"Tid Bits and Tales of My Life"

Tracey’s “Tid Bits and Tales of My Life: In Alphabetical Order” was a hilarious and interesting insight into Tracey’s life. When I began reading it, I thought my life was boring. I’ve never heard of so many ridiculous and out-of-control things happening to one person! Everything described was so personal, I felt as though I could be there watching the scene. Although I’ve never had any of those events happen to me, I could relate somehow. Every family has crazy stories. Through hers, I feel as though I know her family and their relationship a little better. I really enjoyed the descriptions she gave of her father. He seemed like the most important person in her life because of how much she referred to him. Also, I liked how she conveyed how close her family is; I think that is another way I connected with her stories. As usual, I love the alphabetical style. I loved it when I first read it in our anthology, and Tracey (as well as Beth) nailed it for me, too. I stayed interested and was always curious about what story the next letter would tell me. I had a few minor problems with this piece. First, there were some grammatical errors that I marked up that need not be discussed in detail here. Second, I had a problem with some of the diction. A few cusswords helps give the reader a sense of the author; however, there were a few instances of the use of cusswords where it seemed forced and artificial. Do not cuss for the sake of cussing. I marked up these instances as well. I know that this is a non-fiction piece, but I wanted the overall feel of the piece to be more reformed, rather than someone just writing in a journal or something. I love how personal the piece is, but it could use some spiffying up.