https://keoconnor.exposure.co/the-faces-behind-the-food

Ira Glass describes two building blocks of storytelling, the first being the ‘anecdote,’ and the second being ‘the moment of reflection.’ Both of these components of storytelling are evident in Dan and Silvie’s segment of “24 Hours at the Golden Apple.” Glass explains that the anecdote is in lamens terms, “what happened.” He states that the anecdote is a string of events and thoughts in regard to those events which leads the reader, almost as if riding a train, towards a suspenseful moment or the ‘why’ of the story, “This happened and then this happened and then I said this…” continuing the string of actions and reactions to capture the attention of listeners or viewers. A key element to the anecdote is momentum, the momentum of the action, according to Glass, must raise a question from directly from the beginning of the story. He also notes that in good storytelling the resulting ‘answer‘ or destination of the anecdote is never boring. Such is the case in Dave and Silvie’s segment of “24 Hours at the Golden Apple.” The interviewer begins by expressing she was drawn to the middle-aged ‘couple.’ The most notable language and perhaps what makes this story interesting is the phrase ‘couple,’ used by the interviewer as audiences are introduced to Dave and Silvie. We soon find out that their relationship is anything but the usual and the events which they described absolutely come as a surprise or shock to the audience. The moment of reflection in this story comes both literally and figuratively as the listener learns that while the pair were once a couple, they are now, to the dismay of Dave, merely friends, and Silvie is actually engaged to be married. Dave and Silvie literally pause to reflect upon their relationship in silence and this is a tool purposely included by the interviewer to express the aforementioned reflection.  Glass depicts a good story as having a moment of action paired with someone’s verbal response in regard to the same. In the case of Dave and Silive, the interviewer describes Dave’s wandering eye and a discussion ensues as Silvie explains how hurtful this was to her in the past. Ira Glass wants artists to abandon ‘crap,’ to go straight to the stories that get to ‘the heart.’ Dave and Silvie’s story is certainly emotional and the listener can almost feel the couple’s own confusion, sadness, regretful nature yet hope for the future.

In the more technical sense of Ira Glass’ view of storytelling he states that an audience must be able to follow ‘what is being talked about’ and that an interviewer should be depicted interacting with other people and observing and commenting on interactions between human beings. Glass explains that even in an interview there needs to be characters to make some sort of drama. The interviewer in this case observed what she deemed to be a couple of characters and began to, herself, interact with the two people, ultimately finding an interesting and curious story they shared. Glass also says that a story should be able to be summed up in once sentence: “Two past lovers, whom now remain friends, ponder their friendship, their past, and what both of these things will mean for their futures.”

The dining room of P and D Oxford House of Pizza is decorated for a birthday celebration.

Surprise!

The employees of P and D Oxford House of Pizza are a close knit group of individuals, often going out of their way to recognize, honor, or celebrate one of their own.

ORIGIN: Oxford, Massachusetts

BEHAVIORS:  reading, trolling the internet, dancing with friends, painting, watching entire TV series in embarrassingly short periods of time

HABITAT: 99% of the time I can be found sitting in my Ford Taurus (classy) on the Pike in traffic, singing show tunes at the top of my lungs (otherwise, being the ultimate townie at a local dive, or deep in the abyss that is my Netflix instant que)

MARKINGS: curls, curls,  & more curls paired with far too much eyeliner, more than a couple of scars and one or two tattoos

CALL: “I think I’m graduating next semester…” (every. single. semester.)