For this assignment, I listened to two different stories on StoryCorps, respectively titled “How One Man Found Purpose in Being a Death Doula” and “A Daughter Reflects on What Philadelphia’s Chinatown Meant to Her Mother.” The first story is about Michael Rogers, who became a death doula after spending a decade and a half in prison, while the second story is about Deborah Wei’s recount a bit of her mother’s experience as an Asian who immigrated to the United States in the 1960s.
In “How One Man Found Purpose in Being a Death Doula,” Michael begins talking with no introduction. There is no music nor VoiceOver that presents his story, and in a sense it also gives the listener a feeling of being dropped in the middle of a conversation without really having listened to much of the rest. It made me feel almost like I was eavesdropping! In the short explanation under the recording, it is revealed that Michael is telling his story to his stepson, however there is no indication of this in the recording. Once you get the impression that the story is arriving at its peak, a faded inspirational music begins to appear as Michael is speaking; this makes it seem as if the story is arriving at its final point… but instead the listener finds out that this is it. Strangely enough, the music continues well over a minute after Michael is done talking, making it a rather long outro.
In “A Daughter Reflects on What Philadelphia’s Chinatown Meant to Her Mother.” Deborah Wei shares memories about her mother as an immigrant in the 1960s with her daughter Kaia Chau. She nostalgically recounts the way in which her mom made use of all their resources in their cooking, as well as memories of the struggles her mom went through as an Asian immigrant in an all-white neighborhood. The point of the story is really to talk about how the Chinatown neighborhood of Philadelphia proved to be a meaningful place for her mother as it was a place where she was not different and she could find comfort in the things she was used to. Interestingly, this story opens with a short calm and acoustic guitar melody accompanied by a VoiceOver that gives an overview and introduction to the story. The sound is really clean, but while listening in attentively it gives the impression that it has been cut in certain parts to benefit the flow of the story. Almost as if questions of elaboration had been asked in-between to prompt the woman to continue her story or go into further details. I was pleasantly surprised when Deborah’s daughter chimed in and gave her point of view, since I wasn’t expecting to hear her, similarly to the first story. After Deborah and Kaia share a brief sweet moment, a new acoustic guitar melody, a bit more melancholic and nostalgic, plays for a few seconds to conclude the story.