Brainstorming Ahead

Now that I have spent the past week working on my Audio Story piece, and cramming in some thesis writing time between working at the diner and the writing center, all while thoroughly being completely distracted by the fact that Harry Potter 7, part 1, comes out tonight at midnight and I am waiting for my brother to arrive here in Philly from long island so we can go together to see the movie tonight, I am ready to start thinking about this next project that I will have about 2 weeks to work on. Awesome.

So. Ideas for my slide show audio piece. Well, if I thought they would've let me, I would have loved to bring the audio recorder and a camera to the Harry Potter premiere tonight to get stories from the attendees about their Harry Potter experiences. But, I'm pretty sure the theater will not allow me anywhere near that movie with any kind of recording equipment. Oh well.

Other ideas? I've been thinking about doing more of a sentimental type piece, by recording the things that my family is thankful for on Thanksgiving. But I don't want the cookie-cutter responses. I want the real stuff. The stuff that really shows what people have to be thankful for this year. Especially as compared to the audio story piece I've been working on about my dad. What kinds of struggles are other people going through and how do they remain cheerful during such a difficult holiday season?

Another idea would be to describe one person by using photos of them doing different things, quoting them with things they commonly say, and basically putting together a personal profile of one person in an abstract type of way. I'm not really sure how well this would work, but I'd like to be able to show who a person is in a very fictionesque type of way, by showing instead of telling. That way my audience could make their own assumptions and conclusions from the material I give them. I think that might be an interesting idea to pursue, but I'm not sure how well it would go.

I still need to think about some things, but I hope that I will be able to create an interesting way to combine audio and still photos to really tell an interesting story.

Reading Junger's War (Book One)

I have recently begun reading Sebastian Junger's documentary novel titled War, and have just finished Book One: Fear (which will be followed by Book Two: Killing and Book Three: Love). So, what do I think thus far?

Well, for one, great book to read for boys. It has a lot of gun and war terminology, definitely some good jokes about the natural instincts and behaviors of the male species. However, as one who is anything but interested in war and its politics, I am not impressed.

Yes, Junger did some amazing research. Yes, he captured war life in a way that felt both natural and surprising. But did he capture a wide audience, outside of war enthusiasts and documentarians? Not so much.

So far, Book One has been about getting to know the soldiers Junger has met during his time in the Korengal Valley. We see how they live their day-to-day lives while deployed in Afghanistan. They clean their weapons, sleep, eat, work out, go on patrol, build new outposts, and defend themselves against the enemy. That's about it. It is a constant repeat of just surviving until you can go home, either in a plane seat or below in a wooden box. Either way, going home is the only thing to look forward too.

The way that Junger easily navigates through narrative, description, internal thought/comment, and reflection allows for a piece that does come together nicely. He shows us that documentary can be personal and not just factual. By being able to describe the situation from his own point of view, as well as including the viewpoints from the American soldiers, he was able to craft a documentary with a very established human element.

I still don't really find this particular book and subject that interesting, but I guess it's not really about that. What am I learning from Junger about multimedia storytelling? Well, I'm learning that shocking is interesting, repetition is boring, and too much detail can be confusing. Keep it simple and let your audience draw their own conclusions. After all,  it's their emotions you want to insight anyway, not your own.

Hashing Out My Story

No, we do not have class tonight.

Yes, I still need to figure out today what I'm doing for this Audio Story.

Why? Because I'm taking out the ComKit on Monday, driving to Long Island, and going to work with my dad the next day to get all my taping done. I have to do this in one planned day because, well, I simply live too far and am just too busy to go back for a day two before this is due. So, with a fire lit under my butt, here goes.

In class last week, Prof Lyons suggested that I might spin the story to be more of a father-daughter thing, about pride and being lower working class. Do I think this applies to me and my father? I guess. I've known my whole life that I wanted to be more than my parents. I wanted good grades, an education, a college degree, and a life not spent always feeling like we were living beyond our means just to survive.

We never really had a lot. But we weren't without either. My parents did everything they could to make mine and my brother's lives happy and comfortable. That's kind of a hard thing to do on two entry-level salaries. My dad has been a window cleaner almost his whole life. 40 some-odd years now. My mom has bounced between such jobs as in data-entry, clerical work, being a substitute assistant for the school district, and finally working her way up to a teacher's assistant position in the school district my brother and I attended our whole lives. She has finally hit the point of making a livable salary for a mother with two kids in college.

My dad, on the other hand, has been losing more and more business lately. His self-owned and operated small business is a dying breed. He's a window cleaner who cleans store-fronts and the occasional building or house. In these days of a "do-it-yourself" mentality, that certainly includes windows. Businesses are opting out of their $50 a month contract with my dad to add the simple responsibility to another employee's list of things to do. Are the windows as clean? Not really. But who cares? They're just windows.

That brings me to myself. I have been a working girl my whole life too. Camp counselor, concession stand worker, bagel girl, waitress, and bartender are just some of the jobs I've had since I was 14 years old. None of them were anywhere near what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, but they got me through years of needing my own money to help out the burden on my family. And I was happy to help. I know how to work hard and I don't mind putting in the necessary effort to get through each day. I'm proud to say that I'm smart enough and determined enough to successfully make it through life with something to show for it.

But has that affected my relationship with my father? I don't really know how to look at it. My dad is very proud of me, especially when it comes to my education. His favorite thing to talk about is me and all of my accomplishments. He rattles them off to whoever will listen like stats. I've been honored by being as important to him as his favorite sports teams. He writes down little notes about things I've done to keep in his wallet to remember to talk about later. And his bedroom wall at the head of his bed is covered in framed degrees, honors, awards, and certificates, one of the few things he spends money on that isn't considered "necessary". It makes me proud to know how proud he is of me. And it always keeps me striving for more things to give him to be framed.

So, has my father been an influence in my life on who I am and who I want to be? Absolutely. He may not be smart or knowledgeable, but my father knows that I am and is proud to know that I am his daughter.

Ok, now that I've gotten all that down, what does it all have to do with my audio story? I think it may just be the angle I had been looking for. My dad's small business is falling apart and he blames his lack of a retirement future on his own lack of a proper education, as well as the current economy. I think that's where I want to focus some of my questions for him. Not only do I want to know how he's being effected by the economy, I also want to know why he continues to work so hard anyway, instead of giving up, something he probably feels like he should do considering his deteriorating health. I want to know not only how his life has changed in recent years, but also how he finds the motivation to keep moving forward anyway, and how his determination has been tested. For the struggling man, how does one keep going?

I hope all of that makes sense. And I hope I've finally reached my focus. I guess we'll just have to see how it goes.....

Prepping for My Audio Story

This week's readings had some key ideas that I feel I should be thinking about while prepping to do my Audio Story. First, I'll start with some of the notes I got from each of the readings:

Emily Botein, "Salt is Flavor and Other Tips Learned While Cooking":

• Keep some little bits of ammunition to help you get moments of surprise. This can be when your guest becomes the most animated and gives you the conversation he hasn't rehearsed in his head.
• Salt is Flavor: sometimes, a little is enough. Let the tape speak for itself.
• Silence, or a pause, "sounds the way people speak. Meaning, sometimes they don't... Pauses break up the rhythm and add complexity. Pauses help us to listen better" (181).
• "Good Tape" is in the ears of the individual.

Jay Allison, "Afterword: Listen":

• What stories do I have to tell? What voice will I use to tell them?
• "Stories define each of us. They have the power to divide or connect us as individuals and communities" (184).
• Create an "illusion of companionship" between your subjects and your listeners.
• Listen. And, if you will, speak up! (195)

So what does all this mean to me and my new quest? Well, I think it makes some of the differences between an audio interview and an audio story clearer, sort of. I think that one major difference is that the audio story will be more of a chance for listeners to really connect with the voices they hear. They need to be transported into the story itself, at the time and place it happens, to really feel affected by it. The interview, conversely, was more of a chance to see what would happen as the interview progressed. This story will be more about getting to that deeper issue while talking about the topic at hand.

So, what is my story? My story will be speaking to a larger issue from the point of view of one individual. In this case, I will be working with my dad. He will be talking about his recent experiences as a small business owner and how his work and life is being effected by the current economy. Do I want this to be about our current economy? Of course not. That would be boring. But from my dad's personal point of view, I think I could get a lot of good, really interesting stuff. As long as I keep him from talking in major tangents, that is. Wish me luck on project #2!!!

Famous People, Communism, and the FBI

This week's task was to go through some of the files in the FBI's FOIA public records. For one, I should say that it is quite the big site, containing associations of people being researched and connections with FBI investigations and information. These records have been made public for research and information purposes, but have a lot of "secure" information blacked out, as any good government document should.

So, where to start? I began by flipping through the suggested search parameters, going through some names in the "Gangster Era" and "Violent Crimes" categories. It was ok, but mostly consisted of stuff I already knew. So then I went to the frequently requested information section and picked a letter: D. That's where I found Dorothy Dandridge. And it's where I learned that she had been suspected of being part of the Communist Party.

After further reading of some very obscure documents on Dandridge, I learned that she had been written about in a west coast communist newspaper as being associated with various communist groups, affiliations, and ideas. Because of these articles, Dandridge responded to the newspaper with a letter denying each of the claims the newspaper had made about her communist associations. Some were clearly refuted, while others were simple statements of "I have no idea what you are talking about." From my standpoint, she was sure doing a bang-up job of denying being a communist.

This strange information led me to put in the search criteria: Communism. Now that I had found something worth giggling over, I wondered who else had been a secret communist. Turns out, Lucille Ball. I think I had heard that somewhere before, but it was still kinda funny to think that the ditsy red-headed wife always getting herself into jams could somehow be a communist. According to the FBI files, she registered as a communist party voter in 1936 and 1938, a fact that was discovered by the FBI after hearing about some rumored affiliations. The red-head voted red.

The second name I found associated with communism? Albert Einstein. Yup. The genius himself, who was rumored to have not been able to put on his own socks, or something to that effect, was also a communist. But the FBI's proof on him seemed a little more substantial than Dandridge's or Ball's. Einstein was said to have been connected with 34 communist fronts between 1937 and 1954, serving as honorary chairman for three different communist organizations. Maybe the genius was on to something?

So it turns out that communism was quite the popular way to go for some pretty big names. Maybe it's true, maybe it's here say, or maybe it's just that according to the government in the 1930's and 40's, everyone was a commy.

Audio Story Cluster Model

Ok, so after much work and anticipation, here is my cluster model. I included two pictures, the first that shows how it actually looks, but without detail visual, and the second a collage of the closer pictures I took and pasted together.

As you can see, my cluster model began with the idea of the current economy and how it is affecting people's ways of life. This branched out to the Job Market, Small Businesses, Student Employment, and Costs of Goods. A few went a few steps, but the two that I found that went out really far into the reaches of actually interesting stories were Small Businesses and Student Employment.

For small businesses, my model continued through cut backs, loss of businesses, big chain businesses, and my father's small self-owned and operated business, Al Gail Window Cleaning. I branched out to a few of his old stories about how he got started as a window cleaner with the Jewish Mafia, how the economy is affecting him, and how his business is all he has. I think there is a potentially interesting story here, but I'm not really sure if it has enough substance and focus right now. For one, it's focused on one person, and it still has to large of a feel. I'll have to continue stretching my cluster model I guess.

As for the student employment bubble, it went through issues faced, increases in responsibility, coping techniques, parental dependence, low wage jobs. It eventually led me to the idea that students are often expected or forced to get jobs to help supplement their parents' incomes, or lack there of. Sometimes it's easier for a younger person to get a simple job because they can enter the work force at much lower wages than some of their skilled parents. This helps parents when they simply don't have the income to support their own families. In this part, I know a few different people that are in such a situation, myself included. I think that's why I like this idea a little better than the small businesses one. I have more people to talk to for my piece, and I can include the self-expression angle that the readings discussed. By being able to connect myself into my story, I may be able to better find the powerful message.

I still don't really think I'm focused enough yet for my audio story. But hey, my first time doing such a cluster model and I think I'm getting the hang of it. I guess we'll see....

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.....

Finally Posting My Finished Audio Interview Piece!!!

Yes. It is done. It took me awhile due to obstacles including needing to rerecord some stuff and being sick, but now it is done and ready to be heard. I did find my Big Idea story. This started out as being diner sounds, but during my recording, a close friend and the girl who had hired me began her quitting process, and lucky me, I got a lot of it on tape. Good stuff. I guess people really love to vent out loud to as many people as will listen.

I still did use a lot of what I refer to as diner sounds. I used a few different voices, some ambient noise, some real sounds of cooking and coffee making, and even some humorous antics such as singing and skipping. The coffee making sounds became my bookends for the piece, as I feel no diner is complete unless it opens and closes with coffee.

So, on that note, enjoy. I like it. I may not have done much with it in terms of laying low tracks of music or anything, but I don't think this particular piece needed that anyway. Let me know what you think.

DINER SOUNDS:

Elements of a Good Audio Story

In my recent readings, I have come across what I think may be good elements of an audio story. Overall, I learned that voices telling the story are key, and that it should first be a story, then be in audio.

While reading Stephen Smith's article "Living History", I learned the following:

• The historical story in audio should transport listeners back to that time through the voices of those who were there and the stories they have to tell.
• "Some might say we are built of stories. At the very least, we are changed by stories." (135)
• "Historical characters and their stories become part of our own narrative." (136)
• Good pieces focus on particular stories or themes, not on sweeping historical surveys.
• "Hearing history transports us to the past in a powerful, imaginative way." (146)

While reading Sandy Tolan's article "The Voice and the Place", I learned the following:

• An audio documentary is best when it is a "nonfiction drama set on an audio stage with scenes, characters, narrative arc, dramatic tension, and even silence." (148)
• It's essential, and often difficult, to find the human story that will move beyond the bigger picture.
• "Sometimes the main 'character' is not a person but a place, brought to life by 'scene building': weaving voices with strong, succinct description and telling use of sound." (151)

From all of that, I now know that I need to first find the story, then find the characters, and then tell it out loud. Now, just to come up with a good story idea.... To be continued.

Finally Uploading My Interview

Yes. I have figured out how to upload my audio interview to my blog. Turns out the easiest way was to use Windows Movie Maker to attach a picture to the audio and thus make a "movie"! Yay! And yes, I know it's a picture of a cat. It was all I had on short notice when learning how to do this. So, ignore the cat, and I hope you like the piece.