Response to Steven Church's Essay

In his essay, I’m Just Getting to the Disturbing Part, Steven Church does a masterful job of relaying a profound, and yes disturbing, event through mental spirals.  He starts with what Janet Burroway calls a “close up” and describes the oppressive heat which triggers the trip to Horsetooth Reservoir.  Then, we get a long shot that is temporal in nature when he describes the move to his apartment to the sweltering Front Range of Colorado.  And, the way that he describes how hot it was in the new place is amazing with visceral descriptions such as “heat that burns when you inhale,” and “heat that makes you see things funny—watery mirages…”  Then, Church zooms back to the eventful day when he and his friends decide to go to the reservoir.  But, before progressing to the next sequential event, Church flashes to the future in which he has a three year old son and a profound fear of water.  Through this sort of temporal travel, we peel back the layers of what happened that eventful day and the significance of those events.  The manner in which Church unveils the story is mysterious, suspenseful and mesmerizing.  We get bits and pieces from the past, present and future that are revealed artfully and in a sequence that allows us to understand the shocking truth of what happened in a very dramatic fashion.