A genre response always has two components: the response itself, and the "writer's note" that explains the response's background. See the page on genre responses for answers to frequently asked questions. The writer's note in particular is important because it's your chance to explain what you wanted the response to "mean" and how it "matters."
John laughs at me
but one expects that in marriage.
John is a physician, and
he does not believe I am sick!
What is one to do?
Dear John! He loves me very dearly.
He is very careful and loving.
He took me in his arms and called me
a blessed little goose
John says I mustn't lose my strength.
John is so pleased to see me improve!
I'm feeling so much better!
You see, he does not believe I am sick!
John is away all day, and even some nights.
He pretended to be very loving and kind.
As if I couldn't see through him!
I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes.
I got so angry I bit off a little piece of the bed
but it hurt my teeth.
I want to astonish him.
Now why should that man have fainted?
You see, he does not believe I am sick!
Writer's Note: I used the "found poem" technique to see what the narrator says about her husband. I think that the poem works by compressing those places where she expressly talks about John into a short work. I was trying to show how much she was trained to rely on him, even though she didn't trust him or his medical advice.
Manuscript digs up dirt on past
4 July, 2173
Amherst, MA (UPI) A centuries-old manuscript was discovered by Harvard anthropologist Henry Jones in Newton yesterday. It appears to be the diary of a woman from the late 1800s, according to Jones. The discovery is expected to have broad ramifications for scholars of early US culture.
The diary describes a new mother who gradually loses her sanity after being cooped up in an attic room with disturbing wallpaper, Jones reported in a news conference earlier today. The woman was given very little emotional support by her husband, a medical doctor.
Kathleen Dobkins, a Boston University anthropologist, said that the diary confirms many scholars' belief that early America was an oppressive society for women. "The woman who wrote this had a husband who never heard a word she said to him. She even had to hide her writing in the diary because such things weren't allowed." Dobkins said that a complete analysis of the document might take years.
Jones added that the diary shed light on the abilities of physicians, noting that the diarist's husband seemed untrained in diagnosing mental illness. "What we see here is a complete misreading on the part of the medical community. We'll have to study it further to see if the woman's husband was incompetent, or if his misdiagnosis was to be expected during this time period."
No immediate plans for the document's storage and safe keeping were given by Jones.
Writer's Note: I wrote a newspaper article from the future to show the ways that this story might be interpreted if it were found by people who are pretty far removed from the time period. I used the newspaper genre so I could be objective about what the story says and let the "experts" talk about what meanings the story might have. It let me explore some ideas without having to feel like I had to defend them as the "right" ideas