This is a graded discussion: 30 points possible

due Apr 19

Has a Story Ever Changed You?

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A good story can change a person

it can provide emotional release, make someone feel less lonely, and (as the previous article outlined), even change behavior

when has a story affected you?

For this discussion, write about a story you heard (or a movie you saw, or a play you saw, or a book you read) that deeply affected the way you felt or thought. Maybe you saw a documentary or public service message (like the “Ben” story in the previous article,) or maybe you saw a really good movie or TV show that changed how you think. Maybe someone told you something important that happened to them. However the story was delivered, write about the story you heard or saw, and talk about the change it made in you. When you have finished your post, please reply to at least two others.

An example:

“When I was fifteen years old, my English teacher took our class on a field trip to see a play called “The Elephant Man.” It was based on a true story, about a guy in the 1800s Joseph Merrick (Links to an external site.), who was born with a disease that made huge lumps and bumps form all over his head. He became a sideshow freak, but later, through the efforts of a doctor who rescued him, he also became the darling of Victorian society. He was never cured of his affliction–there was no cure–but he had a few years of being treated like a normal person.

The play was really sad, but also uplifting, because the Elephant Man was portrayed as a beautiful soul, residing in a deformed body. The play did this, by having the actor playing the Elephant Man not wear any make up or prosthetics to make him look deformed. Instead, the other characters around him just treated him like a freak and a monster. The audience never “saw” the grotesque deformities of the Elephant Man. We were left to imagine them. Meanwhile, this beautiful actor portrayed a sensitive, responsive, yearning human being.

I was deeply affected by the play. I cried a lot and thought about it for weeks afterwards. It really brought home the message that all human souls are beautiful no matter what body they are born in. But it also gave me a hunger to write a story that would affect people as profoundly as “The Elephant Man” did me. So shortly after that, I wrote my first script, and decided to devote my life to the theater.”

Your post should be at least 200 words, and use complete sentences, specific examples and details. whenever possible. Your replies should be at least three sentences and specifically address the post made by your classmates For a rubric, press the “three dots” at the top of this assignment to see how you will be graded.

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