Switched At Birth, Shannon Considine

Shannon Considine  

Blog Entry

Switched At Birth Podcast

            When it comes to this podcast, I felt as if the narrator did a nice job balancing the aspect of narrations vs. interviews. I believe that he established the aspect of directing the story but not leading it. This allowed the interviewees themselves to expose the raw emotion that they hold within this story. I found this to be very important due to the fact that these qualities then allowed me to connect with the characters. I found myself developing contradictory thoughts throughout the interviews and narrations, which to me, is the significance of a good story.

            When it came to the interviews, as previously stated, I could hear the variation of emotions through the characters voice. This is what first lead me to immediately place the blame among Mrs. Miller. When listening to some of her interviews, you could hear the lack of emotion within her voice than that of Mrs. McDonald, or the two girls. Obviously, this could be due to the fact that she knew all along that Marti was not her child. This is what allowed me to place the blame on her, due to the fact that she knew all along, so why get emotionally invested in a young child whom you know is not yours.

            Although I immediately placed the blame on Mrs. Miller and was set on the idea that she could have prevented the whole thing, I then found my thoughts to be contradicting. As the podcast kept developing, we learned about the fact that Mrs. Miller confronted her husband on bringing home the wrong baby but he said that there was no doubt that it was. This is where my thoughts began to change. In the past, women did not hold as much power towards their husbands as many do today. With Mr. Miller being a reverend, you can then understand the strict and  punitive attitude which he had when it came to his household. This allowed me to sympathize with Mrs. Miller, and her final interview confirmed my sympathy. Within the final part of the podcast she expressed that she would never go against her husband, and you can finally hear the raw emotion within her voice. So, it lead me to think, if she had felt that she had more power within her household, would all of this have been avoided?

SARAH CUMMINGS COMMENTS TO SHANNON
I agree with what you said about blaming Mrs. Miller and how she could have prevented this whole mess from happening if she just went to the doctor when she was feeling better, those few months after she got sick.  I can see your point about Mr. Miller running a strict household because he was a reverend and that is just another reason for Mrs. Miller to be nervous about correcting her mistake when he advised her not to say anything.  I did appreciate Mrs. Miller’s interview at the end, showing that she did not like keeping the secret for so many years but she felt as though she had to do it.  I just felt bad for the girls and Mrs. MacDonald because they come to realize that most of their life was living in a lie.  I did not think about what you said where women did not hold much power over decisions and family affairs when they first brought Marti home from the hospital.  It makes a little bit more sense now and putting Mrs. Miller’s interview at the end makes the listener think about the whole story and how everything happened for a reason.  I agree that the strategic planning of the interviews help to tell the story the best way possible.  Having Marti and Sue in the beginning helps the listener to create an idea about Mrs. Miller but then having her interview last, if completely changes the listener’s idea of her and the story as a whole.