I spend more time than I should on social media every day. Every once in a while I stumble over something interesting that sends me down a rabbit hole.
Today it was this:
In 1948 Shirley Jackson “The Lottery,” all the villagers in a small town gather, collect rocks, draw names to decide whom to stone to death. I was assigned to read this nightmare in 8th grade. Almost 50 years later I still remember my stunned tears and outrage over the ending. I have side-eyed folks in small towns every since.
Rereading it today brought to mind a riot of deplorables wearing MAGA hats and beating to death the Lottery winner – a Capital police officer – with confederate flags on January 6.
You can get your own PDF copy of the story here via Middlebury College.
Or watch a 1969 short film adaptation here:
Or listen to this March 14, 1951 NBC Radio Short Story broadcast:
Or hear the WOUB Digital’s Ecoustic Alchemy bring life to this classic, once described as “a chilling tale of conformity gone mad.”
Or listen to it read by read by Maureen Stapleton
If the sound file doesn’t load on your phone, you can go directly to The Lottery” read by Maureen Stapleton with this link.
What reading assignment scarred YOU for life? Let me know in the comments.
Relentless Robin 