I'm going to be completely honest here: I could not finish this book.
It is not because the book was not well-written or well-researched. On the contrary, I found it to be hauntingly, distressingly good. The research seemed thorough to me, and no rock was left unturned. Gail approached the subject with nuance and respect, and I was impressed by the judicious way she examined the complicated and myriad aspects of the murder-suicide that occurred on this campus in 1999.
When I took Creative Nonfiction my sophomore year here, Gail had just wrapped up the years of work that went into writing this book, and as such, she was able to use it, and the process of writing it, as way to give us context in how to approach works like this. Even then, just by the way she discussed collecting memories from the persons affected by this tragedy, I was struck by the care she put into creating this book. I told myself then that I would read it someday, because I felt like it would probably be a perfect example of what I would eventually want to do myself with something I wrote.
And I was right. I read the majority of the book. I had to steel myself before every chapter, because while reading a narrative about such a traumatic event is difficult no matter what, reading about one that happened in the place you call home and hearing about the responses of multiple people you've grown to love and respect, is even harder. I managed to get through most of it. In the end, though, some stuff came back up when I was reading it I had to make the personal decision to put the book down and step away until I am mentally prepared to pick it up again. Maybe that will be tomorrow before class. I hope that it will be - I would like to engage in any discussions about the last chapter and a half that may arise.
I think, though, that this is a testament to how effective Gail was in telling the story of what happened before, during, and after the so-called "events of October," as well as conflating the events with the larger-scale societal implications of the matter. I found myself drawn, breathless, into the discussion on monsterizing Neenef, the debate about how to memorialize Neenef and Maggie, the question of bringing the term "violence against women" to this event.
I have no issue with the way this story was researched or presented. It seems extremely well done to me, and I do not think that my perception of it as a very well-written narrative is overly biased by the fact that I know and respect the author. The subject matter was just to volatile for me to finish right now.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Reading Responses
The Marriage Cure
I found this to be a very interesting article. It was probably one of the more effective ones I've read this quarter in that even though I've only been to Oklahoma City once (and never to the areas mentioned), there was a universality and also a good detailed description enough for me to be able to vividly picture what was going on. I felt like none of the information given was unnecessary; I also felt like I had enough information to completely understand the article.
I think what made this effective was the way Boo made the problems faced by Corean and Kim as accessible to the New Yorker's general audience as possible. The effort to make sure to tell two stories that are ultimately both quite bleak, but frame one in as much hope as possible, was an interesting one, and I have to admit (because I always want more), I'm curious about the statistics of the people living in Sooner Haven - actual numbers associated with the problems that Boo tells us about through the lives of Corean and Kim - in addition to these admittedly very touching and thought-provoking stories.
As depressing as it was to read, this is one of those articles that made me want to learn more about the projects of Oklahoma City in my spare time. I do feel like Boo provided us with enough to tell the stories she knows, but this has sparked my interest (as I feel a good, strong piece of narration should). I'm sure that any number of housing projects in any number of cities around the United States could have been chosen, many of which the readers of the New Yorker might be more familiar with than Oklahoma City. I like the decision she made to pick a place that is more out of mind than most, and I think it added a dimension (e.g. with the "Indian option") to the narrative that might have been missed had she chosen to profile women from projects of a more regularly-thought-about city.
The French Fry Connection
In response to the article that Tanj and I picked for everyone to read, I thought I would talk briefly about the context for the piece. We located it through the google book version of Storycraft and the chapter provides a lot of interesting insight and context into the process that Richard Read went through in order to create the story. It portrays the series of articles as a labor of love, as apparently, The Oregonian did not have much interest in posting that kind of series of articles - newspapers and magazines were doing spot treatments of the issue, and the article Richard Read proposed took too much time and effort. He managed to convince people that an explanatory piece on the Asian economic crisis was important, however, and purportedly worked quite hard to manage to get so many "ins" in order to tell the complete story, starting with allowing the Hutterite community to become familiar enough with him to share the secrets of their farming to following the potatoes (and fries) on to their ultimate destination McDonalds.
I know when I was browsing everyone elses' blogs earlier someone - I forget who - mentioned that his article was not well-sourced. I would agree that it came across like that. However his sources are made clear in the contextualizing chapter within Storycraft - an American couple booked passage on the ship that sent everything from the farm to Hong Kong, and Read convinced them to take detailed notes of the passage before flying over, himself (There's more, and the chapter is actually quite interesting if anyone has the time to read it).
In response to the article itself, I feel like it does an effective job at portraying the Asian economic crisis in a context that is accessible to American readers, though I agree that it can be a little bit repetitive. I wonder if I was more okay with that because I read the context chapter, though, especially because the chapter provided insight into the general narrative arc of pieces like this.
Aaron Aupperlee's articles
I found this collection of articles quite interesting. I especially appreciated seeing the ways in which audio slideshows were constructed for the stories of Dylan Radabaugh and Paul Powell and the Chittock street article.
I especially appreciated these articles as concrete examples of how to maneuver within word count limit, something that I know that I, personally, struggle with, and that I'm sure others struggle with as well. I was left unsatisfied at the end of most of them, because I always want to know more, but ultimately I am happy with how the stories were portrayed. My dissatisfaction - the article about the Grass Lake boys was great for depicting their friendship and recovery, but I was constantly hoping to find out what different accidents happened to each of these boys to put them in the same kind of place, but I can say that I did like the treatment of their injury in matter-of-fact terms so much better than I liked the piece on brain surgery that we read at the beginning of the quarter. The article about Chittock street felt somewhat short and topical even with the added audio slideshows, though I do think that Aupperlee did a good job at humanizing the street ultimately. I have fewer contentions with the story about the alcoholic mother, though I feel like since there was such an emphasis on her role as a cancer survivor in the headline, it should have been more emphasized within the narrative itself.
Overall, I do appreciate these examples of human interest stories that are made to fit within a certain wordcount, but which are augmented by multimedia presentations, though.
Captive Audience
The thing I like best about radio journalism is the way that different voices can flesh out a narrative by providing a better mental image of how the story is going. In this specific context, the presence of the accents and of the Spanish (which I'm no longer as familiar with as I should be) helped, in my opinion, to craft a sense of immediacy. I think it would have worked less well if the narrator of the segment did not provide loose translations, however.
I think that the story of Viviana and the story of the narrator work decently well together, though I do think that the way they were woven together could have possibly been restructured and still been effective. I'm not sure how that would best be accomplished, however.
I found the story very compelling and interesting, especially the information that the radio segments that the loved ones of kidnapping victims record and put onto the air actually reaches the kidnapped people regularly because guards allow them to listen to the segment to keep up morale. Overall, I walked away from listening to this piece feeling like I learned a lot about something I previously knew nothing about, which is really what a segment like this should do.
Like with the Marriage Cure article, I think it's a good decision that a story that could be construed as a success is portrayed alongside a story that has an uncertain outcome in order to both leave the listener feeling hopeful but to caution them that these problems are ongoing and messy and not easily resolved.
Yemen series
I have to admit that I went into this reading biased - my roommate is/was a peer leader this academic year, so we had the summer common reading book sitting in our place all last spring, and I would pick it up when bored for a while, and I felt like a lot of the ways the story was told were inappropriately paced or placed. So I was not really expecting much from the Yemen readings.
That said, I was pleasantly surprised by the Yemen articles. They were an easy read and full of rich description. [more forthcoming; i have it written down in longhand so i just need to type it out]
I found this to be a very interesting article. It was probably one of the more effective ones I've read this quarter in that even though I've only been to Oklahoma City once (and never to the areas mentioned), there was a universality and also a good detailed description enough for me to be able to vividly picture what was going on. I felt like none of the information given was unnecessary; I also felt like I had enough information to completely understand the article.
I think what made this effective was the way Boo made the problems faced by Corean and Kim as accessible to the New Yorker's general audience as possible. The effort to make sure to tell two stories that are ultimately both quite bleak, but frame one in as much hope as possible, was an interesting one, and I have to admit (because I always want more), I'm curious about the statistics of the people living in Sooner Haven - actual numbers associated with the problems that Boo tells us about through the lives of Corean and Kim - in addition to these admittedly very touching and thought-provoking stories.
As depressing as it was to read, this is one of those articles that made me want to learn more about the projects of Oklahoma City in my spare time. I do feel like Boo provided us with enough to tell the stories she knows, but this has sparked my interest (as I feel a good, strong piece of narration should). I'm sure that any number of housing projects in any number of cities around the United States could have been chosen, many of which the readers of the New Yorker might be more familiar with than Oklahoma City. I like the decision she made to pick a place that is more out of mind than most, and I think it added a dimension (e.g. with the "Indian option") to the narrative that might have been missed had she chosen to profile women from projects of a more regularly-thought-about city.
The French Fry Connection
In response to the article that Tanj and I picked for everyone to read, I thought I would talk briefly about the context for the piece. We located it through the google book version of Storycraft and the chapter provides a lot of interesting insight and context into the process that Richard Read went through in order to create the story. It portrays the series of articles as a labor of love, as apparently, The Oregonian did not have much interest in posting that kind of series of articles - newspapers and magazines were doing spot treatments of the issue, and the article Richard Read proposed took too much time and effort. He managed to convince people that an explanatory piece on the Asian economic crisis was important, however, and purportedly worked quite hard to manage to get so many "ins" in order to tell the complete story, starting with allowing the Hutterite community to become familiar enough with him to share the secrets of their farming to following the potatoes (and fries) on to their ultimate destination McDonalds.
I know when I was browsing everyone elses' blogs earlier someone - I forget who - mentioned that his article was not well-sourced. I would agree that it came across like that. However his sources are made clear in the contextualizing chapter within Storycraft - an American couple booked passage on the ship that sent everything from the farm to Hong Kong, and Read convinced them to take detailed notes of the passage before flying over, himself (There's more, and the chapter is actually quite interesting if anyone has the time to read it).
In response to the article itself, I feel like it does an effective job at portraying the Asian economic crisis in a context that is accessible to American readers, though I agree that it can be a little bit repetitive. I wonder if I was more okay with that because I read the context chapter, though, especially because the chapter provided insight into the general narrative arc of pieces like this.
Aaron Aupperlee's articles
I found this collection of articles quite interesting. I especially appreciated seeing the ways in which audio slideshows were constructed for the stories of Dylan Radabaugh and Paul Powell and the Chittock street article.
I especially appreciated these articles as concrete examples of how to maneuver within word count limit, something that I know that I, personally, struggle with, and that I'm sure others struggle with as well. I was left unsatisfied at the end of most of them, because I always want to know more, but ultimately I am happy with how the stories were portrayed. My dissatisfaction - the article about the Grass Lake boys was great for depicting their friendship and recovery, but I was constantly hoping to find out what different accidents happened to each of these boys to put them in the same kind of place, but I can say that I did like the treatment of their injury in matter-of-fact terms so much better than I liked the piece on brain surgery that we read at the beginning of the quarter. The article about Chittock street felt somewhat short and topical even with the added audio slideshows, though I do think that Aupperlee did a good job at humanizing the street ultimately. I have fewer contentions with the story about the alcoholic mother, though I feel like since there was such an emphasis on her role as a cancer survivor in the headline, it should have been more emphasized within the narrative itself.
Overall, I do appreciate these examples of human interest stories that are made to fit within a certain wordcount, but which are augmented by multimedia presentations, though.
Captive Audience
The thing I like best about radio journalism is the way that different voices can flesh out a narrative by providing a better mental image of how the story is going. In this specific context, the presence of the accents and of the Spanish (which I'm no longer as familiar with as I should be) helped, in my opinion, to craft a sense of immediacy. I think it would have worked less well if the narrator of the segment did not provide loose translations, however.
I think that the story of Viviana and the story of the narrator work decently well together, though I do think that the way they were woven together could have possibly been restructured and still been effective. I'm not sure how that would best be accomplished, however.
I found the story very compelling and interesting, especially the information that the radio segments that the loved ones of kidnapping victims record and put onto the air actually reaches the kidnapped people regularly because guards allow them to listen to the segment to keep up morale. Overall, I walked away from listening to this piece feeling like I learned a lot about something I previously knew nothing about, which is really what a segment like this should do.
Like with the Marriage Cure article, I think it's a good decision that a story that could be construed as a success is portrayed alongside a story that has an uncertain outcome in order to both leave the listener feeling hopeful but to caution them that these problems are ongoing and messy and not easily resolved.
Yemen series
I have to admit that I went into this reading biased - my roommate is/was a peer leader this academic year, so we had the summer common reading book sitting in our place all last spring, and I would pick it up when bored for a while, and I felt like a lot of the ways the story was told were inappropriately paced or placed. So I was not really expecting much from the Yemen readings.
That said, I was pleasantly surprised by the Yemen articles. They were an easy read and full of rich description. [more forthcoming; i have it written down in longhand so i just need to type it out]
Sunday, May 6, 2012
CYOA - French Fry Connection
For our CYOA, in anticipation of our next assignment, we decided to find an example of explanatory narrative. We considered choosing the Ted Conover article, but while we recommend everyone read that anyway at their leisure, we instead opted for Richard Read's Pulitzer Prize-winning four-part article "The French Fry Connection," which follows a shipment of McDonalds french fries from potato crop to preparation in McDonalds locations in Asia, and explores the Asian economic crisis through this lens.
This narrative was originally published in The Oregonian in four parts over the course of four issues in 1998. The first part can be found here, at the University of Chicago Press website; each subsequent part is linked at the bottom of each page.
As you read, we urge you to consider the following questions:
Happy reading!
Saskia and Tanj
This narrative was originally published in The Oregonian in four parts over the course of four issues in 1998. The first part can be found here, at the University of Chicago Press website; each subsequent part is linked at the bottom of each page.
As you read, we urge you to consider the following questions:
- How effective is this as an explanatory/enterprise-type narrative?
- How does Read develop the relationship between the Pacific Northwest farmers and Asian business partners in his narrative?
- Did this capture your attention as a reader? Could you follow the narrative with your current level of familiarity with the subject matter?
- After reading this, have you taken away more knowledge of the world economy? Did the subject matter explored in this narrative change your understanding of the intricacies of business relationships?
Happy reading!
Saskia and Tanj
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
On writing the profile
I found this easier to do than the personal narrative. The difficulty I had with writing my profile piece was in trying to find a conflict to focus on, which I don't think I managed to ultimately do. I have so much information on them - and I'm going back during an open house - but I don't think any of it is personal enough to really make the story hit home, you know?
I'm debating about which way to direct the focus of this, what I want to highlight, etc. I'm hoping to be able to figure that out during workshop today!
I'm debating about which way to direct the focus of this, what I want to highlight, etc. I'm hoping to be able to figure that out during workshop today!
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
the roughest rough draft of a profile on KMRHS
I know this needs a lot of work. It has a little bit of an identity crisis going on right now, due in no small part to the fact that I'm pretty sure I haven't gotten the actual story here yet. I have plans to keep going back until I do, however.
------------------
"Model railroading is a hobby that, once people get interested in it, especially like say if they're older than thirteen and they're interested in it, they tend to stay interested in it their entire lives," Mark Tomlonson tells me, over a can of pop (his) and a bottle of water (mine). We're sitting in the workroom-slash-library-slash-office of the Kalamazoo Model Railroad Historical Society. Despite the rain outside, the light coming into the room is bright. The air smells of the paint Mark was using on model train cars when I arrived.
The Kalamazoo Model Railroad Historical Society is really difficult to find. Located on Riverview Drive, to the north and east of Kalamazoo proper, reaching it involves driving through the small town of Parchment, Michigan, past a series of pre-fab houses with dirt-cheap rent and beautiful mansions alike, past Triple H, an airfield where stunt planes fly in twice a year, to a blink-and-you'll-miss-it driveway located in the middle of a sharp bend in the road. The first time I drove out to KMRHS, I missed it once. The last time I drove out, I missed it twice.
The driveway is long, marked only by a wooden contraption reminiscent of a hanging tree with a hand-lettered sign on top reading simply "KMRHS." The building at the end is unassuming, save for the large red caboose parked just outside, behind a transplanted Railroad Crossing warning post. It has been the home of the Society since 1971, when the Kalamazoo Model Railroading Club moved out of its 20-year home in founding member Maury Highler's basement.
Inside the main entrance, however, is a true work of art: just over 212 feet of track laid out in a 20 feet by 40 feet area. There are tunnels and mountains, cities and shipping yards. Every bit of the scenery is accurate up to the year 1960 – hence the historical in the title of this organization – and all the trains are connected to a digital command center that helps coordinate everything. There are multiple towns, stations, and yards scattered about the layout, and during operating sessions, up to seven trains can run at once. The trains they use are on the popular HO scale, meaning that every inch of track on this layout represents 87 inches, or just over seven feet, of actual real-life trains.
Scattered around the layout are tiny little scenes, almost like the Easter eggs found in many computer games and DVD menus. Visitors are encouraged to take a slip of paper from a stack sitting by the wall. Each paper has a blurb reading "The Cooper Park & Eastern is filled with 'mini-scenes'. How many of these can you find? Some of them will take a bit of detective work, but all are in plain sight," followed by a randomized list of ten possible scenes, including the favorite of many members, "The 'Bare' Hunter," a scene where a bear is standing by a hunter squatting over a log with his pants down, and my personal favorite, "Movie Set," where a crowd of people surrounds a Marilyn Monroe figurine – skirt, of course, flying up – standing next to a pink Cadillac.
I email ahead of time to make sure that coming in during one of their work sessions is okay; Russ Barr, the webmaster, tells me to come on by. When I walk in through the unlocked door and pass through the layout room into the adjoining workroom-slash-library, with its paint station, fridge full of pop, and shelves full of books on the history of both model railroads and actual railroads, and full collection of Trains, Model Railroader, and Railroad Model Craftsman magazines, however, everyone is surprised to see me. Russ has forgotten to tell them that I am coming.
They are still flexible, however, so once Mark finishes with his current coat of paint, I sit down with him. He's the treasurer and librarian for the Society. An unassuming man with dark hair, I find out quickly that he is the chief engineer for WMUK when he's not with the trains and literally making sure that the Society – and the track – keep running. I start to suspect that he has a sneaky sense of humor when he tells me about the Amish romance novels his sister writes; my suspicions are confirmed by the railroad history stories he chooses to tell me throughout our interview.
He's also seriously into model railroads. When I ask him how he became interested in model trains, he says, "No idea. I, you know, I – the very first house I lived in, up to the age of 2 and a half, was just a couple hundred yards from a railroad track, and I think that might have something to do with it. But I have no idea what it's like to look at a train and not be interested in it." Later, I will ask if his family has any factor in his interest, and he will tell me that his "dad was interested in helping me, but he wasn't interested with trains."
This lifelong fascination with trains, though apparently the norm – he and David Hayes-Moats, the president of the club who joins us halfway through the interview, both have it. David tells me that he's "always liked trains." Even though he's had periods in his life where he has not been actively involved in model railroading, the fascination has lingered. The same seems to be true of the club's youngest member, a 15-year-old boy who has taken the narrow-gauge track on the layout on as his personal project and completed it, now running that track exclusively during operating sessions. He's been a member for several years, apparently, and is passionate and dedicated.
Russ Barr, webmaster, sits down with us after he finishes painting scenery behind the track that runs through the bathroom. His story is different – although "I had a train set when I was a kid, managed to destroy it pretty good," he didn't really become interested in trains "until my wife dragged me to a hobby show, said I didn't have enough hobbies. I disagreed, but I kind of liked the challenge and a couple of the guys I met – we were really comfortable to talk to, so I built a small layout and joined the club, then abandoned the small layout because I've got a big one here."
However people come to model railroads, the hobby demands a lot of commitment once they become involved. "The most expensive part of model railroading is the time," Mark tells me. Although good HO cars cost about $50 each, with locomotives at around $100, it takes hours to keep trains going. The society has 37 regular members, ranging in age from 15 to 93; the average member puts in at least five hours a week, making sure the track is clean enough, that the electrical wiring is in order, painting cars, making sure the engines are running right, and setting up operating sessions, where a lot of members come together to run the trains based on a set schedule. Every month, the Kalamazoo Model Railroad Historical Society has five set work sessions for maintenance, one business meeting, and two operating sessions.
The operating sessions are very regimented. Trains are set to run on a schedule, departing certain stations at certain times, picking up and dropping off "loads," like flour, at various train yards and in various cities. Some people man the train yards, switching cars and sending trains out at certain times. Some man specific trains, running them from one station and town to the next. One person is always the dispatcher, telling others when they are permitted to go and helping make sure that there are no collisions between trains. Each member possesses a small, leather-bound rulebook with some hundred-odd rules that detail what exactly proper behavior is, for every conceivable manifestation of model railway usage. These rules range what things train operators can say during an operating session (and how that changes if there are observers who are not members in the society) towhich cars can be historically accurately hooked up to which engines and the preferred electrical wiring configurations of the track. The first rule in the book is that model railroads should be fun, and that everyone is to ensure that the experience remains fun.
Still, during our interview, I get the same impression that I got the first time I stepped into the world of model railroading – a train show at the Kalamazoo Expo Center during the last week of October last fall: the honest-to-God point of this society is the sense of community that members get. New members have a probationary period before they become full members of KMRHS, to make sure that they get along with everyone. It's imperfect – at the operating session I attended, two members got into an argument over how fast one member was running his train – but I do not get the impression that the glitches in the system are truly a problem. After all, as Mark tells me, "It's nice to pay the monthly dues just to have some place to go and talk about trains where people don't look at you funny."
------------------
"Model railroading is a hobby that, once people get interested in it, especially like say if they're older than thirteen and they're interested in it, they tend to stay interested in it their entire lives," Mark Tomlonson tells me, over a can of pop (his) and a bottle of water (mine). We're sitting in the workroom-slash-library-slash-office of the Kalamazoo Model Railroad Historical Society. Despite the rain outside, the light coming into the room is bright. The air smells of the paint Mark was using on model train cars when I arrived.
The Kalamazoo Model Railroad Historical Society is really difficult to find. Located on Riverview Drive, to the north and east of Kalamazoo proper, reaching it involves driving through the small town of Parchment, Michigan, past a series of pre-fab houses with dirt-cheap rent and beautiful mansions alike, past Triple H, an airfield where stunt planes fly in twice a year, to a blink-and-you'll-miss-it driveway located in the middle of a sharp bend in the road. The first time I drove out to KMRHS, I missed it once. The last time I drove out, I missed it twice.
The driveway is long, marked only by a wooden contraption reminiscent of a hanging tree with a hand-lettered sign on top reading simply "KMRHS." The building at the end is unassuming, save for the large red caboose parked just outside, behind a transplanted Railroad Crossing warning post. It has been the home of the Society since 1971, when the Kalamazoo Model Railroading Club moved out of its 20-year home in founding member Maury Highler's basement.
Inside the main entrance, however, is a true work of art: just over 212 feet of track laid out in a 20 feet by 40 feet area. There are tunnels and mountains, cities and shipping yards. Every bit of the scenery is accurate up to the year 1960 – hence the historical in the title of this organization – and all the trains are connected to a digital command center that helps coordinate everything. There are multiple towns, stations, and yards scattered about the layout, and during operating sessions, up to seven trains can run at once. The trains they use are on the popular HO scale, meaning that every inch of track on this layout represents 87 inches, or just over seven feet, of actual real-life trains.
Scattered around the layout are tiny little scenes, almost like the Easter eggs found in many computer games and DVD menus. Visitors are encouraged to take a slip of paper from a stack sitting by the wall. Each paper has a blurb reading "The Cooper Park & Eastern is filled with 'mini-scenes'. How many of these can you find? Some of them will take a bit of detective work, but all are in plain sight," followed by a randomized list of ten possible scenes, including the favorite of many members, "The 'Bare' Hunter," a scene where a bear is standing by a hunter squatting over a log with his pants down, and my personal favorite, "Movie Set," where a crowd of people surrounds a Marilyn Monroe figurine – skirt, of course, flying up – standing next to a pink Cadillac.
I email ahead of time to make sure that coming in during one of their work sessions is okay; Russ Barr, the webmaster, tells me to come on by. When I walk in through the unlocked door and pass through the layout room into the adjoining workroom-slash-library, with its paint station, fridge full of pop, and shelves full of books on the history of both model railroads and actual railroads, and full collection of Trains, Model Railroader, and Railroad Model Craftsman magazines, however, everyone is surprised to see me. Russ has forgotten to tell them that I am coming.
They are still flexible, however, so once Mark finishes with his current coat of paint, I sit down with him. He's the treasurer and librarian for the Society. An unassuming man with dark hair, I find out quickly that he is the chief engineer for WMUK when he's not with the trains and literally making sure that the Society – and the track – keep running. I start to suspect that he has a sneaky sense of humor when he tells me about the Amish romance novels his sister writes; my suspicions are confirmed by the railroad history stories he chooses to tell me throughout our interview.
He's also seriously into model railroads. When I ask him how he became interested in model trains, he says, "No idea. I, you know, I – the very first house I lived in, up to the age of 2 and a half, was just a couple hundred yards from a railroad track, and I think that might have something to do with it. But I have no idea what it's like to look at a train and not be interested in it." Later, I will ask if his family has any factor in his interest, and he will tell me that his "dad was interested in helping me, but he wasn't interested with trains."
This lifelong fascination with trains, though apparently the norm – he and David Hayes-Moats, the president of the club who joins us halfway through the interview, both have it. David tells me that he's "always liked trains." Even though he's had periods in his life where he has not been actively involved in model railroading, the fascination has lingered. The same seems to be true of the club's youngest member, a 15-year-old boy who has taken the narrow-gauge track on the layout on as his personal project and completed it, now running that track exclusively during operating sessions. He's been a member for several years, apparently, and is passionate and dedicated.
Russ Barr, webmaster, sits down with us after he finishes painting scenery behind the track that runs through the bathroom. His story is different – although "I had a train set when I was a kid, managed to destroy it pretty good," he didn't really become interested in trains "until my wife dragged me to a hobby show, said I didn't have enough hobbies. I disagreed, but I kind of liked the challenge and a couple of the guys I met – we were really comfortable to talk to, so I built a small layout and joined the club, then abandoned the small layout because I've got a big one here."
However people come to model railroads, the hobby demands a lot of commitment once they become involved. "The most expensive part of model railroading is the time," Mark tells me. Although good HO cars cost about $50 each, with locomotives at around $100, it takes hours to keep trains going. The society has 37 regular members, ranging in age from 15 to 93; the average member puts in at least five hours a week, making sure the track is clean enough, that the electrical wiring is in order, painting cars, making sure the engines are running right, and setting up operating sessions, where a lot of members come together to run the trains based on a set schedule. Every month, the Kalamazoo Model Railroad Historical Society has five set work sessions for maintenance, one business meeting, and two operating sessions.
The operating sessions are very regimented. Trains are set to run on a schedule, departing certain stations at certain times, picking up and dropping off "loads," like flour, at various train yards and in various cities. Some people man the train yards, switching cars and sending trains out at certain times. Some man specific trains, running them from one station and town to the next. One person is always the dispatcher, telling others when they are permitted to go and helping make sure that there are no collisions between trains. Each member possesses a small, leather-bound rulebook with some hundred-odd rules that detail what exactly proper behavior is, for every conceivable manifestation of model railway usage. These rules range what things train operators can say during an operating session (and how that changes if there are observers who are not members in the society) towhich cars can be historically accurately hooked up to which engines and the preferred electrical wiring configurations of the track. The first rule in the book is that model railroads should be fun, and that everyone is to ensure that the experience remains fun.
Still, during our interview, I get the same impression that I got the first time I stepped into the world of model railroading – a train show at the Kalamazoo Expo Center during the last week of October last fall: the honest-to-God point of this society is the sense of community that members get. New members have a probationary period before they become full members of KMRHS, to make sure that they get along with everyone. It's imperfect – at the operating session I attended, two members got into an argument over how fast one member was running his train – but I do not get the impression that the glitches in the system are truly a problem. After all, as Mark tells me, "It's nice to pay the monthly dues just to have some place to go and talk about trains where people don't look at you funny."
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
reading responses, week 5
The Most Dangerous Gamer
I was very confused by this article. The supplementary material did not flesh it out - I watched the video, and it did not clarify my understanding of the matter at hand. Like Cam, I felt like this was more of a profile of the author's appreciation of Blow's work than an actual profile of Blow himself. I did not come away with a sense of understanding him - he was as elusive on paper as he apparently is in person - or his games. Perhaps a more focused video would have aided with that.
I also did not completely understand all the philosophical and technological details of the games described in this. Perhaps it would be easier to do so if I played video games :p
That said, the subject matter was interesting enough. I just feel like Clark may have gotten confused about what his focus was in the process of writing this.
This Must Be The Place
These videos, I think, are an example of things improving with practice. Though I did not connect very well with the chronologically earlier videos, both the profile of the burger joint in Manhattan and the profile on the man who lives in the abandoned Packard plant (now demolished?) have stuck with me for the 24 hours since I first watched them. I found it accessible and, more importantly, interesting - there was definitely a conflict there of 'why does this man live in an abandoned factory?'
I wasn't clear on whether it was more of a profile on the man or the place- though the name of the webseries indicates the place, "Hill" struck me as more of a story about why the man came to live there rather than the factory itself.
I also felt very connected to Prime when watching it - the way that the restaurant was described made it feel very relateable and accessible, even for people who may have never been there or even near there. The way it was described was as an everyrestaurant with something special, which I felt was a good, effective approach and helped the viewer to place it in an approachable context.
The other two videos struck me as rougher and less interesting.
I was very confused by this article. The supplementary material did not flesh it out - I watched the video, and it did not clarify my understanding of the matter at hand. Like Cam, I felt like this was more of a profile of the author's appreciation of Blow's work than an actual profile of Blow himself. I did not come away with a sense of understanding him - he was as elusive on paper as he apparently is in person - or his games. Perhaps a more focused video would have aided with that.
I also did not completely understand all the philosophical and technological details of the games described in this. Perhaps it would be easier to do so if I played video games :p
That said, the subject matter was interesting enough. I just feel like Clark may have gotten confused about what his focus was in the process of writing this.
This Must Be The Place
These videos, I think, are an example of things improving with practice. Though I did not connect very well with the chronologically earlier videos, both the profile of the burger joint in Manhattan and the profile on the man who lives in the abandoned Packard plant (now demolished?) have stuck with me for the 24 hours since I first watched them. I found it accessible and, more importantly, interesting - there was definitely a conflict there of 'why does this man live in an abandoned factory?'
I wasn't clear on whether it was more of a profile on the man or the place- though the name of the webseries indicates the place, "Hill" struck me as more of a story about why the man came to live there rather than the factory itself.
I also felt very connected to Prime when watching it - the way that the restaurant was described made it feel very relateable and accessible, even for people who may have never been there or even near there. The way it was described was as an everyrestaurant with something special, which I felt was a good, effective approach and helped the viewer to place it in an approachable context.
The other two videos struck me as rougher and less interesting.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
reading responses, week 4
Wonder Town
I feel like this would have been much more comprehensible if I knew anything about Sonic Youth or about their scene. Although the imagery is technically quite good in this piece, I felt alienated from the piece as a whole, considering I was unfamiliar with much of the terminology. Certainly I can see how this would be a compelling read for anyone familiar with the topic, or with a passing interest in the band and its members, but, as I have neither, it fell flat to me.
Considering my unfamiliarity with the subject matter, although I found certain descriptions compelling, I also found them disturbing - though I suppose there's really no way to sugar coat, for example, a re-enactment of the Manson murders.
I did like the imagery of the band members being more like "conductors" than "players," though, and the description of how they could turn their instruments into a "choir." I suppose this piece is effective, in that after reading it, I looked up some Sonic Youth music on Spotify. Still, since I was largely unfamiliar with everything during my first read of the article, I found my mind wandering. I'm interested to see how people who are in the target audience responded to it.
Shooting an Elephant
I suppose I cannot lambaste Orwell for referring to the Burmese citizens as "yellow," considering the article was written in 1936, but that kind of language was still jarring enough to throw me out of the piece. That aside, the imagery was quite vivid, and I could easily envision everything that happened in this story. I especially appreciated the movement across time and space - I could definitely sense Orwell's representation of himself and could picture myself moving with him through the town, could sense his anxiety and his reactions to everything going on around him, from the death of the villager to the shooting of the elephant.
The death of the elephant was the most vivid part of this essay. Although lines like "The thick blood welled out of him like red velvet, but still he did not die" made me question how, exactly, blood could seem like velvet - that doesn't seem like a likely comparison to me - they also served as very concrete and strong examples of what, exactly, it was like to watch the bullets rip through the elephant's side.
I am only unclear on one thing: Orwell discusses how the best way to kill an elephant is to shoot through the ears. He also continuously talks about what a bad shot he is. I found myself expecting the shot to misfire and actually shoot the elephant in the best possible way (if one can consider any kind of elephant-shooting to be "good"), and I would have liked a little more description about where each bullet landed in order to have a clearer mental picture of how Orwell presumably fell short of the ideal.
Telling True Stories
Although I found much of this repetitive, a lot of it is still at least on the edge of being useful. I agree with Ellen that much of this is "more poetic than technically helpful, more inspiring than informative." I did like the caution Merina puts on reporting other cultures. I also found the question about whether or not to tape interesting, especially after last week's class.
I found that a lot of these little essays and anecdotes gave good advice. However, I walked away from the passages thinking, "well, that's all well and good to hear, but could you provide some concrete examples of how to address these issues" more than once. Don't just tell us that it's important to do something; suggest a way in which to do it effectively. I know that, as a budding writer, I will need to make my own mistakes and learn from my own trials and errors. It would be nice to hear more concrete examples from others about the difficulties they faced too, though, in order to better determine a good starting point.
I also find myself wondering, regularly, how these journalists can afford to follow people around so much when they don't have a book or article deal, as was the case in several situations. I have some strange aversion to so-called "Gonzo journalism" and have not yet been able to identify where these feelings come from - perhaps my Cultural Psychology class primed me to be wary of people who try to immerse themselves in a culture, especially when they are immersing themselves as an obvious outsider - but I know that I will need to work past this aversion in order to be completely able to throw myself into journalism and this class.
Trina and Trina
This was a very compelling, if entirely depressing, story. I was anxious throughout the entire thing - I understand that LeBlanc had to be removed from her subject in that she couldn't really give her money or intervene, really, but I kept thinking, "I don't know how she can be involved in Trina's life and not want to do more to help her." The matter-of-fact tone helped a great deal in the telling of this; it could have easily run to too sentimental.
Part of me wanted more focus, maybe on just a specific stretch of time within the narrative, but I don't see how LeBlanc could have successfully done that - I know that if only a year of Trina's life, or a month of Trina's life, or one encounter with Trina was told, I would have wanted to know how everything turned out.
I really liked the way this piece ended with the voicemails and nothing else. I think it would have been interesting for LeBlanc to bookend the narrative with voicemails or written missives.
The American Man Age Ten
I find it interesting that Orlean chose to do her profile on random boy Colin Duffy rather than Macaulay Culkin. I think she did a very good job, though, especially of capturing the voice of a ten year old boy. Although her flow and style were somewhat convoluted - the way that this took the form of almost a list of preferences and attributes made it hard to follow - I found this to be a good look into a ten year old's life.
I feel like a lot was glossed over, though. Does Colin not want to be Chun Li because Chun Li is a girl? That's implied, but not explicitly stated. I would have liked to see Orlean go deeper into some of the things she brings up in passing instead of making this an overall superficial expose of the child's life, such as in the Street Fighter scene and also in her observations on Colin's preoccupation with money.
I found the voice of this to be wry, in a good way. Overall an enjoyable read, if a little superficial.
I feel like this would have been much more comprehensible if I knew anything about Sonic Youth or about their scene. Although the imagery is technically quite good in this piece, I felt alienated from the piece as a whole, considering I was unfamiliar with much of the terminology. Certainly I can see how this would be a compelling read for anyone familiar with the topic, or with a passing interest in the band and its members, but, as I have neither, it fell flat to me.
Considering my unfamiliarity with the subject matter, although I found certain descriptions compelling, I also found them disturbing - though I suppose there's really no way to sugar coat, for example, a re-enactment of the Manson murders.
I did like the imagery of the band members being more like "conductors" than "players," though, and the description of how they could turn their instruments into a "choir." I suppose this piece is effective, in that after reading it, I looked up some Sonic Youth music on Spotify. Still, since I was largely unfamiliar with everything during my first read of the article, I found my mind wandering. I'm interested to see how people who are in the target audience responded to it.
Shooting an Elephant
I suppose I cannot lambaste Orwell for referring to the Burmese citizens as "yellow," considering the article was written in 1936, but that kind of language was still jarring enough to throw me out of the piece. That aside, the imagery was quite vivid, and I could easily envision everything that happened in this story. I especially appreciated the movement across time and space - I could definitely sense Orwell's representation of himself and could picture myself moving with him through the town, could sense his anxiety and his reactions to everything going on around him, from the death of the villager to the shooting of the elephant.
The death of the elephant was the most vivid part of this essay. Although lines like "The thick blood welled out of him like red velvet, but still he did not die" made me question how, exactly, blood could seem like velvet - that doesn't seem like a likely comparison to me - they also served as very concrete and strong examples of what, exactly, it was like to watch the bullets rip through the elephant's side.
I am only unclear on one thing: Orwell discusses how the best way to kill an elephant is to shoot through the ears. He also continuously talks about what a bad shot he is. I found myself expecting the shot to misfire and actually shoot the elephant in the best possible way (if one can consider any kind of elephant-shooting to be "good"), and I would have liked a little more description about where each bullet landed in order to have a clearer mental picture of how Orwell presumably fell short of the ideal.
Telling True Stories
Although I found much of this repetitive, a lot of it is still at least on the edge of being useful. I agree with Ellen that much of this is "more poetic than technically helpful, more inspiring than informative." I did like the caution Merina puts on reporting other cultures. I also found the question about whether or not to tape interesting, especially after last week's class.
I found that a lot of these little essays and anecdotes gave good advice. However, I walked away from the passages thinking, "well, that's all well and good to hear, but could you provide some concrete examples of how to address these issues" more than once. Don't just tell us that it's important to do something; suggest a way in which to do it effectively. I know that, as a budding writer, I will need to make my own mistakes and learn from my own trials and errors. It would be nice to hear more concrete examples from others about the difficulties they faced too, though, in order to better determine a good starting point.
I also find myself wondering, regularly, how these journalists can afford to follow people around so much when they don't have a book or article deal, as was the case in several situations. I have some strange aversion to so-called "Gonzo journalism" and have not yet been able to identify where these feelings come from - perhaps my Cultural Psychology class primed me to be wary of people who try to immerse themselves in a culture, especially when they are immersing themselves as an obvious outsider - but I know that I will need to work past this aversion in order to be completely able to throw myself into journalism and this class.
Trina and Trina
This was a very compelling, if entirely depressing, story. I was anxious throughout the entire thing - I understand that LeBlanc had to be removed from her subject in that she couldn't really give her money or intervene, really, but I kept thinking, "I don't know how she can be involved in Trina's life and not want to do more to help her." The matter-of-fact tone helped a great deal in the telling of this; it could have easily run to too sentimental.
Part of me wanted more focus, maybe on just a specific stretch of time within the narrative, but I don't see how LeBlanc could have successfully done that - I know that if only a year of Trina's life, or a month of Trina's life, or one encounter with Trina was told, I would have wanted to know how everything turned out.
I really liked the way this piece ended with the voicemails and nothing else. I think it would have been interesting for LeBlanc to bookend the narrative with voicemails or written missives.
The American Man Age Ten
I find it interesting that Orlean chose to do her profile on random boy Colin Duffy rather than Macaulay Culkin. I think she did a very good job, though, especially of capturing the voice of a ten year old boy. Although her flow and style were somewhat convoluted - the way that this took the form of almost a list of preferences and attributes made it hard to follow - I found this to be a good look into a ten year old's life.
I feel like a lot was glossed over, though. Does Colin not want to be Chun Li because Chun Li is a girl? That's implied, but not explicitly stated. I would have liked to see Orlean go deeper into some of the things she brings up in passing instead of making this an overall superficial expose of the child's life, such as in the Street Fighter scene and also in her observations on Colin's preoccupation with money.
I found the voice of this to be wry, in a good way. Overall an enjoyable read, if a little superficial.
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