What has two thumbs and a project that’s completely different from her proposal?
This girl!
The link is here. [x]
So here’s the story:
I went out and I tried to interview people. I really did. I didn’t have a sign but I put on a big, friendly smile and did my best. The fates were conspiring against me though, I swear it. The forecast was supposed to be sunny skies and a light breeze, when in actuality it was rain and clouds and humidity — essentially, it was the kind of weather that destroy’s people’s good moods. It was also nearing rush hour, and okay, that was poor planning on my part. But still.
Nobody wanted to talk to me! I’ve never felt so ignored in my life. And the people who did talk to me gave me generic answers to my question. (Which was, just to refresh your memory, ‘what does it mean to be an American?’) It was like my worst nightmare. What was I to do?
I thought some about why I went with that question in the first place — which is because of my fascination with cultural identity, by the way. And somehow that lead to me deciding to interview my mom? My mom, who barely speaks English? Yeah, good thinking Damla. That’s clearly a reasonable thing to do.
So. Now you have nine minutes of me essentially grilling my mother and then going back and commenting on it. I didn’t mean for it to be that long, I swear.
I think for the final I’m going to try the 50 People, 1 Question again – maybe in Washington Square Park, the NYU kids seem nice – and I’ll bring a sociable, bubbly friend to help me out this time. Hopefully it goes better. If not, then I’ll try to reign in this monster of an audio essay.
(I promise I won’t take it personally if you fall asleep while listening.)
I think my main issue was developing a point that appeals to the audience. I may like this dumb culture stuff, but that doesn’t mean that you guys do. So I guess at some point I’ll probably have to do some major editing à la Ira Glass.
2 responses so far
I love the music you’ve chosen and the sound of your voice. With the quality of both of these, you quietly draw the reader in.
As we discussed in class, I think you have a good approach to structure here: the framing reflections by you along with the interview of your mom in the middle works well. the consensus seems to be that it’s not too long; people are able to stay interested and focused. I think it’s interesting that this is so because there’s not a lot of story–or as Glass talks about it, anecdote. There’s more reflection. But part of the story, I think, comes from the interaction we begin to pick up, ver subtly and just little bits of it, between you and your mother. It’s very engaging somehow.
Uggh. I’m trying to listen to your piece now, as I type this, but it keeps going in and out. Spotty wifi. Snap out of it! So I write from my memory and notes.
When you talk about why you thought your original idea would be easy, instead of talking about how the weather or your lack of aggression were at fault, maybe it would be more meaningful to talk about what your expectations were for the question: what kinds of answers you figured you’d get, how it would be material you could use, why you liked that question to begin with, what it meant to you, why you decided to go to Union Sq… Things like that. Maybe it would be useful to fill us in on your vision, bc then we’d have a better sense of how your mom stepped in and helped you rei-magine the whole project, we’d see the trajectory from your original vision to the final version. I mean, I have a little sense of that trajectory based on our discussions of your proposal, but other radio listeners won’t have that history.
I would suggest you give some thought to the laundromat question that Luke raised in class; I thought that was a great point: it’s one weird moment in the interview. How can you draw out the laundromat as an icon of your mother’s resistance to American citizenship; connect it to cultural identity, difference, and the difficulties of assimilation; and/or explore it as a symbol for “being American”? There might be opportunity for anecdote there. You can tell a story that fills listeners in on the laundromat history that makes you laugh as soon as mom brings it up. Maybe you could artfully split how you use the laundromat story between the opening and closing reflections.
Okay, I’m going to reboot my computer for a better connection now!
The music and interaction were good. There was a good structure, and the conclusion wrapped up things well. The I am your mother part was funny, as the question was formal but could have been in the introduction. There was a lot in the introduction, but personally I would shorten it or try to compact it. There was a significant contrast in quality of the voices, but I don’t know if that can be adjusted so that they are more level.