Track Two (https://michaelddwyer.com/cm385/author/allora/)
Where do I even start? This piece took me ages to read, as it’s over 36,000 words, but it was worth every minute. I was so enthralled from start to finish. Shane Bauer, a journalist, wanted to explore the behind-the-scenes, so to speak, of private prisons. They hold around 130,000 incarcerated people at any given time, but no one really knew what happened behind closed doors.
The fact that a very well-known meme arose from one simple experiment is still truly a wild concept to me. It goes to show that the dumbest details about life can be so important: a cultural reset, if you will.
As for the 400 word post/diagram of this experiment, I don’t have much to say other than the pictures were a good aid. They took us through the whole thought process-- the shocking images of the tragic fallen beef crumbles on the RIGHT side of the za. They relayed the despair of the customer and the carelessness of the pizza designers. They made us realize that life isn’t always fair, especially to beef that has no cheese to cling to.
Aside from the fact that Drew Magary is a total badass and an extremely lucky man, he is also a very convincing writer. This is an insane story about how his brain basically just blew up, how he spent his time in recovery, what he does and doesn’t remember, and how his family coped with his illness and rehabilitation. He uses casual language that brings you into the hospital room with him. You feel the embarrassment when he has to be helped “washing his dick,” and sitting on the toilet. You understand his sarcasm and wittiness toward the nurses and his relatives, as he is basically a sitting duck.
“Sometimes I’d feel hopeless, like I’d want to give up.”
I never thought I’d hear those words come from her mouth—a young woman I’ve admired for four years – but they did. As I sat with Kiara Jacoby in a very crowded storage room of Arcadia University’s Civic and Community Engagement Center (CCEC), I realized how taxing humanitarian work is. Boxes filled with miscellaneous cleaning products, shoes, books, and everything in between were strewn about, and they were a good indication of just how many different compartments this woman’s brain held. We sat on the floor, amidst the chaos, and discussed her international philanthropic efforts. About halfway through our chat, her exhaustion peaked through, but only for a second. A vulnerability of hers that most would not be privy to, fatigue produced the words, “hopeless” and “give up.” I was confused when she said them.
Claire Dederer, the author of this piece, does well to introduce many concepts of human characteristics and conditions with a simple question: “what do we do with the art of monstrous men?” She begins with some background about said monsters- Bill Cosby, Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, and the like- and what they have done. They’ve been accused of and defamed for horrendous crimes like rape and assault, but their works remain important to their successes. They live within the art they produce, so how exactly do we separate these seemingly genius works from their seemingly demonic creators? Dederer uses an anecdote of her own to illustrate how she feels, and to suggest how others might feel, when faced with this dilemma: what do we do with the art of monstrous men? This strategy really pulls the reader’s attention, as it seems like she is speaking to you directly.