Audio Essay Reflection

By: Luis Young

Multimedia Writing and Rhetoric
January 30, 2015
Audio Essay Reflection
My thought process for this assignment began in class during our
bring a personal artifact to class exercise. I brought a flag of Panama,
and so during our improvisational writing I spoke about the idea of my
dual citizenship and how it shapes me and my experiences with
language and culture. Due to this, my Shitty first draft was on this
topic, using what I had written in class about the flag as my
introduction and my conclusion, closing the literary circle. I talked
about how it was strange to think that something I could carry in my
hands could be symbolic of an entire nation, and I mentioned how
nevertheless, this country was only half of who I am. And after
receiving feedback from my classmates, I decided to use these
elements, but to take the story in a different direction.
I began thinking about my past, at my history with language and
the uphill struggle that it proved to be. I realized that it all began in
Spanish, and that there were specific moments tied to my progression
through fluency with language that were key to my development. The
most important of these was the prayer time with my grandmother
every night. I still recite this prayer every day before I go to bed and it
was a stepping-stone in my development as a child learning to speak.
Yet, even so, I decided to focus on the emotional value that this
moment had, and leave the crux of the matter to be about me
overcoming the difficulty of language and not so much me learning to
speak. I chose to do this because after I re-learned Spanish, the only
person I ever wanted to talk to was my grandmother. And I remember
that first conversation I had with her very fondly because I was so
nervous, and her voice calmed me and reassured me. And I felt that
was the most important aspect of that memory, so I tried to bring that
to life in my essay.
And by bringing it to life, I chose to stay away from dialogue. I
took after the Superman and Me narrative which I found the most
powerful out of the readings we analyzed in class. This was my favorite
of those readings, and I used it as my model with regard to my voice
and style. With regard to my voice I realize that at times it may have
come across as arrogant, as did the narrator in Superman and Me,
but that was because both my work and his are talking about
overcoming adversity, and they both ground themselves in emotion
and isolation/marginalization (a Hispanic who can not speak Spanish,
living in Latin America). For this reason I saw it fitting to follow a similar
style to Sherman Alexies, with lots of introspection and vivid

memories. In this way, I also followed a similar style to his. Most of his
story takes place in his memory, and thats the way I chose to tell
mine. The description is there, but the structure is clearly given
through his memory and his narration, which I chose to emulate.
Nevertheless the actual process of moving on from that Shitty
first draft wasnt a one-shot effort. I continued to tweak it over the
past weeks. At first I played with somehow incorporating what I had
already written about the flag and duality, but then I realized it
wouldnt fit smoothly. So I deleted them, and started the intro from
scratch. I remembered how Jesus and J-lo began with those very
words which through the reader off, and I had already mentioned the
memory about me and my grandma near the middle of the story, so I
decided it would add to the effect if I began and ended with that like I
did with the flag, closing the literary circle. So I decided that not only
would a phrase in Spanish be a good hook for the story, but it would
also be tremendously relevant because of the fact alone that its in
Spanish. And with the idea that its in Spanish, and touching back upon
the topic of my nationality, I decided to stick to the Hispanic side and
just mention my duality for the sake of explaining who I am and why I
particularly had this struggle, since I was able to continue to speak
English at home.
And as for recording it, I immediately reserved a sound booth
and found out where the booth was located. Once it came time to
finally record, it all went smoothlyuntil I played back the track and
heard a faint clicking noise all throughout my recording. I recorded
myself again, and again, and again, trying to get rid of the clicking
noise each time but I couldnt. At first I thought it was the microphone
(which it very well might have been) but to me it almost seemed as if it
was coming from my own speech. And so I tried correcting my
enunciation and tone, and still nothing. When my hour was over I
decided there was nothing I could do, I even tried editing it and it
didnt work. I mention this flaw to be honest and fair, and so that if the
problem was not me, so that it can be resolved with the librarys
microphone. Even still, this assignment was a very fulfilling experience.
It really made me dive deep into who I am as a person, and getting to
hear the essay out loud added another dimension of emotion and
proximity to the reader that just distance themselves from a traditional
written paper. I never would have thought to write or even listen to
other essays in this manner, but now I feel that personally this is a
medium I prefer.
Speaking of mediums I learned a lot about multimedia literacy
through this assignment. Thats what my essay was about; it was
about being literate (knowledgeable and skilled) in a particular form of
rhetoric (speech). It really made me think about all the ways in which
one can communicate and express oneself, and it especially made me
think about what constitutes multimedia literacy and rhetoric, and

once I found my particular history with rhetoric I decided to share it

with the class.