June 4th, 2008 at 7:22 am
Thanks to you for my education last night
Posted in: Adventures in my own head
I am woefully ignorant.
Last night went a ways in changing that.
Currently, I get about 12 channels of television in my room. This is solely because I am lazy: I have no remote, and therefore cannot “program in” any channels over Channel 12. I am told this can easily be changed just by going out and purchasing a universal remote. I haven’t gotten off my ass to do it yet, so I guess it hasn’t been too much a priority.
Because I only get channels 2-12 (with a fuzzy one or two in the middle there), it has caused me to tune into some programming that I never think to watch. Last night I rediscovered the joy of Georgia Public Broadcasting (…made possible by viewers LIKE YOU! THANK YOU!).
Last night’s viewing included:
On this topic, I was actually educated prior to this viewing. I think I can only owe it to Wikipedia, who did a “topic of the day” sometime in the past year to teach me about this horrible airplane accident in the Canary Islands. I was horrified and enthralled all at the same time. The hour-long television show last night filled in some of the gaps, including interviews with some of the very few survivors of the Pan Am flight and the woman (a Canary Island tour guide) who decided to stay on Tenerife another night to visit with her boyfriend instead of re-boarding the fateful flight.
When the first airplane crash documentary was over, PBS wasn’t ready to give up the ghost. The program I watched next completely shocked me — in that I knew absolutely nothing about it.
The Day Atlanta Stood Still is about the deadliest plane crash (up to that time); one that killed over 100 prominent Atlantans who had been on an art tour around Europe and on their way home when their plane crashed at Orly in Paris. Here’s the thing that amazes me the most: the Atlanta Arts Center (now the Woodroff Arts Center), is actually a memorial to that group, a cultural center founded on all the love and beliefs that group had and what they wanted to do in Atlanta for the arts. In fact, the Rodin 
that stands outside the center is a tribute of sympathy from the French government of that fateful day.
that stands outside the center is a tribute of sympathy from the French government of that fateful day.Now, I’m well aware that you, dear readers, are probably much more cultural aware than I am and this is not news to many of you, but for me it was still an eye-opener.
The documentary did really well in capturing the lives of the folks who were lost. Before there was even any explanation of the disaster, the entire front half of the hour touched on the victims, who they were, their families, their civic involvement in Atlanta. It also had some really neat old-time 1960s movies and photographs of the city — wicked cool to see the differences over the span of the last 50 years! The stories were interesting too… one man had had a “rustic cabin” on the outskirts of the city: where the Georgia Tech campus stands today.
All in all, it’s a very touching documentary and, tragedy aside, I enjoyed it very much.
When my local PBS station had enough of plane crashes, they decided to throw an independent film my way next. It was called, “New Year Baby” and didn’t have much of an explanation by way of introduction. I thought: phew! Something a little more lighthearted and uplifting, perhaps?
New Year Baby is a documentary on the Cambodia genocide of the 1970s.
Again, I found myself thinking: how incredibly naive and sheltered and ignorant am I that I knew nothing about this? In fact, when the story started, upon hearing the year “1975,” I figured it must have to do with some sort of spread of violence after the Vietnam War, knowing Cambodia was “somewhere around there,” right? 
(And, yes, me, the map freak, has a hard time admitting this.) I knew NOTHING about the Khmer Rouge - nothing. I did sit up when I heard the name “Pol Pot” — but then, what the heck kind of pride can I take in that? That I knew I had heard the NAME before? Sheesh.
(And, yes, me, the map freak, has a hard time admitting this.) I knew NOTHING about the Khmer Rouge - nothing. I did sit up when I heard the name “Pol Pot” — but then, what the heck kind of pride can I take in that? That I knew I had heard the NAME before? Sheesh.
But this is not about kicking myself. This is about me being really happy to have found this little gem of a documentary. It’s incredibly touching and beautiful, narrated by the youngest daughter of a couple who lived through that time before escaping and settling in Texas. It’s only as an adult that Socheata Poeuv realizes what her parents went through, that what she’s known as family all her life is changed, and has a chance to revisit her homeland with her parents. Alternately sad and sweet, it’s beautifully done and, though touches on the genoicide and what happened in Cambodia, is really about this particular family’s personal story that comes out of it.
After that, it was definitely past my bedtime.
So, yes, I’m still woefully ignorant.
But thanks to PBS (and VIEWERS LIKE YOU, THANK YOU!), I’m a little less so this morning.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 at 7:22 am and is filed under Adventures in my own head.
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So glad you learned and liked the documentary Socheata spent over 3 years making. It is available for sharing with friends and family on DVD at www.NewYearBaby.net
There is also an Education Edition for sharing the story to students.
June 4th, 2008 at 9:17 amI watched the excat same line up the other night (I did miss most of the Atlanta show).
New Year Baby, wow, I couldn’t stop watching it. What her family went through, the guilt she felt, you could still see the pain in her father…it was quite remarkable.
I will admit, I knew a little about Cambodia, Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot…mostly just bad people, millions dead, but no details. Shows like that make me want to learn more.
June 6th, 2008 at 12:26 pmWas it just a slow network TV night, you think? If so, I’m glad it was…even if it meant laying around watching TV for three hours.
June 9th, 2008 at 7:16 am