Radio Documentary Assignment: First Pitch


If you hadn't guessed, I have a lot more material on my second story. There are so many directions to go with it. But I think I'd like to make a single-case examination/study into how hoarding affects one family: my family. 
  • What’s the trouble? An explanation of the problem, issue, conflict, dilemma, or question that you think is at the heart of the story, the thing that makes it interesting to you.
    • Hoarding is isolating, debilitating, misunderstood. It is much more frustrating to deal with than people might imagine. I experience isolation from my family for how I deal with this mental illness, for how much I push it with them. I see it cultivating codependency. And it kills me, given how common hoarding actually is, to see it so often misrepresented and misunderstood. My willingness to call out issues (or, as my mom calls it, 'stir things up,'
  •  Characters or interview subjects. Who are the characters in the story? If you’re not sure, what kinds of people might you talk to?
    • For this, I'd like to interview my brother and my sister. I think, so long as I'm tactful and not judgmental, my sister will be willing to talk. The same for my brother. I want to touch on how they perceive the hoard starting, what happened after I left, and how they feel about it now. I'd love to interview my mom, but I'm not sure how willing she would be. I'd have to be very careful in how I approached this interview and how I described the project to her. The grandparents who had access to the house early on are all pretty much dead, so I won't have luck there. My dad might talk. I'm worried that my brother and sister will be too paranoid to talk. I suppose I could talk to a specialist or counselor about it.
  • Point of view.  What’s your stake in the story?  Why does it interest you?  What do you want to find out?
    • My stake in this story is very personal. This is a hard topic for me to address. I have a lot of shame and conflicting feelings about this. But I want people to understand hoarding as a mental illness. I want to share my experience if it helps build empathy for someone else with the illness (or with a relative with that illness). Mental health advocating is very important to me. I want to know how my siblings feel about this; I've never talked to them about it before this last summer, when I visited for the first time in years. (I don't want to spoil any details.)

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 13, 2018 at 6:34 AM

    I think it will be important to focus on either the effects that hoarding had on you and your family (Interviewing your siblings to see how the hoard impacted them) or the psychology of your mother's illness (How hoarding is misunderstood), and not both (SOFT). Because, in my eyes, they seem to be two separate issues, but you speak to both in your pitch.
    Either focus is an essay I'd love to hear (and if you can do both more power to you!) but I think each issue serves as a backdrop for the other, at least as far as you have described them.

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    Replies
    1. UnknownMarch 13, 2018 at 2:48 PM

      That's a good point, to remember the SOFT. I think that my mom will be most resistant to this story, so I guess I need to reach out to my potential interviewees, see who is willing to talk, and take it from there. Thanks for the reminder!

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    2. Ben SargisMarch 14, 2018 at 9:12 PM

      It seems like a focus on either of the two mentioned ideas wouldn't necessarily be bad, but I think that this topic in particularly already sort of does both at once so it's not really an issue. Listening to the original piece in class (which was incredible by the way) I got the sense that the writing was about your relationship with your mom and siblings and how you all dealt with these mental health issues. Looking in this documentary about how your family members personally dealt with hording inevitably also touches on how we view mental illness.

      Delete
  2. UnknownMarch 13, 2018 at 8:21 AM

    I like that you're still probing this. I absolutely loved your narrative piece, as you know, but it definitely had this tension of, in that tight of a space, trying to fit both your personal story and this greater discussion about hoarding. I think the documentary space will give you a chance to really delve more deeply into the topic of hoarding itself; your family will still be there, as they are your emotional tie to the story, but what you'll be telling now is even bigger than them. I'm excited for it, if this is the pitch you end up using.

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    Replies
    1. UnknownMarch 13, 2018 at 2:51 PM

      Even as relatively distanced as I am from the situation, this is still a tough topic to talk about. (I still feel I'm betraying and embarrassing my family talking about this.) But you're right: this story IS bigger than them/us/me, and for that reason, I want to tell this pitch.

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  3. BballengerMarch 14, 2018 at 10:16 AM

    This is an important story on so many levels. Of course, the issue of hoarding is highly relevant, and from a psychological standpoint, really fascinating. But this is your story, and so it might be more focused on how an oldest daughter comes to understand how her mother's behavior has changed her. You approached the narrative with considerable empathy towards your family, and so I can easily see how the documentary might also (as you suggest in the pitch) help listeners to understand how complicated this illness is. This is one of the pieces where the tape you collect will tell you what story it is you have to tell about all of this. If you feel comfortable talking to family members (and think carefully about that), then I'd love to listen to this.

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