Sunday, October 18, 2015
The Devil's Bait and Burning Man
The two essays this week, I think, are great models of subculture writing. I think we should talk about that, about how both authors, both outsiders of these subcultures, take us inside these communities. Are they sympathetic to the communities or judging or both or neither? How do they situate themselves in relation to their subjects (i.e. what is their ethos)? Part of analyzing their ethos might be imagining them differently. So, for instance, how would Wells Tower's essay be different if he hadn't gone to Burning Man w/ his father but, instead, peers of his? How might Leslie Jamison's essay be different if she went to the Morgellons conference as a fellow sufferer or if she had been a medical doctor who didn't believe it was a real disease? I think both of the subjects could be very exploitive. Morgellons is pretty hideous (try googling it) and Burning Man is lascivious (ditto). And yet both essays, at moments, are moving (and Towers' is often hilarious). Can you explore how the two authors complicate their subject matter?
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Both essays are definitely moving, I couldn't have imagine what people with Morgellons had gone though. Going to the doctor and being told that you are fine but in your world you are crazy about things coming out of yours skin which others don't see except you. No one knows how your suffering nor understand your feelings and on top of that they don't believe what is happening to you. On the other hand, Tower kept his promise with his dad to take him once each year to a different place so they can have more time together and be able to bond and understand each other different ways.
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