During the 1930s, the Midwest had experience severe storms in the form of sleet, hail, or dust. Through an interview, one notes the sheer power of these dust storms during these times and what damage they caused to the locals. The source came from an interview conducted by Charles Todd and Robert Sonkin who worked for the Farm Security Administration who interviewed a man by the name Charlie Spurlock. Charlie had gone into detail about how they survive out in the Midwest with these storms going on. He recalls the type of storm 1 it was that tore through his town and ravaged on for 14 hours; he also talks about the damage 2 it caused to the buildings and surrounding objects as well. The FSA fits into the bigger picture by recording and taking photographic evidence of the conditions of how people were living in rural areas. Everyone was affected by the Great Depression and the FSA went around to see how people were living by taking photographs and conducting interviews with some of the people. These interviews not only give us an insight on these conditions, but they also allow us to hear about the struggles they have to deal during those times.
The great thing about audio clips is that they add another level of analysis to what a person is reading. A good reason for adding audio clips by embedding or by adding the audio file to the page is that it gives clarity to what a writer is saying. Audio clips allows a reader to get a glimpse into what was really going on during that time period; not only that, but it also becomes a sort of immersive experience as you listen to the words of the interview in this case or the audio of a song in another case while reading the writers words. You can practically imagine the writer’s words come to life as you listen to the audio thus giving you a more memorable experience. In this scenario, listening to an audio clip rather than reading about the damage caused by dust storms is that if you listen closely, it is as if you can see the interviewee describing what these storms did to the town with hand motions.
- “Interview about dust storms, sleet storms, and tall stories (part 2 of 2),”Voices from the Dust Bowl: the Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection, 1940 to 1941, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/toddbib000002/
- “Interview about dust storms, sleet storms, and tall stories (part 2 of 2),”Voices from the Dust Bowl: the Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection, 1940 to 1941, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/toddbib000002/
