1. "I'm curious how could I have reached out to you better"
http://storycorps.org/listen/stories/antero-garcia-and-roger-alvarez/
This story really touched my heart. It was about a student who dropped out of his high school during his senior year and never graduated. This conversation took place between that student and his teacher. In the teachers voice, you could somewhat tell that he felt responsible for the student dropping out. However, when the student was ask "at the beginning of the year, did you think you would drop out", the student replied "yes". This is because the student felt that he didn't have enough knowledge to complete the grade.
One very important part of this story is that the student, Antero, tells his teacher that him dropping out is not his teachers fault. He thanks his teacher for trying so hard to teach him. He said that most teachers only pay attention to a certain group of student (most likely the smart, well-behaved ones), however his teacher, Roger, went out of his way to pay attention to all of the students. You could tell that Antero regretted dropping out of high school when he was so close to graduating. In fact, he still hopes to obtain his GED.
In the high school that Antero comes from, only 48% of the students graduate. This to me is very sad because that is less than half. I can't imagine what the school culture would be like at high tech high if less than half of our peers dropped out.
2. "he was a strong fit kid, so I really didn't think anything was wrong"
http://storycorps.org/listen/stories/dennis-and-buelah-apple/
In this story, two parents, Dennis and Buelah Apple, lost their son Denny when Denny was only 18 years-old. Denny died a rather sudden death from a sickness called mono. Mono can be treated and typically doesn't kill fit young people. However, in a rare case, Denny apple got sick from mono and died over night. When his parents found him dead in the morning they thought their lives were over. Neither of them wanted to go on. They even considered committing suicide. However, because they had another son to look after, they didn't.
This story was recorded twenty years after the death of their son. As they talk, you can still hear the pain in their voice, however it is clear that time has greatly helped to heal the deep wounds. They talk about life after the death of their son and how they had to make a decision years after he passed if they would keep deeply grieving, or try to be happy again. They came to the conclusion to be happy again for their son. They knew that was what he would have wanted.
I can't imagine losing a child, but I know if it ever happened to me, I would probably face the same struggles not knowing how to continue my life.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Audio Sories: 1/22/12
1. Jim Fletcher and his wife Maryanne
http://storycorps.org/listen/stories/james-fletcher-and-his-wife-maryann/
This story really touched my heart because there are so many failing marriages in today's world, and this was a story about lasting love. In fact, it's a story about a love that began in the first grade. In the story, Jim Fletcher and Maryanne met in the first grade. They were together all the way up until the end of high school. But at the end of high school they made a conscious decision to stop talking so they could experience other people and experience the world separately for once.
Jim knew that if he stayed in contact with Maryanne while they were "apart", he would not be able to handle it because he would always want to be back with her. This being true, Jim asked Maryanne not to contact him in any way. The couple stopped talking for a whopping twenty-two years. However, one day, twenty-two years later, Jim messaged Maryanne on facebook. The moment Maryanne opened the message, she immediately felt the same love for Jim she had, had all her life. When Maryanne replied, Jim felt the same way. The couple decided to meet back up and ended up getting married only a short time later. They say that they always knew they belonged together.
When I listened to this story I couldn't help but think about my own boyfriend. If we do break up, we will have to stop all contact, like Jim and Maryanne. I can't imagine how difficult this will be. Jim and Maryanne had been together since the first grade and had to stop talking after many years of love. I do not know how they were able to do this. I have only been with my boyfriend for 15 months and I can't imagine not having him in my life at all. However, I have made the decision that if I love someone, I will never unnecessarily kick them out of my life so I can "experience the world", instead I would love to "experience the world together".
2. I've lived with this for so long
http://storycorps.org/listen/stories/chris-whitney-and-erin-kuka/
The thing that first caught my eye about this story was the fact that it was about someone HIV positive. I have often wondered how people are able to cope with diseases that are so easily caught and so difficult to deal with. It makes me sad to think that this disease can be caught by anyone at anytime. Often times, people with this illness are looked down on for being "dirty". But like I said before, this could happen to the nicest, cleanest, sweetest person in the world and could kill them.
In the story, Chris (the person HIV positive) meets his partner of ten years in France. He was very reluctant and scared to tell his partner that he was HIV positive but he knew he had to. When he finally told him, his partner said "So what". He was careless because he was HIV positive as well. This was a great relief to Chris. Finally he had met someone who knew the position he was in. However, Chris's partner had it much worse then Chris, he was very ill and in fact dying.
Chris shares an experience where he and his partner were both lying in bed watching the lunar eclipse. He remembers thinking about how it would probably be the last lunar eclipse they would ever watch together before the death of his partner. I can't imagine laying in bed with someone who you knew was going to die soon. Losing someone so close to you, especially someone who has gone through the same illness that you have, would be devastating. Although the interview took place years after, you could still hear the pain in Chris's voice as he told his story.
http://storycorps.org/listen/stories/james-fletcher-and-his-wife-maryann/
This story really touched my heart because there are so many failing marriages in today's world, and this was a story about lasting love. In fact, it's a story about a love that began in the first grade. In the story, Jim Fletcher and Maryanne met in the first grade. They were together all the way up until the end of high school. But at the end of high school they made a conscious decision to stop talking so they could experience other people and experience the world separately for once.
Jim knew that if he stayed in contact with Maryanne while they were "apart", he would not be able to handle it because he would always want to be back with her. This being true, Jim asked Maryanne not to contact him in any way. The couple stopped talking for a whopping twenty-two years. However, one day, twenty-two years later, Jim messaged Maryanne on facebook. The moment Maryanne opened the message, she immediately felt the same love for Jim she had, had all her life. When Maryanne replied, Jim felt the same way. The couple decided to meet back up and ended up getting married only a short time later. They say that they always knew they belonged together.
When I listened to this story I couldn't help but think about my own boyfriend. If we do break up, we will have to stop all contact, like Jim and Maryanne. I can't imagine how difficult this will be. Jim and Maryanne had been together since the first grade and had to stop talking after many years of love. I do not know how they were able to do this. I have only been with my boyfriend for 15 months and I can't imagine not having him in my life at all. However, I have made the decision that if I love someone, I will never unnecessarily kick them out of my life so I can "experience the world", instead I would love to "experience the world together".
2. I've lived with this for so long
http://storycorps.org/listen/stories/chris-whitney-and-erin-kuka/
The thing that first caught my eye about this story was the fact that it was about someone HIV positive. I have often wondered how people are able to cope with diseases that are so easily caught and so difficult to deal with. It makes me sad to think that this disease can be caught by anyone at anytime. Often times, people with this illness are looked down on for being "dirty". But like I said before, this could happen to the nicest, cleanest, sweetest person in the world and could kill them.
In the story, Chris (the person HIV positive) meets his partner of ten years in France. He was very reluctant and scared to tell his partner that he was HIV positive but he knew he had to. When he finally told him, his partner said "So what". He was careless because he was HIV positive as well. This was a great relief to Chris. Finally he had met someone who knew the position he was in. However, Chris's partner had it much worse then Chris, he was very ill and in fact dying.
Chris shares an experience where he and his partner were both lying in bed watching the lunar eclipse. He remembers thinking about how it would probably be the last lunar eclipse they would ever watch together before the death of his partner. I can't imagine laying in bed with someone who you knew was going to die soon. Losing someone so close to you, especially someone who has gone through the same illness that you have, would be devastating. Although the interview took place years after, you could still hear the pain in Chris's voice as he told his story.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Jan 15th Audio Stories
1. "What's your life like now, Dad"
http://storycorps.org/listen/stories/ken-morganstern-priya-morganstern-and-bhavani-jaroff/
This audio story first interested me when I saw that it was about a man with Alzheimer's disease. I was shocked that someone would choose to conduct an interview with someone who has very little memory to tell stories. When I first started listening to this audio story, I thought they would probably be asking the father about his Alzheimer's disease. However, never once in the interview did they mention it. Instead, the by asking the question's they asked, as a listener I was able to infer that he has Alzheimer's disease.
They did this by asking the dad to name all of his children, and he forgot his son. Although he did say, "there is a man in there, somewhere". They also asked him about his day to day life and he gave very vague answers which inferred that he couldn't remember.
The interviewers did a very nice job at making sure their father felt comfortable by laughing when he forgot something rather then feeling sad for him. I could tell that this helped the father feel more comfortable because he could see that they took it somewhat lightly. Sometimes during the interview however, I think they took it too lightly by laughing too much which seemed inappropriate.
2. "If just one of them gets through, they may save us all"
http://storycorps.org/listen/stories/john-hunter-and-julianne-swope/
Part of the reason why I chose this story was simply because of the picture. It had an older black male with a younger red-headed girl. I thought since this man most likely wasn't the girls biological father, what would they be doing together? The beggining of the audio story is a little girl (red-head) talking to the teacher (the older black male) about a game called "The world peace game". This is a game that the teacher invented in order to show his students that every desicion they make could impact the world and to show them catastrophe so that they will hope to fix it in the future.
Later in the interview, the voice of an older girl who had the teacher 15 years ago came on. This girl was in college studying to work for international peace. She tells her old teacher that his game inspired her life and what she was doing. As they discuss the game you can hear the girls passion, but also the teachers happiness. He said that "If just one of them gets through, they may save us all". In other words, if just one of the students that he taught was able to make a change in the world for the better, they may just save us all. I thought it was very nice for this old man to see that his hard work payed off even 15 years later. You could hear his appreciation for the girl who took on this challenge in his voice. It was a very touching story.
http://storycorps.org/listen/stories/ken-morganstern-priya-morganstern-and-bhavani-jaroff/
This audio story first interested me when I saw that it was about a man with Alzheimer's disease. I was shocked that someone would choose to conduct an interview with someone who has very little memory to tell stories. When I first started listening to this audio story, I thought they would probably be asking the father about his Alzheimer's disease. However, never once in the interview did they mention it. Instead, the by asking the question's they asked, as a listener I was able to infer that he has Alzheimer's disease.
They did this by asking the dad to name all of his children, and he forgot his son. Although he did say, "there is a man in there, somewhere". They also asked him about his day to day life and he gave very vague answers which inferred that he couldn't remember.
The interviewers did a very nice job at making sure their father felt comfortable by laughing when he forgot something rather then feeling sad for him. I could tell that this helped the father feel more comfortable because he could see that they took it somewhat lightly. Sometimes during the interview however, I think they took it too lightly by laughing too much which seemed inappropriate.
2. "If just one of them gets through, they may save us all"
http://storycorps.org/listen/stories/john-hunter-and-julianne-swope/
Part of the reason why I chose this story was simply because of the picture. It had an older black male with a younger red-headed girl. I thought since this man most likely wasn't the girls biological father, what would they be doing together? The beggining of the audio story is a little girl (red-head) talking to the teacher (the older black male) about a game called "The world peace game". This is a game that the teacher invented in order to show his students that every desicion they make could impact the world and to show them catastrophe so that they will hope to fix it in the future.
Later in the interview, the voice of an older girl who had the teacher 15 years ago came on. This girl was in college studying to work for international peace. She tells her old teacher that his game inspired her life and what she was doing. As they discuss the game you can hear the girls passion, but also the teachers happiness. He said that "If just one of them gets through, they may save us all". In other words, if just one of the students that he taught was able to make a change in the world for the better, they may just save us all. I thought it was very nice for this old man to see that his hard work payed off even 15 years later. You could hear his appreciation for the girl who took on this challenge in his voice. It was a very touching story.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Book Proposal CPR
BOOK PROPOSAL
I would like to read the book "Year of Wonders" by Geraldine Brooks. This book is about how a plague was brought from London to a small isolated village. It shows how a society deals with a catastrophe and with the many deaths brought on by a plague. It is a historical fiction book. I think it would be good for myself to read because I usually pick books that take place in modern day. This is a book that takes place in the past. My mom really wants me to read it because she says it will be good practice for college.
She says that it is good practice for college because I will be reading a lot more realistic fiction. I usually real fantasy fiction so it will be interesting to read something much more normal. The one thing I fear however, is that this book might be boring (because my mom has a tendency to read boring books). However, she is very insistent on this book being a good read, so I am trusting her.
I would like to read the book "Year of Wonders" by Geraldine Brooks. This book is about how a plague was brought from London to a small isolated village. It shows how a society deals with a catastrophe and with the many deaths brought on by a plague. It is a historical fiction book. I think it would be good for myself to read because I usually pick books that take place in modern day. This is a book that takes place in the past. My mom really wants me to read it because she says it will be good practice for college.
She says that it is good practice for college because I will be reading a lot more realistic fiction. I usually real fantasy fiction so it will be interesting to read something much more normal. The one thing I fear however, is that this book might be boring (because my mom has a tendency to read boring books). However, she is very insistent on this book being a good read, so I am trusting her.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Jan 8th Audio Stories
1. Remembering Laura
http://www.radiodiaries.org/my-so-called-lungs/
When I chose this story, I had no idea what I was in for. The title alone somewhat gave it away, but I had no idea how emotional it would make me. The audio story I chose to share is about a girl named Laura who is dead now. She grew up with a disease called Cystic Fibrosis. Before I listened to the story, I did not know what this was. It turns out that Cystic Fibrosis causes the lungs to deteriorate.
A few years ago, someone gave Laura a tape recorder so she could discuss how she was feeling from time to time. Sometimes she wouldn't touch it for months but other times she wouldn't put it down. One thing that was shared during the audio story really changed the way I saw "dying people".
In her private audio recording, Laura talked about how her friends acted around her. She said that sometimes while she was having fun laughing with her friends, in the back of her mind she would think about how they chose to ignore the fact that she was dying. Although all of her friends knew that she could probably die within the next few years, people rarely addressed it. This made me sad because if I were one of her friends, I would probably just choose to ignore it as well because thinking about it would be to hard to bare. If I got the chance to talk to Laura, I would love to ask her how she wished the people around her treated her in her last years. If she wished that they would act happy so she wouldn't be sad, or if she would have rather they cry with her.
2. Amanda's Diary: Girlfriend
http://www.radiodiaries.org/amanda-from-new-york-girlfriend/
Amanda's story jumped out to me because the introduction portrayed her as a rebel. It starts out with her talking about how she doesn't care if her mom sees her smoking, then she later goes into talking about the way she dresses. She describes it as a somewhat edgy Gothic look. This intro was interesting to me because I was excited to see the way she views herself rather than the way others view her.
One thing that she said during the audio clip which interested me was that one thing that attracts her to most to people is their voice. I could agree with that because I have heard guy's deep voices that I love as well. She also tells a story about how when she was little her and her friends would play a game called sleeping beauty in first grade. In the game, the girls would pretend to be asleep and the boys would have to give them a kiss to always wake them up. Amanda says that she wanted to give the girls a kiss and wake them up.
When Amanda tries to explain this to her parents (on recorder) they act as if they are in denial. They say that she is too young to know what gender she likes. Her parents say "its just a phase". She is clearly very frustrated with this because she starts crying toward the end of the audio. I completely understand how horrible it feels for her parents to go against what she is because sometimes my parents don't agree with my morals and they think I am the one who is wrong no matter what. I really liked at the end how she explains that "no matter if you are half horse and half fish, you are proud of what you are, and I am proud of what I am".
http://www.radiodiaries.org/my-so-called-lungs/
When I chose this story, I had no idea what I was in for. The title alone somewhat gave it away, but I had no idea how emotional it would make me. The audio story I chose to share is about a girl named Laura who is dead now. She grew up with a disease called Cystic Fibrosis. Before I listened to the story, I did not know what this was. It turns out that Cystic Fibrosis causes the lungs to deteriorate.
A few years ago, someone gave Laura a tape recorder so she could discuss how she was feeling from time to time. Sometimes she wouldn't touch it for months but other times she wouldn't put it down. One thing that was shared during the audio story really changed the way I saw "dying people".
In her private audio recording, Laura talked about how her friends acted around her. She said that sometimes while she was having fun laughing with her friends, in the back of her mind she would think about how they chose to ignore the fact that she was dying. Although all of her friends knew that she could probably die within the next few years, people rarely addressed it. This made me sad because if I were one of her friends, I would probably just choose to ignore it as well because thinking about it would be to hard to bare. If I got the chance to talk to Laura, I would love to ask her how she wished the people around her treated her in her last years. If she wished that they would act happy so she wouldn't be sad, or if she would have rather they cry with her.
2. Amanda's Diary: Girlfriend
http://www.radiodiaries.org/amanda-from-new-york-girlfriend/
Amanda's story jumped out to me because the introduction portrayed her as a rebel. It starts out with her talking about how she doesn't care if her mom sees her smoking, then she later goes into talking about the way she dresses. She describes it as a somewhat edgy Gothic look. This intro was interesting to me because I was excited to see the way she views herself rather than the way others view her.
One thing that she said during the audio clip which interested me was that one thing that attracts her to most to people is their voice. I could agree with that because I have heard guy's deep voices that I love as well. She also tells a story about how when she was little her and her friends would play a game called sleeping beauty in first grade. In the game, the girls would pretend to be asleep and the boys would have to give them a kiss to always wake them up. Amanda says that she wanted to give the girls a kiss and wake them up.
When Amanda tries to explain this to her parents (on recorder) they act as if they are in denial. They say that she is too young to know what gender she likes. Her parents say "its just a phase". She is clearly very frustrated with this because she starts crying toward the end of the audio. I completely understand how horrible it feels for her parents to go against what she is because sometimes my parents don't agree with my morals and they think I am the one who is wrong no matter what. I really liked at the end how she explains that "no matter if you are half horse and half fish, you are proud of what you are, and I am proud of what I am".
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