july 28 2008

heard two really good stories on npr today.

one was on "the story" (which matt arbogast was on once, holy shit) about a man in south carolina who collected tin and daguerrotype (sp?) portraits of slaves.

he found out that a pictures of his great-great-great grandmother was in the possession of the plantation-owners who still lived in his hometown.

when he went to see it, he had a moment. apparently the woman who lived at the plantation, who was in her 80s, referred to his g-g-g-grandma as "aunt nursey," and spoke with overpowering affection about her. it rocked the storyteller's world that slave owners could view their human property as more than cattle. complicated.

the other story i heard was on another show - don't remember the name. it was about a u.s. bomber that crashed into the empire state building in 1945. a woman talked about watching her boss's head catch on fire. she threw her rings out the window while she hid in a corner office. "i figured somebody oughta get some use out of them."

it was an absurd statement that made sense in a way that kind of crushed my soul for a second.

whenever i hear/read pieces like that, i wonder if i'm making a mistake in not pursuing journalism much harder.