Invitation to read Julia Loving's story "The Smell of Gardenia"

[Julia Loving]

I would like to invite everyone to read my hypertext story The Smell of Gardenia. I really had a great time writing this story. It brought back some memories of travel, family, military life and marriage. I hope you will enjoy reading it.

[Sonali]

My favorite shard was the one about the Vietnam War. I didn't have time to finish the whole story but it was interesting to read the beginning.

[joann chen]

Reading your story expands my world and, at the same time, gives me the sense of oneness. Travelling and family tie also make us to be who we are that is what I expience in my life. I like the photos you add on each story that make your story so alive.

[Mat]

This story is a really great memoir of your life and experiences. Travelling, dealing a military husband. Your life story and your family. I found it inspirational story. I also like the way you used the hypertextopia linking with photos. I believe this was a great way for us to learn about writing and teaching and exploring our life.

[Julie]

Julia, your structure is really strong -- one fragment leads to the next. Instead of having lots of divergent fragments, you chose to use lots of shards to give the reader more information about your family and your past, and to support their reading. It raises lots of questions for me, and makes me think about the positive aspects of military life. Like you, I support the troops rather than the war. But I wonder, after reading your story, if there's some way we could actually have a national corps that would give young people the same positive experiences, without the negative aspects of the military...