Captivity Reading for a Captive Audience

Since we’re all currently under house arrest, to some extent, I thought some of you might appreciate a few good captivity stories, which, if nothing else, might help put things into perspective for you.

The Diary of Anne Frank

If you didn’t have to read this in school or have been avoiding it so far, you have no excuse not to read it now. It may not have a happy ending, but Anne Frank always believed people were good at heart. This book is filled with tension, romance, and warm affection for your family (even if they do get on your nerves when you’re forced to spend an inordinate amount of time together). Also, having visited (almost 20 yrs ago) where her family hid out in Amsterdam certainly gave me more of an appreciation for their situation.

Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

Unless you’re a teenager or young adult, this book probably hasn’t been on your radar. I read it several years ago after it was recommended by a coworker with a teenage daughter. It was later made into a movie, but I definitely suggest reading the book first (and it’s a pretty good adaptation). The plot revolves around what life is like if you’re a bright and talented teenage girl with a rare and extreme immunodeficiency disorder which forces you to avoid all human contact lest you get sick and die. There’s humor, romance, and I can’t really say anymore without a spoiler, but this is a real page turner.

The Collector by John Fowles

I had to read this in my Brit Lit class back in my college days. Although it’s far from cheerful, it certainly made for interesting reading and definitely held my attention. It was also only marginally less depressing than In Cold Blood, for what it’s worth. Basically a man kidnaps a young lady and holds her captive in his basement. Not a happy ending, but a classic piece of literature (or at least I’m assuming so since my professor made us read it). Apparently this too was made into a movie.

A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard

I read this several years ago out of pure curiosity, because who doesn’t like to know what life would be like in captivity if you were kidnapped? “The kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard occurred on June 10, 1991, in Meyers, California. Dugard was eleven years old when she was abducted from a street while walking to a school bus stop.” (Wikipedia summary)  Unlike two out of the three above books, this does have a happy ending as eventually Jaycee was freed, though 18 years had passed and she had two daughters with her kidnapper (though this is no case of Stockholm syndrome).

The Lost Girls by John Glatt

The True Story of the Cleveland Abductions and the Incredible Rescue of Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus

In the same vein, this is another famous kidnapping case that especially hits home for me as my mom and uncle grew up in a neighborhood only a few miles away from there, not to mention that the infamous Christmas Story house is only a short distance as well. I guess you really never know what your neighbors are up to, do you?

Anyway, what happened is a man by the name of Ariel Castro systematically kidnapped a trio of teenage girls between 2002 and 2004 until one of the girls finally escaped in 2013. Like Dugard, she too had a daughter with her kidnapper.

According to my dad, to whom I gifted this book, he said Ariel gave each of the girls a journal to record their time in captivity. Apparently they took him up on this and dutifully jotted their thoughts as time passed. This certainly made it a lot easier on their biographers (and themselves as they also wrote autobiographies). I haven’t actually read it, because, like I said, this one kind of hits home since it was so close, literally. However, I think I’m ready, so once I polish off a few more books I’ve started, I might jump in.

Lest you think these are depressing choices for reading, be glad I’m not recommending Pandemic movies (Outbreak, Contagion, etc.) and I’ll save my Zombie Apocalypse and EMP stories/movies for another day.

Stay safe and healthy out there and may God be with you all.

Columbus Maker X Fair

Yesterday my husband and I attended a computer technology fair at the state fairgrounds called Maker X. I’m not sure if they hold this event every year or whether it was a new thing, but it was certainly new to us. Three guesses whose idea it was to attend. Even though most of the technology went over my head, I was still able to appreciate the creativity and ingenuity that went into some of the inventions.

Our first stop was the table representing Columbus State Community College where my husband is an adjunct professor. He had a chat with one of the reps there and took a brochure on Cyber Security education.

There were quite a few tables from local high schools and a few of the universities advertising its many programs that relate in some way to IT (Information Technology) education. These tables also displayed some of the projects designed by the students.

We were especially impressed by all the fancy woodworking projects. Kind of made our cheap and crappy bread boards look pretty shabby in comparison. Is it too late to go back to high school and demand a do-over?

I agree with Andrew’s comment that there was a pretty good assortment of projects. They ranged from pretty low-tech craft projects involving battery-powered lights and copper strips (where by touching the copper strip you act as a conductor and make the lights light up) up to really high end design utilizing 3-D printers and its many industrial applications (like making artificial limbs for amputees).

There was also quite a cross-section of attendees from families with children to teens and young adult gamers and even a few older folks like ourselves who were just curious.

My favorite booth was the one presenting a video game that incorporated drawings by the creator’s son who is on the autism spectrum. Although I’m not big on video games, I love the idea of incorporating the child-like art into a video game, or even a short film either. I just read on his website that he has an interview with BBC radio next week and is working on marketing the game, so I wish him much success with this creative endeavour.

He was by no means the only one presenting a video game they had created as there were quite a few there, and lots of kids and young adults happily trying out the demos (including my big kid!)

I was also quite impressed by a couple items powered by a raspberry pi. According to raspberrypi.org, “The Raspberry Pi is a low cost, credit-card sized computer that plugs into a computer monitor or TV, and uses a standard keyboard and mouse. It is a capable little device that enables people of all ages to explore computing, and to learn how to program in languages like Scratch and Python. It’s capable of doing everything you’d expect a desktop computer to do, from browsing the internet and playing high-definition video, to making spreadsheets, word-processing, and playing games.”

This is technology my husband is definitely familiar with and owns several raspberry pi(s) himself. His latest creation (constructed during a workshop at the January Code Mash convention) is a name tag with little lights that light up and scroll when connected to the battery. Probably above my capabilities, but I was pretty impressed.

Infinity Mirror

Juke Box

One of the more impressive items created using a raspberry pi was an infinity mirror and the other was a juke box. Of course the wood casing and other non-computer components were the most artistic bits, so that’s a whole other skillset.

Though I’m not a big “Star Wars” fan, I did find the two R2 D2s pretty impressive especially as they were somewhat interactive and not just pretty props that sat there and did nothing. We heard many fans scream with surprise and delight when R2 popped out his little ray gun attachment.

This one was just a juke box

Andrew and I also enjoyed watching a couple rounds of “Robot Wars” with slightly smaller versions of robots competing using a similar layout (minus the sporadic flames) with a pit that opens near the end – you get knocked into it you lose. Due to the size of the robots (perhaps 1/10^th the size of the ones on television) we had to watch the action on the TV monitors.

I left there feeling a bit more motivated to start some of the many projects I have set aside and to spend more time on my hobbies. The dedication of many of these people certainly puts us to shame for how little we do (and how much time we spend sat in front of the TV).