In hunting for Jon Franklin's highly-regarded narrative about a day in the life of a dogcatcher, I came upon this story by Franklin -- one I'd never read and never heard of, even though he lectures widely and a lot of his work finds its way into writing seminars, etc.
It transfixed me; I could not stop reading it. It's creepy, poignant, disturbing and uplifting all at once.
Note how he starts immediately in a scene.
Note how he introduces a nearly intangible concept in the second graf.
Note that before you have time to dwell on that nearly intangible concept and get mad that he doesn't explain what it is, you're back in the scene. If you're like me, you're invested in the story once he starts describing the students.
Note how when the main character speaks, you might say, 'what the...?' ... but note how his response comes back at the end with a new meaning.
Note how the intangible slowly becomes tangible.
Ah, heck, we could do a whole brown-bagger on this story. Just read it. And let me know what you think.
This story broke my heart. My favorite description is of the women who feed "the mouths." As if that's all the babies were, mouths that had to be filled. I've read and viewed documentaries of the early treatment of the mentally ill, but I've never been affected as I was by reading this. Truly an amazing article.
ReplyDeleteThe descriptions of what Donald did to himself were so visceral and graphic, it made me cringe. I think that's part of what made the story so strong: The idea that there was so much violence, when all Donald really needed was to be touched and seen. It was amazingly perceptive that a nurse or a reporter could figure out that the pain and the coffee were leading to the same thing in Donald's head.
ReplyDeleteThis story was incredibly heart-breaking for me, particularly as a mother. All babies want is to be held and loved, and the reality that so many children, particularly ones that need the most care, don't receive it just brings tears to my eyes.
ReplyDeleteThe authoritative writing here shows how much time and energy Franklin put into the story. And I can't imagine how hard it was for him to dig up all that information on this patient that no one cared about for so many years.