Becoming an Adventurer in Sound

This week's readings were pretty interesting. The first, Karen Michel's "Adventurers in Sound", tells about stories that deal with the personal experience perspective and self-expression. These stories are more powerful to listen to because they make people want to listen and makes the connections listeners crave. The second piece, Lena Eckert-Erdheim's "Dressy Girls", says that motivation for a piece comes from the experience of feeling unheard and wanting to assert an identity. Scratching an itch you have can help the pieces fall into place naturally.

This got me thinking. By tomorrow night, I will have to have created a cluster model for a subject I am interested in in order to find the personal stories that are way outside the initial bubble. Essentially, I have to focus on the small and specific rather than the large and general. Got it. However, I don't really know what I'm interested in to begin with.

So, in prep for tomorrow's blog post which will include my cluster model and its explanation, I first need to do some brainstorming. And what better place to talk out my ideas than here, right? Yes. So please, be nice and let me "talk it out".

My first idea is inspired by where I currently and quite frequently am located: the Writing Center. Writing Center would be my first bubble. It would then extend out to things like training, pedagogy, tutoring, directing, conferences, manuals, techniques, tutor stories, tutee stories, and would keep on going... I hope. Hopefully, with some brainstorming and cluster modeling, I can find a really focused story that comes out. I'm not really sure if one will though.

My second idea is more of a wishful thinking type of idea. In the perfect world where I have all the time in the world and access to everything I need and a teleportation device to unlimit my current spacial situation, I would like to work with the idea of drugs in high school sports. I'm still kinda stuck on that idea from my first ideas for the audio interview. The cluster model would include such things as performance builders, peer pressure, coping techniques, initial introduction, the more powerful drive, dependence, and on. Maybe someone I know got introduced to drugs because of sports. Maybe someone I know got off drugs because of sports. Not really sure if that's specific and interesting enough because of the focus on more of the singular person rather than a shared experience, but I'm still just considering the idea.

My third idea, well, right now I've only got the two. I guess I need more time to think about what itches I have that need scratching. First, though, I have to spark the interest. Till tomorrow then.....