Topic Selection by Nawal Salim

When I got this assignment, I knew exactly what I wanted to talk about in my podcast. However, I had trouble putting it into a topic or research question. I am so glad to have found a podcast to emulate and I am so grateful for Professor Bell for helping me put my idea into words! 

I decided to emulate "Stuff You Missed In History Class" podcast show after watching the "What Really Happened In Salem" episode. What attracted me to the episode was the topic! In grade 11 I wrote a monologue about the Salem witch trials, and when I saw the title of this episode, I was curious to know if there was any information I might not have known about the event. What I liked about the style was that the entire episode explained the history of the event; from beginning to the end. During the retelling of the event, the ladies talked about: the people involved and their backgrounds, what was the lifestyle and attitude of the people at that time, what were the laws at that time, and what similar things were happening in other places or other times. They even touched on what happened after the event, and the effects of it. After the retelling, they went into theories of why the event occurred. They finished by beautifully explaining how the event is relevant today and how we're affected by it. 

I will be creating a show about drama being used as a tool to preach religion in history. I noticed that this year, there will be three biblical movies coming out: Son of God, Noah, and Exodus. I also noticed in Drama class that using performance art was necessary to preach to large congregations during several points in history. I want to look into why it was an effective tool and who used it as a tool. 

I was unable to find Spark's website. Well, I don't exactly know what I'm looking for. I came across SparkForWriters.com but that didn't give any advice, just information about their site. I also came across WritingSpark.com and it was more of a blog by someone name Alicia. I Googled "writing advice" and came across many websites that gave tips, but they were very general and discussed being a writer, not writing. When I Googled "writing a podcast", I got more specific details and advice on writing from "edu" websites. I would suggest other students in my position to Google that. 

Good luck to everyone on their podcasts!

Peace and art,

Nawal Salim