Hello my name is Aidan Simas and my capstone project is a documentary on the opioid crisis. I chose to do this project because the opioid crisis is so prevalent in my day to day commute to school. To complete this project I needed to plan what I wanted my documentary to look like. I spent a long time just gathering B-roll footage and gathering leads for interviews. It took a lot of effort and late nights to put everything together towards the end. Not to mention that a lot of my ideas didn’t end up working out. I am proud of the research that went into this project the most. I gathered a lot of statistics and credible resources, and I kept an ear out for information about the opioid crisis in my day to day life. I listened to a lot of stories about people who lost loved ones to these drugs. I learned a lot about the reality of addiction and the opioid crisis. Not just on a personal level but on a societal and economic level. I’ve always known this has been a problem but I now see it for what it truly is, it is a cancer.

Capstone product attached: https://www.wevideo.com/view/3452369001

Aidan Simas
Lit Log 3
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

The perception someone has of the world around them can drastically influence their life in a lot of different ways. The narrator of “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”, Chief Bromden has a unique perception of the world around him. Every perception is flawed and imperfect but Bromden experiences heavy delusions which are mechanically oriented in nature but still representative of the situations he is in. He describes in detail all of these machines that cause fog to fill the whole area or to slow down time. But being clinically insane we can not take these words at face value. To find the true meaning we must infer to the best of our ability. However there is the one moment where all these mechanical delusions fade while Bromden wakes up late one night. He goes to the window to see the moon and remembers his childhood. Specifically how he said he “watched that big Oregon prairie moon above me put all the stars around it to shame.” As he watched the “Canada honkers” fly overhead. This temporary escape from the delusions that plague Bromden is extremely rare and much needed. Not only for him but for me and everyone else as well.

Nostalgia is a powerful thing. The ability to so vividly remember the “good times” in our lives can be both a driver of impulsive and unnecessary purchases, and it can help us get away from the daily routine that fills so much of our vision and time. A return to simpler times or a moment in which we felt at peace. These memories allow us to think deeply about our own situations if only for a brief moment. In Chief Bromden’s case he is stuck inside the mental institution and reflects on how it was to be free out in the wilds of America with his family. He longs for a better life just like everyone else in this world. Nostalgia offers a rosy eye’d perspective on the past, and a clearer picture of the present. I know that for me when I remember the past like that I see how much better things are now. I never had any security or certainty in my life until I was nine years old. My father was a sociopath that used my mother for his own personal gain. My parents were divorced by the time I was two and all throughout my childhood my father was trying to take me away from my mother and avoided paying child support whenever he could. I grew up in a single parent household, I moved from place to place and never really understood why. I had One friend throughout my whole childhood and I lost connection with him after I moved to Philly and his mom died of cancer. My father kept me away from anyone who genuinely cared about me as much as he could. And my mom had constant awful roommates who acted awful towards her just so she could pay the bills and put food on the table. But looking back I try to remember the small moments in between. The times I actually had fun. There were more than a few. But overall my childhood was a harsh one, so when I look back all I can think of is how much better off I am now.

My perception of things around me has been in the past quite unreasonable. I remember thinking everyone hated me and that the whole world was against me. And looking back on it, how could I not? I was bullied for my autism in elementary school, the federal government was constantly at my mother’s door making sure she could provide for me or else they would give me to my dad, and people I cared about kept dying without me getting a chance to say goodbye. As a child my life could not have been any more chaotic and uncertain. If I had continued on like this they would have most likely locked me up in a mental ward too! But things change, and my life changed for the better. I learned to be able to trust people and after middle school I finally felt like I fit in. I have through all that I have been through, gotten better and started taking my own life into my own hands. And now things are great, I have never been better, genuinely. I have my whole life ahead of me and I have everything I’ve ever wanted (that being people who actually give a damn about me). There is so much love and happiness in my heart, and my perception of everything around me is so much more clear. Where Chief Bromden sees his fog I saw an air of uncertainty and hate, but it has dissipated. And now by looking back on the past both me and him can see the present ever so clearly.

Preface: I chose these songs in particular because they portray elements of Gilead. They are somber, nearly wordless, and somewhat mysterious save for 1 song. I believe these overarching themes dutifully portray Gilead as a society that silences its dissenters, glorifies its atrocities, and makes itself inescapable to those it holds captive. Melancholy is everywhere and hope is running thin.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6bQ4DvKU7H88wbLcJQFvco?si=RxIJ1-Q7R9C9ABN64VEIow

我昨晚夢見你了 (Translation: I dreamed of you last night)

I chose this song because it reminds me of the melancholy that seems to pierce the minds of all Gilead’s residents. The collective emotions of people from all walks of life. You can see this in specifics like with Serena Joy knitting scarves for the angels in her sitting room. Or when Offred gets into a bath and thinks of her loved ones. In the song there is this sense of melancholy created by the rain, and the other notes as well create a dark atmosphere, almost reminiscent of the image of Offred staring at the bodies on the wall. pg.31 “Now we turn our backs on the church and there is the thing we’ve in truth come to see: the Wall.”

Rain (From “Halo 3:ODST”)

This song has a very deep meaning, one that synergizes with Offred’s situation as a handmaid and as a person. The meaning of this song is hope, hope even though you are by yourself and on your own, hope even though the whole world may be against you, and hope as you search for a way out of the hell you jumped feet first into. The closest image I can think of to this meaning in the book is the pillow that says “Faith” on Offred’s window. It is a preservation of hope even through the dark shadow of Gilead’s oppression. Pg.110 “I get out of bed, go to the window, kneel on the window seat, the hard little cushion, FAITH, and look out. There is nothing to be seen.”

Opening (from “Jin Roh”)

This song is not melancholic nor does it inspire the feeling of oppression. Instead it is militaristic and very proud. It sounds of victory, and imagery of a proud fascist society. Think of “Triumph of the Will” (yes the nazi propaganda film). It synergizes well with the imagery that Gilead provides of itself. The matching uniforms, military force, the examples made of those who would go against it, even the secret police or “Eyes” as the book calls them. This imagery is present at the women’s prayvaganza. Pg.218 “This commander ascends the steps to the podium, which is draped with a red cloth embroidered with a large white-winged eye. He gazes over the room, and our soft voices die.”

Your Home

This song is very somber. It’s cold and warm at the same time. It has tones of machinery whirring in the background and that same sense of melancholy that is everywhere in Gilead. The imagery most reminiscent of this music is when Offred is describing the egg. The commentary on its simple perfection really synergizes with this song. Pg.110 “The egg is glowing now, as if it had an energy of its own. To look at the egg gives me intense pleasure.”

Corridors of Time

I find that this song sort of seems exotic. The melancholy in the main chords of this song pervades throughout the song but it is undercut by the other parts in some areas. This feels most like how I felt when Offred was describing the commander’s room. Mostly how many things that Offred sees that were “supposed to have been destroyed”. Pg.137 “Books, books, and books, right out in plain view, no locks, no boxes. No wonder we can’t come in here. It’s an oasis of the forbidden.”

Aidan simas- The World In Which We Live

“There are three new bodies on the Wall. One is a priest, still wearing the black cassock. That’s been put on him, for the trial, even though they gave up wearing those years ago, when the sect wars first began; cassocks made them too conspicuous. The two others have purple placards hung around their necks: Gender treachery. Caught together, they must have been, but where? A barracks, a shower? It’s hard to say. The snowman with the red smile is gone.”

This section from the first page of chapter 8 (pg 43) gave me a lot to think about, on a personal level and about the book. The oppressive society in the handmaid’s tale is some sort of religious organization, heavily patriarchal, and very traditional in the way they want society to be. The brutality they put on display as examples of what happens to those who disobey the strict rules they have set is nothing short of what’s expected of a society like Gilead. As someone who values the humanity I see in those around me it seems like the most terrible thing to dehumanize everyone in a society in the name of order. In the way of oppressive societies this is a largely successful one. The goal of reproduction seems to have a clear path and the fact that they’ve become the dominant force seems like they got a lot done in less than 3 years. As a society it’s far from perfect however much “freedom from” they offer. They still need to convince others with brutality to follow them. This is the flaw of regimes. As soon as the people who follow are not fearful they refuse to be governed and end up crumbling. The sins of our current society don’t ever compare to how bad things could be. But how bad they really are is nothing to scoff at either. Gilead was a reaction to something, a harsh one but still valid. If we are to believe that our society is rampant with crime and run by satan worshiping pedophiles, Gilead would only be the natural reaction of those who wanted change.

As someone in this world who is a staunch believer in freedom to rather than freedom from and someone who enjoys every aspect of humanity observing Gilead as some sort of polar opposite to my own views is sort of eye opening. I relate certain aspects to my life though. Hiding things about myself is part of my life as is making mutually beneficial “alliances” with other people. My relationship needs to be hidden from certain people as it’s not a heterosexual relationship. I need to be sure to do favors for people and make others feel good around me so they might help me when I need favors in turn. I’d like to think there are no similarities between my life and the life of Offred but that would be wrong entirely. In fact there is little we don’t have in common. Specifically the wall.

The wall represents an example of those who violated the rules of society. I have this in the form of social media and in the form of the News channel. These mediums both display examples of those who violated the rules of my society and were ridiculed, imprisoned, or worse. The wall has bodies and hooks where social media has people who are “canceled” and those who have been killed or otherwise for their transgressions as well as a healthy dose of propaganda on the side. Another similarity to the Handmaid’s tale in my own life is how much the state spies on us. The government has access to any bit of information they need all they need to do is know it exists. This is less easy even for Gilead who is more controlling over its population. The only thing stopping the government from turning itself into a totalitarian regime is itself and the system of checks and balances. Not to mention international tensions being on the rise, the future uncertain. I don’t know if or when I will be able to be myself in my own society but I know I will defend my right to my individuality and my humanity to my dying breath. How Gilead gives me perspective on the world in which we live is this: We aren’t that far from being unrecognizable from what we are currently. That is all I have to say.

https://www.wevideo.com/view/2605005991

Hola mi nombre es Aidan Simas.Yo soy morena. Soy listo. Yo soy agradable. Tengo ojos morenos. me gustan los videojuegos. Me gustan los gatos. No tengo hermanos. Tengo cuatro tías y tíos. Vivo con mi mamá y mi padrastro. Mi mamá tiene el pelo oscuro. Mi mamá también tiene ojos oscuros. A mamá también le gustan los gatos. Y es buena cocinera. Rick, mi padrastro, también tiene cabello oscuro. No le gustan los perros. El es alto. Y es inteligente. mi mamá y yo somos similares. A los dos nos gustan los gatos. Ambos también tenemos ojos marrones. Nos gusta el café. Y somos buenos cocineros.