Signs: The Seed Is Planted By Sandi Austin
February 23, 2009 by Dave
In Sandi Austins clever little sarcastic narrative, she really sums up her unability to think past the tip of her nose when she recounts her trip through the airport. “Of course I’m thinking there is nothing in there besides the projector I had to carry for work. The agent reaches in and pulls out a bottle of Jason’s Deli water. I smile, laugh a little, and apologize. I’m sure she feels successful ... job well done. That is one less water bottle on the plane!”
How many times have I thought that? Plenty. But the huge difference between her and I is that she fails to understand the bigger issues that are causing such this annoyance. But this post isn’t about our differing opinions, it’s on what we can learn about the person by reading their own blog postings.
Sandi tells us a story of events that happened after her returned home from Iraq with the hope to convince us that we have become overly protective and in turn, overly obnoxious as a society. She shares her personal stories of people she has talked to and situations she was in to show us that our nation doesn’t understand the real workings of the world.
At her job, she speaks with a woman that explains what she is afraid of at the aquarium: ǃ_No, not the shark, dear, the terrorists.ǃ_ Sandi replies with complete confidence, “no one is going to come into the aquarium and blow it up.” How calm and collected she must have been telling this lady what she was should be afraid of.
The snide and sarcastic remarks ran amuke in her story. I wonder if that is the only style she writes in because that would terrible. “Maybe I’m naive, but I don’t see the purpose of getting everyone worked up over this so-called terrorist.” The sarcasm, is it to back up the confidence or to compensate for the lack of real meaning/support for her opinions.
She has used her experiences being deployed not to further an understanding but to be come narrow minded and shallow about the world around her.
Comments
Sandi Austin-Maxinoski
Monterey, CA
April 27, 2011
Hello Dave,
It was random that I came across your blog in response to my submission almost 4 years after I wrote it. I was a bit surprised to hear that I came across as snide and sarcastic. Some of the situation I described simply seemed funny to me. In hindsight, what I was actually trying to express is that after returning from Iraq, where there was eminent danger, it felt that there had been this idea planted in many Americans to live in fear. Perhaps it was part of the election strategy at the time, who knows. Anyway, thanks for your comments and I was surprised that someone found and actually used my writing as part of a project.
Hope things are going well for you.
Sandi Austin-Maxinoski
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The course utilized a blog both to continue the discussion outside the classroom, and to provide training for the students in blogging, video compression, and video sharing.
Students used the blog to post reflections and ideas, to share and comment on the video assignments, and to respond to each other's posts.