1.  Respond in your own words, and referencing your own experience, to the validity of Gay’s question: “what if joy and pain are fundamentally tangled up with one another?”
  • I feel like what he is trying to say is if pain is not separate fro joy what are the distinguishing features of each? Can they be different? Is there a line that is crossed between the two? I feel like pain and joy aren’t the same thing but they could be fundamentally tangled up with each other. Pain and joy work well together which is a weird concept. An example that I have if I understand the question properly is that my grandma has been suffering with many illnesses for a while now. She’s on dialysis, she has heart failure, COPD, a lump that they had recently just found in her neck, slight onset dementia. Now I love my grandmother so much that when she is gone I’m not sure where ill be. The joy of still having her around is unbeatable. But I also feel pain or guilt that she is suffering. 
  1. Gay advocates that we “lay down our swords and invite sorrow in.” What does he mean? Do you agree? Why or why not? 
  • In this quote he is saying that instead of running away from our sorrow we should jus face it, because over time we accept what has happened to make room for the sorrow in our lives and eventually be joyful again. I somewhat agree with this statement, I feel like it is different for every person and how they deal with their sorrow. But eventually we all have to accept and face whatever we are going through and the sorrow that has consumed our lives for the time being. Allowing for you to accept what happened might let you heal and eventually be able to feel joy. 
  1.    –     The feeling I get after decorating for christmas 
  • The feeling I get when there’s a snow day 
  • The feeling I get when I heard/saw Lord Huron play “The Night we Met” live
  • Smelling the air when t smells likes it going to snow/rain 
  • Driving in the car on a cool summers night with the windows down 
  • Watching the leaves change color up north (vermont, white mountains)
  • Being able to relax with no obligations that you have to do/get done for a while 
  • Watching christmas movies 
  • Memories as a kid coming in from playing in the snow with your sister and drinking hot chocolate after 
  • Going home after a long day and eating my favorite meal. 
  1. I tend to be filled with joy over the little things in life, or looking back at memories that I had as a kid. I feel like when I look at pictures as a kid it’s almost sad that I can’t relive that moment again and feel the joy that I felt. Which is why I feel like today I try to look at the little things in life to be joyful about. 
  1. In what specific ways does Ross Gay’s essay interact with Zadie Smith’s? Whats the value of gays essay, through the lens of a college student?
  • Some ways that Ross Gay’s essay interacts with Zadie smith is the nature of joy. As well as how a person chooses to feel joy. For example in this essay talking about sorrow. Everyone is different in ways in which they want to deal with sorrow, but accepting what has happened might allow you to feel joy again. In the eyes of a college student I feel like college can be tough for a lot of people, myself included, being away from home, family, pets possibly, it sucks. Some days I let the sorrow for myself get the best of me. But I, and all college students have to remember to accept what has happened, allow yourself to feel your feelings but don’t let it ruin your entire day, week, or even month. Allow yourself to do things that bing you joy. Just be mindful of how you see joy, even if its getting coffee with friends for an hour then going back to school work is allowing yourself to feel the “acceptable” amount of joy of a college student.