Mary Erle's Commonplace Book

This is real poetry. I feel very connected to Phoebe and truly believe she could be one of my closest friends. I would tell her everything because her modern views reflect my own. My mother saved this poem for me and I never quite understood it until I grew up in this world. In my late teens I found this in the dresser, all crumpled up, alongside my dolls my mother had also given me. From the stories I hear about my mother, she was a simple woman. The way I received and interpreted this poem was most definitely not my mother’s intent. I am not exactly sure what her intent was, however.…

I was drawing in one of my sketch books and found myself drawing some of the old navy uniforms that made me think back to my childhood. As school age children, my neighbors and I would pretend to be in the Navy and have battles against one another. It also reminds me of my father calling me in after playing outside for hours. The boys I played with were tough but I could always keep up with them. I never had any trouble keeping up and they never treated me differently because I was a girl. The uniforms are similar to what I imagined us wearing. I thought about how we would run across the…

As I was sitting in my living room reading the paper, this ad for engagement rings stood out. Throughout my life, I have disapproved of society's expectations for men to buy engagement rings for women. I believe that a ring symbolizes expectation and wealth rather than love. This page struck an unexpected anger in me, and I believe it’s because I feel that a ring has no meaning besides bondage. A marriage united with love is wonderful, but engagement rings seem to represent money and finances rather than love. The ring itself is supposed to be exciting and glorious, but really it is just a…