Confession Project Review

I was really touched by Andrea's letter to her father. The lonely yet beautifully simplistic table setting with the place card labeled “Dad” tipped me off to the fact that their relationship is somewhat estranged and not the “typical” loving dynamic, but once she started to read her letter and tear up, the piece became so much more personal. I'm so glad she had the courage to stand in front of the class and confess something so deep, something that still affects her daily life. Her performance made me think about my own dad and how I would feel if he was in ill health or if he was taken from me in a heart attack. I know I would feel devastated and unable to bring myself together. Andrea's strength and compassion for a man who refuses to care for himself is incredibly inspiring and makes me hopeful that someday soon she will be able to express those feelings to him directly and improve their relationship for the better.

Although I was intrigued by Natalie's balloon popping piece, I wish the message had been deeper. I think it's somewhat common for people to hate the sound of a popping balloon. It's startling and obnoxious—it's not a sound we hear everyday or want to hear everyday. I liked the way her piece was interactive and forced us as a class to instigate her pain, but we were all cringing and flinching whenever a balloon popped. The confession seemed too universal. In high school I knew a girl who started to cry whenever she was near a balloon out of fear that it would pop unexpectedly. On someone's birthday she went totally ballistic and had a meltdown in the corner of the classroom. After experiencing that kind of reaction it's kind of hard to sympathize with other people's disdain for balloons. I think if the balloons each contained a message or said something other than “Sit here” the meaning of the performance could have been taken to the next level and expressed more of an inner self that we don't know about yet.