Week Nine Activity

I chose Distance by Marianna Corona, because I thought it was really well done.

• Point of View: This story is about the dream of owning a house this narrator had as a young girl, and the steps she took to reach that goal. The author/narrator is a Mexican-American and this story is also about the cultural background she comes from, and the prejudice she had to overlook in order to fulfill her dream. It is told from the point of view of a successful woman who came from humble backgrounds, which I get the feeling she never saw that as a relevant part of her future.
• Dramatic Question: The dramatic question that is asked used to hook an audience forms from the narrators first words "I remember the day that a friend told me I didn't live in a house." This statement/question clues the audience into knowing the story will be about houses and neighborhoods, and also class issues, because the house in question is a trailer.
  

• Emotional Content.The story of how important it was to the author to own her own home, and how far she came, what she did, in order to achieve that goal really added to the emotional content. Also, how she lives in the same neighborhood that she walked in as a kid and was called a name that reeked of hatred, but she owns the home she dreamed of, despite the hatred she felt as a kid. I really felt emotionally connected to the walking across 3 stages, and one aisle part - which, for me, brought the long journey she made into focus.
• Voice. The narrator did a great job of retelling her story in a straight forward, casual manner. She has a very soft but steady and determined voice that fit well with the story she had to tell.
• Soundtrack. This story had very little music (none?), but it did have the sound of birds and cars - the same sounds one would find in a sleepy neighborhood that this author referred to in her story. 
• Economy.This script used metaphor to relate a large portion of this authors life journey - I'm thinking specifically of the "lived across the state, walked three stages and one aisle"  line, which documented her schooling and her marriage. Great choice of words. Also, tied into the theme of walking, which pulled together the whole story.
• Pacing.This story used a literal "pace." The walking was a theme throughout the story, and was paired with continual video of a sidewalk as one would see it if walking. The voice narration was well-paced as well, and the images that faded in and out (while the sidewalk continued to show in the background) complimented the script well.