Author: Randon Billings Noble
Brief Overview: This piece come from Brevity, and is written as if it were describing the necessary information related to a health condition. The author uses this essay to address an age-old issue – the longing to be with someone that is not your current partner – and provides a fresh perspective on what is an otherwise serious topic.
Questions: Was the author writing from a place of current or past experience with this issue?
Notable Quotes: “Always use a protective layer – latex only as a very last resort, clothing is better, or, better still, several feet, a separate piece of furniture, a wall, or a building. Ideally: a state line, a continent.” “Is this choice supporting, adding to, enriching, complicating, marring, degrading, not even leaving a blip on the screen in the way in which you will see your life in the years to come? What will you be left with? Regret? Memory? Or absolutely nothing?” “The only muscle you can’t live without needs to stay whole.”
Initial Reaction: This essay is clever and witty, and describes a scenario that most people can relate to if they have ever been with someone romantically for a long period of time. I appreciate the extensive reading list, and hope to work through several of the novels that the author suggested. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this piece, and plan to share it with several friends.
A Composition of Self by Alexis Rivera 