S-Town and Ysrael

S-Town:

Brian Reed is a writer for the New York Times. One day a man named John, an antique clock restorer, contacted him about investigating a murder. He lives in a small town in Alabama called Woodstock or “Shit Town”. He calls this town “Shit Town” because there is poor education and a lot of corruption happening within the police force. He has a kind heart. You can see this because he takes care of stray dogs and also his mother who has Alzheimer. As he was talking to John, Brian found out the young man who was killed was Dylan Nicholas. The town is trying to cover it up because the kid who did it was the son of a millionaire. However, there is very little information online about the murder so he wants to visit the town. He wants to keep a low profile for a while to ensure that John doesn't get hurt. He plans to question Jake Goodson who heard Kabram bragging about how he murdered Dylan. Unfortunately, the young man can’t be found so they had to look through obituaries to find more information on the young man who was murdered.

This podcast has a huge focus on time. In the beginning, Brian talks about witness marks that happen as a person is fixing a clock that tells us what the maker was thinking at the time. Due to its old history, “Shit Town” has a lot of these witness marks that dictates its history. In addition, Brian came over a year later after John had contacted him so it is hard to go and question people without being looked at in suspicion so he tries to find around when this murder happened.

Ysrael:

Rafa and Yunior are sent to Campo every year because their mother works long hours and doesn’t have the time to take care of the two boys. I really don’t blame their mother for dropping them off to their uncle. Rafa is always injuring his brother, Yunior. In addition to being violent, Rafa never invites his brother to hang out even though he is constantly trying to spend time with him. For a mother, it must be difficult to deal with. Yunior has an obsession with Ysrael. Ysrael is a young boy who lives in the town. He is “famous” because when he was an infant a pig attacked him. He now wears a mask to cover up his hurt face. The young children run after him trying to attack him.