Week 13

            In this week’s assignment, I had to listen to Sarah Vowell’s radio version of her story “Shooting Dad”.  It was for week 8 that we had to read this story.  When I heard Vowell’s voice for the first time, I wanted to turn it off.  Originally, I did not read along, so I did not notice much differences.  I mainly noticed the differences during the cannon part of the story.I think having the actual recording from when the cannon shot off completed the story. Rather than hearing her describe everything like how she did in the story. Adding the interview from the hiker added on to the story for the better.  When I later on reread the story, I was disappointed she left out some major part. For example, paragraphs five and six were completely changed, I think they were left out of the radio version.  That is the thing with storytelling though, you do not have to read word for word. It is like the telephone game where the author can basically say anything they heard or just make it up. It is why old myths that our families tell us have been butchered over the years, no story can ever stay the same.

Week 11

            I think this week’s article is how someone can incorporate fact in an article while still keeping the reader engaged. The article is titled Naples Zoo giraffe exhibit is like a soap opera and after reading the article, I could understand why. My mom used to watch Days of Our Lives all the time and that was how I could relate this to my life. The power struggle with Bruehler, Bolo, Niklas, Jigsaw, Zuri, Timber, and Jumanji was visible by the zookeeper’s description of the giraffes. To me, it was weird that our animal friends have personalities.  I never would have expected giraffes to have their own personalities.  For example, Jumanji being a diva and Niklas being a “scaredy cat”.  I never had pets growing up, except for a goldfish, which I got recently before I moved out. Even my little (who is now about the size of my hand) goldfish which I won at Oktoberfest, can be asshole. He does not get along with my other fish and has been known to eat a few. This article made me want to go take a visit to the Naples Zoo and see these dramatic elephants. I want to go feed Bruehler since it seems he loves guests to feed him.