Father to Son & Son to Father...

I happened upon this as I was looking for an article and stopped to watch it. I couldn't stop it in the middle though—had to finish it. At first it looked like it was going to be a cheesy little video about a father and son and I thought that mostly because of the music choice, but it moved me by the time it was over. The choice of music followed the images so well that it was almost manipulatingly emotional to watch. I thought about the relationships I have with the members of my family, or the relationships that I have had with those who are disabled, and I felt a twinge of guilt for not having the faith that this father has had. With only the video to watch, there seems to be so much of the story missing. So much we have yet to know about the boy and his father and what all they have done together and for each other. I found the article first, but I didn't read it until after the video. The article is what put me to tears. I was impressed of course at the writing of this simple story, being the graceful words of one of my favorites: Rick Reilly. He beautifully crafts an image of the two men and how normal and simple their lives are. But yet they are anything but ordinary.

In a classroom, this would be an interesting lesson about how we understand stories and what we do as creators of media to initiate understanding in our audience. In this case, the use of music and a wonderful editing job is what communicated the theme of the story. The actual story, was written by a clever writer who obviously admired the men in the story. I wonder how it might have turned out if the story were written by a long-time neighbor of Rick and Dick who was indifferent. What if Rick could make the video? What would he have wanted us to see about his story? Interesting to think about.

Fire by Blog

I have been thinking about how I am getting my news lately and how it is so far and few and in between. I don't have the time to listen or watch the news like I used to, and reading the paper is out of the question. This saddens me, as I do so enjoy knowing what is going on in the world. After I found out about the fires last week in San Diego, my heart sank a few stories. I have quite a bit of family that I love all live in that very area of California. After hearing the news from my mother, I quickly got online to read my uncle's blog. This personal view of what has been going on is far more powerful for me because of the connection I have there. I am initially interested in the news because of my family. I wish I had more time to spend to stay updated, but for now, the important information for me is how they are. There are at least three families that are out of their homes and one that may have lost theirs. I am not sure about the other families yet, but it is definitely scary. Coming from Eldon though, it is just interesting to see how he writes about it. Blogs are more personal by nature and yet informative. Though the fires are across most of southern California right now, I only have to see the part that I want to. In a way that sounds like I might be naive or heartless to be ONLY getting my information from the one source, but I think it goes to show how many people view the broader news. We watch what affects us.