Today my class was asked to listen to the first episode of a podcast called “The Habitat.” The narrator of the podcast was keeping up with selected individuals for the “Mars” experiment before they “took off.” Basically they were put into a simulation to test what the effects of being in an enclosed space and wearing space suits for an entire year were. They were specifically sent to Hawaii, where the terrain was strikingly similar to Mars. The narrator starts off by having one of the “astronauts” describe to the terrain to her audience, and he is able to create an extremely vivid image of the textured rocks on this Hawaiian island. The narrator continues to do a humorous job of “showing” us what she sees, from the jokes told, to the fights between the other individuals. The narrator especially does a great job of keeping her viewers listening by adding an element of suspense. Before she goes on a commercial break, she mentions that the members of the ship got into a terrifying fight, and that she would continue to elaborate on that after the break. Even at the end of the episode, she mentions that if you want to see what happens in the dome during the experiment that you’ll have to watch the next episode. The speaker definitely has gift for keeping her audience on their toes. Normally I wouldn’t be interested in listening to an experiment about a Mars simulation, but after hearing this I’m considering continuing to follow along with the series. I definitely want to strive to keep my audience as engaged as she does when I write.
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