Class 3

Delving into possible topics for the essay:

1 - Experience at age 13, while on a family trip to Myrtle Beach, encountered two swimmers caught in a riptide. My stepbrother swam in to get help while I stayed with them, gripping my inflatable raft - one man was unconscious, the other was not. I tried to hold him up, but he was much heavier than me. The conscious man said he was too tired to try to help swim us in and just clung to the raft while I tried to hold the other man's head up. At some point, the sun set, but I don't know when. My father finally swam out to help me, along with two other guys. It took a long time. Everyone else on the beach just stood around and watched. When the head of the beach tried to close it later due to the riptides, he was overruled and the beaches stayed open. In addition, the man who I had helped, stayed at the vacation resort. We saw him several times before we left, but we never spoke.

Points to explore:
I was a kid trying to bond with a new family - the swim was actually one of my first times hanging out with my new steopbrother
When I realized I couldnt get the two men to shore, I felt weak, unhappy with myself - I resigned myself to not being able to swim in and waiting for help - was it the right decision?
i was disgusted by the people who were on the beach that didn't help me or the men - i was angry at the beachmaster too

2 - The story I related in class about the realization I had the night before my son was born. The realization that childhood is over and the time has come to be an adult - that there are literally hours left in the kind of life you've always known and a new one is about to begin no matter how you try to avoid it.

Points to explore:
I think this story touches on the fear of failure / of change
It represents the end of being young (selfish?) (irresponsible?) - the stakes are higher
The 9 months leading up to Frank's birth were an opportunity to get ready - to grow up.... maybe up to that point I was just playing at being the man of the house
In the hospitlal, I stared at the heart monitor, trying to comprehend what was connected to the other end
Moving towards sleep while my wife was in a long labor - sleep represents end of day - end of time - end of everything i had known
I was also to be tied irrevocably to another person for the rest of my life - a person i didnt know yet but who would rely on me for (most of) their lives
No second chances for either one of us
All this on top of the questions - from the practical (will he be healthy?) to the philosophical (will he be a good person?) to the disturbing (will he be a burden?) to the self-analytical (will i be a burden to him?)


3 - possibly a story about working about working on 9/11 and realizing the value of my work in the midst of a tragedy. when it happened i was a low-level writer. i was put in charge of a team that day and put in charge of production and staffing for that team indefinitely. i led the team for 3 months, until we went back to regular programming in december. one thing that i have mixed feelings about - because of my work during the tragedy (tv of course, not the kind of sacrifice so many others put in) my work was recognized and i was hired full time the following spring - ive been at the job now for 13 years, but that was the beginning. this story might be difficult to write - i remember the day very clearly, but then would have to truncate the next 3 months rather sharply to get to the point. those 3 months are very blurry - i dont remember much so it would be hard to recreate.