Article Assignment #3

Tioughnioga

Sonjia Turner

Rating ***

            Tioughnioga is a poetic, personal short story about a young woman and her nostalgic connection to the Tioughnioga River throughout her teenage years and adult life.  

            As a teenager she and her sisters would drive there and hike through the pastures to the little swimming hole they had discovered.  In the summer they would splash about in the water for hours and hours on end, and in the winter they would shovel off the snow and ice skate.     The woman talks about the beauty of the landscape around the river; swaths of emerald cornfields, pastel coloured skies and patches of buttercups.  In this beauty is where she found serenity during her young troubled years.  Now as an adult she reminisces about her youth and the Tioughnioga River fondly.

            This artistic piece of writing makes me reflect and think about my childhood.  When I was younger my brother and I used to play in the brook beside our house, much like the author and her sisters.  We would spend entire days outside in the water catching frogs, crayfish and minnows under the hot summer sun.   Some winters, if it was cold enough and the water was fully frozen, we too would shovel off the ice and skate.  

            I think the author, Sonjia Turner, did a fantastic job.  Her advanced use of language and vocabulary painted a vivid visual picture of the Tioughnioga River and her love for it.   People like me are able to connect on a personal level to her writing, which is a strong indication of an exceptional story.

Turner, Sonjia. "Tioughnioga" Department of Environmental Conservation. February 2011. New York State. 01 June, 2014 <http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/73435.html>.