Sound Blog Response #1

Diane Tells His Name and Bonnie Buchanan
http://storycorps.org/listen/teresa-diane-tells-his-name-and-bonnie-buchanan/

This story caught my attention just from looking at the description, "Diane tells her daughter about discovering she was adopted." I never realized that adoption was something people kept secret, I always assumed that hiding adoption was something that only happened in movies and television shows. I was shocked to realize that it wasn't a fictional idea. I can't imagine what it would have been like to think that you were adopted but not find out the truth until age 37. Having that doubt in the back of my mind would have driven me crazy. Then to find out and go visit the culture that you should have been raised in, that must have been an incredible experience.
Another thing that made this story amazing for me was how early she first thought that she was different. This lady must have been incredibly smart if she started to figure out that she was adopted in elementary school. I also really enjoyed how she described her sister, "she would do tea parties, dolls and things like that... blonde and thin like my mother." She could have just said that she was different but she went into detail and it made me picture her and her sister.
I think the most amazing part of this story is that she adopted a child from the same reservation and found out it was her cousin. The chances of that happening is something out of a movie. This lady's story seems like something that would only happen in a movie. I always love hearing about the extraordinary things that I assume only happen in movies. It gives me a different perspective on what is impossible.


Threats And Lies, And 'Who I'm Supposed To Be'
www.npr.org/2012/01/13/145099739/threats-and-lies-and-who-im-supposed-to-be

I think that it is the details in this story that make is as amazing as it is, the story is fascinating but the details make it the incredible story it is. Saying that she handed him the shotgun and forced him to carry it while she drove him out to the forest and then put him up against a tree and threatened to kill him with it, adds such a dimension to the story. You get such a deeper sense of who his mother is, he could have just said she threatened to kill me but describing it the way he did shows just how anti homosexual his mother is. It also shows the oppression that he must have dealt with all of his life. If he is fearing for his life if he ever shows his true feelings he must have had to be aware of his actions all of the time. One slip up could cost him his life, living with that kind of fear would tear a weaker person apart.
This story also gives me a new perspective on how oppressed homosexuals actually are in other places. I am born and raised in California so I always had a very positive view on homosexuality. I had heard of people having to hide it because their parents might treat them differently or maybe even disown. I have even heard of people being killed because they were homosexual but I have never heard a story where someone was threatened with death by their own mother. To hate homosexuality so much you would kill your own flesh and blood is something I can't wrap my head around. Family is precious and you should accept everyone, especially your family, for who they are. It makes me angry and sad to hear that there are some places where you might lose your life for being who you are. I can only hope that with the coming generations this senseless hate disappears.