SuperSizeMe

What impression did the play make on you that caused you to see the connection between the characters and your own lives? If that is a simple as abuse, or as complex as colonization, or anything in between?
Overall I have lived a rather sheltered life. I grew up in a stable home with my mother, father, and brother. My parents rarely fought, and my brother and I had a surprisingly tight connection. Instead of fighting each other we would gang up against other people. In this sense I cannot directly connect to Purple. On the other hand, one of my good friends did not have the same experience. He was often caught in the middle between the neglect of his father, and the abuse of his mother. The mother would torture her son, and also cheated on her husband. The stories that he told me of these instances were incredibly painful to remember, but like Purple, were important to tell.

Why do you think Prof. Francis had to write this piece? What did he mean that he had it inside of him, that he has been carrying this play around with him his whole life?
Professor Francis described this story as a semi-biography. While not all of the events that happened in the play happened in his life, his exaggeration or rather form of expression sent a message to the reader. His use of anagrams, and symbolism helped to emotionally recreate the events of his childhood within his audience. Even his style and use of title cards, which make the story disconnected, help his audience themselves connect with the story. By making the story fragmented the audience could themselves feel what it was like to be oppressed, and under someone else's control. Prof. Francis believes that "everything we do in this world, stays in this world." In this sense his play is his version of the world that he has put on paper to be reenacted for others to witness.

What is the Purple? How did it settle for the characters? For you? For Francis? Or was it not resolved?
Purple is a bruise. Not only a bruise of the flesh that can heal, but an internal bruise of the heart and soul that lasts with a person for eternity. The characters had to live their lives with what had happened to them in the past. However they made the decision to live by acknowledging the past and respecting it rather than running from fear. For Junior, his mother explains to him that the play he wrote was not for nothing. She explained that the play would help him to not be afraid of the past, and in the future help to share his experiences with his children. His life, his experiences, his play was for something. As for me, I will probably never live through any experiences that even parallel the experiences in this play. But by reading the play, I have more respect, more understanding, and more appreciation for the people who have gone through similar experiences.


Today.
The main lesson that I learned from today's lecture was to "Question Everything." I have innate trust in people, so this concept hit hard. Journalism for the people, crafted by the people, to influence the people the way others feel they should be influenced = media.