Vanish

I was assigned to read the chapter entitled "Vanish" from the Best Nonrequired Reading. The chapter is broken into numbered sections which resemble journal entries. The nonfiction story details the intentionally vanishing of Evan Ratliff, as Ratliff explains, "The premise is simple: I will try to vanish for one month and start over under a new identity. Wired readers, or whoever else happens upon the chase, will try to find me." Each segment of the chapter reveals a new part of his vanishing experiences and chronicles the progress that the "hunters" are making as they attempt to find Ratliff. The reward for finding Ratliff was $5,000, $3,000 of which would be coming from Ratliff's own pocket.

The story of Ratliff's vanishing act was rather interesting. He describes the various ways he tried to alter his appearance and touched on the psychological effects of trying to go a month without loved ones or friends while dealing with the paranoia of being pursued by "hunters." In terms of classroom implications, this story could provide an avenue to explore areas of identity, loneliness, self-preservation, man vs. man dynamics, American culture, investigative strategies, empathy, and role-playing (to name a few).

To explore the topic of identity students could be assigned to create an alternate persona. Their first task would be to either sketch or write out how their physical description would change, would they shave their heads? get contacts? dye their hair? grow facial hair? etc. Next the students will write about what characteristics make them who they are and what changes they would have to make if they were trying to vanish for a month. Would they have to give up a sport? get a new car/bike? listen to different music? hang out with a different group of people? etc. Ideally, then the students could make Facebook pages for their new identities (obviously this may cause issues depending on what school you are in). The students could then develop status updates chronicling the life of their new personas and what measures they are taking to stay hidden. This exercise would help the students to not only write about themselves but think creatively to develop a fictional character.