Every year in early March, before I started school at the University of Michigan, I joined friends and family to harvest mussels from the tide pools in Half Moon Bay, CA. With our fishing permits, we would walk out to the shallow waters where the mussels attach to rocks. Some liked picking the mussels off the rocks, but I loved exploring the surrounding tide pools best. I could easily reach out to touch the rough surface of a sea star or gently poke a sea anemone and watch it close up. There is something calming about the sound of the waves splashing against the rock and looking out at the horizon where the water meets the blue sky. Through experiences like these, I have grown to love and appreciate all of nature.

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Excitement filled me when I discovered that I could transfer that passion into my work in college. For a final project of one of my minor in writing classes, Writing 220, we were asked to transform one piece of writing, an origin piece, into something completely new by changing its genre through a set of three experiment cycles. We would then choose one of those experiments to fully develop. Since this was going to be a semester long project, I knew I wanted a theme that I would be passionate about. Environmentalism immediately came to mind when I remembered all the times I have enjoyed being outdoors, including the ones at the tide pools, and how much I wanted to help protect the Earth. With a chemistry focused major, this was a great chance to explore some of my other interests, but it also made finding an environmental piece of writing difficult. I eventually found something I had written in high school. It was from a writing exercise that challenged us to write about a memorable day using as many sensory details as possible. This descriptive narrative about a field trip to a national park became my origin piece. Based on that, I narrowed down my final project topic to the California wildfires, a relevant, current issue that also directly affected my hometown.

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In each experiment cycle, we needed to pick a new genre and then create a small sample. For the first cycle, I chose to work with the genre of infographics. I was really interested in this genre because of its ability to convey information in an artistic and informative manner. I believed that my topic had so many statistics, such as the number of fires and how many people were impacted, that this format would work best. For my sample, I created side-by-side bar graphs depicting the clear trend in increasing California temperatures and California wildfires for the past seven years. The graphs turned out well, but I felt that this genre was based too much on statistics, without out opportunity to provide relevant background information on the wildfires and their impact.

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For the second experiment cycle, I decided to go with a more versatile genre, podcasts. Their ability to combine education and entertainment caught my attention. Since podcasts typically provide thought-provoking information with the inclusion of guest speakers, this genre would enable me to increase awareness about the fires and share personal stories about them. I really liked all of the aspects this genre offered after completing the beginning of a podcast episode script as my sample. However, I doubted that I would pursue this one as a final project because of my lack of any knowledge in the technology required for this genre. Figuring out how to record phone calls, edit audio, and add in music seemed too daunting.

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In my third experiment, I tried to find a similar genre to podcasts, but without the technical complications. News journalism appealed to me because I would be able to provide an overview about the current situation with the California wildfires, while still incorporating firsthand stories. My sample was the beginning of a news feature article about a group of firefighters and their experience trying to put out one of the fires. Even though this story had not been highlighted before, it seemed like there were already so many other news articles published with a similar theme.

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So which experiment cycle did I evolve into my final project?

 

I embraced the podcast! With a little extra research, I soon discovered the best software to create a podcast for beginners. In my final project, I wanted to increase attention to the severity and prevalence of these fires for my intended audience of other environmentally passionate people or those connected to the fires. With that in mind, I reported on a few major fires, the role of climate change, and the environmental and health consequences of the fires. I also included parts of my interviews with a California resident and an out-of-state student from California to compare and contrast the wide-ranging impact of the fires. I am so glad that I chose to create a podcast, as I learned so much about the genre itself and the wildfires.

 

This class taught me about the ways genre, audience, and purpose can work together to create a meaningful product. Every genre has its own unique properties that may limit or enhance a piece, depending on the goals. For me, the podcast was the perfect medium to reach out to a large audience and tell the story of the California wildfires in an informative, yet engaging way. I hope that my listeners can see the care I have for the environment and want to take what they have learned in my podcast and share it with others.