Lara Reyes-Terry | Week 12 | Fun Facts About Locks
Locks.
Did you know!
= The most common key today is a house key.
Did you know!
= Keys used to be unique. But in 1917, a method for duplicating keys was developed using a wheel used to cut a blank key into a copy of another key!
Did you know!
= Viking women took pride in being the family’s keeper of keys? This position was often flaunted by sewing the keys into their dresses, symbolizing power.
Did you know!
= Once upon a time, guys with thick wallets were the only ones privy to them? If you were lucky enough and had deft fingers you could snag one---but only they got the coin to choose.
Did you know!
= In ancient China, the royal and powerful could care less if the thing actually worked? They had their locks commissioned to resemble various animals, like goats or fish. And what’s the worst that could happen? You break in, take their fancy shit, their wallet’s still thick. Maybe they do care, in which case you’re dead—or maybe you’re stupid enough to take the lock instead. Safety over certainty? Pretty much the same thing.
Did YOU know!!!
= Some people collect locks for fun? Puzzle locks, vintage keys, military locks, the broken one you found in the park and joked with your friends how that person must’ve been having an awful day, and more!
DID YOU KNOW
= Locks are supposed to keep you safe?
DID YOU KNOW.
= The lock on your back gate broke when you started reading this. It fell under the gate and slid onto the driveway where a group of teenagers kicked it down the street and kept walking.
DID YOU KNOW.
= It’s raining. The TV’s still on, so it drones on and on about the weather and war, AI and the school curriculum, politics and the one percent.
DID YOU KNOW.
= Your fridge stopped humming. Most parents have baby proof locks on their alcohol cupboards. You have one on your knife drawer.
DID YOU KNOW.
= Panicking when you think of the shadow won’t do shit. The light’s been coming through the window, from the lamp pointed at you in accusation, from the device you’re reading this on---who casts it, who fills the kingdom with the towers and who can afford to wear the keys in this household nowadays?
DID YOU KNOW.
= Only twenty-one percent of homeowners have security measures despite the fact that there are break-ins every twenty-six seconds in the U.S?
DID YOU KNOW.
= You left your phone on the coffee table.
DID YOU KNOW.
= Most people think it won’t happen to them. The loud, fighty, colorful prey get taken to jaws first, but the predator can find its next meal blind in a crowd of watchers.
DID YOU KNOW.
= It’s 8:41pm. You’re glad you let your daughter go to that sleepover.
DO YOU KNOW.
= What the most common motivation for break-ins is?
You should in this country.
DID YOU KNOW
= Most people keep their safes in a closet. You’re not unique.
DID YOU KNOW
= I probably won’t be caught for this. Most people don’t. I can hear you breathing, but I could care less about the other life in the room.
We dream our own dreams. Yours right now needs to be calling the police, but one of us has a weapon and one of us wasn’t that smart.
DID YOU KNOW
= Most safes don’t come with keys nowadays, but yours does and it’s awfully pretty for how dingy this place is. Do you imagine days where your life matches the story the lock wants to tell?
DID YOU KNOW
= The TV is still groaning.
The lock fell down to our level.
Hi Lara! I remember you telling me that you made a vow not to make a single normal blog this quarter. I’m glad to see you’ve succeeded! With yet another abnormal blog, you’ve managed to capture my attention. Rather, you grabbed it and didn’t let go. Your blogs are always very engaging, and I especially love how this one transitioned into the story you wanted to tell. Similar to your blog on AI, you depict the descent into madness very well here. I especially liked reading it in this blog because there are actual fun facts about locks, and you wouldn’t know they’re getting more unhinged until the blog starts speaking to you directly. I also enjoy the shift at the end, where “you” becomes less general and more pointed.
ReplyDeleteI also love the way you’re able to convey an atmosphere without lengthy and verbose descriptions. Through your intentional punctuation, experimental formatting, and sparse details, the tone of your blog is immaculate. I think this is my favorite blog of yours.
Lara, I need to eat your blog.
ReplyDeleteThere is absolutely so much to unpack in this story. The narration itself is very creative; it’s told through fun facts and “did you know”s, but I loved how it began to devolve into a sassy, cynical narrator picking on the failings of the parent they’re burgling (who probably isn’t much richer than the burglar). In my initial reads, I imagined the burglar emphatically reading out the first few facts aloud like a clickbaity YouTuber then suddenly getting serious and snarling, only stopping to plainly point out the phone on the coffee table.
And there’s so many cross references, some of which I don’t even know were intentional or not. Comparing the rich and powerful, with the keys to the lock and that cast the light, to the thieves and burglars, who steal keys in the dark, created a really nice contrast between the narrator and their victim. I also love the line, “the lock fell down to our level” symbolizing the burglar’s plan finally coming to fruition.
In conclusion, I still need to eat your blog. Sorry.
first line so real
DeleteIt's not enough to read the blog, I need to engage all 5 of my senses
Deleteajklshdasdjhahdljaahsdklajshj but fr thank y’all. Fun fact: the “locks are supposed to keep you safe” sentence I deliberated over for a good ten minutes because of a one word difference TvT
DeleteLara, as usual, your blog was extremelyyyyy creative & intriguing. I think I especially liked the "fun fact" you included. I personally have a fun fact app on my phone, and it has slowly become a notification that I look forward to.
ReplyDeleteNaturally—as you wrote about locks—I am going to ask if you have seen the show Lock and Key on Netflix. If not, I recommend it highly. I don't think I know thaaat much about you but it's sci-fi-ey and magical and is scary-ish; even if you don't want the whole thing ( like I have, twice), it is definitely work checking out.
You also mentioned puzzle locks? Have you been to the store near Pier 39 in Sf? If not, I also highly recommend this place; it is so much fun. I feel like I can spend hours in there just playing. Wait also, have you been to Pier 39. If not, you NEED to. I feel like SF has been extremely dead the last couple years but Pier 39 is the one place I always see busy. If you do go (please do), go to Trish's Donuts and the Mirror Maze. Wow, this blog has really made me think about how long it's been since I went to SF.
I think the coffee table part of your blog is actually so crazy because my phone was literally on the coffee table, but I picked it up right before writing this.
Not going to lie though, I am a little bit confused on how to read the blog as a whole; there is a lot going on and I wish I was able to understand/interpret everything you intended to.
After reading, and then rereading your blog, I learned a lot, but I still have so many questions. The first one being how are you so creative. Thank you for sharing your ever-so-fascinating writing style. Please keep it up! Stay locked in hahah.