In an example of a perfect internship-age radio piece, Emily Barreca explores the present feelings of members of the Suquamish tribe located near Seattle, Washington. Her textbook-perfect setups act as excellent segues for interviews with members of two generations that have encountered the struggle for identity in a primarily Caucasian community.The interview with a young Suquamish tribe member helps to set the tone for the rest of the piece: the struggle for an everyday existence, to accomplish commonly held dreams such as cultural identity and education. It is also a wonderful setup for the interview with Benny Armstrong, a former chairman for the tribe. There is no solid setting established in the interviews; the feeling is that Barreca is speaking as a representative of the entire city of Seattle. The pacing is reminiscent of "Planet Money", in that it flows quickly but regularly, so that it isn't too hard for the audience to catch up.
Things to notice: Barreca has a unique gift for spacing between her sentences, whether this can be accredited to editing or raw speaking. She has a gift for patching interview segments together in order to make people still sound like themselves. The sound quality of her interview with Armstrong clearly displays good technical skills. My only suggestions for Barreca would be to further emphasize the time and location of her piece, to better establish the setting of the issue. Not everyone listening to her piece is familiar with Voxpod, after all. The second would be for Barreca to focus not so much on technical virtuosity (which she clearly has), but more so the issue itself. There is very little emotional investment felt from Barreca, which makes the piece feel closer to a report on an ongoing phenomenon than an issue the audience can and should take seriously.
Emily Barreca reports on the difficulties Native American youth from the Suquamish tribe maintain a balance between their traditional values and the 21st century. The topic is interesting - I am woefully ignorant on Native American culture. Emily had two great interviews with a Suquamish youth and former tribe chairman.
I think Emily did a great job on informing the listener. She put a human spin on common problems on the reservation such as alcoholism, losing Native culture, and poor education. However, I think Emily could have created a story with characters in the piece. For example, Emily could have used clips of the youth, Dinita (sorry if I spelled that incorrectly!), at her tribe's pow-wow and then some of the situations at school that may challenge some of the teachings of Suquamish culture. She conveys the difficulties well through interviews, but the piece could have a much more human and engaging dimension if she wove a story into "Suquamish Youth."
Comments for Suquamish Youth Keep Traditions Alive
This piece belongs to the series "Story Submissions for "We've Got the Power""
Produced by Emily Barreca
Other pieces by KUOW's RadioActive Youth Media
Rating Summary
2 comments
Brit McGinnis
Posted on November 02, 2010 at 04:33 PM | Permalink
Review of "Suquamish Youth Keep Traditions Alive"
In an example of a perfect internship-age radio piece, Emily Barreca explores the present feelings of members of the Suquamish tribe located near Seattle, Washington. Her textbook-perfect setups act as excellent segues for interviews with members of two generations that have encountered the struggle for identity in a primarily Caucasian community.The interview with a young Suquamish tribe member helps to set the tone for the rest of the piece: the struggle for an everyday existence, to accomplish commonly held dreams such as cultural identity and education. It is also a wonderful setup for the interview with Benny Armstrong, a former chairman for the tribe. There is no solid setting established in the interviews; the feeling is that Barreca is speaking as a representative of the entire city of Seattle. The pacing is reminiscent of "Planet Money", in that it flows quickly but regularly, so that it isn't too hard for the audience to catch up.
Things to notice: Barreca has a unique gift for spacing between her sentences, whether this can be accredited to editing or raw speaking. She has a gift for patching interview segments together in order to make people still sound like themselves. The sound quality of her interview with Armstrong clearly displays good technical skills. My only suggestions for Barreca would be to further emphasize the time and location of her piece, to better establish the setting of the issue. Not everyone listening to her piece is familiar with Voxpod, after all. The second would be for Barreca to focus not so much on technical virtuosity (which she clearly has), but more so the issue itself. There is very little emotional investment felt from Barreca, which makes the piece feel closer to a report on an ongoing phenomenon than an issue the audience can and should take seriously.
Sara Zhang
Posted on April 30, 2010 at 08:40 PM | Permalink
Suquamish Youth Keep Traditions Alive
Emily Barreca reports on the difficulties Native American youth from the Suquamish tribe maintain a balance between their traditional values and the 21st century. The topic is interesting - I am woefully ignorant on Native American culture. Emily had two great interviews with a Suquamish youth and former tribe chairman.
I think Emily did a great job on informing the listener. She put a human spin on common problems on the reservation such as alcoholism, losing Native culture, and poor education. However, I think Emily could have created a story with characters in the piece. For example, Emily could have used clips of the youth, Dinita (sorry if I spelled that incorrectly!), at her tribe's pow-wow and then some of the situations at school that may challenge some of the teachings of Suquamish culture. She conveys the difficulties well through interviews, but the piece could have a much more human and engaging dimension if she wove a story into "Suquamish Youth."