Thomas Cooley - The Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition

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The Library of Congress has catalogued the printed edition as follows:

Names: Cooley, Thomas, 1942 editor.

Title: The Norton sampler : short essays for composition / Thomas Cooley.

Description: Tenth edition. | [New York] : W. W. Norton & Company, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020025723 | ISBN 9780393427639 (paperback) | ISBN 9780393537086 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: College readers. | English languageRhetoric. | Essays.

Classification: LCC PE1417 .N6 2021 | DDC 808/.0427dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020025723

ISBN: 978-0-393-42763-9 (pbk.)

ISBN: 780393537093 (ebook)

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CONTENTS

• • I felt the same damp moss covering the worms in the bait can, and saw the dragonfly alight on the tip of my rod.... It was the arrival of this fly that convinced me beyond any doubt that everything was as it had always been, that the years were a mirage and that there had been no years.
• • The simplicity of the structure gives it its powerpower that can be seen at the memorial every day through the tears shed by veterans taking in their fallen brothers names. Its lack of ornament gives it a solemn feel that facilitates reflection on those we have lost and the sacrifice they made.
  • When the quilt was finished, one could see that the edges of each panel didnt quite match, that the soft lavender and deep crimson from one sari clashed slightly with the brilliant yellow and green from another, that the stitches were crude and uneven. Yet beheld in unison, these imperfections fashioned something only I could have created, beautiful in its own way.
  • Dreamland could fit hundreds of people, and yet, magically, the space around it kept growing and there was always room for more.
  • Hes mostly silver, but the silver is somehow made up of all the colors, if you know what I mean. I stopped. Do you know what I mean by colors?
  • Miss Dennis always wore a variation of one outfita dark-colored, flared woolen skirt, a tailored white blouse and a cardigan sweater, usually black, thrown over her shoulders and held together by a little pearl chain.
  • Can you see her? I can. And the image of her makes me smile. Still.
  • At first glance, there is nothing about this hot dog that looks special, but once you take a bite, you know youve touched the nirvana of hot dogs. That first bite tells you everything.
• • To say my grandmother loved Elvis would be like describing the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel as a nice little mural.
  • Most Americans have never had to live with terror. I had had to live with it all my lifethe psychological terror of segregation, in which there was a special set of laws governing your movements. You violated them at your peril....
  • I was with my teacher, and in a while I was going to sit at my desk, with my crayons and pencils and books and classmates all around me, and for the next six hours I was going to enjoy a thoroughly secure, warm and stable world. It was a world I absolutely relied on. Without it, I dont know where I would have gone that morning.
  • The trouble began when I decided to be dangerously ambitious. Which is to say, I decided to write a poem.
  • Suddenly Alans hand clamped my shoulder, communicating everything in a grip. Do not speak. Do not move. Adrenaline shot through me. We were in a clearing surrounded by bush and shadow and, well, something else. Something not-giraffe. Silence, for the blind, is often the most terrifying sound.
  • My daughter often follows up on the stories she half-hears. There is one story that obsesses her, a story I only tell her in pieces and for which I have not yet been able to offer a real ending. It begins with two girls in the courtroom.
• • This is Zacarasa father. But in the evening, after hes tucked in his kids and kissed his wife goodnight, he sits in bed and prays and remembers what else he is. With clenched fists, he begs God that this night not be his last. He prays and prays for a tomorrow, for another cool, serene evening.... Zacaras prays for this because of what else he isan immigrant.
  • In total, 347 individual acts of sin were committed at the bake sale, with nearly every attendee committing at least one of the seven deadly sins as outlined by Gregory the Great in the Fifth Century.