Ode to an Orange

When reading "Ode to an Orange" through the first time, I could feel the language and personal experience of the writer date his work, I knew that A) I wanted to learn how to use a soundbooth and B) I wanted to get other people (specifically my little sisters) involved. The idea was originally that I'd play with sound, do a kind of exploration of the sounds in the essay, but once I got started, it became too much; especially since my sisters don't actually live in Utah. Or the US. I opted to make a video instead (though I still used the soundbooth to record voice over and music), focusing on the section of the essay that talked about different ways to eat oranges, and how the universalism of the orange has transcended the age of Woidode's essay. Unfortunately, I was a little absent minded, and I lost half the footage I took for the project, including a screencast skype call with my family making orange julius, and a film of my favorite tiny child devouring cuties. I'd love to say the home video style was completely intentional, but I also learned that footage taken on a phone camera doesn't transfer well to computer screen without being blown up, and I loved the effect so much I decided to carry it through even when the film originally fit the screen. My project, much like my life, slid into a comedy of errors, but all things considered, I now know extrodinarily more about video and sound editing, and I don't absolutely hate the final product.

There are three concepts in our book Intention that I'd like to talk about in relation to this project. The first is the idea of remix, "when you are able to remix a concept, you have truly learned it". In the Thevenin essay, this was applied to the texts read in class, and the students delved deeper into individual components in their remixes. I think an extension of this concepts is in play any time a student is able to apply an old story or experience to their modern lives. To personally identify with a text not meant for you can be a bold remixing of meaning. At the end of the chapter the activity 'Volley' was brought up, and I love the idea of students building off each others work; not only are they asked to understand a text, but to join a conversation with their peers about how it can be interpreted, and how we can build on each other's valid and different interpretations. The final insight I found in the book is the idea of limitations. In class our small story projects were given a limitation in time, but not a specificity of instruction. I'm torn in whether or not a project should come with an example. If the instructions are specific enough, maybe you wouldn't need one, and giving an example of one successful work often inspires imitation of that work. I spoke to two other girls in the class about their project, and all three of us created 'Ode to an Orange' videos. I wonder if we would have done the same had not the in-class example been a video as well. At the same time, having no mental image of what a final product looks like is stressful as all get out, especially for students whose learning experience has been historically valued by their grades.