I liked "The Sound of One Hand Waving" story because it felt like a story a friend would tell you. I've listened to a handful This American Life episodes and there's always a sense of authenticity. Hearing different voices tell each story makes it seem more like a story than a third party documenting events. The waving story is simple; there's no complex story line or deep meaning, but it's charming.
"Don't I Know You" is another first person perspective of a story in which we get context of the scene, some sense of the subject, background thought processes, and description of the people and interactions. In my story about the adoption of George, the family cat, I want to have background information for context, description of the main event (the day we got him), and the bigger picture impact/significance of the event in our lives. For a stories like these, I think it's important to have interaction between documentation of the events and the context of what the subjects were thinking at the time. If these stories were told straightforwardly with a list of chronological events, they wouldn't be interesting or unique since the subject matter isn't anything profound or particularly remarkable (like more impacting stories that classmates have which build effect with straightforward chronology).
Both "The Sound of One Hand Waving" and "Don't I Know You" were two of my favorites as well. I loved the sense of a friend-to-friend interaction and the descriptive story backgrounds -- I hope to also include those characteristics into my piece. I think that by telling the story as you would to a friend allows the listener a sense of comfort and intimacy and increases the likelihood that they will enjoy the story. As for the background info, while I think it is great and important to have should not reveal too much. I think it could be fun to leave out some information to keep the reader on their toes and curious. I can't wait to see what you come up with!
ReplyDeleteI really do like how they have different voices read through the stories as well, it gives a more authentic feeling to it and it really feels better to listen to than listening to one person documenting the whole thing. I also listened to don’t I know you and the detail and description was astounding to me. Also the authenticity of the readers voice really added to the story, and really gave it a different flavor that didn’t make it feel like I was listening documenting an event, but more like someone actually recapping an event as if it were happening right there.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed the storytelling style of "The Sound of One Hand Waving." The different voices give the story authenticity but also so much depth. I like that this is a very different style than some of the other pieces that we have listened to in class, like the stream of conscience Eileen Myles pieces. The storytelling doesn’t have to rely on things like repetition or practiced pauses to convey emotion; things like the natural tone and pacing are able to do that more naturally.
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