Before you can truly love another, you must love yourself first, or the idea that the upside to falling is the chance you give to another to catch you.
1. In my "lost and found" essay I hope to explore love. How although love follows us in life. Love fades and may not be as strong but its never really gone because under all the layers of hurt and anger we still can relate these to love.
ReplyDelete2. I want to use a metaphor that can explain the hurts that surround our past can be defined through love.
3. Love never dies, only fades.
1. I would use the word "love" in my "Lost and Found" essay because I'd like to look into the different ways there is to love a person.
ReplyDelete2. A metaphor I can use is the difference between being in love or just loving a person.
3. Love is an open door and where that door will take you, but it all depends on which door you choose to open.
1. I would also use the word "love" in my essay because I think every one love's differently and the effect it has on a person varies.
ReplyDelete2. I can use a metaphor on how love changes.
3. Love varies for each of us.
1.I would want to use the word "love" in my lost and found essay because love is the basis of all things in this life.
ReplyDelete2. I can use the word love metaphorically in comparing what it actually means to love someone or something and the idea of it
3. Love gives us life.
1. I would explore the idea of the term happiness because the word can mean so many different things for everybody.
ReplyDelete2. I might use a metaphor to compare my life then and now. Something that could capture the lostness that I used to feel and the fullness that is present in my life now.
3. I think that I will use the concept of "a broken crayon still colors" in my essay.
1. I would explore the idea of the term happiness because the word can mean so many different things for everybody.
ReplyDelete2. I might use a metaphor to compare my life then and now. Something that could capture the lostness that I used to feel and the fullness that is present in my life now.
3. I think that I will use the concept of "a broken crayon still colors" in my essay.
1. An idea I would like to explore an alternate definition of is being in love. Most of the time people relate being in love to being in love with another person, however I would like to explore how important it is to be in love with yourself.
ReplyDelete2. I may use a metaphor to compare my life before and after a difficult time I experienced and how it changed me.
3. "Sometimes you have to get a little lost in order to find yourself."
1.I will explore alternate definitions using the idea of anxiety. Anxiety, to me, means a state of panic but nothing specific is causing this panic. The idea of anxiety means something different to everyone, those who suffer from it, and those who around those who suffer it. I plan on discussing the way it affects those around me and the toll it takes on my loved ones.
ReplyDelete2. I might use the metaphor “anxiety is like walking down a dark and scary alley without knowing what is waiting for you”.
3. “Anxiety is not my life”.
1. In my lost and found essay an idea I might explore alternate definitions will be the view of the world by depending on the place a person lives.
ReplyDelete2. A metaphor could be used in my personal essay to show how people are sometimes blind to the reality because they know nothing else outside the place where they reside.
3. “Traveling, just a couple hundred miles, will open your eyes to different point of views, which you might otherwise wouldn’t be able to see if you always stay in on place.”
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ReplyDelete1. In your "Lost & Found" essay, for what term, word, or idea might you explore alternate definitions?
ReplyDeleteThe term I might explore is being “the middle child”. If you are a middle child, then these terms can define you: emptiness, inadequacy, and jealous. As being a middle child, most children need to do more to get attention, thus feeling empty and inadequate. You also feel jealous because you try to so hard and you get the same attention as your older or younger siblings for doing the same.
2. How might you use a metaphor in your essay?
I might use metaphor to describe feelings and certain situations of how the atmosphere felt in certain situations.
3. What might your epiphany be?
Being middle child allows you to control your destiny as you see what lies before and after you.
1. I would like to explore alternate definitions to "love." Love can mean so many different things to different people. There is different kinds of love as well such as a love for a child, a love for your spouse, and for friends among with many others.
ReplyDelete2. I might use a metaphor to describe how love has an infinite spectrum such as "love is the never ending rainbow of life."
3. Love does not define you.