Blog 2

My embarrassing story happened in Stillwater, Oklahoma in August of 1991. My husband Dan and I moved to Stillwater so he could go to Oklahoma State University (OSU). We chose OSU because it was the only university at the time that had a bachelor degree in fire protection and safety engineering.  As a former firefighter my husband felt that a four-year degree in fire protection and safety would give him an edge over others in his career.

We arrived in Stillwater around midnight. Coming from the mountains of Colorado we were both physically and mentally exhausted. As we were carrying in our boxes I noticed one of the largest spiders I have ever seen hanging from a nearby web. Unfortunately the huge spider and its web was between me and the back door. I told my husband to get rid of the spider so I can come and go as I pleased. I did not want to have to walk all the way around to the front of the house to unload the truck.

Dan pondered how to get rid of a huge spider without the benefit of having tools since all of our stuff was still loaded in our truck. As a former firefighter my husband’s knowledge of fire was inspirational to him.  He knew we had an aerosol can of starter fluid behind the seat of our truck. Dan also knew that our new rental house had a gas stove in the kitchen. This meant that matches would be near the stove so one could light the flame. He put the can of starter fluid and matches together and created a flame thrower.  I thought this was an ingenious way to get rid of the spider without having to get too close to it. Unfortunately both my husband and I did not anticipate the flammability of the spider web or the fact that the entire back side of our two-story rental house was covered in cobwebs.

As Dan sprayed the aerosol and lit the match the flame thrower shot a huge flame engulfing the spider web. Like a set of dominoes collapsing on one another, the burning spider web started a chain reaction that lit the cob webs closest to it. Soon the entire back of our two-story rental house was engulfed in flames and was rolling out from underneath the eaves.  Our two dogs and I took off running to the back of the yard, occasionally looking backward as we ran, as my husband ran around looking for a garden hose to put out the fire.  As he headed over to a neighbor’s house to borrow their garden hose my husband noticed the fire was already out. Fortunately for us there is not a lot of fuel in cob webs and the fire burned itself out.

Dan and I still laugh at the memory of the look on our dogs faces as our house was burning. Also hilarious to us is the thought of how my husband would explain to his fire protection and safety teachers how he burned his house down the first day we moved to Stillwater.  It was apparent to my husband and I that my husband knew just enough about fire to be dangerous. We also decided that he definitely could use fire protection and safety training.  Importantly, I learned never to ask my husband to get rid of a pest if there are flammable liquids around.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In Scott McCloud’s “The Vocabulary of Comics” the process of amplification through simplification is explained and illustrated. McCloud explains, “When we abstract an image through cartooning, we’re not so much eliminating details as we are focusing on specific details.” (199). Amplification through simplification can be dangerous when one focuses on the wrong details or someone implies one thing when it is not the truth. An example of this is political races such as Obama against McCain. Many in the media implied Obama was a Muslim by drawing a cartoon of him with a turban on his head.

Citation:
McCloud, Scott. “The Vocabulary of Comics.” Visual Rhetoric in a Digital World. Ed.      
     Carolyn Handa. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004. 195-208.