Audio Story Eight

http://www.radiodiaries.org/frankie-in-mentone-alabama-welcome-home-dad/ 

          The recording starts out with Frank talking about his home – how he and his family moved  here after his dad left, and it was completely junky and run-down, but now it’s like new. You can hear his little sisters in the background, and he then introduces you to his car. He has a Cadillac that used to be his dad’s, that he got when he was sixteen, and he intends to get it painted next summer. Frank talks about how he takes pride in his appearance, and dresses nicely for school – how, in middle school, he was wimpy and called Francis, but now played sports and was popular. The story transitions to the present, where he discusses how he goes to travel to Chatanooga every weekend with his father to sell stuff, and you can hear them playing guitar. Eventually, Frank gets into the actual story of how his father was convicted of stabbing a man, even though it was only in self-defense, and was sentenced to fifteen to twenty years in prison. Rather than facing these undue charges, the family ran and moved to the South. They stayed, undiscovered, for fifteen years, until one day the cops show up. Frank’s dad spends two years in prison before getting his case appealed, and, in the meantime, gets his GED and can now legally have a Driver’s License. He thought he’d be in jail forever, but is now thankful he was turned in  - they feel that it all turned out for the better. Frank closes the story saying how people take their families for granted, and that he is now more appreciative.

          I chose this story because the description was interesting, but wasn’t immediately intrigues at the audio. In my opinion, the story starts too slowly and is a little boring. The scene is set well, yes, but you lose interested because you aren’t hearing anything pertaining to what you expected to hear. Eventually – maybe halfway through – Frank tells the story of his father’s conviction, and it becomes a much more interesting listening experience. This story held your attention, and made the beginning worth sitting through. Additionally, the cuts and transitions are very smooth, and external audio (such as his sisters singing, or his father playing guitar) make the story easy to listen to, with a natural feeling. I found it interesting that Frank’s father ends up being grateful that he was turned in, and even shook hands with the man who did it. It makes you wonder how the man even knew that Frank’s father was a wanted man. Also, I was curious how he got out of jail so early – you’d think that a man who had run for fifteen years from a fifteen year sentence would have to spend quite a while behind bars. Ultimately, despite a slow beginning, I enjoyed this story, and thought that it was told well.

Audio Story Seven

http://www.radiodiaries.org/josh-in-new-york-city-growing-up-with-tourettes/

         

          This radio diary follows Josh, a sixteen-year-old in Manhattan, who happens to have Tourette’s. He looks normal –in fact, he seems fairly confident, describing himself as smart and attractive, with a good body – but feels different. He says that, even on the streets of New York, he’d seem pretty weird. He describes his ticks as if they were balloon inside of him – they keep inflating, and getting bigger, until they finally explode and get released. He has many various ticks, including just screaming and cursing, and repeating sounds of phrases he hears. Sometimes, he will just go up and grab and shake people – thankfully, however, this tends to be limited to his parents. Josh relays the experience of recently seeing an episode of Maury dealing with Tourette’s, and how talk show hosts always tell people how beautiful they are, especially when they’re ‘so horrendously ugly’. He doesn’t want sympathy from others. He doesn’t want people thinking, ‘Poor Josh’. He was to teach himself not to care what others think of him, because, most of the time, he just can’t control what comes out of his mouth. Josh interviews others, and is told that his Tourrette’s can be funny, but it can also be a pain in the ass. The recording ends with his mother’s piano playing, after Josh venting that his syndrome makes him mad, and that he doesn’t deserve it.

          I thought that this story had a very natural feel to it. It didn’t really feel professionally recorded or edited – it seems like Josh pretty much did it himself. Many of the cuts aren’t smooth, and change from scene to scene without a transition. I also liked that it included some sounds that may have normally been left out. For example, Josh’s friends hamming it up in front of the recorder, or his bickering with his mom. These sounds give the story a realistic feel to it, and doesn’t seem orchestrated. Ambient and background noises make the story really good as well, such as the sounds of Josh’s various ticks, or his multiple prank phone calls. Ultimately, though, the story is polished enough that the meaning and message is able to shine, while still raw enough to feel like a natural story told by a sixteen-year-old.

Audio Story Six

http://storycorps.org/listen/stories/barbara-cooper-and-her-mother-jody/

          For my second weekly story, I chose to listen to an interview headed ‘It’s a premature aging disorder…” on StoryCorps. The recording consists of a mother, Jody, talking to her daughter, Barbara, about what it’s like to live with Progeria. Progeria is a genetic disorder that consists of a rapid aging process, and results in a short life expectancy. However, as Barbara points out, she doesn’t fit into all of the categories – for instance, she’s tall, has hair, and doesn’t have heart complications – and considers herself to be lucky. At this point (it is never said how old Barbara is), she has gone mostly blind, and says that she remembers her reflections from a long time ago, and will, therefore, be forever young. Her mother conveys a story of not wanting to let Barbara rollerskate outside as child, but then realizing that she has to let her daughter experience the world for herself – she says it opened her eyes. You can hear a sniffle, as they agree that they’ve been through a wild ride.

          I’d heard of Progeria before, and that’s probably why I was curious to hear this interview. It flows really nicely, and has a natural and conversational feel to it. There’s back and forth banter between the mother and daughter, and it ultimately leads to a good story-telling experience. I was surprised, at the end, that the mother approached the subject that, if Barbara died first, how would she want to be remembered? While they probably spoke in equal parts, this made it clear that mother was the interviewer, and that she was willing to ask the questions necessary to get a good answer. After telling an anecdote of her daughter as a child, you can hear Jody get emotional, and sniffle a little bit, but she then gets cut off. It makes you wonder if there was more emotion after that (if so, why wasn’t it included?), or if that was all there was (then why include it?). The story ends on an uplifting note, with Barbara saying how her mother has always been there for her, followed by shared ‘I-love-you’ ‘s .

Audio Story Five

http://www.radiodiaries.org/matthew-and-the-judge-juvenile-court-diary/

          For this week’s first blog, I read ‘Matthew and the Judge: Juvenile Court Diary’, from NPR’s Radio Diaries. The segment follows Matthew, a sixteen-year-old convict, and his time in prison, and is told from both the view of both Matthew, and his judge, Jeremiah. Matt grew up not knowing who his father was, and a mother who was a crack-head up until he was eleven. He described himself as a ‘bad, bad kid’, and says that he did whatever he wanted, and that what got him arrested – prior crimes include assault, battery, tampering with a motor vehicle, and possession of cocaine and marijuana. He says that it doesn’t feel like prison to him, because he has no worries and everything is free, and even tells his social worker, Gary, that he intends to go back to selling drugs. So, when judge Jeremiah lets him out seven months early for good behavior, it’s no shock that he’s back to weeks later for possession of cocaine with intent to sell. The story ends, with Jeremiah talking about how he felt disappointed, and as if he had failed, and that it might be a time where he has to give up hope. Matthew, on the other hand, closes saying that he is, in fact, ‘rehabilitate-able’ - even though those around him have given up - and that he one day hopes to lead a normal life.

          I thought that this story was told very smoothly, and in a way that kept you interested. It never felt like an interview, but felt like a very natural method of story-telling. For instance, in the beginning, it’s just Matthew speaking, and then ambient noises (such as keys jingling, and Matt playing chess) are introduced, and the story becomes alive. Additionally, the small details and anecdotes really made it work, such as when Matthew describes how, when he first came to the jail, he was only 5’5”, and couldn’t see out the window, but now he was 6’4” – that really gave you a visual, and well as a time frame to go off of. I liked how the story was told from two perspectives, because that really gave you a clear understanding of the situation, and how the two perspectives intertwined during their conversations at court. Something that surprised me about this interview was how forward-looking Matthew was at the end of the story, when he was talking about wanting to lead a normal life, since before he had blatantly spoken of how he planned on going back to selling drugs. All in all, I enjoyed this story, and thought that it was told clearly, and obviously had a point to it.

Audio Story Four

http://storycorps.org/listen/stories/sean-plasse-and-blanche-podhajski/

          For my forth audio story, I chose to listen to “I always lived in fear that someone would discover that I couldn't keep up.”, on Story Corps. This recording was of a man, Sean Plasse, being interviewed by Blanche Podhajski about being dyslexic. He talks about having difficulty his entire life, and specifically recalls an incident in which he was playing Trivial Pursuit with a girlfriend, but was afraid to read the cards because he didn’t want to make a mistake. Despite this dyslexia, he managed to graduate as Valedictorian, thanks to coping methods. He would match specific words to images in his mind (he says up to 10,000 a semester), and would ask others to explain, among other things. He managed to get through in life with methods such as these, but struggled throughout work with even spelling the names of those around him. The story ends with Sean being testing for learning disabilities, and learning that, while his IQ is in the 99^th percentile, his reading ability is only in the 14^th. This, he says, was a life-changing moment for him.

          I think that this story appealed to me, because, beforehand, I hadn’t really known much on the subject. I thought it was extremely interesting how detailed and specific his methods were for matching words to images - for example, he explains “…imagine a parrot flies along, the parrot lands on the car, the car explodes, and the smoke and the feathers rise in a figure eight. That represents a word for me, and that word is polycarbonate. Poly is the parrot, car is the car, the explosion is like a bomb, and the eight is an eight.” I thought that that was just insane. His way of telling the story was interesting, as well. Even though he only gave a snippet of what his life of dyslexia was like, it left you wanting more. You could easily imagine his story being expanded to much longer than two minutes. You can tell that his story was an interesting one, because, when the recording ends somewhat abruptly, you’re left wondering “What Happens Next”.

Audio Story Three

 http://www.radiodiaries.org/going-home-cristels-diary/

          For my third audio story, I chose to listen to ‘Going Home: Cristel’s Diary’, from NPR’s Radio Diaries. Someone had told me about this particular story, which is what initially drew me to it, and it ended up being a very intriguing listen. The story is about Cristel (her last name is never given) and her life in Women’s Prison. When she was fifteen (and about six months pregnant), her little sister was being bullied by a classmate, and Cristel decided to do something about it. She went to the middle school that this girl attended, and confronted her. An argument ensued, and then a fight – Cristel attacked the girl with both her fists, and a razorblade that she had brought along with her. The girl was badly sliced up, and Cristel was sentenced to jail time. She has her baby in jail, and has her taken away to be with family. 3.5 years later, a judge releases her early for good behavior, and she gets to go home and get back to leading a ‘normal life’ – she talks about how wonderful it was to fall asleep with her now four-year-old daughter for the first time.

          I found this story to be very compelling. I was skeptical that I would be able to stay interested in a nearly twenty-minute story, but I was. I thought that the way the story unfolded was done extremely well – it begins with Cristel discussing her life (nothing specific), and it is slowly revealed that she is currently in jail, which you learn through audio clips of wardens and such. The use of audio outside of the actual interview was very captivating, both in jail sequences, and later on when they let you her Cristel interacting with her daughter. The tiny details of the story kept it interesting as well – for example, Cristel talks, in depth, about how she hates handcuffs, and the sounds that they make. Cristel’s telling of the story itself also made it a good interview, because she told it very straight-forward and in her tone of voice, which made it feel very real. This made it very easy to listen to, and also made some of the details all the more shocking (such as when she says, almost nonchalantly, how the girl’s nose almost came off, due to her attack). All-in-all, I found this story to be quite intriguing, as well as an excellent example of good story-telling.

CPR - Book One

          For my CPR Book, for the month of January, I am choosing to read Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. Hearing this month’s theme – a classic “must-read” before college – I wasn’t sure what to think. I haven’t read many ‘classic’ books, and the ones I have, I haven’t necessarily enjoyed them. Looking through the ‘must-read’ lists seemed overwhelming, and nothing immediately jumped out at me.

          After perusing several lists, one title (that appeared nearly everywhere) began to interest me. I’d obviously heard of Frankenstein before, even though I’d never read any of it, or even seen the movies. The subject had always seemed interesting, but I had just assumed that the book was too difficult, too long, or too boring. When I visited the bookstore, however, and saw the book in the ‘Classics’ section, it seemed like something I would read. I asked my dad – who has read a lot of classics, and generally has the same taste in books as me – and he reaffirmed my reaffirmed my suspicions, and told me that he thought this was a book I would enjoy. So, I grabbed the book from the store, and now intend to read it as my first CPR Book.  

Audio Story Two

http://storycorps.org/listen/stories/sarah-and-joshua-littman-2/

          A second story that interested me was of a mother and son, Sarah and Joshua Littman, discussing college. Joshua had recently completed his first semester of college, and it had proven to be a difficulty due to his Asperger’s. Because of this syndrome, he has a particularly hard time, socially, and can obsess over little things – in his case, animals. This is apparent in his interview of his mother (which really turns into a conversation, with them seemingly interviewing each other simultaneously), when he mentions missing his dogs (rather than his family) when he is away at college. 

          While this conversation of college between a mother and son struck me as interesting, what I found even more attention-grabbing was that the two had submitted another story six years ago, when Joshua was in the seventh grade (http://storycorps.org/listen/stories/sarah-and-joshua-littman/). This recording is of a younger Joshua interviewing his mother on a variety of topics, and couldn’t be more different from the one done later on. Whereas their college story had a flow, and conversational feel to it, you can tell that, in the earlier one, Joshua created a list of questions and stuck to them, regardless of how their conversation went. For instance, the questions ranged from ‘How different, from 1 to 10, would your life be without animals?’ to ‘Who is your mortal enemy?’. It struck me as really interesting how the two developed over time, as well as how their interview styles did. Their first interview was jumbled, and had no significant end goal, while their more recent one had a better flow and vibe to it, and actually led you to learn something about the two. Listening to these two recordings gave me some examples of what’s good, and what’s bad in an interview.  

Audio Story One

http://storycorps.org/listen/stories/mary-johnson-and-oshea-israel/

          The first story that grabbed my attention was entitled ‘I Just Hugged the Man Who Murdered my Son,’ and was told by Mary Johnson and Oshea Israel, and recorded in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The recording was about how Mary Johnson’s teenage son was shot and killed in 1993, by gang member Oshea Israel. Johnson had animosity towards Israel during the trial that sent Israel away, but, after visiting him twelve years later on at prison, her feelings changed. The two talked about her son, and he comforted and supported her. She forgave him – although he still has difficulties forgiving himself – and their lives have been intertwined ever since.

          I was first drawn to this story, because I had heard of this situation somewhere before, in some magazine, or newspaper article. Reading the words on paper, however, is vastly different from hearing the two people in question actually talk about what occurred. I found their story to be very interesting because of the unusual nature of it. You wouldn’t normally expect a woman to forgive her son’s murderer, and even form a friendship with him, but that’s exactly what happened. The story goes on to say that Mary is essentially is living vicariously as a mother to Oshea – the things that she was unable to do and experience with her own son, she now hopes to do with Israel. She speaks of her wishes to watch him graduate, marry, and live his life, and also explains how the two are neighbors, and see each other on a daily basis.

          Johnson and Israel’s situation struck me as extremely odd, and that’s what made it a good story. There’s no real interview in the recording, as there is in some, but rather a conversation between the two. This makes the story seem very natural and real, rather than forced or fake. This led to a convincing and enthralling story, that had a format and feel to it that could serve as an example for future interviews that may take place.