Gere

          Writing serves many purposes. The self is political, people make up society. A person's gender, race, and sexual identity is political. So writing about personal experiences still manages to be political. In Gere's piece she discusses coming to the realization that writing could be done with people and reading could be shared. I'm surprised it took her so long to realize half the fun of reading it is discussing what you've read with other people. I understand where she's coming from. A lot of people think of reading as an escape from their lives, a way to go elsewhere. I read when I want to leave my life and it's magical. I can be immersed in someone else's problems and go through the ups and downs of their lives while I'm lying down in bed. Ten years can pass in two hours, it's a sort of emotional time travel when I think about it. After I'm done with most books I feel as I've gone through such a journey. I've only recently began to discuss books maturely. Before I'd randomly find out someone had read a book I loved and we'd gush about how tremendously good the book was. My writing classes have forced me to intelligently unpack what's going on in a book. That kind of work, I'm finding, gives books more value. Hearing another interpretation of something you've read helps one realize that there are many ways to look at the text you've enjoyed just through your interpretation. Someone else interpreted it differently and loved it as well, the same text and that's pretty amazing. 

             Gere talks about the trend of autobiographical and personal writing leading to a more social and public context. Although I can't think of any specifics I know that essay writing (personal essay) usually starts of personal and broadens to the social or wider context. Joan Didion does that a lot. What do I mean by that? By that I guess I mean connecting the self with the larger picture.