racheleileen’s blog

My interview with the subject of my slideshow uncovered many interesting anecdotes and quirks. I ended up focusing on the relationship she has with her family and how greatly in permeates her daily life and decisions.  I was casually acquainted with my interviewee beforehand through mutual friends. This gave me the advantage of having some background information about her and I knew which aspects of her life to focus on. In doing this I determined the most usable story by how much she was willing to divulge about each topic matter and how detailed and interesting the topics themselves truly were. 

The pictures are what originally compelled me to focus on her family life. The relationships are spelled out in the still photos more than could ever be described with words. She was somewhat guarded and protective where her family was concerned, but she gave enough bare facts that the story unfolded with little editorial commentary on her part. I found that when I revealed the direction that I was trying to lead her with my questions, she became defensive and less detailed. When I asked very broad, indirect questions, she rambled for longer and she was more genuine and opinionated answers.  When I asked her to repeat or restate an answer, she froze up and became embarassed, this was trying.

The slideshow editing program was very efficient and I didn’t have any trouble navigating and creating my project. I would have interviewed first and taken pictures second if I had another go at this project. A tip for slideshow editing would be to make sure that you have more pictures than you know what to do with if you really want to illustrate the story portrayed through audio.

Should the Federal Government financially support Comprehensive Sex Education?

Yes, because every study conducted has either been unable to produce evidence that Abstinence Only Sex Education works or the results show that Abstinence Only does not work and 88% of teens who took virginity pledge still had sex before marriage. Most groups that support Abstinence Only Sex Education have a religious bias and ignore the facts and results of the studies taken.

Sources

1. Sexuality Information Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) – group in favor of Comprehensive Sex Education.
2. National Association of Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy – supports Comprehensive Sex Education
3. “After the Promise: The STD Consequences of Adolescent Virginity Pledges” – study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

I enjoyed conducting an audio interview because it was something I’d never attempted before.  I found that I was easily able to apply the silent responses to encourage my interviewee without verbally sabotaging my recording.  It was a smart move to record the interview in her own home and wait until she had warmed up to me over dinner and conversation.

  I realized quickly that in order to extract a natural-sounding story I needed to let her go and refrain from asking redirecting questions. My questions must have been too formal sounding, or perhaps it made her feel as if she had said something wrong. Also, it didn’t work to just jump into questioning as soon as I turned the recorder on. She froze and was unable to even state her name without stumbling.

It was very challenging to pry for additional information after the anecdote had been told. My subject became very robotic and technical in her descriptions.  It was also challenging to save my file in Audacity as an MP3 file. I spent at least two hours struggling with that program.

Next time I would plan the interview earlier in the day and ask a few warm-up questions after I had turned on the recorder. I would also try to be alone with my interviewee, her daughter seemed to ignite some nervous tendencies.

I would like to know more about the ins-and-outs of Audacity and how to add music and fade in and out with the sound.

When reviewing the Legacy Print’s coverage of Obama’s inauguration, I found the headlines alone were tell-tale as to the media’s perception of the event.

Washington Post:

• “A Harsh Reception”

o This headline refers to the negative reaction of some of the bystanders to the presence of Bush at the inauguration. The headline shows intent of the Post to highlight the dislike for Bush as the overall attitude of the crowd.

• “The Perfect Day”

o This statement sums it up. The Post publicly proclaims their view of the new president by classifying his inauguration worthy of deeming a day “perfect.” The intense cold that sent spectators to emergency care tents was not taken into account.

• “People With Purple, Silver Tickets Turned Away”

o So great was the desire to see this historic event that the throng of citizens clamoring to get it could not all be accommodated and thousands were turned away.

The New York Times

In the New York Times online website, a frequently updated blog gives a play- by-play with “Live Blog: The Inauguration of Barack Obama” by Katharine Q. Seelye.

• In Honoring Dr. King, Rote Finds Relevance in Obama

o This headline makes a great leap of reverence by comparing Obama to Dr. King.

• Cheney in a Wheelchair

o   This gives readers an image of Cheney, however inadvertently posed, as incapacitated.

• Play Louder

o   This blurb postulates that the increased volume of the band when Bush appeared was intended to drown out the scattered boo’s voiced from the crowd.

• Hail to the Chief

o   The name of the song played for Obama.

• First Optimistic Note

o   This is referencing Obama’s inaugural address and also giving his speech an obvious “optimistic” and happy connotation.

• ‘Ground Has Shifted’

o   Again, a reference to his speech, but when made a headline it labels the event of his presidency as a figurative “shifting” in our status quo.

Stories

     Conducting interviews has never been my forte and so this casual assignment was a good way for me to ease myself back into the game. Although the group interview provided a comfortable atmosphere, it did not produce for me the lively story that the assignment required. Interview, take two, was successful and I realized that sometimes asking a leading question is more productive than listening to a life story and hoping for a gem among the list of events. I found that the challenge in interviewing a classmate was that my classmate was not a blank slate waiting to be directed because very aware of the assignment. The knowledge of the assignment caused many doors to be closed.       

     In the second interview I asked my subject to tell me of a frightening incident that put her into a state of panic. This brought forth a usable story, but I got the feeling that she had told the story one too many times, and the details and excitement of it had, through overuse, faded. I think in the future, a more unusual of prying question that is less broad would serve me better.

     I struggled with limiting my sentences to ten words. I had to change the entire pace and attitude of my stories to allow for the restrictive sentence structure. This is difficult for me because I tend to write long, descriptive sentences. I ended up enjoying the pace, especially in one of my stories. It opened me up to inventing a new attitude, or tone, for my writing that I could not have created with sentences stuffed with superfluous details.

Ira Glass

     Ira Glass talked about his experience in broadcasting and what he has found to make up a good reporter, and great stories. The first building block that makes up a good story is the anecdote, including both the sequence of actions and the bait. The second building block is the moment of reflection in which the significance of the story is expressed in order to support the interesting anecdote.  Glass also stressed the importance of “good taste.” Having good taste and maintaining it through your initially poor work is all part of the process. Glass explained that if you are not failing than you are not creating lucky situations for yourself. In order to create good work, one must do a lot of work, discarding most of it. 

     The advice that really stuck with me was the value in speaking naturally. Glass said that speaking in a conversational way is a more effective technique than imitating T.V. professionals or “underlining” every third word as you speak. Glass also said that good stories revolve primarily around the subject, but that the personality and voice of the reporter plays a significant role as well. I found the concept of having good taste and continuing to realize it, even when you knew that your work was not reflecting it, very humbling but encouraging. No matter how confident you are or how realized your “vision” of great work is, every reporter will still produce crap. It would be easy to glorify your bad work as adequate and lose sight of your good taste in order to save face and keep your self-pride. Glass points out how foolish this mindset is. It is a reporter’s creative downfall. 

• Coffee gives you self-worth that you never had (and still don’t really but now think you do.) In You’ve Got Mail Tom Hanks illustrates this in a brief tyrant:

“The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don’t know what the hell they’re doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self.”

• Coffee is ART

       I went to local coffee houses Perugino and The Wandering Goat and met two very eager baristas that upon hearing my desire to photograph latte art took great pains to produce their own personal work of art. Although I only requested one latte, both baristas, unsatisfied with their first attempt, made multiple lattes. A former barista myself, I understand that coffee is not just combination of ingredients but a process unique to each barista. Each component is crucial, from the steaming of the milk to create worthy foam, to pulling just the right shot, easily ruined by the grind or the length of the shot. Upon moving to Eugene from Portland, a city obsessed with snobby coffee and even snobbier baristas, I was dismayed with the lack of interest in “good coffee” in Eugene. It was refreshing  to discover the above coffee houses. Though entirely different in ambience,  both share the common goal of creating a caffeinated masterpiece.   The last photograph was taken by my sister, Abbey, in Seattle at El Diablo. The coffee house was originally named Heaven and Hell, designed with an upstairs level condusive to studying and enjoying espresso, while the downstairs (Hell) was the noisy counterpart where the coffee is made. When making rent was no longer possible, Heaven was sold and the coffee is now known simply as, El Diablo.

• Drink Coffee. Prevent Diabetes. Harvard research concludes that by consuming six or more cups of coffee a day men can reduce risk of diabetes by 54% and women by 30%.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/03/health/research/03smoke.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=third%20hand%20smoke&st=cse