• One word I looked up from Gabrielle Hamilton’s essay is morose. This word is defined as being sad and gloomy.
• A passage that stuck out to me was ” I said it was important to confront the death of the animal you had the privilege of eating, that it was cowardly to buy cellophane-wrapped packages of boneless, skinless breasts at the grocery store.” This stood out to me because Hamilton is shedding light on awful actions that occur when killing a chicken. When we buy meat from the store, society doesn’t acknowledge the dreadful pain, the animals go through. Hamilton uses very descriptive language to describe the slaughtering of these animals in order to gain sympathy from the readers.
• One discussion question that I would like to raise about this essay is after this experience from Hamilton did they go vegetarian?

A word from Hamilton’s essay that I had to look up was “henpecked.” The word is defined as browbeaten, bullied, or intimidated by one’s wife, girlfriend, etc. One part of the essay that stood out to me was the narrator’s imagery of chopping the chicken’s head. “The chicken began to thrash, its eyes open, as if chastising me for my false promises of a merciful death. My dad yelled, ‘Kill it! Kill it! Aw, Gabs, kill the fucking thing!’ from his bloodless perch. I kept coming down on the bird’s throat–which was now broken but still issuing terrible clucks–stroke after miserable stroke, until I finally got its head off.” This is when the tension is built and reaches its peak. After those sentences, the narrator was already showing signs of hesitancy and regret. This part establishes those feelings of regret because of the word choice used. The imagery was just as intense and allowed me to see it visually in my mind. My question was why the father had to yell at the narrator when she was physically anxious. Yelling at that point might not help. My discussion question: If you were in the narrator’s shoes, how would you have approached or reacted to the situation and why?

• One word from Hamilton’s essay that I looked up was pachysandra. Pachysandra is an evergreen creeping shrubby plant that is part of the box family. It is native to Japan, Korea, and China and introduced to eastern North America. 
• One passage from the essay that struck me as important or interesting is
  •  “My dad was animated with disgust at his dropout daughter- so morose and unfeminine, with the tips of her braids dyed aquamarine, and unable even to kill a chicken property.”
  • When I read this, so many questions popped into my head. One of those being: Did this small incident change the way she is? I say this because there are very few people that can change someone’s perspective of themselves. One of those people can be your parents. My parents’ opinion matters a lot to me because I feel like they have worked so hard to raise me, so if I let them down, I feel like I am a bad daughter. The author also seems to care about the fathers’ feelings because, in this sentence, she views herself as useless since she let her father down twice by being a dropout and not knowing how to kill a chicken. The author also seems to add this random fact about her features, particularly her hair being unfeminine. This could symbolize how she is conflicted with her identity since, according to her features, she doesn’t look “feminine” enough, but her actions aren’t “masculine” enough either. In all, I feel that this small incident of her not being able to kill a chicken doesn’t only emphasize how she feels like a failure but also made her think about who she is as a person. 

• One discussion question that I would like to raise is. Have you ever had an experience similar to the author, and did it change your perspective of how you view things? 

Cooking is a form of art. It is my form of relaxation and relieving stress. Creating dishes with spices or food items that you do not normally see in a dish. Mixing different textures and temperatures. Exploring new flavors and putting your own twist to dishes that already exist. My family’s favorite dish is rice and my special chicken. Beginning with taking out the pans, turning on the stove, and adding the oil, waiting to hear the oil sizzle. Indicating to me that it is ready. Adding the onions, garlic, and all the other spices together, smelling all the flavors combine into one. The steam warms up the kitchen creating a warm welcoming environment. The sweet and tender smell lingers underneath the doorways advising that the food is almost ready. Creating the tummy to rumble as it awaits the final call that the food is ready. The stove turns off and there is a final taste. A sprinkle of salt to accentuate the neighboring flavors. One plate that not only brings flavors together but brings my family together. Once the food is ready to be served, my family gathers around the table. Each bite is savored. We usually put our phones away and talk about our highs and lows. Dedicating that time to each other. Waiting for everyone to finish their plate of food so no one eats alone. On some days, we spend hours even after eating, sharing our favorite memories and talking about our different interests. Laughs upon laughs are distributed throughout the table as the day comes to the end. Ending the night with joy and welcoming the dreams that come. I look forward to this part of the day due to our busy schedules. We may be doing our own things but once the food is ready, we all come together as a family.

Growing up, my family in New York consisted of close friends my mom had when she first came to the States. It never felt any different than having a family who was blood-related because we were all Peruvian. One of the ways we all share our culture is whenever we get together and have a barbeque. Typically, my mom’s friends would organize it on a sunny day. It was almost always on the weekend because nobody was working. The barbeque would sometimes be held to celebrate someone’s birthday or to hold a reunion and connect. The most memorable barbeques for me was at my godmother’s house because I’ve attended several since I was a baby. Whenever she held a barbeque, everyone had to do their part in preparing the food. That meant that people to bring homemade dishes to her backyard, or it meant that they had to help in her kitchen. My family would serve the usual. My family would always serve meat; whether that be beef, pork, or chicken, you would never miss the delicious smell when arriving. A personal favorite of mine, papa a la huancaína, would be beside the meat at the serving table. Essentially, you would take boiled potatoes and salad and pour huancaína sauce on top of it. It was soft and spicy cream that would make the dining experience much more enjoyable. Next, you’d find rice besides papa a la huancaína. On most occasions, it would be white rice. Sometimes it’d be green rice with chicken. It got its green color and taste from cilantro, onion, and garlic. Small pieces of carrots and peas would be in the rice to add more to it. Lastly, my cousins and I would get to drink Ginger Ale or Inca Cola soda while the adults drank beer. Although the menu on what there was to eat at a barbeque change, the ones most recognizable to me are the ones that hold more significance for my family and me.

One word from Hamilton’s essay that I had to look up was “silhouetted”. This word means to cast or show someone or something as a dark shape and outline against a lighter background. This stuck out to me because the first part of the sentence and last part of the sentence alone made sense to me and in between the sentence there were these extra words “,silhouetted agaisnt the dusk,” that are what bring a vivid view to the reader of what she meant and is trying to get the reader to imagen. But it was hard for me to understand it since I didn’t have a clear understanding of what it meant. 

Something that struck me as I read was in the second paragraph the first two sentences “But when I killed my first chicken I was only seventeen and unaccustomed. I had dropped out of school and was staying in the basement of my father’s house…”. This struck me because it took me by surprise when she said she killed her first chicken when she was just seventeen. I don’t think just any seventeen year old would do that. What I could infer is that she had to do that to either help out or find a way to make her dad feel proud of her somehow. Since she tells us that she had dropped out not exactly knowing why. She might have taken this action of killing her first chicken as an opportunity to show her dad that she is able to do something and accomplish it. Which made me wonder why she might have dropped out of school?

A question about this essay that I have is why might she have decided to shared this  story?

• One word from the passage I had to look up was pachysandra. Pachysandra terminalis, the Japanese pachysandra, carpet box or Japanese spurge, is a species of flowering plant in the boxwood family Buxaceae, native to Japan, Korea and China and introduced to eastern North America(Patterson).
• Last 6 lines of the 5th paragraph

In this excerpt the author focuses on her Dad’s reaction to her killing the chicken. At first he is just watching, but eventually it becomes evident that his demeanor transitions to that of disappointment. The author then elaborates on why the father is disappointed by describing the daughter vividly. The fact that she pointed out she is a dropout reflects a possible reason for his disappointment. In addition, in the following line they point out how the tips of her hair are aquamarine which in a way seems like a nod to her femininity. This same small detail also suggests her femininity is the reason for her being unable to kill a chicken the ‘right’ way. A major implication may be that she dropped out for nothing considering she can’t even kill a chicken, contributing to her fathers disappointment. The fact that the bird was still momentarily alive after this fact emphasizes her failure even more. I think this passage is important because it gives you a better sense of why her killing a chicken was a relevant event. It makes me wonder why she isn’t able to kill a chicken properly.

• One discussion question i’d like to raise is what makes the murder of the chicken significant to the author?

• A word that I had to look up from Gabrielle Hamilton’s essay “Killing Dinner” is “henpecked” which I found out means “ continually criticized and given by one’s wife or female partners typically used of a man.” This word stuck out to me because of how it was placed in the sentence and how it was connected afterwords with how the son wants to get rid of it and the father agreeing to him killing this chicken.
• A passage that struck me was “My dad was animated with disgust at his dropout daughter—so morosos and unfeminine, with the tips of her braids dyed aquamarine, and unable even to kill a chicken properly.” This makes me a bit confused and makes me bring up assumptions about the father and his relationship with his kids. Is he disappointed at his daughter for being a drop out ? And for not being able to kill a chicken or want to learn? Why is she like this? Because of him? The main thing that can be taken from this is the mother’s presence or absence in their lives because she is not mentioned and so this brings up the question of where is the mother and does she play a part in these kids lives? The word “morsosis” struck at me because this word means countable and uncountable so is he saying the daughter is both useless but countable on? The father seems to have a sort of dislike or sense of dismay towards his daughter.

• One word I looked up was vehement which means an intense feeling. 
• One passage of the essay that struck me as interesting was “There are two things you should never do with your father: learn how to drive, and learn how to kill a chicken”. The reason I found this interesting was because I can see what the author is trying to say since I recall being nervous when I was learning how to drive with my father. I liked how Hamilton organized the essay it was easy to follow and it helped me envision what was going on. My question is did  the author purposefully compare an experience most people go through and her own to better understand what she felt? 
• My discussion question is, would the author wish that experience would have not happened?

When thinking back on certain memories about food, many memories trigger my mind. Food is such an important attribute to my life and so, the things that I eat almost all have a certain meaning to how they contribute to my life. For example, I am both Dominican and Puerto Rican, and so the many foods I eat connect to my different backgrounds. I could have a traditional American breakfast like eggs, pancakes, and some bacon, but this is not as common for me because of my Dominican aspects. What I mean by this is that instead, for lunch or “brunch” I would have “mangu con Los tres golpes” which translated as mashed plantains with fried Dominican salami, fried cheese, a sunny side up egg, and some onion on top of all of this. This is a dish that Dominican people make and eat almost anywhere they go, so here in the U.S or in the Dominican Republic. When I eat this it always reminds me of my house back in D.R when I would eat this with my cousins after playing together or after the beach or river.. That hunger after being in the water is the best hunger to enjoy this delicious meal. My Puerto Rican side is similar though because there are many similar dishes to my Dominican side. For instance, a common everyday dish would be rice beans and chicken, but this depends on what kind of beans or what type of meat/chicken I am also eating. A certain food though that I enjoy very much is Lasangua and “pernil asado” which is a slow-roasted pig and this accompanies “Arroz con guandules” which is a type of rice with pigeon peas. When I think of these 3 foods It triggers many events from my past like Christmas, thanksgiving, and any family get-together or parties (mainly baby showers or big birthday parties). Unfortunately due to covid, things are not really the same anymore with the family gatherings, but every time I do get a chance to eat these foods, it will always remind me of the great times I’ve had with my family, especially with my cousins which we all used to sit together and make jokes, etc, while the grown-ups sat at their separate tables.