As I read the assignment description
for the Fireside Chat, I felt my stomach sinking. I have nothing against live
performing, but I find it difficult to perform live as myself. It’s enjoyable
to present a character in a performance and pretend to be someone other than
myself, but to bare my own life, experiences, emotions, and self to an audience
is much more challenging and nerve-wracking.
During preparation for this project,
however, I began to realize that I had something that I wanted to say. The
ideas flowed and something began to develop. One phenomenon that I have
observed here at BYU is that although there are a number of students,
particularly within the film program, who are socially liberal, there are very
few who are fiscally liberal. Being incredibly fiscally liberal, I decided to
use this as my topic.
In Susan Sontag’s essay, “Regarding
the Pain of Others,” she writes that photographs often present something as
better than it actually is. During my preparation for the Fireside Chat, I realized
that I wanted to avoid this phenomenon if at all possible. Because of this, I
chose to not use any form of projected media for my project. I wanted to use
something that was physical, real, and tangible. I felt that this added a small
sense of realism to my project.
I also wanted to avoid preaching or
lecturing. I knew what I wanted to say, and I knew what my viewpoint was, but I
decided to make things even more personal than I had originally planned by
telling a personal story about myself. I was inspired by Jane Taylor’s poem, “Poverty”
and the way that she personalizes her story by talking about what she will do
with her money, whilst still very powerfully making a point. I wanted to do
something similar.
And so I told a personal story,
interwoven with cynicism and political thoughts, dressed as a homeless man, and
used cardboard signs as my media. All in all, I feel as though the presentation
wasn’t as effective as it could have been. Although I memorized my piece, I
forgot several parts as I stood in front of the audience. I also feel as though
it may have been the wrong time and place to present such a topic. Most of the
other presentations were more comic in nature, even if they were dealing with
serious topics. I wonder if this detracted from the message I was trying to
convey.
In conclusion, I enjoyed the
Fireside Chat more than I thought I would. I was able to share a personal story
about myself in a manner that was potentially more powerful than simply writing
it. I do, however, wonder if even the Fireside Chat was the best medium for
this particular story.
