MEMORY
1
Memo ry, a reposi tory of words , pictur es, things not throw n away. Acting as mnemo nic device s. Creati ng a record from which a story is writte n.
Do you remember Will Rogers ?
Okl aho ma’ s fav orit e son . A Vau dev ille per for mer , cow boy , adv oca te of Am eric an avi atio n.
He made 71 films and travel ed aroun d the world three times.
In l935 Roger s accom panied his
friend Wiley Post North to Alaska .
Post, also from Oklahoma, was in search of a mail-and-passenger air route from the Western USA to Russia.
On Augus t 15th their plane crashe d near Point Barrow .
Both men died in the crash.
C an I hel p you son ?
Young man‌
Are you looking for something?
Will Rogers Airpor t Oklaho ma City, OK
I… So rry , yes I…u m.
Do you know… could you tell me where to catch the bus to Okema h, I- Honey , can you hold on a sec?
If I’m not mistaken… but lets take a look.
Okema h ?
O - ke - mah
Hmmm ...
Her e it is. Abo ut an hou r Eas t.
Last year the stagec oach cancele d a bunch of the local stops on forty.
The bus stops in Shawn ee. That’s about half way. You’d still have to get a r id e from there. I f you ask me…
Still there Hon? Uh-hu h, there’s
…taking a cab the whole way would save a lot of hassle. But let me double check.
Okemah…
this…
…that’s what I said.
Sorry son. No bus service or shuttle makes stops there.
But there are plenty of cabs out front.
Taxi ?
Wo ody who ? Bor n in Oke mah you say ? No,never hear d of him.
Been to the
r attlesn ake festiva l
there once. W hat a hoot!
Uncle of mine once won a prize for largest snake.
Me‌ I never win nothin!
Oklahoma City
You eve r tho ugh t abo ut win ning the Lot ter y?
A ll sor ts o f so c alle d fam ily askin’ for a han dou t.
And after all the taxes you get almost n o t h i n ’.
No thanks! Not for m e man.
Hey, you mind if we stop for some g a s.
Radio ?
Okemah Truck and Trailer. Got
your bag?
This is it.
The shop ’ s closed.
Oh... hey, it ’ s you.
OK... but I--
I t’s the Alaskan boy.
You ’re just in time .
Jan ’ s got a pot roast i n the oven
How about we check out the truck first.
Then dinner.
Go ahead. Take a look.
But what autho rity do these residual marks hold over their subjec t ?
Are they the last word in what has come to pass ?
Is a rabbit always a rabbit?
When is a hare not a hare?
SIMONIDES
2
It is anci e nt Greece. poem. Simonides has just finished reciting his
As he walks o ut the doo r the buil ding
coll apse s beh ind him.
Everyone inside is crushed.
A heap of ruble and corpses. The mourners cannot identify the dead.
Unrecognizable, their bodies cannot be properly buried.
Simonides closes his eyes.
H e imagines the room in which he once stood. He can recall his audience.
Where each guest sat.
So Simo nides walks around the wreckage that was the banqu et hall and ident ifies each body from memo ry.
From their locatio n.
Giving order to memory. Can it be like assigning seats at a table ?
Visualize the layout of a familiar space. Use
Now take a walk.
this place as a mnemonic system. Organize your thoughts. Mentally associate ideas with specific physical locations.
Remember what you left where.
An idea that started with Simonides.
Okemah , Oklahoma
A taxi from the city must have cost a fortune.
I see the bus every day. If you ’ d called, we ’ d have picked you up.
un huh. -- You like BBQ sauce ?
That ’s what I said. -- you’ ll wann a try some of this.
He said the bus wasn’t r unning anymore.
Um ... Where s the ’ bathroom?
Down th e hall and to your right.
Try not to get lost.
Is this the line for the toilet ?
W ha t’ s th at ?
Would you like a piece of watermelon?
Yeah. Ok, thanks.
it doesn’t get any better than Oklahoma watermelon, you know?
All because of the heat. Makes ‘em real sweet.
Thats why it’s the state vegetable.
Vegetable?
My first summer job was on my uncle ’ s watermelon farm.
It was hot.
Hot enough to make the insides of those melons boil.
It was my job to keep ’em cool.
Boy it was hot. I’d walk through the fields with a bucket of paint and Paint the tops of the melons white.
“ I’d walk through the fields It’d stop‘em with a bucket of from exploding. paint. Paint the tops of all the melons white. It’d stop ‘em from exploding. ”
You need a place to stay tonight ?
Oh... no. Thanks.
I
have a long way to drive.
Hello?
Who? Oh, really... wow.
It’s been a while.
What are you --
Oh, wow. That sounds excitin g.
Me ? Oh. .. liv ing
Un-huh . Yeah. Sorry, I just --
No‌ No. You know --
I u n dersta nd.
OK... bye.
Well, good luck.
-
Who was that?
Huh ? Oh... Nobody. I mean somebody...
“... a person I hadn’t thought about in a long time. ”