Crossing boundaries is an assignment where we record interviews of people and their stories who cross societal boundaries. I guess, social, or just anything out of the norm.I learned through this project that people actually take out the time to listen to these things called podasts. I culture of digiphiles i didn't even know existed, that aren't blind. But besides that, I learned that Puerto Rico is considered a third world country.I agree with the comments from my piers, they are absolutely right. My strengths in this project were being able to construct a nicely edited piece, I suppose.

During this project I learned more about my family and the people around me that I interviewed. I learned their views on my topic and saw that we actually had a lot in common when it came to family values. I was expecting to have very different values from my family and friend, but it turned out that what we thought was important was actually very similar. Some of the unexpected challenges during this project, for me at least, was actually hitting the target length for the podcast, and then after that, adding the affects to it. I thought it was difficult because I’ve never done something like this before, I’ve played around with garage band but never to this extent. Another unexpected turn was that I couldn’t get the interview I needed from my grandmother, so I had to talk to the rest of my family about it. I had wanted a certain interview (the one that made me want to do this topic) but it turns out that my grandmother couldn’t see me in time to get it done, so I talked to my mother, my brother, and my dad instead to get some of their views in shorter stories, instead of my grandmother’s one long story. The crossing boundaries in my podcast I think were kind of different. It wasn’t a huge thing my family did, but just little things that crossed some kind of boundary. Kids being bullied, that made my dad realize his own values, and standing up for the kid being bullied, in some small amount, would be crossing a boundary, not giving in to peer pressure. I think that boundaries that came up in my podcast had to do with the little things my parents did that maybe went against what everyone else thought, and stood up for what they believed in. That tied in with my theme because generally, when they crossed some sort of boundary, they realized a value that they hadn’t seen before. 

To start off, I rather enjoyed this project. I got to learn new things about my mother. And she did really well of being her natural, funny self. The editing process (even though it was said to be hard) went pretty smooth as well. I must admit that it does not meet the time requirement by two minutes. However, I feel that I have the quality that most of the longer timed podcasts have. I liked how it wrapped up, and I really appreciated what my mother had to say. It was strong and empowering, and I was inspired by her. It stayed on the general topic of crossing boundaries. The over all process went okay, even though for about three days I had to wait on my mother. She isn’t to blame however, I’m the responsible one. It was getting down to the wire. Major crunch time. It wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle, but I don’t necessarily like to be in spots like that. I like the calm feeling that the podcast has and I don’t think I over did anything. Maybe my music could have been a problem, I’m not too sure. It all depends on the reader. I don’t think I asked to many questions, I just let it flow. One thing to I noticed is how my mom begins sentences with transition words even without being asked a question. I added them in later.  Getting back on topic, I think I did well. Not perfect. But well.

When doing the interviews it was better for me to have fun while trying to get my work done because it was more interesting not only for me but also for the people I interviewed. That’s what made the interview flow sound real and not scripted. That is what also made the people who I interviewed feel more comfortable. So they had no problem laughing in the interview or just making it sound like a regular conversation.

While I was doing this project on garage band I learned things that didn’t before about garage band. I learned how to fade out the music and bring it up when I want to. Also I learned how to change the volume on things. I learned how to use garage band by not only asking for help but just sitting down and just playing with garage band on my own. So I learned how to do things on my own.

Things I would tell my peers is to have fun when doing an interview because it makes it more fun for you and who ever you are interviewing. Also try not to just ask questions that are going to get a “yes” or “no” answer, or would just get a sentence, or two response. Try to ask questions that would build up to a story. That would also make the person your interviewing feel more comfortable because their telling a story and everyone loves to tell stories.

• When I did this project I realized education wasn't valued by my parents when they were kids. This surprised me because of the emphasis they put on education now. Crossing boundaries means to go against things that society expects. It means to go against the status quo. There is always a cost when crossing boundaries. It just isn't always apparent. The cost my parents was money. They didn't make as much money. The only weakness I had was my procrastination. After I got started the project was easy.