The sculpture Anna and I chose to talk about was more artsy than a regular painting in an exhibit, and it was incredibly challenging to describe. We asked a museum employee standing near what he knew about the sculpture, fortunately I was able to record him. The recording did two things for us: give us a sound-bite we can use for our piece, and give us more information on the concept of the exhibit.

After the interview, Anna and I were able to shape our script based on the information we got from the museum guide. We made sure not to repeat what he said, to include any information he didn’t say and to add anything we personally felt about the piece. What seemed like a tough assignment actually turned out quite simple after we spoke to a subject. I was then reminded that most of the time, through any medim, that it’s best to include subjects to help you tell the story.

I made sure to remember this notion for my A Day in the Life audio piece that I would do just a few days later. I wanted my topic to be on this old pick-up basketball tradition that faculty and students have participated in for decades. Although I was excited to pick up the natural sound and possibly pick up in-game sound (which turned out to be an audio recording disaster), I remembered that the key to telling this story would be the subjects I interview. For a 2–3 minute assignment, I knew I had to pick my subjects wisely. So I made sure to interview the guy who started the group, as well as the guy who played the hardest on the court (which turned out to be another faculty member).

My subjects were welcoming and wanting to tell their story, which made producing the story even more worth it. My script and my pacing were completely determined by my subjects, and I had to match their intensity in the story so that it didn’t seem like I was separated. It was here that I realized how the subjects not only determine what you say, but how you say it. It’s hard for me to come up with a script and paint a picture in the listener’s head before doing any interviews or being around the environment of the story. But throughout both these assignments, the subject really shaped how I was going to tell the rest of the story. Whenever I’m thinking about audio storytelling, I’m going to be thinking about who I can talk to and who would be best to tell the story.

Millions of years ago a meteor wiped out all of the dinosaurs on the planet. Mind you, none of those dinosaurs have ever been to seven straight NBA finals or have been the MVP four times, so Lebron might have a bit of an edge against a meteor. But if I had to place bets (which I can legally do now according to the Supreme Court) I would put my money on the meteor, but at fair odds.

2) Brad Stevens & Al Horford in the last five seconds of any game ever

As a Blazers fan (who?), I have personally been victim to a clutch Stevens-Horford punch to the gut. It was a Sunday morning, Super Bowl Sunday to be in fact, when I saw Brad Stevens draw up a play for Jaylen Brown that had Al Horford as the second option, but unfortunately there is no such thing as a second option for Brad Stevens and I got to see my Super Bowl Sunday morning crushed before I dipped my first chip. Teams have been kicked in the face by the Stevens-Horford combo all year, but even recently in Game 3 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Philadelphia 76ers. So the only way I can see Lebron James being stopped is in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals in the last five seconds with a play drawn up by Brad Stevens with Al Horford draining it in the mid range in front of Kevin Love’s beautiful face.

3) God himself

In the words of the blessed Frank Ocean, what’s a king to a God? You know that scene in Pulp Fiction (of course you do) where that scared guy hiding in the closet unloads a clip into Jules and Vincent but completely misses? 1) that’s a metaphor for the Raptors against the Cavs last series. 2) That was a moment of divine intervention. And that’s what the world will need to stop Lebron James, but instead of a harmful intervention, God will speak to Lebron and give him a duty bigger than basketball. He will then leave the NBA and go on to save the world. Drake didn’t (ghost) write God’s Plan for the Raptors (obviously), but rather for the King himself to be a King of this world.

4) Four All-Stars

If Lebron James could clone himself once, that would be enough stop the wrecking ball that is the Golden State Warriors. If there was no Steph, Lebron might have a chance. No Klay, Lebron might have a chance. No Draymond? No Leproblem. No KD? Lebron’s done it before. But all of them put together is equivalent to all pieces of the Exodia from Yu-gi-oh, or all seven Dragonballs to summon Shenron, or some other anime metaphor.

5) The Cavs

We have yet to speak on what will most likely be the downfall of Lebron James: his own teammates. Since the mid-season turn around of his entire team, Lebron has been trying to figure out how to put it all together. Fortunately, for this postseason, Lebron has decided (as he has many times) that he is the only player good enough to tear down an entire team. He won’t be able to do that against the Warriors, and maybe not even against the Celtics. It’s really up to the Cavs’ role players and other starting members to give Lebron the support he needs to get to his 8th finals in a row and win his 4th title.

Our biggest inspiration for a chumcast that we’ve listened to in class was The Ricky Gervais Show episode where the three chums talk about sending a monkey to space. It’s obviously a ridiculous story, but it’s the friendliness and openness of the conversation that makes it feel like we’re just one of the chums as well.

It’s easy for me to tell a story on my own, but to have a conversation amongst my friends while providing relevant information can be a little tricky. I can almost go into a random tangent about something totally unrelated when I’m speaking with my friends, so to have the assignment of staying on topic while also displaying chumminess for an audio story seemed like a more difficult task.

Except I was totally wrong.

I had a blast making a chumcast with Anna and Kyle. This was an opportunity for us to come together on a topic we all like and have fun banter about it. We’re all into film/tv culture, so we wanted to base our chumcast on comparing reboots of films. Thus leading to the title of our chumcast, Reboot.

We chose to do Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and we discussed whether or not the original film was better or if the reboot was. The best part was, we all had different perspectives but still managed to discuss different aspects of the film fluidly.

We didn’t come up with a script, we felt like that wasn’t chummy enough. So we wrote down our key points and basically went off a loose script. It was ridiculous how enjoyable doing the chumcast was. We made sure not to talk over each other, to respect each other’s opinions, and to just be friendly with the conversation. We have little moments where we’re just talking and poking fun at each other, and that’s what makes it more chummy. We got the idea from Ricky Gervais and how his chums talked to each other. I think we executed what we wanted to execute.

Of course, we had to use some of the techniques of storytelling that we learned in class, such as supplementing music when we discuss each film’s music. Even though it’s a chumcast, it’s still an assignment and we’re still learning.

After we got done recording and editing together, we all got really hyped and suggested that we do this again, but on a different reboot. We joked at the end of the chumcast that we would discuss Annie for the next episode, and we might actually do that. We’re planning on getting together and watching Annie, then making another chumcast about it. I’ve never been more stoked after doing an assignment.

So make sure to tune in to Reboot next week when we discuss the two Annie films.

But preparation is key even when you CAN do a million takes. As I was getting ready for my audio op-ed assignment, I had to do quite a bit of preparation for just a 60 second audio clip. I argued that the University of Oregon needed a central parking lot for everyone, but more importantly people with disability. To argue this, I needed to research UO’s property history, acreage, property plans, etc. It’s not a lot, but again one minute of audio required several different sources.

I’ll have to do the same for my historical/contemporary piece coming up soon. I plan on covering The Beatles’ first arrival to America. I wish I could just spew all the Beatles facts I already know, but to get this right, I need to do the proper preparation. Such as, what song clips am I going to use?; What are the best press clips I can use?; What is the best quality interview out there? I’m excited to tackle this challenge, and I know I’ll have to prepare to tackle it right.

I only got into podcasting and radio around the time of the 2016 election. That’s when I discovered podcasts that discuss today’s issues, like The Daily. The Daily was one of the first podcasts I listened to that led me to fall in love with audio storytelling. Last summer, I had an internship in downtown Portland and was forced to commute 30–40 minutes in awful traffic every morning (I realized that’s when most people are listening to podcasts). The Daily saved me each morning, but the story that got me sitting in my car until the very last sentence was Barbaro’s interview with former white supremacist, Derek Black.

I was politically infuriated for just about the entirety of 2017, but this interview came shortly after Charlottesville, right when the topic of white supremacy was at its peak. The story of how Black left the white supremacy group that he grew up in was a unique perspective that was completely relevant at the time. The story made me want to be a better journalist and look for relevant stories with unique perspectives.

Another podcast that interested me was Reveal: The Heroin Diaries. What struck me about this story was that it was coming from the video diary of a dead man. The viewers listen to his diary as he consumed hard drugs. It felt more raw than anything I had listen to before. The man had felt very real and very alive in the episode, and it wasn’t until the last 911 call that I understood that he was no longer with us. I still think about the sister’s reaction in that 911 call. It was a truly haunting story.

After listening to these podcasts and from professionals who were in my shoes just years ago, I got to understand some of the building blocks of audio storytelling: natural sound, descriptive language, and a narrative hook. One idea that stood out to me which was given by Kira, one of the professionals who spoke to us, was to start recording your natural sound early. As I delve into my own podcasting, I wonder how I will be able to incorporate these building blocks to tell an interesting story. I’m excited to use these as a guide for my first fully-produced story.

Our first audio assignment will be a 60 second op-ed piece. Being an opinion writer/editor, I’m excited to tackle this. But I have so much opinion that I’m not sure how it’s possible to give an effective opinion piece in 60 seconds, as opposed to my usual 500 word count in print. One thing I know that I need to do is learn how to be emotional about my opinions. We saw in class how a film reviewer ripped into the Entourage movie with passion and emotion, even if it was comedic. He was convincing because he really believed in what he said, and I know that’s the strategy I need to tackle when converting my opinions from print to audio.

When I joined the opinion section of The Daily Emerald (the University of Oregon’s independent student media organization, which has been around since 1900), I was frightened of what people thought I had to say.

Do I sound smart?

Do readers think I’m stupid?

Are my opinions wrong?

I was afraid of all these things and more. But the main reason I decided to join the opinion section wasn’t to boost my self esteem, it was because after the US election, I wanted to give my voice to the political conversation.

But, after speaking to James Dao, Op-Ed editor of the New York Times, I discovered that’s what all Op-Ed writers want, to provide a voice.

Here are some of the takeaways from Dao’s talk with 13 University of Oregon Journalism students earlier this month.

The election’s impact on the NYT’s Op-Ed section

The NYT is one of the main targets for Donald Trump’s ‘Fake News’ attacks on the media. The attacks — which often sees “The Grray Lady” referred to as “the failing New York Times” followed an NYT editorials on Trump’s Muslim ban, and other reporting which the president has taken issue with.

According to Dao, Donald Trump has not changed what NYT opinion columnists do, rather it gave them a bigger arsenal of topics to discuss.

Donald J. Trump on Twitter

For first time the failing @nytimes will take an ad (a bad one) to help save its failing reputation. Try reporting accurately & fairly!

In my opinion, it’s easier to critique Trump than defend him, considering how questionable and irregular his presidency has been.

Taking in account the Times’ 3:1 readership ratio of liberals to conservative, the opinion desk has been thriving in the Trump-era, Dao told us.

The difference between news and opinion

Journalists at both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal explained that their is a clear division between the opinion section and the news section of their titles.

Dao noted that columnists and outside writers do not reflect the views of the entire paper, they are representative of themselves and their own opinions.

It’s up to the readers to make this distinction, but sometimes they don’t.

“We struggle constantly,” Dao said. “There is a lot of mixing with news and opinion, but people really don’t care [about this distinction].”

This was clearly seen in the reaction to the hiring of Bret Stephens, a former Wall Street Journal columnist and conservative critic of Donald Trump. After Stephens’ column on climate change was published, many readers cancelled their subscription to the NYT, and a petition to fire Stephens on Change.org reached 30,000+ signatures.

Sean Kent on Twitter

I'm on hold with the @nytimes trying to cancel. They told me they're slammed with people canceling subscriptions because of Bret Stephens.

The Times may have been struggling to deal with this, but ultimately they do not regret their decision to hire Stephens. As Dao explained they previously did not have an anti-Trump conservative on the Op-Ed desk. Stephens’ hiring reflects their belief in the importance of providing a variety of voices and opinions.

We write because we care about the freedom of press

In our Q&A, I brought up my own struggles as an opinion columnist.

I told him about a story I had written about the presence of Neo-Nazis on the UO campus and how the administration failed to express concern for it.

After it was published, my inbox contained messages from extreme white-nationalists with messages ranging from: ‘go kill your self’ to ‘you are going to burn in hell.’

I don’t usually let hate mail get to me, but I am an Islamic Indonesian, and I was deeply frightened about how many white supremacists wanted me dead.

I told Mr. Dao that this has been a really discouraging experience, and I almost considered quitting the job.

I asked, “how do you develop the mental fortitude and the will to go on when facing opposition?”

He told me:

“You do this because you care. You don’t do this job for money, you do it because you care about the institution of journalism. You do it because you care about a critical, free and open press. You do it because you care about democracy.”

Democracy. Freedom. We take these for granted.

I am not an American, I was born in a country where the president corrupted its government to hold on to power and embezzle billions of dollars.

But, I understand the importance of the press, and I feel blessed to be in a country where the press has the freedom to check its government.

My biggest fear is being silenced by my opposition, yet some people’s biggest fear is being silenced by their government. If I have the opportunity to speak, I will speak.

I was reminded of why I started writing on the opinion desk, because I wanted to give my voice to the political conversation. It is an enthralling time to be a journalist, and I wanted to take part in it.

The biggest takeaway I took from our talk was a personal one: I should never stay silent.

What’s it like to be an Op-Ed Editor in the current political climate? was originally published in Journalism in New York: reflections from field trips by the University of Oregon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.