ENGW 1101
1/29/17
Prof. Young
Reading Log 1
1. Willa Lambert is a student at Friendswood High School who has big dreams. She's in love with the football stud, Cully, whom the very thought of "Knocked the breath out of her" (Stienke 21). She keeps to herself mostly, but if there is important information she'll tell her best friend. Her and her parents have a good relationship but it could be better. Her parents are very Type A people that say everything has to go a certain way and with their specific beliefs. Their relationship is good but not a stable one. Willa, "in a spiral notebook, wrote down a list of the visions that have appeared so far," (21) which are certain symbols she sees such as a little girl wanting to be held by Willa, a naked man with thick thighs and a beard, and sugar dusted cookies, I believe she has these visions because of the chemical dumping that's been happening in Friendswood.
2. Dex is another student that attends Friendswood High, but no one really knows he's there. His dad skipped town on them, but writes Dex and his mother and sister checks with notes inside. Dex respects is mother because before his father left, he told Dex, She's a good person, and you respect that. Always." (37). Dex also has a sister named Leah whom his mother loves by always praising her on her whit and charm, which makes Dex resent her and become more distant from her. He also hates the fact that she is more popular than him. Dex is a water boy for the school football team, so his "friends" tolerate him, but they only really acknowledge him if he's there, when he gets that attention from them he becomes a different person a little bit, letting the team have a certain power over him.
3. Hal is Cully, the football star's father who has a job as a real estate agent. He hates his job which leads me as a reader to think it's mundane and that if he could do anything else with his life, he would. This effects his everyday life and how he hates the rest of his life. Hal has a wife named Darlene, whom he cheated on for seven weeks. Though it isn't stated Darlene seems to know that he's cheating on her leaving her and their son, Cully in an awkward family life. Hal and Cully seem to be very distant with each other not really speaking, but, he lives vicariously through his son, so there is some layer of closness in Hal's eyes. Another big thing that is a road block in their household is the fact that Hal used to be an alcoholic but has been slowly and surely becoming more sober, but because of this he just broods and is miserable only really caring about his faith with the Lord and using that as a scapegoat pretty much. "It had been [Darlene's] idea for Hal to wind his way back to sobriety by learning to do something," (56) so Hal is trying to overcome his addiction, but hasn't really been succeeding.
4. Lee is Jess's mother and the wife of Jack. The big tragedy that happened to her was that her daughter, Jess died due to the chemical dumping in Friendswood, Texas. Since then, her husband has left her, and she's devastated. She, "dreamed of Jack and Jess, as she often did," (67) and she carries mementos of her daughter and wears her husbands old T-shirts to have a feeling of them still with her. She knows that something is wrong with something in their town but cant quite put her finger on it. All she wants to do is try and help her community to fix this problem because she doesn't want anyone else to be effected by it like she has been; this leaving some of the community (Doc, her saving grace) to love her and others (Willa's parents) to hate her.
5. There has been chemical dumping in the town of Friendswood, Texas. The oil company of the town has been dumping oil without anyone knowing. The general community doesn't realize that there is anything wrong with their little town, but certain few people (Lee and Willa). The big thing that's been happening from the oil dumping is the fact the oil has been seeping up through the ground and making the ground black and also contaminating the water to a certain extent.
6. Reading this first section of Friendswood it had made me think of what has been happening in Flint, Michigan. There has been a water contamination crisis in Flint since 2014. The city of Flint changed its main water source from the treated Water and Sewage Department to the Flint River. They found lead in the water causing the untreated water to get lead from the aging pipes causing thousands of people (mainly children) to be exposed to it. It's killed 10 people and affected 77 others. This is like the fact that the similar thing has been happening in Friendswood.
