Chris Hull

Audio Essay Reflection

After hearing the prompt, I had no idea what to write about. It wasn’t until I heard

the prompt for a second time that I picked up on the idea of being excluded from an

online community. Somehow, this sparked the memory of the time I was confronted on

Twitter after a Union vs. Jenks basketball game.

After class, I went on Twitter to search for my tweet. It took me a while to scroll

all the way back to January of 2014, but I found it. Then, I realized that I should probably

get my idea approved by Dr. E before I dove into this endeavor. So, I pitched my idea to

Dr. E during office hours, and thankfully she approved.

The next day in class we were asked about digital writing during our free-writing

activity, and this was where I found my identity message. I noted that Twitter gives me

the power to say things that I normally wouldn’t say in person. With that being said, I

was still non-confrontational leaving the basketball game that night, and I was still non-

confrontational in the events on Twitter that followed the game. Being non-

confrontational is a major part of who I am. Therefore, I wanted to center my paper on

this aspect of myself, while still telling the narrative of the basketball games.

Our homework assignment after this class was to write our first draft. I wrote my

heart out and that resulted in close to three pages for my first draft. Also, I found that I

wrote substantially more about the basketball games than about my identity.

In our next class, Luis and Luke listened to me read my paper. They said that they

liked the humor I added in, but that they got confused when I switched games. I took

away from the peer review session that I had a compelling story, but that I needed to

Chris Hull

make my story clearer to my audience. Thus, I scheduled an appointment with the writing

center.

My tutor, Nate, said that he was also confused about the transitions in my essay.

So, we spent the majority of our session together finding ways to clearly transition the

narrative. First, we rearranged how I introduced the first game. Second, we thought it’d

be more impactful if I concluded the essay with a reference to my Twitter after the first

game. Third, we worked on using more transitional language in the beginning of my

paragraphs. After clearing up my transitions, I decided to have Dr. E listen to my draft.

Dr. E noted that I needed to use more sensory detail. She wanted me to show the

readers how I felt and to show them what it was like to be at those games. Also, we

worked on the reflection section of my essay. Instead of me simply asking questions to

myself, she suggested that I display the reflection scene with setting and sensory detail.

After the transitions were fixed, the narrative was made clearer, and the sensory detail

was implemented, it was finally time to record.

I recorded my essay in a south booth in Hesburgh Library. I decided to record

each paragraph individually because I knew that I couldn’t read my entire essay without

messing up. I inserted music, a whistle, and a few sounds in order to add to the setting.

After recording was finished, I started editing my audio essay, which entailed splitting

recordings in order to add pauses when necessary.

Overall, I am confident in the audio essay I have created. This assignment

challenged me to go beyond by preferred medium, print, and to use a new medium,

audio, to convey my message in a way that enhances the experience of my audience.