About this Podcast
My grandfather–a retired pastor–and I–a high school film student–explore his humor and outlook on life in the face of an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
Podcaster Bios
James Edward Clark
James Edward Clark is 82 years of age, at the time I’m writing this, and is a retired pastor living in California with his wife of over 60 years, Nina (or Grandma as I know her). He has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s for several years and continues to tackle each day with his charismatic humor when possible. At family gatherings, he is known to tell iconic stories from his youth.
Evan James Segelke
Yes, I was named after my Gramps. I am a high school film student in California enrolled in Freestyle Academy. Outside of formal work I enjoy spending time in nature, practicing music and other art, and practicing skills such as skateboarding. I seem to have inherited a love of storytelling and humor from my Grandfather which I feel influences my creative work.
Introduction
Why are we making podcasts? Freestyle has a podcast unit because they are both accessible and powerful ways to share stories and ideas.
The main reason why I wanted to make this podcast was my fondness for my grandfather–who is one of my favorite people and role models–and a desire to immortalize his positive influence in my life.
Some of my favorite podcasts tend to utilize strong narrative elements and visual metaphors, such as my favorite podcast The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green, so I tried to have somewhat of a narrative structure to the podcast with metaphors/imagery to emphasize my Grandfather’s perspective. I also took some inspiration from S-Town which uses descriptive images, such as the maze of John B. McLemore, in combination with interviews.
Product:
Process
Reflection
Something I valued was the opportunity to talk with my Gramps (always a joy for me) and to share his perspective on life and Alzheimer’s which I’ve found so interesting and inspirational.
The global pandemic was an obvious challenge since my Gramps lives in a retirement village and I didn’t want to jeopardize their well-being for my podcast. My solution was to interview using Zoom, for which my grandmother’s tech assistance was crucial. I also challenged myself to write and record original music with my ukulele and bass guitar which would set the tone of the podcast. I had some apprehensions going into this project that my product wouldn’t adequately do my Gramps justice. I’m also not fond of hearing my voice which worsened my state of mind. Thankfully hearing my grandfather’s laugh while editing helped to clear my mind of some of those anxieties. Having finished, I am pretty happy with the result.