Sound Blog Response #7

1. "He dropped me off in the middle of the night with a $5 dollar bill."
www.storycorps.org/listen/bryan-and-michael-wilmoth/

This is my number one favorite simple because it got the best emotional response out of me. I was very angry in the beginning at this horrible excuse of a father. I was flabbergasted at how he could treat his children with no love or respect. Then when the story progressed a little bit I wasn't angry anymore, I got the feeling of happy and hopeful. Michael was disowned by his parents, didn't have the chance to get to know many of his siblings and yet he still reaches out to them. He tries to create loving relationships out of almost nothing, I really respect this man for being able to do that.

2. Man and Beast - Alan Robinowich

http://themoth.org/posts/stories/man-and-beast

I have similar reasons for liking both my number two and three, both of the men in the stories have overcome very crippling circumstances and are living a great life. In this story he over comes not being able to talk to anyone until his senior year of college and lives his life very well. He lives out his dream and researches panthers in south america. I think its uplifting and inspiring hearing about this guy and what he has achieved.

3. "What's your life like now, dad?

www.storycorps.org/listen/ken-morganstern-priya-morganstern-and-bhavani-jaroff/

This story is one of the most inspiring stories I have ever heard, not because he has overcome great difficulty but because he was faced faced with Alzheimers and he seems to not care. He seems to find the amazing in life even though most people would be miserable and crippled if faced with the same difficulties. I find it wonderful that he can seem so happy, it makes me happier with the life that I have.

Sound Blog Response #6

"He dropped me off in the middle of the night with a $5 dollar bill."
www.bryan-and-michael-wilmoth/
First off this man is incredible, he was kicked out of his house, disowned and still tried his hardest to be the best big brother that he could be. I think that is wonderful, most people would have just let the bridges become destroyed and accept that they were not apart of their family anymore. This guy said "no!" i'm going to repair these mangled bridges and be the best big brother I can be. Without a second word he gave up his savings to put a brother he had never known about through college, that takes true love.
Secondly, I want to meet "dad" so that I can smack him and then teach him how to be a good person, this is not just because he is anti-homosexual but because most of his kids were either kicked out of the house or ran away. That says something about this guys parenting skills, they are obviously sub-par. If you raised children that are raised to hate each other then something is going wrong. I'm not saying i'm going to be a great parent or that it is easy, but there are somethings that I know are wrong, raising your children the way he did is definitely something I can say that I will never do.
"Evander and I had a dog named Lassie..."
www.storycorps.org/listen/bernard-holyfield-and-charles-barlow/
This story makes me want to cry, for two reasons, the first being that this kind of thing could happen without repercussions. Growing up in my generation I don't understand how people of the past could think that certain skin colors were better then others. I don't understand how people now a days can still think that, we are all human beings and should be treated as such, it doesn't matter what we look like or how we act, we all deserve to be happy and live good lives. No kid should have to learn that they are looked down upon by some people at the age of five. That is not a burden that a five year old should have to bear.
The second reason is that this poor guy's dog was killed when he was five. Even worse he watched it happen, and was powerless to do anything about it. This reminds me of my cat Buffy, when I was little my parents had to put her down. They told me that they had to "put her to sleep" and I was too young to understand what that meant. I thought that she would wake up after a little bit. My parents had to tell me that putting her to sleep meant killing her and she would never wake up. I was devastated, I didn't know what my life would be like without her, and I was scared. I think I know how he feels, it is a horrible feeling to have, especially when you are a kid.

Sound Blog Response #5

Man and Beast - Alan Robinowich
http://themoth.org/posts/stories/man-and-beast
This story is wonderful, it is such an uplifting lighthearted story. At least that is how I took it, I understand if you don't see it that way seeing as how this guy has struggled horribly his entire life. Yes that is true but he overcame it and now he is doing something he loves. If I can be as happy as he seems when i'm older I think I will be set. He is living a dream, getting to chase around these beautiful and mysterious creatures all day and document what they are doing. I think that is a pretty rad job.
I have never heard of someone having such a severe stutter, when I was little I had a very slight stutter  but it went away pretty quickly. I never thought it could cause your body to convulse and make it impossible to talk to people. That is something I cannot imagine dealing with. Something I think is really odd is that he can talk to animals, and that most people with stutters wont when talking to animals. That is really interesting to me that someone has something crossed in their brain that causes them to freeze when talking to people but not animals. Like they are afraid that anything they say would be judged or people would take it offensively, so rather then say it their body forces them not to.
"He's always been on my mind ever since then..."
storycorps.org/listen/bill-cosgrove/
This story made me realize just how lucky some people are. He would have been crushed when the north tower fell if he had not stumbled up the father. It also makes me realize how unlucky some people are that didn't stumble upon someone and did get crushed when the tower fell. It makes me feel lucky to be thousands of miles away from the scene when it happened. It makes me appreciate just how easy and happy my life is, because some people are going through some really tough situations out there.
I wonder how bill must have felt when the north tower fell. I wonder if he realized that if it were not for finding the father he might have been crushed. What it must have been like to realize that you very well could have just died must make you rethink somethings in your life. I think it is amazing that he stuck with being a cop  even after coming so close to death because of it. It takes an amazing kind of person to be able to do that.

Sound Blog Response #4

"I wasn't very nice..."

storycorps.org/listen/kay-wang/

This lady is great, I think she is a very funny kind of person. She doesn't really care what people think of her and she just does what she wants. The story stories that she tells in the interview paint that kind of a picture in my head. Like the story of how she would spill hot tea on her mom if she made her apologize for something. That gives me the feeling that she was a really big hooligan in her young years, to disrespect your elder in an Asian family, especially back then, is a huge no-no.

Another thing that makes me think this lady is a free spirited person is the bloomingdales story. She accused a millionaire designer of stealing her own dress. Even when the designer asked "do you know who I am" she didn't care if she was pissing off  an important person. She just cared that she was stealing a dress. Even to this day knowing who the designer is she still calls her a thief. I also love how in the interview she tells her children when its over, they can barley coax her into talking about anything she didn't feel like talking about.

"By the time I was in the second grade, everyone was calling me Raymond."

storycorps.org/listen/ramn-chunky-snchez/

I think its ridiculous that teachers changed the names of students. Your name is your identity and only you should have the power to change it. Teachers shouldn't be changing students name so that they would be more "american." They should help their students embrace their cultural roots rather then try to get rid of them. What gives the teachers of that school the right to "americanize" these boys and girls. I wonder if this happened in schools all over or just ramon's.

The other thing I enjoy about this story is Ramon's vioce, its not what I would expect from a guy his sized. When I first heard it i started to laugh really hard because I was so surprised by his voice. I kept laughing and had to replay it because I missed most of it. The second time through I noticed a lot about his voice and how he spoke. It is kind of amazing, his voice is pretty high pitched but is has a rasp to it that gives it the age that makes sense to the picture. He also speaks quite quickly and for me that adds a kind of wisdom to his speaking since he must know his stuff if he can talk that fast without being tripped up.

College Preparatory Reading #1

The book that I chose was Cup of Gold by John Steinbeck. Choosing this book was fairly simple for me, I am not a very big reader, making it so I am not a quick one either. This called for a book on the shorter side so that I would be able to finish it in the allotted time period. Cup of gold is not a very long book so it was ideal, there were plenty of books for me to choose from with the criteria of short. There were two reasons that this one stood up above the others. One being that my mom recommended it, she reads all the time so I figured she would have a pretty good tastes in books. The second being that it is a story of pirates.
I have always really enjoyed pirate tales for a couple of reasons. I grew up near the water so any story that is on the water or about water makes me feel at home and comfortable. Making it so that I enjoy it more and get just a little bit more immersed in the story. Another reason is that I like the idea of pirates, spending time on the sea, messing around all the time, and best of all plundering for booty! I think it would be a pretty interesting life to be a stereotypical pirate and its fun to read about it and fuel my day dreams. The last reason is that I love sailing, my entire family is big on sailing but we don't get to do it very often so whenever I can get on a boat and sail around I have an amazing time.

Sound Blog Response #3

"As the Worm Turns"
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/404/enemy-camp-2010?act=3#play
I really like this story because of how absurd it is, a man walked through feces in Africa so to cure his allergies. To me that sounds like someone desperately lying to create an interesting story. The fact that its true is mind blowing, this guy must have been miserable to be pushed far enough to walk around in feces. The sheer will required to step into the latrines must have been astronomical. Its even more impressive that he didn't throw up and then went on to other latrines to do it over and over again. Then I think about how happy he must have been that it worked. If it didn't work and he walked around in feces for weeks for no reason it would have been devastating. It would be like putting yourself through torture. Also it must have felt amazing to finally not be sickly and miserable, I know I hate that feeling and to have it as bad as he did would have been crazy.
Another thing I really like about this guy is that he didn't just keep his solution to himself, he did a public favor and shared with the world. He created his business of selling hookworms to people who needed them, that takes some serious courage. Then to be shut down by the FDA and flee the country just so that he could continue to sell them, this guy has serious drive. I think it is really funny that he was able to go on for so long selling hook worms before the FDA decided to do something about it. It shows how uninformed our government can be.
"Just Keep Breathing"
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/476/what-doesnt-kill-you?act=2#play
This is my favorite story bar none, it is an incredible story of something very ordinary. When I think shark attack i think that a great white attacked someone and took a huge chunk out of them. I didn't think that a 13 year old girl would ever be able to survive something like that. This changed my view of shark attacks and made me realize I assumed the worst when I hear shark attack. I feel like this was the best case scenario, in the beginning, it turned into what was essentially the worst case scenario. Next to death of course, although some people might make the argument that death would have been much better then going through that pain.
I think it is kind of amazing how chilled out this doctor was, the way she said that he seemed to take his time while she was bleeding out from a shark attack on his table. He didn't even pay enough mind to do a closer inspection, he probably just gave her a once over and decided that was enough. If he had done a closer inspection then all of that trauma might have never been as bad. Another thing I think is amazing is how trusting her parents were, if a doctor told me discomfort was normal and my kid walked in after a shark bite and told me she was dying I would have at least checked it out a bit more. Not just dismissed it as nothing and told her to go back to bed. One thing I do like about the parenting is the joke gifts after, i think those are hilarious.

Sound Blog Response #2

“What's your life like now, Dad?”
http://storycorps.org/listen/ken-morganstern-priya-morganstern-and-bhavani-jaroff/
I think this story is wonderful, it is such an amazing contrast to the other story that I hear on this site that are all on the more depressing side. Hearing this made my heart lighten, this man could be miserable and so could his children but instead they are all happy and still enjoy life. Alzheimer's disease is something that can cripple families and people. This man and his two daughters seem completely at peace with the disease. This family seemed to be happier them most family that don't have a crippling disease. At one point he forgets his son's name and laughs it off, at the same time he forgets one of the daughter's name that is sitting right in front of him, she laughs it off as well.
I have always thought of myself as a pretty easy going dude but when I hear about this man and how he can laugh off Alzheimer's puts an entirely new meaning for easygoing. He can't remember how, when, or even where he met his wife and he is completely fine with it. He thinks on the bright side and remembers dating her and how that was. He could easily look back at everything he doesn't remember and be mortified but rather he chooses not to look at it and leads a happy life. If I am half as happy as this man through out my life I believe that I will have lead a full life. I would highly suggest listening to this podcast if you haven't already.
“We'd known death but not like this.”
http://storycorps.org/listen/hector-black/
Stories like this one always leave me with something to think about and leave me questioning my moral views on revenge and death. I have never experienced violent death in any form, I have heard about it happening but never have I seen it or has it happened to someone I know. I know that if that ever happens  I will have to rethink everything that I believe and pray that I keep my current ideals. Hearing this story makes me believe that it is possible to do that, hard but possible. I respect Hector for forgiving the man who killed his daughter. I think saying that he didn't want this man to die is something that only few men could do.
Revenge is something that I have thought about quite a bit, hearing this story reinforces my beliefs. I believe in the idea of forgiving but never forgetting, Hector did just that he forgave him for killing him but he didn't forget it and he still hates that his daughter is dead. On the other side of this story I can't imagine how the murderer feels, watching your sister being drowned by your own mother and knowing that your next must have seriously messed with his head. So much so that murder was nothing to him, he was able to have a peaceful conversation with the woman that he killed moments later. I find it fascinating that he was able to be so causal about murder. It makes me think about what can happen to a persons brain and how far it really can be pushed. 

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.