Week Nine Reading Response

This week brought longer-form narrative stories to the forefront, and I for one really enjoyed it. Ted Conover's "The Road is Very Unfair" was an intricately interesting read, although the subject matter it tackled...was immense. At times, it felt less focused on what it purported to be about, AIDS in Africa, and more about poor infrastructure and dangerous conditions (threatening militias, other spreadable diseases) present in the various countries Conover traveled in. Still, the writer gave us an incredible insider's view of what's going on in Sub-Saharan Africa today, through the eyes of those who are supposedly spreaders of AIDS, truckers. The way they live is fascinating, and it was interesting to compare the stereotypical US trucker, who is looked down upon, with these men, who are privileged above many other Africans. One scene that stuck out in particular to me was when Conover wanted sympathy from Obadiah about having smashed his finger in a volleyball game, showed him the beat-up finger, and only then noticed that the other man was missing that same finger on his hand. Powerful stuff indeed.

Aaron Aupperlee's work didn't disappoint either. I particularly enjoyed his three part series about heroin. For these pieces, at times I found myself forgetting who minor characters introduced early on were, as they were only later involved in the action, but this was a minor blip in the reading process. The series does an excellent job of illustrating how terrifyingly powerful heroin is, and how seriously the drug destroys lives, all while providing something of a positive message in the end. It accomplishes this by using a recovering addict as an example, showing that despite the pull of the drug one can attempt to fight the urge, and showing what the government, educators, and groups of people are doing to fight the cycle of drug abuse. This positive message was particularly striking as I remembered Adrian Nicole LeBlanc's story "Trina and Trina," about a crack addict who simply could not give up her habit, and whom the writer eventually gave up on after too numerous attempts to help. This series, while it had echoes of LeBlanc's story in that heroin addicts do often return to the drug because of the incredibly strong hold it has on them, was able to end more positively because of its focus on community efforts to end the drug cycle and its focus on a recovering addict who truly wants to reclaim his old life.