Not So Mysterious Plays

Hello, ladies and gentlemen!

Below is my podcast, titled: Not So Mysterious Plays for the  podcast show, Stuff You Missed In History Class. I will be discussing how a drama genre called Mystery Plays was used to preach religion in Medieval Europe. With the release of 3 biblical films this year in Hollywood, I thought audiences might find it interesting to learn that stories like these were once common and favoured.

Enjoy and goodnight!
 

Topic Refinement

I had a great time writing my pitch and an even greater time pitching it! It definitely helped me refine my topic because when I had to say "In this episode I will ..." I knew that if I could say it in a sentence, my idea would be clear and not to broad. Pitching it also made me reflect on the significance of my topic. If my producer liked the idea, chances are, the listeners would too. As well, pitching helped me create a number of research questions I could use to direct my research. The questions also helped me create an outline for my narrative for the podcast.

I believe pitching is a good pre writing assignment because it helps you decide what your topic or issue is, why it would be interesting, what you do or don't know about the topic or issue and what you want to know. However, I feel like you should pretend to pitch to a producer once the podcast transcript is created because the the first stage of the project is nothing compared to the last. After your research, you might find information that will help sell your podcast even more!

With all that being said, my refined podcast show idea is: Religious Plays in the 15th Century: How and why was theatre used to preach to the congregation.

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

Introductions - Nawal Salim, W14

Hi! My name is Nawal Salim and I am a second year English and Professional Writing student. I hope to enter the institutional communications stream in my third year. This year, I started a club called Greenlight Productions (www.facebook.com/YUGreenlight) which showcases dramatic art while in accordance to Islamic ethical principles. With that being said, it is obvious that I am very passionate about the arts; particularly dramatic arts, and my faith - Islam. 

This semester, I hope to learn about new databases or other search engines that will help me do greater research on future assignments in all my courses. The English side of my major requires me to use secondary sources frequently so I often use literature databases such as Literature Online, Literature Resource Centre, and Oxford Reference Online. When I am unable to find any information on those databases, I use Google Scholar. For courses I took in high school, as well as research on common topics, I use good ol' Google. I have never heard of Zotero or Refworks until I enrolled in this course. I hope I will learn how to use these sites as they look very convenient.  

Unfortunately, I do not have any experience with podcasts or radio broadcasting. I am very excited to create a podcast because it seems like an opportunity to perform. I am very nervous however, that I wont be able to find enough information to talk about for 15 minutes. Or rather, it wont be entertaining or engaging. 

One of the topics that I found interesting were, On The Media. I am very in tune with what is happening in pop culture and it would be fun to express my opinions on a recent Hollywood scandal. As well, I found Under The Influence an exciting topic too. I am a huge "hip hop head" so I would find it cool to learn about different advertising techniques some of my favourite musicians used to get their name or album out to the world. 

Although there are some really great topics, I really want to speak on a topic not listed. I want to research and talk about the influence religion had and still has on dramatic arts. I want to look at the history of drama and film and the future of religion in drama or film - with the approval of my TA, of course. 

I cant wait to see where this semester takes me. I hope it's fun!