Journal Weeks 9+10

I really enjoyed creating the profile these last two weeks. Profiles are some of my favorite pieces of journalism to create, but I primarily do them in written form. During my internship, I wrote four or five long-form profiles on different Bay Area entrepreneurs/creators, which I really loved doing because I enjoy getting to know different people and what makes them tick. That’s probably why I enjoyed this assignment the most throughout our entire class. It was really fun learning how to create a good audio profile specifically. I had to keep myself in check throughout the interview to make sure I wasn’t making the noises I usually make during interviews, which was challenging but in a fun kind of way.

It was also a new challenge for me to organize the piece in audio form because I tend to be a very visual person who enjoys seeing all the words on the page in front of me rather than a long audio clip I have to cut up somehow. That part was a bit tedious, but it was also really satisfying when I ended up getting all the clips in the right spots to put together Kat’s story.

I also really enjoyed listening to my classmates’ JSMA pieces in class this week as well. It was a really fun experience to try to picture what everyone was describing in my head and see how close I could get to the actual images that then popped up on the screen. I also have a naturally critical (so to speak) mind, so I also found myself debating how I would have described the different pieces of art differently than how my classmates did. It was really great to see how creative some of my peers are though!

I also liked listening to my classmates’ Chumcasts. I think a big part of learning comes from your peers and getting to listen to all the different ways the groups approached the project made me reflect on how I would do mine differently in the future. I just really enjoyed how interactive the class was and how feedback-focused the entire term has been. It has helped me reflect on all of my own pieces and on how I see audio in my future.

Lastly, I want to say thank you for a great term and for sharing your passion for audio with all of us. Some of the best teachers are the ones who truly care about what they are teaching you because that emotion always rubs off and makes me care about it too. I hope you have a great rest of the year!