About this Podcast
Adopt Ed is about “nature v.s. nurture,” with a twist on how it can play a role in adoption. I go over opinions from various scientists, talk to my parents about what they think and throw in my own two cents as well.
Podcaster Bio
My name is Emily McNally. I’m a senior at Los Altos High School and this is my first year at Freestyle. I enjoy hiking, writing, photography and making people laugh through bad jokes. I look to continue using my creativity on projects that will inspire or resonate with others.
As someone who is adopted, I noticed that when I initially tell people they have questions, but felt it would be impolite to ask them. I wanted to make a podcast that openly talks about adoption while addressing questions I’ve wondered, such as what makes a person who they are.
Introduction
We are doing a Podcast project because it introduces us to another medium we can share our stories, experiences and ideas through. Podcasts are also widely accessible, so if we chose to share them with those outside the Freestyle community it would be fairly easy to do so. In Digital Media we had previously learned how to edit audio using Pro Tools; so in English we focused on content and what the most compelling way to tell a message was using only audio.
Process
Reflection
I valued getting the chance to bring up a topic that’s personal to me. Adoption is something I don’t commonly talk to people about despite it playing a significant part in my life. I also valued getting more comfortable using Pro Tools and in general editing audio.
A major challenge I ran into was writing and organizing my script. Since I’ve never made a podcast before, I wasn’t sure how to approach it. What helped me overcome my writing block was not overthinking it. Originally I was trying to make every word sound correct and perfect, but realized what really mattered was that my voice and personality came through. Once I had a solid draft, refining certain aspects was easier than trying to fix everything.
A risk I took was sharing a personal topic with the listener and not being able to control who the listener was. I’m not embarrassed about being adopted, but as I previously mentioned, it’s not something I usually tell people. Although what pushed me to talk about it was the lack of young adult podcasts I found from the perspective of an adoptee. In a way, I wanted to be a source of support for others who are adopted and are wondering who they got their traits from.
A takeaway is wanting to create a podcast series of my own or with a friend. I like the process and the thought that goes into it. I also like the freedom and personality you can put behind podcasts. As a society I think we judge so much on sight that by taking it away, we force listeners to focus on the words coming out of the speaker rather than what the speaker looks like.
Tips for first time podcasters is that when recording, don’t expect everything to come out perfect the first take. For some reason I thought recording and editing the audio was going to be a piece of cake, not quite. It could be different depending on how much of your podcast you script out beforehand. I scripted at least 60-70% out prior to recording which didn’t give much leeway for mistakes. I would just keep that in mind when deciding the tone you want to set for your podcast as well as future editing.