Seriously Serial

Inside Sarah Koenig’s podcast: “Serial” episode 1

Who can say that they have the ability to use the weapon that is journalism on a daily basis? Who gets to say that they have used this weapon to stick up for the unpopular solely because of the faith they have in a person that they’re innocent?

Not many people.

The amount of courage and dedication one must have to have in order to pour their heart out for so long over a topic they don’t even know for sure they are correct about, is unfathomable. This is exactly what Sarah Koenig had been doing for a year before publishing her story into a series of podcasts. I guess being frightened by the possibility that she was wrong, and that Adnan was guilty after all, was just the part of her job that she loved. This level of uncertainty added thrill and suspense to the story, and was what I enjoyed about the first episode. When there is uncertainty, I feel as though your brain has more fun. It can play out more possibilities, and can string together more pathways, that will lead you an abundance of different places. For the listener, this is more intriguing than simply knowing already what is going to happen and how it is going to play out.

In other words, I liked the podcast because of the mystery.

I feel as though as soon as you listen to something, instead of read it on paper, it automatically becomes more like a fictional movie or TV show. When doing this with investigative journalism, the listener can easily be thrown into the realm of drama shows such as “C.S.I.” and “Law and Order”. Having this fictional element serves a good purpose for the podcast, for it makes the listener ignore the fact that this has impacted a real family and real people, and want to focus on the storyline itself.

For me, an interest in fabrication and fantasy encourages the need to forget reality.

Something that is useful about the medium of a podcast is that it diminishes the effort required to try and tell the story in your own head, and replaces it with the voice of the writer. You get to witness the story as it comes out of Koenig’s mind which, along with her own dramatic effect, adds a personal sense that otherwise would have been lost. Koenig adds expression – emphasis on certain words and pauses in certain places – that also would have been lost if a different person were telling it. Being the original person to write the story, Koenig is able to authenticate it. For example, after inserting several raw clips of teenagers trying to recall what they had done six months earlier, and getting nowhere with their responses, there is a pause before she speaks again. This empty space, even if it’s only three seconds, allows time for the listener to sit there and think about what had just happened.

So when journalism is in fact a weapon, does this mean that it is also biased? Is the weapon used in favour of the good people or in favour of no one? I believe that the slight bias that comes naturally with Koenig’s podcast adds narrative texture and allows her to be a real person when she tells her story. While she has her own opinions, it’s important to keep in mind that Koenig’s main objective isn’t to choose a side, but to find out what happened for twenty-one minutes on a day in 1999.

You’ve Always Wondered: Why ENG 4U Should be Required for Entry Into All University Programs

The Importance of English Class

Having the opportunity to learn about literature, and all of the fundamentals of a language is something that is very important in education in Canada. In fact, without achieving grade 12 university level english, an acceptance into a university program is close to impossible. In this day and age, I do agree that university english should be required for all those wishing to attend university, whether it be an arts program, math or science. English… it’s essentially the basis of all subjects, it shows us culture, and it gives us the ability to understand what others say and why they say it.

Being somebody who loves to read, I couldn’t have imagined how difficult it would have been to understand a novel, or gain any comprehension, without any background in english. Of course your parents can teach you some things – your ABC’s, and simple reading – but there’s a point where being in a classroom with a designated english teacher and classmates becomes very valuable in my mind. For the purpose of reading comprehension and writing skills, I think that completing university level high school english is important in order to thrive in a university environment because of the amount of independent reading and comprehension that must be done.

English is a very widely used language, in fact about two billion people worldwide use english to communicate with one another. English is also the official language of Canada and therefore is valued by many job offerings and is an important skill set to have in society. Having the ability to communicate with upwards of two billion people across the world is, in my opinion, a very important thing for a university student. It allows students to reach out and use their knowledge to help themselves communicate, make friends, and even explore other cultures. When this is taught in high school, it proves that one will carry it with them throughout post-secondary and hopefully utilize these skills very much in their career.

Learning any language, not just english, sprouts a cultural awareness and cultivates an understanding of how humans communicate and live with one another. A quote by famous philanthropist, Nelson Mandela, states:

“Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry, or savour their songs“

Quite enthusiastically, I think that another reason why people must embark in university english during high school in order to thrive in university programs, is because they must practice being challenged. University itself is a very challenging place; it moves fast, the work is difficult, and english is very much at the centre of every course that one will take. That is why I believe that english is so important to a grade 12’s brain… that which belongs to a hopeful university student.