Sunday, November 18, 2012

ASU Reacts: Jepp, Who Defied the Stars


The audio piece that I evaluated last week was on a book called Jepp, Who Defied The Stars. Written by Katherine Marsh, it’s a tale about a dwarf named Jepp who is offered a job working in a Palace as a court dwarf. Unknowing to Jepp, a court dwarf is more of a comedic act and one who provides entertainment. Jepp, embarrassed and upset, sets out to find a better life for himself and tries figure out the true meaning of what it would be like to be something more. From this book one can easily learn how to find motivation to better their lives even if it’s out of their comfort zone.
 The question that I wanted answered was if anyone would ever be able to actually do this, if there was a person with enough ambition to go out and start over completely.  I asked three different people, all in completely different age groups.
The first was Andy, a four year old child whom I babysit, his response was, “If I was a dwarf and being made fun of I-I’d go out a get all my buddies together so we could take back the castle and be dwarf kings! That would be my new life, of course I need mommy to cook my king sandwiches.”
The second was my sister Hannah, a 25 year old grad student from UofA, her response was, “sh*t yes I would start over. The first thing I would do is finish college in four years instead of seven and get the hell out of this country, far far away from you.”
I was touched by the loving words my sister gave me, but had to move on to my third interview with my father. Having just turned 66 in October and still working as a lawyer, my dad had one thing to say when I asked if he would go out and start a new life: “You know what, I wouldn’t.”

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