FACILITATING A DISCUSSION
Upon finishing my re-purposing project, I was riding high. I felt triumphant, having tackled a new style of writing and having produced what was, in my opinion, a strong piece. For a few moments after clicking the submit button, I was in a state of complete bliss.
Then I remembered how much I still had to do. And that blissful feeling evaporated.
To replace it was the same mingled sense of excitement and anxiety that affected me before beginning my re-purposing project. The time had come to take on the next major assignment of the minor, the "Re-Mediating an Argument" piece, which would require me to transfigure my re-purposing project into a new genre while maintaining the same audience.
I knew early on that this project would likely be the one to cause me the most trouble in the minor's gateway course. I decided at the beginning of the semester to challenge myself with the re-mediation piece, to work in a genre with which I had absolutely no prior experience. Originally, I planned to create a whiteboard video to explain my argument about Hillary Clinton and her use of motherhood to viewers, but I nixed the idea when I realized it seemed a bit redundant. I didn't want to simply reiterate the point of my re-purposing project. Instead, per the suggestions of my classmates, who mentioned wanting to get in on the discussion about Hillary Clinton, I decided to give others a chance to describe their own take on the topic.
With that in mind, I decided to take on a podcast as the genre for my re-mediation project. My goal for this podcast was to facilitate a discussion, to incorporate perspectives different, and perhaps more insightful, than mine into a discourse about Hillary Clinton. In order to do this, I wanted to hear from two women—one who is a mother and the other who is not—in order to explain both the implications of Clinton's political strategies and the reaction the public at large has had to her campaign.
After conducting separate interviews with Claire Taigman, a political aficionado in the Ford School of Public Policy at Michigan, and my mom, a casual yet perceptive follower of politics, I began the difficult and often frustrating task of editing the interviews into a cohesive piece.
Compressing lengthy interviews into brief, 5-8 minute segments wasn't easy. Doing this forced me to highlight important moments and string together a narrative that flowed easily despite involving many disparate parts. Additionally, I realized during my process that my interviewees had far less to say about female abolitionists than I had hoped, and Hillary Clinton began taking over as the solo star of my piece.
Still, the process of creating this re-mediation project was a rewarding one. It gave me experience working in a new medium (I have a newfound, incredible respect for podcasters), and forced me to consider what information and insights to prioritize in a piece. Like the re-purposing project, it allowed me to see the many ways an argument can be made.
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Take a look at my thought process, or hear what Claire and my mom have to say
Hillary and Bill Clinton with their granddaughter, Charlotte