Single Story Digital Narrative Reflection

Link to my video: 

I loved this project. Doing a video project has actually become enjoyable for me because I feel confident in making a video now! My single story that I was exploring was people with physical disabilities. I never knew that I could learn so much about a subject that I thought I knew a good deal about just from reading books. The main thing that I took away from all of this was the idea of empathy. To me, empathy is being able to feel emotions for others. To be able to see someone hurt or embarrassed and feel that too because you see them go through it. Or seeing someone experience joy, and then feeling that joy with them. From the books that I have read, I have seen a pattern among those who have physical disabilities. This pattern is the wishing that others would just try and understand what they are going through. These characters just want people to put themselves in their shoes for a moment. I feel that in our society we don't take nearly enough time to try and empathize with people. We tend to either act ignorantly in situations we don't understand, or just ignore the situation all together. This made me ask why? Why do we see a person in a wheelchair and instantly feel bad for them? Maybe their life is full of joy and laughter, but instead of trying to see that we just look at the wheelchair they are bound to. Or we notice someone with a facial deformity and look away in fear. Why? We should look at these people and try and find what makes them unique, instead of posting out what makes them "weird". In doing this video I asked my fellow classmates to write down the first word that came to their heads when they heard the word empathy. Some of the words were, love, compassion, understanding, shoes (putting yourself in someone else's shoes), feeling, and connection. All of these were great words and I was very pleased with their responses. All of the words are feelings or actions that we should apply to our day to day life. Not just to people with physical disabilities, but to everyone. I chose to use my classmates because I truly feel as if I learn from them everyday. They are all amazing individuals and I could not have pictured putting anyone else in my video. I knew that they would all grasp what u was trying to get across in my video, seeing as they are all very empathetic individuals. Sometimes, the people who have physical disabilities could benefit from receiving a bit more empathy from others. Have grown so much throughout this process, and I felt my video truly reflected that. The song I chose even holds meaning. Its called, "Looking Too Closely" by Fink. I love this song because we all need to stop over analyzing each other and just look at each other. Not too closely, but enough to see that someone is smiling, or that someone is having a bad day. Not that the person who is smiling is blind, or the person who is having a bad day is wearing a brace. I chose to use a scene from the movie Wonder, which is also one of the books I read for this project. The precept that the teacher has the student named Summer reads says, "When given the choice between being right and being kind, choose kind." We all need to start choosing to being kinder in our day to day lives, to everyone.

The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

I had heard about this book from many students in my high school who chose to read this book one year for summer reading. Many raved about the book and said that it was really really good! I thought that the synopsis was enough detail to where I knew this book would fit in my single story. After reading through the first few chapters, my assumption was correct. Emily is a young girl who loves to run. She was on the way back from a track meet at which she had just set a record in, when their bus was hit by another vehicle which resulted in Emily losing one of her legs. When she wakes up she is confused as well as in shock. You see her struggle with the idea that she won't be able to run again as well as the physical pains of phantom pain. As the book goes on a little, she goes back to school and is faced with people who either ignore her or are far more concerned with her than they ever were before. I am really interested in seeing how Emily's attitude progresses throughout the book. I feel that I would be extremely bitter and depressed if I lost an entire limb.  The part that would bother me most would be the fact that there is absolutely nothing that I can do about it. In my last post I bought up this idea of empathy, and in trying to be empathetic I have been attempting to put myself in the shoes of the character in my book who is experiencing the disability. It is difficult, but it is also helping for me to see things in a different light.

Deenie, by Judy Blume Part 2

The second part of this book was very well written and I love how Judy Blume makes it seem as if I am reading through the mind of a teenage girl. However I enjoyed the first part to this book  more than thew second. In the second part it was  about repetitive and it ended very randomly. I believe that I did not enjoy the last parts of the book because it was cut short, but I have to remind myself that it was written for adolescents. The ending was not full of depth and meaning like I had hoped, but Judy Blume was writing for a much younger audience. Looking at this book in that context, I feel that there is a lot to be learned about my single story. This girl is in the most awkward stages of a girls life...puberty. Then on top of that she is told she has scoliosis and has to wear a giant brace for a few years. I really empathized with her, which gave me this idea. I thought long and hard about empathy vs sympathy and what that means. Sympathy in my opinion is derived from pity. People who have disabilities seldom want pity. I believe that one thing I have learned throughout reading my books for my single story is that empathy is so important. Having empathy for others, especially people who struggle with disabilities could make people be a lot more understanding and kind. I will admit that sometimes I don't put in the effort to empathize with people as much as I should but after reading these books I see differently.