For my NYPL Oral History Project, I chose the interview done by Brian Gerber, interviewing Adrian Spratt.  Adrian Spratt is a British born, now a Brooklyn Heights native, visually impaired, with a speech impediment, NYC attorney.  The reason I chose this interview, to be perfectly honest,  was Adrian’s photo. After I heard the original interview, I knew I was writing a blog on him, but seeing Adrian’s picture, there was something very welcoming about him. I loved hearing Adrian’s story because he has quite the one to tell.  It was slightly difficult to understand at some parts due to Adrian’s British accent mixed in with his speech impediment.  However, hearing his life story was truly inspiring, and I can say almost as if a modern Helen Keller. Adrian had many physical problems and diagnosis’ as a child which affected him as an adult. But despite those problems, which most can say would forcibly sit those who are affected, down, and prevent them from doing wondrous things in their life, Adrian went above and beyond. He finished his elementary, secondary, and primary education, and even went on to attend university, including Harvard! Leading to become the attorney he is today. Adrian’s story really makes me believe that nothing is impossible, and anything is possible, (as they say in Disney, my favorite!) if you just believe, and set your mind to your goals.

For this week’s response I chose to write about Thamus and Theuth. The whole conversation between Socrates (philosopher who dictated the story), and Phaedrus (Socrates’ pupil), is fascinating. However, the following line is what stuck out to me most.  The god Thamus said this to the god Theuth  in response to Theuth’s idea on how letters, and written words will help mankind for the better. “ The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality. ” I really liked this line because it speaks volumes of mankind today, even though we are talking centuries later. Yes, written text, and literacy has made mankind leap miles in a positive way, and in so many categories. Culture, religion, societies, etc. However, seeing as we live today, with technology surpassing us in so many ways, it is important to acknowledge what Thamus said. Due to technology being where it is, we have become accustomed to it. Sure, it works in our favor, technology, and it is extremely helpful and convenient, yet we are forgetting who and what we were as a people beforehand. It is important to remember the ways of the past, to continue tradition, and not lose ourselves in the future. I believe that was the message of Thamus, if we let ourselves be fooled and seduced by the phenomenal ways of what letters. literacy, and eventually technology bring us, we might forget who we are and where we come from, and that cannot happen.

Cited:

http://www.john-uebersax.com/plato/myths/phaedrus.htm

For this week’s blog post I decided to respond to Diana Taylor’s, “The Archive and The Repertiore”. I chose this reading because her introduction and story life really stood out to me, and I actually will be speaking as a devil’s advocate this time around, to challenge myself. Diana grew up a certain way, continued her education a complete 180 from what she knew and was comfortable with. As she writes her experiences in school, she ends off by saying “I am delighted to report, that for me at least, the training failed miserably”. Referring to her education as the anglican finishing school. I definitely hear that her experiences weren’t pleasant and I probably would say the exact same thing. However, our experiences and where we come from make up for what we have , and I say this an objective eye to Diana’s story. People have all sorts of stories, Skeltons in closets, experiences, lessons, backgrounds, etc, and it’s what we make of it. one could say Diana saying she was delighted for failing, for not abiding to Angelican rule was her experience, her story. Yet on the other hand, once could say she had a terrible experience in the school, yet she came out the way she did because of it, despite it, and there is no need to be “delighted”. I believe it is both. I believe every action that we do, or has been done to us, makes up our story. how we go about handling it, is the key. we all come from various parts of the world. being here in the United States grants us ( or our immigrant ancestors ) various opportunities. We don’t need to fit into a certain mold or label to have our story. It’s our story so we can make do with it, how we would like to.