Brainstorming

For the second half of the semester I want to do something creative. After viewing last week the viral video Kony 2012 it dawned on me how heavily the social location you are born in defines your future, who you are and what you are to become. Of course, there are always exceptions, people who are able to define and create their own social location but, this is not always the case. My idea for the second half of the semester is to choose various locations around the globe and write from their perspective. In other words, research and explore how it is to be living in that part of the world in 2012. The creative part is that I will not be simply writing a research paper but, actually writing as if I were there living and feeling their experiences. I am thinking about somehow intertwining these separate stories into one, having each story start independently and then somehow meeting at the end.  

Encounter

            The alarm rang at 8:00 am , I jumped from my bed  racing from my room to the bathroom and back trying to get ready as fast as possible. Grabbing my books I hurried towards the front door and into my car. It was Monday and I had three classes in a row, two lab reports, two quizzes, and one huge test to think about. It was midterm season after all, why should I be surprised? After five and a half semesters of college under my belt I felt like a veteran, but stress always seemed to get the better of me. As I drove towards school I could see all the early morning commotion around me, yellow school busses, and minivans filled to the brim with kids. I was “lucky” to be driving behind a yellow school bus, which made it a point to stop at every street, even though many times there were no kids waiting for it.

            As I was inching my way towards a stop sign, that seemed miles away, I was suddenly pushed forward, I realized someone had hit my back bumper. This was the last thing I needed on such a busy day. I got out of my car and went to inspect the damage; it was nothing more than a scratch. I looked towards the other car trying to get a glimpse of the culprit. A frantic woman emerged from the inside. Slim figure, dark sunglasses, dark short hair, white blouse, navy trousers, pearl necklace, I was checking off all of this characteristics on my imaginary checklist, and a light bulb suddenly turned on in my head. She took off her sunglasses and I confirmed my suspicions, it was none other than Anne Applebaum.

The rest occurred in a blur, I introduced myself and so did she. She had been on her way to Fairfield University to give a talk on her research on communism. I told her I was reading one of her books and researching her work for a very important school assignment. I asked her if she would be in town again anytime soon and if so if I could possibly interview her for my project. She said her last stop when in Connecticut was always Yale, since she studied there. So it was set, the following Monday, 3:00pm, Yale Café, a couple hours before her presentation.

So here I am now, waiting for Anne Applebaum in one of Yale’s cafes. She finally arrives; I order an iced coffee, to my surprise she orders the same.  I sit very nice and straight and take out my long list of questions, after all she is a Pulitzer Prize winning author and I want to be at my best. And so I begin: “What inspired you to research and uncover the mysteries and misconceptions of communism?” She answers with a question of her own: “Did you ever learn in school about concentration camps in Europe?” “Of course” I answers “Who doesn’t know about the Holocaust” and to my surprise she says “aha, there is the problem”.

From there she began to tell me about the system of mass forced labor involving millions of people scattered throughout the Soviet Unions and its borderlands. She talks about her personal journey through the borderlands of Europe and all of the firsthand accounts she has heard from the victims of such camps. I felt something slip off my lap, it was my long list of questions, I thought “Wow”, after hearing this woman speak so passionately about the atrocities and lasting effects of communism I felt like picking up my own sword and shield and help her fight against all this injustice.