Carolina Ochoa
Prof. Erin
1-29-15
Audio Essay Reflection
I have never done an audio essay before, so this was a treat.
The essay part is something Im familiar with, even though I always
struggle with it. My problem with writing comes from an overactive
scatterbrain that comes up with millions of ideas and likes to
switch gears in the midst of one idea. With that, I feel that my
paper ends up with a lack of focus or just rambles. This is exactly
what I felt with my first draft. After reading the weekend reading
assignment about an audio essay, I saw that my paper was going in a
completely different direction and would be far too long for the
time constraint, so I abandoned ship. Originally, I wrote about a
documentary I saw on my tablet and how it reminded me of my mom and
her life. After four pages and no real conclusion looming around
anytime soon, plus with a better understanding of the topic, I
started a new draft about my first computer and how they have
impacted me in the years since.
But, just like with the first paper, I was struggling to find a
story or a meaning behind it. As I was drafting my new draft, I
just typed whatever came to mind and whatever I felt. My word vomit
was okay, but still was similar to my first draft in that it lacked
focus and direction. I was conflicted with showing and not telling,
but my showing was causing my story to go off in on a tangent. I
think a reason I was having difficulty focusing was because of the
nature of the topic. To think about a story of how technology has
shaped me. I thought that there was no one moment or one story I
could tell; that is was more of a collective series of observations
and events with technology that shaped me to be the person I
am.
However, a story did come to mind, and as usual, it happened in
the shower. Before that stroke of genius, I first went to the
Writing Center to get a fresh pair of eyes to look over my piece
and give some helpful feedback. The tutor helped me to sort out
what I wanted to say, to give me an idea of what was unnecessary,
and to see what was unclear about the paper. I read my piece aloud,
which was a total of 7-8 minutes, and from there, we examined
certain passages and lines. About an hour later, I was heading back
to my dorm, exhausted and ready for sleep. The next day, I looked
over my paper and began making corrections and editing the content.
I was stumped on the issue of cutting out a large portion of my
piece, and finding a more concrete one in its place. Luckily, as
soon as I stepped in the shower and began contemplating the ways of
life, I suddenly remember the two weeks during my junior year of
high school when I didnt have Internet at my house. I remembered
that after the first week my mom and I got into a pretty nasty
fight that left me feeling horrible days after. After I finished
showering, I went back to my room, changed into my pjs, and began
typing away.
If the writing process wasnt had enough, recording my narrative
was worst! I dont like the sound of my voice, so having to hear
myself read a story Im not all too confident about was awkwardly
painful for me. I wasnt able to go to the sound room, because I
couldnt find it, and the room I found in the Center for Digital
Scholarship was relatively quiet, but with murmurs in the
background. Fortunately, the study room in my dorm is empty in the
wee hours of the morning so I was able to finish my recording in
there. I could not for the life of my figure out how to incorporate
different sounds into my recording, and the ones available had no
business being in my narrative, so I left the recording bare and
simple. The whole process of writing and recording was pretty
stressful, but as I look back, it was fun to test myself and
reflect upon technology and how it has shaped me.
