essay packet

I think that this essay packet was very eye opening to me.  In the past I have only ever written persuasive and informative essays for class.  This showed me a lot of good different styles of essays.  There was much more than just the basic five paragraph essay.  There were descriptive essays and lists, and stories.  It showed me much more than what I have been accustomed to writing in the past.

                Specifically I would like to talk about the essay “total eclipse.”  I personally think that it is more of a descriptive story than an essay.  But that might be good since I need to open up my definitions of essays and this is helping me to do it.  Even, the last paragraph of page 87, when the author talks about what they did on the side of the highway.  He definitely phrased it as a story, like a sequence of events.  It was also very descriptive and I like the simplicity of the writing.  I think that even though it is simple and easy to understand the author used great detail and helps me picture it easily.