This particular episode--funny, introspective, and strange--focuses on people who are dealing with different aspects of memory and of being remembered. Something like finding a certain type of bird can earn someone important accolades, whereas something like escaping prison can earn someone desired freedom; something like a yearbook photo seems so trivial in the scope of life, whereas something like a horrible physical altercation can scar someone with an indelible impression on his/her mind forever.
At the end of his solid speech in Chapel this morning, Luis Torres posed a very important question to the audience: "What will you do with what you've been given?" Think about the cards that the people in the four segments of the TAL episode have been dealt. How have they dealt with their problems, successes, and failures? Which person do you remember and why?
PROMPT:
This episode deals specifically with two subjects: confinement and freedom. Each of the people from the episode has confined him/herself to a certain standard/condition/idea/way of life, and each seeks his or her own freedom in different ways.
In no fewer than 10 sentences--for full credit--please post a free response to this episode that includes some details about how you empathize with the people we saw today. Pay specific attention to your usage and grammar in this assignment.
Due before class begins on Monday, 1/31
The men that built the dental floss rope and ladder really caught my attention. The men were obviously intelligent people to have concocted this elaborate plan to build a ladder out of just dental floss. It seems like the men had to have been planning this for quite a while considering the thought that went into the production of the ladder. The amount of floss used is somewhat ridiculous, and I am amazed at the craftsmanship of the ladder and rope. These men are criminals yet seem too intelligent to be lawbreakers. I think that the men knew that their plan wouldn't fully succeed, and that they could have a better life in jail rather than in the outside world. They seemed to be more concerned about going down in history as trying to escape jail using dental floss than the actual punishment they would receive. I agree that some people do crazy things just to be remembered in history. Also that maybe they are just searching for their place in the world, and they find it humorous that they have more time in prison. Although I do not think I would ever go to such great lengths just to go down in history.
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I remember the episode about high school picture day the most because very much of what the narrator said was true. Including the fact that by looking at a photo you cannot tell what a person likes to do, if they play sports, what they do for fun, and so on. However, many people take picture day very seriously and try to look their best, and this makes sense too because you don’t want people to look back in the yearbook and remember you as the person who clearly put no effort into picture day. Despite the fact that people know that you shouldn’t judge a person based on a photo, it is still human nature to form preconceived notions about others through superficial methods. I also found it interesting to see how many of the students are convinced that the things they will remember most about high school are trivial matters such as who they had a crush on. But are these trivial and insignificant things what you want your memory to be made up of? Do you want to be thirty and still thinking about that boy you liked for a month of freshmen year of high school? Some people may love reliving their high school years later in life, especially if they were the best four years they ever had. However, most people are going to only keep the larger parts of high school in their memories, such as who their friends were, senior spring break, and graduation. Most people want to remember things that impacted their life in a significant way or made some kind of impression on them. What seems to important to the high school students in the video, will most likely change over the years.
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The man who built his own town out of action figures really captured my attention. He had obviously been scarred for life with his troubled past. Although, in the episode, his issues were only mentioned rather than discussed in detail, something horrible had happened to him. The pain he felt kept him from connecting with reality. He preferred, instead to live in a fantasy world where he could control all aspects of life. Something in particular that really stuck with me was when the interviewer asked the man, "So, on an average day who do you talk to?" He responded in a sad tone, "I don't talk to anyone." This simple conversation made me think about how many people actually live their lives this way. They live completely disconnected and secluded from all other human beings. I could not imagine never talking to anyone. I had a very sobering thought, that man will not be remembered. He will not go down in history. He simply will fall off the face of the earth and no one will notice. Someone dies everyday, but most have loved ones who will remember them and honor their achievements and lives. This man will only be remembered by his family.
ReplyDeleteThe man who built his own city out of dolls and action figures intrigued me, and posed many questions about his life inside my head. At first, I believed he enjoyed photographing the dolls as he put them in realistic settings. However, this is more than something this man enjoys, it is more than a hobby. This man feels something deeper when he comes home from work to sit on his back porch with his fictional town. He feels secure, he feels safe, he feels at home and at ease. All people have different comfort zones, different places they run to after a bad day. Though we all have different comfort zones, most of us have loved ones or family to run to, but does this man? A feeling is a feeling, and it is not something that can be erased. A feeling takes time to heal and disappear, and sometimes that time never comes. As this man copes with his past, he finds comfort in creating fictional scenarios that once occurred at some point in his life. He feels pleasure in getting revenge, even if the revenge is one doll to another. Many may view this man as crazy, but I do not feel this way at all. This man is lost, he feels he has no where to belong, and so this is what he does to let out the pain. The man will not be remembered by the world, society, or even his family, but that may just be his goal.
ReplyDeleteI remember the episode of the High School picture day the most because of all the commotion that was going on. It was your typical teenager trying to be different in a picture where they were forced to look the same. What I mean by that is that they wore their "best attire", did their hair, and even some boys probably showered for the first time just to look nice, but in retrospect they were conformed to sit the same way, angle themselves the same way, and even have the same facial expressions. With all of this going on the narrator asked a hand full of the kids who a certain girl, whose name I can not remember right now, is. They all said positive things about her like she really goes out of her way to help others, and that she is sweet. As all of these things were being said about her, I was kind of forming my own mental picture of how she might look. I pictured a slender looking female with a wide smile who seemed genuinely nice and outgoing. Once they showed the girl, I noticed she had braces, and in my opinion was not attractive to me (sorry if I hit a personal note). She did have a wide smile that everyone seemed keen to because from what everyone was saying, she was everyone's best friend. I created this norm in my head of what a high school girl looks like, and for that matter, a "popular" high school girl. This to me seems like it was cause by television because in reality I know it does not work that way. Of course everyone changes and in high school is when that change usually occurs. She has obviously made an impact in peoples lives, but she kind of through the video helped me a grow a bit as a person because it taught me again to be less judgmental of others.
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The man who built an entire town out of action figures really interested me. In a way I felt sorry for him, but then again he was doing something he loved and enjoyed. It made wonder if he would still be like this if he had not been physically hurt in his past. This man is an outcast to the world, yet he has his own world he is apart of. Although, his town is full of violence he is in charge and can control the outcome. This is a way for him to feel in power and to retaliate against the people who hurt him, in his town he is not able to get hurt. Even though people think he is crazy, in a way he has a true talent. The dolls and action figures were extremely precise and had intricate detail. This town is his passion and something he is good at. This man has no connection to the world or his family, you have to feel sorry for these types of people. This man could have been "normal" before he was physically hurt and since then could have become closed off due to trust issues. I feel he will be remembered or at least know in this world because of the video This American Life, and that will be his way of leaving an impression on the world.
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The story about the dental floss ladder really interested me. It amazed me how two inmates could make such an elaborate ladder with out anyone in the prison noticing. It was made entirely out of hundreds of yards of dental floss. I was surprised that dental floss could withstand the weight of a fully grown man. Despite their plan, I think that the inmates hoped they would get caught so their sentence would lengthen. This is probably because their life in jail would be better than life outside of it; for them, freedom is being in jail instead of living outside of it. I doubt that they have a job, a home, or even family to go to if they were freed. Jail provides food, a bed, and company all for free. I also think that their plan had another intention: to be forever remembered as the the prisoners who almost escaped prison using only dental floss and items they found laying around their cell. It amused me that during their interview, they mentioned their next escape attempt. These two will stop at nothing to go down in history.
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The story about the two men who tried to break out of jail stuck with me the most. With their minds set on breaking out of jail, the two men constructed a rope made only out of dental floss. The fact that the men managed to make an escape rope out of dental floss really impressed me. One of the two men knew they wanted to get out of jail; therefore, he brought the dental floss into the jail. This story showed me that when people can achieve anything they set their mind to. The two men were so interested in escaping from jail and going down in history rather than facing their time in jail. This story also shows that people will go to extreme lengths to go down in history. I would never do something so extreme to go down in history.
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I empathize with the man who thinks he has seen the rare bird (I forgot its name). I am a hunter and understand the feeling of believing something is there when its actually not. After sitting in a deer blind for a few hours in freezing cold weather after waking up at three or four in the morning, this is not hard to do. The man's life depends on finding this bird. It is similar to the way I feel about hunting, but with much greater magnitude. I sit there in wait, hoping that a deer will show up so that I didn't waste my time physically tormenting myself. This man has his reputation, career, and legacy on the line. He doesn't want to go down as the crazy guy who thought he saw the rare bird. He wants to go down as the guy who found the rare bird and rescued it from extinction.
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff, people! Thank you for the thoughtful comments. I truly dig the empathy.
ReplyDeleteThe two inmates who attempted to break out of jail were genious. The dental floss rope was pure creativity. The inmates understood that their attempt did not have a one hundred percent chance of working, but im not sure that they cared. I think that the didn’t want to get out for parole because they had adapted to prison life. Once they had been placed in prison, im not sure that they wanted to leave so soon. In prison meals are provided. For probable economic reasons, maybe they wanted to stay in the lifestyle they had already adapted to. The inmates although they had a master plan of breaking out, ended up staying in jail for a few more years because of their idea.
ReplyDeleteThe episode I remembered the most was the episode of the two men in jail that built a ladder out of dental floss to escape. It blows my mind that someone would try so hard to escape from the physical confinement that they are stuck in. I personally would never attempt to escape in the manor that they did. However, I have a lot of respect for their tried escape. For two guys to design an elaborate and unique plan to build a ladder out of dental floss is incredible. One thing even more incredible than their plan was their patience. They showed incredible diligence, and strategy building the ladder. They must have had a very engineering type of brain, but also a very creative one. I personally would never have come up with the idea to make a ladder out of dental floss. These men will go down in history as the most creative escape attempt ever. Sadly enough, they did not escape. That would have been the icing on the cake.
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