Monday, November 12, 2012

Genre analysis: "Broadway to Sandy: The Show is Back On" http://www.npr.org/2012/11/01/164108465/broadway-to-sandy-the-show-is-back-on


This audio essay is entitled “Broadway to Sandy: The Show is Back On.” It is about the fact that even in the midst of a tragedy, Broadway is a symbol of New York and must be kept on for the sake of hope. Sandy, the most recent hurricane on the east coast, has created many obstacles for the cast and crew of Broadway to get to work, but these people are dedicated, and they do get there, no matter what it takes. Some workers bike, some walk, some rent cars. Audio essays have specific features and needs in the same way an essay does. There is a thesis, outside sourced information in the form of interview, outside sources from factual information, some dialogue, and an overall point to the audio essay.  This essay is written informally since it is an interview. There is more detail in the audio essay rather than the written article itself. In this particular article, the writer views himself as a reporter, using factual information to portray the coming together of Broadway in the midst of a tragedy and conducting interviews with people of Broadway and people heading to view Broadway to support the ideal that in Broadway, the show must always go on. Numbers are used to show how long it usually takes someone to get from Manhattan to Broadway and how long that takes after Sandy as well as many other time related changes to travel because of Sandy. Numbers are used to show the loss of money from the hurricane before Sandy, Irene. All of the quotations are quotes from people that the writer interviewed. The images are of the aftermath of Sandy: a flooded road, someone skateboarding instead of sitting in traffic, and a couple not so crowded street pictures of Broadway. I think the writer chose this kind of informal evidence because it helps the listener connect on a more personal level instead of just stating statistics and formal information. The organization of this document is very casual. Its core is mostly dialogue of examples of how people are helping Broadway keep the show going on after Sandy. This type of organization is often in newspaper articles, online blogs, and other simple writings similar to those. There are citations under the photos and all the quotations have either an introduction or a follow up with who said each thought. Even though there is some factual information, there are no formal citations at the end of the article indicating where the factual information about money loss or damage done comes from; all of the citations are from the people who were interviewed.
My topic for project three is going to be my major, speech and hearing sciences.

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