Terkel’s documentary collaboration of interviews is a telling and descriptive look into the lives of those we usually overlook in the workspace (steelworker, farm worker, domestic workers) as well as those we idolize, worship and dream to become (actress, model, baseball player).
One entry that stood out to me the most was “Who Built the Pyramids?” The first preface is an interview with Mike Lefevre, a steelworker from “somewhere in Cicero” (xxxi). He talks about those in our everyday, the laborers, who are ignored or not given any credit for the line of work they take on. He points to the work of the Egyptian slaves who built the pyramids but are ignored when people marvel over the enormity and beauty of the project.
Lefevre talks about the hopes he has for his children, the emergence and threat technology has on his job, the difference between being a thinker and a doer and about leaving a mark on your work (so people remember you). He uses a lot of jokes and makes a lot of sincere comments about these things. Overall, he seems like a father who would like to spend more time with his kids and give them more and better opportunities than he’s had.
I appreciate his interview a lot and I connect with this entry because I belong to a family of labourers: not very educated, but very intelligent people who must use their physical strength to make their daily pay. Most of the men in my family work in some form of construction, or metal stripping while my mother & grandmother are cleaners. While I’ve been fortunate to come to university and utilize a different kind of learning (analysis, critical discussion, etc), a more valued type of learning, I can’t forget where I’ve come from and the struggles I’ve seen my family endure by having a very physically draining lifestyle. Lefevre admits, “Somebody has to do this work. If my kid ever goes to college, I just want him to have a little respect, to realize that his dad is one of those somebodies” (xxxv). I may not have to use my hands to make ends meet, but I appreciate the people who do, because they are doing the real ground work for our society, doing the work that us on our pedal stools refuse to submit ourselves to.
One of Lefevre’s most thoughtful remarks says, “If you can’t improve yourself, you improve your posterity. Otherwise life isn’t worth nothing. You might as well go back to the cave and stay there. I’m sure the first caveman who went over the hill to see what was on the other side—I don’t think he went there wholly out of curiousity. He went there because he wanted to get his son out of the cave. Just the same way I want to send my kid to college” (xxxii). Similarly to what I was saying above, my family has worked hard to push me to do more with my life, especially knowing the hardships they’ve had to endure living a difficult and hard lifestyle.
I like how Terkel connected the stories of all these people, how he gave a voice to the previously ignored and how he allowed people like Lefevre to leave a mark somewhere, where someone could remember him.
One entry that stood out to me the most was “Who Built the Pyramids?” The first preface is an interview with Mike Lefevre, a steelworker from “somewhere in Cicero” (xxxi). He talks about those in our everyday, the laborers, who are ignored or not given any credit for the line of work they take on. He points to the work of the Egyptian slaves who built the pyramids but are ignored when people marvel over the enormity and beauty of the project.
Lefevre talks about the hopes he has for his children, the emergence and threat technology has on his job, the difference between being a thinker and a doer and about leaving a mark on your work (so people remember you). He uses a lot of jokes and makes a lot of sincere comments about these things. Overall, he seems like a father who would like to spend more time with his kids and give them more and better opportunities than he’s had.
I appreciate his interview a lot and I connect with this entry because I belong to a family of labourers: not very educated, but very intelligent people who must use their physical strength to make their daily pay. Most of the men in my family work in some form of construction, or metal stripping while my mother & grandmother are cleaners. While I’ve been fortunate to come to university and utilize a different kind of learning (analysis, critical discussion, etc), a more valued type of learning, I can’t forget where I’ve come from and the struggles I’ve seen my family endure by having a very physically draining lifestyle. Lefevre admits, “Somebody has to do this work. If my kid ever goes to college, I just want him to have a little respect, to realize that his dad is one of those somebodies” (xxxv). I may not have to use my hands to make ends meet, but I appreciate the people who do, because they are doing the real ground work for our society, doing the work that us on our pedal stools refuse to submit ourselves to.
One of Lefevre’s most thoughtful remarks says, “If you can’t improve yourself, you improve your posterity. Otherwise life isn’t worth nothing. You might as well go back to the cave and stay there. I’m sure the first caveman who went over the hill to see what was on the other side—I don’t think he went there wholly out of curiousity. He went there because he wanted to get his son out of the cave. Just the same way I want to send my kid to college” (xxxii). Similarly to what I was saying above, my family has worked hard to push me to do more with my life, especially knowing the hardships they’ve had to endure living a difficult and hard lifestyle.
I like how Terkel connected the stories of all these people, how he gave a voice to the previously ignored and how he allowed people like Lefevre to leave a mark somewhere, where someone could remember him.
No comments:
Post a Comment