It was very interesting to hear this presentation of stories during the Health Humanities Journal exhibition. There was a wide variety of stories tell, but most of them linked their own personal experiences to the health profession. There were stories of personal triumphs over afflictions, but there were also stories that were not as positive. The largest part that impacted me was the use of the own authors telling their stories of past afflictions that they have beat or struggle with to this day. By having the author who has conveyed so much emotion to the wording, read the script, it leads credence and authenticity to the words. It was even stronger when this emotion slips out and affects the voice of the speaker as it progressed. The heart defect story and the having trouble to breathe story were both based off of personal afflictions that the author has experienced. It opened up conversations of mortality and death with students and other writers who have not even hit the prime of their life yet. Another story that really moved me was the story about the miscarriage. The woman who spoke about this story used such descriptive language and emotion that I felt drawn into the story and could even feel myself be choked back with emotion. The personal stories also made some of the readers struggle to read their script as the stories brought up bad memories, but to hear them power through and finish made me respect their strength and courage even more. The readers were also reading very personal stories to strangers which shows strength and bravery as well. Another aspect of the Health Humanities Journal exhibition that I was unprepared for was how welcoming and supportive the viewers were. As someone who had mainly come to the viewing for personal reasons like getting extra credit, I felt myself drawn into the welcoming area in the zoom meeting. After every story and person who shared, there were words of encouragement and even little emoji reactions. I felt myself joining in and feeling a part of this community which was a fantastic experience as it allowed me to participate in a community that I may not have ever been a part of in my four years here. I think one of the greatest things that attending this Health Humanities Journal exhibition was allowing me to gauge how to convey emotion in my own project of English 105i with the video essay. I attempted to emulate their mastery of descriptive language and tone as they spoke their script. This was tough to do as I have been struggling with a mystery chest illness that has affected my voice, but I made sure to try to inflect my words when there was emotion to be shown.
Featured Image:
Juall, Stephanie. “Why Everyone Should Care About the Future of CRISPR.” Medium, CARRE4, 7 Dec. 2020, medium.com/carre4/why-everyone-should-care-about-the-future-of-crispr-517822dc22cc.