While doing the readings this week, I couldn't help continually returning to damali ayo's piece "What Did She Just Say?" The piece talks about ayo's unique approach to interviewing and creating audio pieces using footage she gets while secretly taping her subjects during created opportunities for them to talk. In her own words, "creating a situation that offers people an opportunity to be themselves."
So what does this concept of creating interviews, steering them in a way, have to do with my current dilemma of having to interview someone for class? Well, for one, I find the fact that I have to jump right in and find someone interesting to interview in the first four classes very unsettling. It took me a whole semester to work up an idea and the courage the first time. Though I find this class interesting, I did not know that I would have to come out of my quiet, shy writer shell to get a story. With my venting done now, however, I still have to figure out what to do.
Another problem is that everyone I know and find interesting are on Long Island whilst I am here in Philadelphia, working too much to have time or money to go visit these people to get an interview. So, dilemma explained, what am I to do?
That is where ayo's piece comes in. Do I have to formally interview someone for this project, or can I create my interview? Can I structure it to explore a part of society that I find interesting? Because if so, I have some great ideas for that. Not so much for a normal interview though.
How about young mothers? Lower class working young mothers. I seem to know a lot of those. And they have some of the most interesting stories of struggle I've ever heard. I guess this idea would be able to be a regular interview.
But how about confessions of users? I know a lot of those too. But I think things would be more interesting if I just taped them, without really formally interviewing them. I don't know. I guess I still need to give this stuff some serious thought in the next two days, get my idea down so I can ask the right questions in class on Thursday.
Till then, I just want to say, ayo has some pretty interesting ideas about how to get people talking and get to those Big Ideas. Just sayin.....
No comments:
Post a Comment