News Quiz | April 30, 2012

“ I'm a bit tied between either spectrum of opinion for this topic. Of course, the shock still shoots tremors of betrayal at first realization that what I gripped as raw nonfiction was really a sandpapered, twice-polished parable. It still matters and upsets that what I thought was real and unapologetically true /wasn't/. And I recognize that the fluffed "details" can hurt the "characters" of the non-fiction work in the process of teaching or entertaining other people- even if a fantastic sex scene in, for example, The Social Network, might draw the process of creating Facebook as a crazy, unpredictable journey, it also risks depicting the people involved in the sex sense in an detrimentally different light: it paints them with different incentives, different traits, and perhaps different lives all together; it destroys or blows up their ethos, edits their pathos, and bastardizes their logos. So why lie, and for what truth? To me, lying is inevitable. We all experience a minor event, and find ourselves retelling the event in a more fantastic manner with relish afterwards. Oh, the event did happen. But the details, the people and places and things, they all mush up in the mind. If we want to remember anything, it has to stick out. And to keep it sticking out, we have to add more and more romance to the recall. Thus, I don't believe that "non-fiction" really and truly exists. We can fact-check and relentlessly research matters, but all people tend to realign their memory to whatever is most dramatic at the expense of the truth. Having soaked in the "lie to tell the truth" sentiments of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried and Jonathan Safran Foerin's Everything Is Illuminated since early high school, I somehow find myself forgiving the hyperbolic or conjured truth with more ease than I'd prefer to admit. I suppose that ultimately, the deal breaker is the author's intention: was the hyperbole a product of pinnings for one's more beautiful memory, or of engineered weaving of another's lives for a best-seller? The latter disgusts me, and the former brings me all sorts of conflict...but neither really belong in the non-fiction section, if it should exist at all.”

“ I think that all of the good jobs such as a scientist need a college education. I think that a college education is good because it makes you look and be able to get a better job than someone who did not go to college. I want to go to two colleges because I want to get the job I want and a doctorate for zoology.”

“ In Janet Malcolm’s “The Journalist and The Murderer,” author Joseph Wambaugh briefly discussed his distinction between a “lie versus an untruth.” According to Wambaugh, a lie is something that’s told in bad faith, whereas an untruth is a unintentional lie. As the reader, if I invested my time in reading a powerful first-person story and later found out that parts of the story were fabricated, I would feel deceived. I would question the authenticity of their story all together. Mike Daisey deliberately mislead his readers, stating that his story, “The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs,” was non-fiction, which is a lie. ”

“ I think college is necessary for certain jobs like if you are going into a business related job you will need to have gone to a business school before it. But there are to many careers now that don't require you to go to college and some people get lucky. I'm going to go to college because the job I want does require it.”

“ I would feel disgusted and betrayed that a nonfiction account is not entirely true. Whether this fictionalized account worships or libels an individual, this story not only cheats the subject, but its readers also. ”

“ Choosing the ultimatum of betrayal or acceptance (against Daisey’s) may not seem like a difficult choice. Regardless of the freedom of speech, there is some integrity and respect in reporting the truth. Defiling the truth leaves an outcome of betrayal. Daisey in his segment of “The Agony and Ectasy of Steven Jobs” clearly made the mistake of fabricating portions of his story. I’d stay away from the author of any story once I’d hear/read that it wasn’t as honest as it could’ve been. ”

“ When I watch a TV show to pass time or for fun, it doesn’t really matter to me whether or not the character castings are diverse or not, but that maybe be due to the fact that when I watch TV, my mind relaxes and I tend not to think too much about these issues and focus on the storyline instead. I think race and TV casting is a topic of vigorous discussion right now in our culture because many people are realizing the importance of having diversity in society, and how important it is for each race to have equal opportunities and representation.”

“ Surprisingly enough, my most recent meaningful conversation was about 4 hours ago, and you're never going to believe who it was with. It was the first class of the day and we had a substitute teacher...We start talking about all sorts of things, from her high-school years to car insurance for teenagers. It was actually really fun to talk about random stuff that relates to life. Yes, it sounds weird, but the most recent meaningful conversation with someone was with my substitute teacher, first class of the day, this morning.”

“ I gave up on baseball when the WS was cancelled in 1994. I grew up believing that baseball was something more important than other sports, and that year, I learned I was wrong.Since then, to get fans back into the seats, they juiced up the ball and let a bunch of steroid abusing freaks shatter all the long-held records for homeruns.Now, obviously, they have deadened the ball again.As a boy, I remember watching baseball games on Sunday Afternoon in front of the TV with my dad. After the game, they always interviewed the player of the game. Now, that tradition is pretty much shot since half the players are spanish speaking. Everything about the Great American Pastime has been sold out...I'm done with Baseball for ever.”

“ I honestly think that TV has gotten more diverse as time goes on. Before when TV was staring out I could see there not being any diversity at all due to segregation and racism. Now, there is a lot of TV shows with a diverse of races on the show. For example, my favorite show, Bones had a very diverse cast. The Big Bang Theory also has a very diverse cast. The diversity doesn't really catch my attention. I see it as a show with compelling and complex characters. Not "Oh, hes asian" or "This is a show that only casts girls."”

“ I didnt know about the poem in the pocket day. But my brother did and he made a poem. It was about school and how he hates school. i only know one line by heart. It said "waking up in the morning waiting for the bus, makes me angry so bad i just wanna cuss!"”

“ Here is an implausible but true story. I found this poem today. I was opening several packs of fancy pencils to give to my students as prizes. Inside the cardboard flap on one pack, I saw some writing (in pencil), and since the pencils were made in Vietnam, I checked out a few of the words using an on-line translation tool. Here is my translation of this modern day “message in a bottle”. I'm sure that it isn’t a perfect translation but I hope I captured the essence of what the writer had to say.the east wind/ shows these magic leaves/ to a full courtyard/ nine thoughts, only leaves/ sleep the sleep that bring dreams/ open/ and feel sad for him”

“ I seleceted many poems, printed them out, folded them up, and put them in a bowl on my desk. I invite my co-workers to take one for their pocket. I've done this for 3 years now and people really like it. My personal pocket poem is "Forgetfulness" by Billy Collins.”

“ Emily Dickinson:'I STARTED early, took my dog,' ”

“ It is very ironic how we are responding to an article about communication via technology. ”

“ The author never explains exactly what a great conversation acutally is. I have conversations all day, every day, which are all enjoyable. I find that most of them can be described as "great" ... I can not have a face- to- face conversation with my grandparents who are over 300 miles away. I can however, call them and have fantastic conversations every week. I also have friends from other parts of the state and it is convenient to keep in touch using the computer or phones. These are the conversations that would be classified as more than "great". I can hardly ever talk with them, and revel in the ability to stay in touch.”

“ For Poem in Your Pocket Day, carry WB Yeats' 'When you are old and grey' around on your smartphone in the form of this film celebrating the power of poetry, from Sydney: #pocketpoem http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyDEEQoVqjY”

Archive

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On April 30, 1975, Communist North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces captured the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon, forcing South Vietnam to surrender and bringing about an end to the Vietnam War.

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