The author and speaker Rebecca Brown had a true gift of writing about raw emotion and then relating them both in written form and to an audience. The merging of the the two people's sweat, both the caregiver and the care-reciever, was a very interesting concept to me. In the world of community service, the care-reciever is an available body to help absorb any pain and suffering of the person in their care. This sends a very powerful message. It is a very humbling and inspiring thought, with our work this semester in community service, to have the opportunity to have such an impact on the people that we work with. It is true that the attitude of self-sacrifice revealed both in "The Gift of Sweat" and in our own community involvement has apparent parallels to Christian beliefs. However, I feel that this is simply because both get to the very essence of what true sacrifice is: the merging of sweat, so to speak.

In my opinion, this cultural credit was very engaging. I honestly do not know if I enjoyed the stories, as they made me sad, but Ms. Brown was very effective in her communication and writing. Before Dr. Tatter mentioned it, I did not see the connection between the Holy Communion and the cinnamon rolls and coffee that the narrator drank. I do see now however, that there are definite connections. The details that the writer used when commenting on the sweat using the senses of feeling and smell made it all seem very real to me. It also made me think of Rick's home as being taken over by sickness, as the narrator commented on the smell throughout the room. When Rebecca Brown read about her mother dying, I again felt overwhelmed with the atmosphere of sickness and death. It was somewhat disurbing to me, but definitely got a point across. When you are helping someone, you are most likely going to reach out to them even if they are sick. The readings from this book made me think about the service-learning we will be doing. Although I doubt anyone I will be in contact will be sick, I hope to get to know them on the level that the narrator got to know Rick. Also, Ms. Brown commented on how she had been worried that her writing was selfish until her mother told her that she felt good with her helping her because she knew she had eperience. I think that showsb that an establishment of trust is necessary to help others while learning yourself.

I was extremely touched by Brown's pieces. I thought that it was an incredible thing she was doing. I mentioned this in class yesterday, but I don't know if I would be able to handle a situation involving one of the AIDS patients or even taking care of my ill mother. I have always been uncomfortable in situations involving people who were sick. I just don't know how to relate to them. I think it is amazing that she put herself out there to work with and learn from these individuals. It is very inspiring. I am hoping that through this service experience I can learn to put myself "out there" and relate to the people I meet.

During Rebecca Brown's lecture and while hearing her pieces, at the time I felt that her work was dark and gloomy, because I focused only on the emotional sadness of the piece. This was probably because the mood I was in at the time was very negative and sad. After talking about the lecture, I rethought what Rebecca said and what other peoples reactions were to her piece. I realized that it wasn't all sad, and that there was much more to be seen in the piece. For instance I did not notice the connection between Holy Communion and the cinnamon rolls and coffee to begin with. Also, both of their sweat mixed together wasn't necessarily her referring to the sadness she felt, but of how she became connected witht his person as she cared for him while he was drying from AIDS. As Katie said, I respect her so much for her courage to spend time with the AIDS patients. She wasn't selfless because she did not worry about being too connected witht he individual eventhough he was about to die, but rather did it for his benefit. This showed me that Rebecca has so much courage and strength.

I have very mixed emotions about Rebecca Brown's reading. I did think the last one she read was a little to distrubing for me. But the one in question was much less intence. I can see the connection between the story and Christ. The mixing of the sweat does remind me of the Christ saying this is my body, and the eating of the cinnamon rolls and coffee resembled the Holy Communion. I thought the way she made this comparison was very interesting. To take something as controverical as AIDS and relate it to Christ was very bold because some Christians would not like to see that comparison made. But I thought the way she did was very concealed and you really had to sit down and think about the relationship. I do respect Ms. Brown for showing us the sad truth about things like AIDS and dying rather than suger coating it for us like more of the American people do.

I thoroughly enjoyed Rebecca Brown's readings. I watched my grandmother pass from breast cancer, and it was refreshing to me for someone to finally talk about the things no one else wants to talk about. Bleeding from every orifice, baby hair, sunken eyes...these are all realities of cancer. Literature is not only meant to entertain us, and I appreciate that she recognizes that concept.
As far as her ventriloquist piece, I loved that she posed questions as to the gender of the Creator. On that same note, whether or not the Creator is in us or above us, etc. At first I was unable to see the connection, but it became a little more obvious as she became closer to finishing.
I have had few real life experiences with AIDS patients. I appreciated the way she used something as natural and simple as human sweat to raise up and almost glorify the situation. Overall, I feel that Rebecca writes in a real and common people kind of way. She doesn't use flowery language; it's as if she is just retelling the story after it just happened. I didn't feel she was exaggerating any of her emotions--she told it just like it should have been told.

I particularly enjoyed this cultural event. Rebecca Brown proved to be an extremely phenominal woman and writer. I was amazed that she could stand up there and completely reveal herself to us through her writing. The pieces "Heaven" and "My Mother's Body" were special to me. I had just lost my grandmother to cancer a few weeks before this event, and with each graphic detail of her mother's fight with the disease, I could envision my frail grandmother going through these same experience. "Heaven" was interesting to me also; it reminded me of when I was young and I used to try and understand how Heaven would be. It was just amazing to me that she could stand there, and read these passages about those that were so close to her without releasing any emotion, but then again her writing probably provides a catharsis for her.

I was moved by Rebecca Brown's pieces, each of them help deep signifiance to her own life. I especially felt engaged in the fact that she respects the character'r right to privacy. She made it known that when creating fictional characters she could paint any picture she wanted to. She could share or hide or exagerate any part of the character's story she wanted. However, when she was writing about a individual person (even if the story was some-what changed) she respected the rights of these characters. She made it a point to explain to the fullest what they were exibiting to her, but never did she create a tale that was not hers to create. She made a great impact on my own writing ideas and thoughts towards books that I read - fiction and non-fiction.