Half Cooked.

10:24 PM Posted by erin
53.2371 -7.87569

If my story really was a loaf of bread, I'm afraid it would be one that was never quite cooked through the middle. No, that's not quite right. It's not that it isn't finished, it's just that I want to bake some more. I decided to focus on just one part of the story--highlighting the beginning of my own journey with Irish Soda bread, starting with my mom's bread and finishing with my learning of secrets from the women who I spoke with about baking.

In some ways, the task has been overwhelming. In just a few short days, we've had not only to gather the raw materials, but also synthesize the stories, trying to determine how to do justice to all of the stories that we have heard and all the time that people have spent with us.

I've been thinking a lot about format. I didn't feel as though I had the photographs to pair with all of the sound that I wanted to include. The piece that I've come up with is about 10 minutes long, which would require many more photographs than that in order to create a dynamic audio slideshow. Beyond just the question of whether or not to add photographs, I've been thinking about the length of the final piece more generally. After having recorded and edited only the first ten minutes or so of the story, I realize that I have what would amount to over an hour-long audio story. Although not entirely improbable, I might have difficulty maintaining people's attention for an entire hour. As I continue to play with the stories over the next month or so, I'll have to think about whether I should simply pare down the story into something that is shorter and more manageable, or whether I should be making several shorter pieces. Food for thought.

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