Post 3

1. Out of all of the pieces assigned for homework, I believe that Liu's essay, "Chinatown," serves as the most substantial embodiement of Think Description. Although the other essays barrage the reader with an arguably equal number of details, Liu's piece contains the most physical description, and thus provides the reader with the clearest mental image. Phrases such as "I'd be stuck, always as if for the first time, by how tiny she was: four feet nine and shrinking" (203 WP) breath life into the the little old lady.  One can easily imagine and sympathize with poor old Po-Po; perfectly shriveled and shrunked, submersing herself in the very environment she sought to escape. 

   Kincaid provides an impressive quantity of both venom and anecdotes, Staelehi effectively bores the reader out of his or her skull with the pure volume of wisdom he wishes to impart, and Gladwell gleans detailed insight into an invisible yet essential occupation, but none of the articles conjured up comprehensive images of any specific place in  general. The reader is almost asphyxiated by Kincaid's hatred, made palpable by such passages as "My nose was pressed against a glass window alright, but there was an iron vise at the back of my neck forcing my head to stay into place," (104 WP) but one can only speculate to what the window looks like, or even for what Kincaid herself looks like for that matter. The other two essays similarly bring forth interest qualitites, but fail to give them substantial tangible qualitites through description.

2. "Lane Library: A Living Learning Community" reverses the connotations tied in with the phrase "A picture is worth a thousand words." She effectively pencils an elaborate sketch of the interior of Lane Library with words by utilizing an excellent command of Thick Description. Her paper fails to consider the community outside of the library however, which sets it back a tad in my book at least.