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Show ioti The Daily Herald ante aagatwaFwa Sunday, January 21, 1936 Cameras annoying, memories priceless " "J " " ' T5C'a " ' " ' jS Otftiur most recent vacation, I didfl'tfeel like shooting my kids. So when we drove north we left . the video camera in the bedroom closet. Although my wife protested, I said it took up too much room in the ia? and it was too heavy to lug around. .' ; The truth was, I didn't want to be bothered with it Instead of having fun with everyone, I figured I would be standing off to one side, IwliEr-- i roim. - i..-i,IMr- .irMl. VAjx .til r. 3- 1 -' .t? i f Ilsfev , i,,,,,.,.,,, V feelings of wanting to die soon melted. I came to realize that I could get better and someday I will be able to do those things I used to do. But it would take time. I would have to work hard, to want to live and to try my very hardest to get better." Shannon Brackett, 17 "My Thi Sun Sentinel operating the camera, taking pictures of other people having fun. .What's more, the fun would be influenced by the presence of the camera. Anyone who says they act the same way when the camera is running as when it isn't is lying. Also, you have to watch what comments made you say. Off-han-d about friends or relatives who aren't present can cause seven kinds of trouble if those people later view the tapesAnd Murphy's . Law says they wilL I. - My. other complaint is that you never watch them. I am not the kind to foist boring family tapes on visitors. (In case it should come up, by the way, I also am not the kind of visitor who will put up with watching someone else's boring family tapes.) ' In more than 10 years since we purchased our camera, we have shot hours of tape. Some of it we've never watched. The rest we've watched rarely. If your family is at all like mine, many of them aren't even labeled. So what's the point? I found out a few days after returning from that last vacation when my wife asked that my sons and I go through three boxes of video tapes and label them. ' The. first few were full of point- - ' less TV sitcoms, awards shows and bad movies my son Joe had taped. I suspect some of these were taped over "priceless" family videos. "" Then we came to one in which my daughter and younger son had put on a "show" when she was 10 years old and he was 8. Laura, who is nearly 20, started by miming a record, Then she introduced Matt, whatold very bad jokes in a voice about three octaves higher than his current one. . .Qrj another tape from about the samgeriod, Joe and Laura played the iflno while Matt did a child's version of interpretive dance. On yet another, Laura sang "I Enjoy Beiug.a Girl" without accompani-medt'Tsure her voice teacher wbq?4 love to see that one. " Three Christmases when our big kids were little also were chroni-cled-.. And one tape featured a group of 1 5 of my wife's middle school English students who showed up at our house for an impromptu party to'qelebrate Tina's selection as Teacher of the Year. ' In & touching tribute, the kids, all Q'hom have graduated from colfcse by now. recited Edgar Allan Po?VvAnnabelle Lee" in unison. As-- watched these, my opinion of tbeTvalue of the video camera sloiKy changed, although not completely. I still object to video intrude upon school func-tion- g jSince the proliferation of vidTameras, many such events bavecome little more than photo DprxAinities. People don't go to watSf a group of kids, they go to rnaSCS home video of their own xm 1 fit - . ! f ' ""' XaiAt """"" Shannon Brackett, 17, describes why she wrote an English car accident this summer. essay about her near-fatal liiiMini.il i .win awi nfcunm iiihhiiumii iii in. .a UMMMUU.I JLinywi. t,4.Lijfc,aigww H 'MtKli o "iv cSrT,j',tadjL ' 'j,)"t rfjaj tL t ' 'mtBXMmzjwtr-'t.M.--,--iisrr-- , J&& . fMm s J W8WML,,.J " usyl , ; , ll . 1 w vJ,w-mJ- W Ml . 1 . -- - -i 'V1 v, j .... jJS' m . cam-era$j3- at kidr: : - $2$ to many of them believe their child for posterity jus6t?es boorish behavior that or completely detracts from the event for others. ruins There is no excuse for such behavior. Still, getting those priceless pecks at the past convinced me it is asjbolish to undcruse the camera as to overuse it Besides, while watching them cringe at their younger selves, I realized those tapes also have great value if I ever want to blackmail as I most certainly will my kids some day. recwng IWIIIII .... - mnwMiiiir r !'lli1 mw il Ii ll'T' mrniiini-i'.,i.-- Daily Herald PhotosJason Olson Timpvtav High teacher Michelu Adams, standing, discusses with her senior English Students a recent assignment they had to describe themselves on the inside rather than the outside. English class shares personal feelings By LAURA GOLDEN The Daily Heraid Assistant Lifestyle Editor When Timpview High School teacher Michele Adams gave her senior English class an assignment to describe themselves on the inside, she never imagined the outcome would be what it was: a chance for her students to see the chambers of each others' hearts. Every year Adams has posed difficult assignments to her seniors, but never has there been one quite like this one. "I had no idea what I'd get," Adams said of the assignment. "Every year I've given a diction assignment, but I do things differently every year, depending on what I feel like assigning." The teacher said this time she wanted to give the students an assignment that wasn't strictly "mechanics-oriented.- " But she was reluctant to give the assignment because of fie "personal risk" involved. MIIIB "''iwi.mi IMIIIII mmrrnm nil V "At the same time, I was excited to help the students transcend their comfort zones," Adams stated. "Their responses were phenomenal." While some of the students had trouble figuring out what to write about, Shannon Brackett, 17,- was not one of them. She said she knew the assignment would be a good opportunity to revisit some of the life lessons she learned - after surviving an automobile accident near Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon during the summer of 1995. Brackett spent three and one half weeks in a coma and suffered severe injuries, including permanent brain damage. "There were several times I would wish death upon myself" she wrote in her essay. "I used to think I would rather be dead than stuck lying in bed all day. I would become very angry, thinking 'Why did this happen to me?' (See INSIDE, Page B2) IIMI I HI .lll.M MMiiiiaaaJMwMwMM Il.l. IM Mill M 1 - .i ill ! ; V. 1 v if i i3 - " Timpview High student Susy McClellan shows a family picture. She wrote an essay for her English class, describing her father's death Ml I IIMIHII.Ig iMiruw!iMBMwiag.raJ1lasiglw Tl In 1987. HWHDIO ! l y J -- 1 - tfl |
