Princess Diana of Wales

In the second unit of the Journalism class, we focused on sound. We looked at a lot of different types of podcast about different things and began to gather different tips and ways to talk about a topic with just your words. For the action project we were tasked with finding someone influential from the 20th century and creating a podcast about them. We had to interview two people and find sound clips of the person we chose. For my project I chose Princess Diana of Wales. Something that I enjoyed about this project was the freedom to choose whoever I wanted from the 20th century. Something that was hard for me was finding which sound clips I wanted to use for this project. I am really happy with how my project turned out and I hope you enjoy it.
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WHEN	WHO/HOW	WHAT
0.00-17.612 17.612-39.752 39.752-1.01.813 1.01.813-1.10.543- 1.10.543-1.36.467 1.36.467- 1.46.748 1.46.748- 1.52.315 2.06.715-2.05.945 2.09.650- 2.40.415- 2.41.117-2.45.523- 2.24.470- 4.02.713- 4.04.303- 4.24.693- 4.28.840- 5.11.874- 5.13.379- 5.24.639 5.24.639- 5.48.600 5.27.768-5.46.576	[  Background music}]                 [MF] [Diana] [MF] [Diana] [MF] [MF] [RD] [Diana] [MF] [MNF] [MF] [MNF] [Diana] [MF]	Background music starts (Candle in the Wind by Elton John Instramental) Hi. I’m MF from GCE Lab School today I am going to talk about a voice that had a huge impact on people around the world: Princess Diana of Wales. This voice was important to the 20th century because not only was she a princess, she was also a human rights activist. She spoke on many issues that people face daily and was even able to connect them to her own life. From early childhood, many had felt  they were expected to be perfect but didn’t feel they had the right to express their true feelings to those around them. Feelings of guilt of self revoltion and low personal esteem.   She also focused a lot of her time on children's rights in different countries. She spent her time working with organizations from all around the world ranging from Turning Point to Red Cross . 1989 marks the celebration of Turning point: a charity which, in its 25 years, has gained enormous experience in dealing with problems related to drug and alcohol misuse. Today, Turning Point is the largest national voluntary organization catering to those who drink, drug and mental health problems.   1.36.467- 1.46.748- Although she got a lot of hate for some of the organizations she worked with, she never let that stop her. Diana was born into British nobility and became a princess once she married Prince Charles. 1.46.748- 1.52.315-  I’m going to be talking to my friend who also has a connection with Princess Diana. There are many issues going on in the world. And the one admirable thing about Diana was that she cared so much about these problems. She actually traveled to countries devastated by disaster and disease and tried to connect to the people affected. When no one listens to you, you feel no one is listening to you, all sorts of things start to happen. For instance you have so much pain inside yourself, that you try and hurt yourself on the outside because you want help, but it’s the wrong help your asking for. People see it as crying wolf or attention seeking and they think because you’re in the media all the time, you’ve got enough attention. But I was actually calling out because I wanted to get better in order to go forward and continue my duty or my role as wife, mother, princess of wales. Now I am going to be talking to someone else who also had a connection to Princess Diana. I remember watching her entire wedding on T.V. I don’t know how long it was but it was long. What was also long was the train on her dress, it was like 20 feet long or something. It was beautiful, and the wedding was beautiful, and I watched the whole thing and it seemed like they were in love but, it came out later that it was probably a marriage more of convenience then it was of love. He was, I think, in love with another woman who he ended up marrying after she died but I think that Diana didn’t get along with his mother, the queen, and she felt kind of trapped. But she did her own thing and I think she did a really good job of being the princess and going around and helping people especially people with aids and children. Princess Diana spent so much time focusing on other people’s problems, she wasn’t able to focus on her own. Her marriage was failing and she couldn’t exactly divorce Prince Charles because she would look incredibly bad to the entire country. She had to deal with a failing marriage, depression, and an eating disorder all on her own for a long time while still having a brave face in public. And I think her depression, I guess she was depressed and that was probably because of her life even though it would seem like the life of a princess would be a fairytale but I don't think it was for her. I remember when she died I was in a bar in Waupaca, Wisconsin with my sister and some friends and we were playing pool and it came on the TV that she died in the car crash in London and it was, while no body cried, it was really kind of shocking. Well it gave everybody a wonderful new label: is Diana’s unstable and Diana’s mentally unbalanced; and unfortunately that seems to have stuck on and off over the years.    Diana was able to be a powerful voice for so many people all around the world. Lots connected with Diana in different ways. She spoke a lot about women and connected most of her speeches to them but there were still lots of men that admired her as well. When she died a lot of people, even those that didn't live in wales, were incredibly sad and heartbroken. Background music continues, fades out.

The Meaning of Life

For the first Action Project of the Journalism course, we were tasked to interview someone about what they thought the meaning of life was. We had to compile all they said and write 1,000 words. We then had to take a picture of the person. In this unit we talked all about photo journalism. Something that was difficult for me in doing this project was figuring out what questions to ask. Something I enjoyed about this project was how open it was. We were able to ask so many different questions and get some very thoughtful responses.
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The Perks Of Being A Wallflower is one of my favorite movies/books. It’s all about love, friendship, sadness, and heartbreak. One of my favorite quotes from the movie is “Enjoy it. Because it’s happening.” The quote was said by Charlie--the main character in the film/novel. I love this quote because I think it speaks to everything that happens in life, good or bad. It shows that no matter what is happening in life, you have to keep your head up because it’s happening and you can’t change it. Life is a vast space full of opportunities so “What is the meaning of life?”

Mary is your average mom. She was born in Texas and raised in a suburb of Illinois. She moved to the city to become a grade school teacher. She currently teaches at a CPS language school in Old Town. She has taught many grades from eighth all the way down to third. She is a horse- loving prankster who loves her daughter.

As I lay on a blanket on the roof outside my bedroom, I look at all of the planes soaring through the sky. I hear my mom calling me “Maddie? I’m ready for the interview. Where are you?” I turn around, “On the roof, I’m coming in.” I grab my blanket and walk slowly back up to my window and climb through. I sit cross- legged on the white couch in my moms room while my mom sits down in front of me on her bed. “So mom, what is the meaning of life?” She sits and ponders for a couple minutes. “Mom?” I ask, checking if she is still listening. She finally breaks her silence.

“Do what you want to do, say what you wanna say, love who you wanna love and don’t worry what people think.” She says the last part with a smile. She stares down at my dog Lily who is making an unnecessary amount of noise and lifts her onto her bed. “You can see even with Lily that she's always smiling no matter what and her life is meaningful.” She walks across her room and looks in the mirror.

“Why do you think life is meaningful” I ask looking up from my computer. She looks to the ceiling, thinking about the question. “Not only do I get to do things that I want to do without worry from other people but I also get to give meaning to other people’s lives. A big part of it is to do things for other people and I think making other people lives meaningful is as important as making your own life meaningful. So doing kind things for others and treating all people with kindness is extremely important for making your own life happy. Doing kind things and being good to other people makes my life better but that's not why I do it…” She pauses, “It just goes along with it.”

She walks back over to her bed. I look through my prep sheet and pick another question. I turn to her, “What is your favorite thing in the world that makes your life better?” She thinks for what feels like hours. “You I guess…. Well really horses.” She sighs, “When I had you my life became 100 times more meaningful. It changed everything. It was another person that I was responsible for. To make happy, to feed, to love, to teach. I think having children is one of the best ways to, well for me, made my life meaningful. It wasn’t not meaningful before, but I think having kids changes people's lives. You are no longer only living for yourself you are now living for someone else.”

I took many pictures of my mom that evening. Some from close up, some from far away. It was too dark and cold to take them in the garden, so we took them inside the house. As I adjust the focus, she continues to move positions. I continue to snap pictures of her on my Canon camera. After careful consideration I chose this photo. I chose this one because I think it captures her in her best state: calm. I took it with the portrait setting on my camera so that everything in the background would be blurry so the photo would just focus on my mom.

MF. (MOM) 2016

Once the picture had been chosen, I started thinking long and hard about what my mom had already said. Besides the fact that she jokingly not jokingly said horses made her life go ‘round, she said some pretty true stuff. She got deep down into my questions and was able to give me thoughtful answers. “Did you think about this question all day or something?” I asked her. She started laughing, “Actually, I asked my 3rd graders what they thought the answer was. They gave some pretty 3rd grade answers, but then they started giving interesting ones. I thought about their answers and was able to gather some new ideas from what they had said.” She smiles, “To think I got advice for your Action Project from 8 year olds blows my mind,” she starts laughing. We sit in silence for a few minutes. “Alright. I have another question for you.” I say. “What came first, the chicken? Or the egg?” She groans, “Ugh you know I hate this question” She lays on her bed with her eyes closed, hopefully thinking about the incredibly annoying question I just asked her. She finally answers quietly. “I don't know. I was raised catholic, and to believe that God created everything in the world, including the world, but as I grew older, read more, and went to school more…” she begins to whisper. “I stopped believing in all that stuff, like creationism and realized that evolution is how humans came to be.

As the interview drew to a close I had just one more question for my mom “What is the best part about living?” I ask. She turns slowly to me. “Sleeping. Laughing. Making people smile and making people happy.” She asks me to repeat the question. I do. “Waking up after getting a full night’s sleep. That has to be the best feeling ever.”