Blog #8- Drinkng Coffee Elsewhere

In Drinking Coffee Elsewhere,author ZZ Packer provides a number of short stories. I read Our Lady of Peace, which portrays a woman attempting to change not only her own circumstances, but of her students in a Baltimore public school as well.

Packer makes the effort to accurately portray each scenerio. For instance: "She could see Bonza's eyes scanning the school steps: no students. He threw his cigarette to the concrete, snuffed it out with his shoe, then grabbed her, kissing her with fully sloppy thrusts of tongue, his mustache scrubbing her face with its bristles. Lynnea pushed him away and gasped for air, trying to wipe away the saliva ringing her mouth, only to find both hands locked solidly in Bonza's" (page 68). In sections such as this, Packer uses punctuation to emphasise and paint a scenerio. While she uses a wider vocabulary than most, her writing is still basic thus making it an easier read.

Packer also integrates sarcasm and humor into her writing. For instance, "...girls dragged large fake designer handbags behind them like migrant workers told to flee the land" (page 70).

Packer also uses dialoge similar to that of Zora Neal Hurston, and punctuates words and emphasizes them in a way that the particular culture would speak. Such as that on page 71:
"You don't have to learn nothing. We the ones--"
"Anything," Lynnea corrected.
"What?"
"Go on." Lynnea sneaked another glance at the clock.
"Maybe we can learn it, but not by you just yapping at us. Nobody wanna hear nobody else talk for no hour. It just get boring..."

Overall, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere is a short and easy read that uses a variety of sentence length, punctuation, and comprehensive depictions.