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I think there are many differences between these two genres. Both have limitless possibilities of being able to get a point across and be interesting at the same time. I think there is definitely a divide in the audiences for each of these genres. Either people like listening to podcasts over reading or vise versa. Another difference between the two are the purpose. I feel like in an academic paper it’s more of an idea or opinion that the writer is trying to make for the reading to agree or disagree and it’s only one sided most of the time. In a podcast, there is usually more than one person and even if there isn’t it’s almost as if you are having a conversation with the speaker as the podcast goes on which I think is more effective than just writing.

In an academic paper, I find it very hard to come to a conclusion on paper. I find it much easier to talk my way through my thoughts rather than gathering them and making them into sophisticated analyses. I do find them interesting to read however, especially when the words flow really well and everything connects together in the end. The limits of an academic paper are that you can’t feel the emotion of a paper as much as you would when listening to a podcast. They can also be very boring if they are just listing evidence with a lot of analysis.

In a podcast, there are way more possibilities in my opinion that you can achieve. I found while making my podcast that it’s very uncut and you can almost understand what someone is trying to say more. I also like in podcasts that you are able to hear emotion in the voices instead of making them up in your head as you read. It really helps paint pictures to the thoughts and questions being answered. The podcast limits the fact that it isn’t as formal as an academic paper so some things said might not make as much sense, but other than that there really aren’t any limits to a podcast.

Throughout the chapter, Chen uses Megan Phelps-Roper’s story to convey strong emphasis on what individuals think is right and what is wrong. The big argument that Chen is trying to make is that it is important for people to make their own decisions no matter what the consequences are. In this case, Megan Phelps-Roper plays a big role in this by leaving her church, town and family and starting a new life with her sister Grace so that she can pursue her own beliefs and understanding of other people.

One of the stronger passages that highlights this is starting on page 80 of “Emerging” when Megan found out that Brittany Murphy, an actress from “Clueless”, had passed away. Megan had explained that she enjoyed watching her on the show even though she knew Brittany Murphy was seen as a sinner to the Westboro church. Megan explains how she had felt a weird feeling when she found out about her death, much different than any other circumstance – “The contrast between the grief on Twitter and the buoyant mood in the basement unsettled her. She couldn’t bring herself to post a tweet thanking God for Murphy’s death. “I felt like I would be such a jackass to go on and post something like that,” she said.” (Chen 80) Here is the first sign of Megan realizing that the beliefs of the Westboro church are so harsh. She hadn’t understood why until something actually hit her deep when people throw bad on a name that she used to praise.

Another passage that helps Chen’s argument was when Megan had met C.G on Twitter and redirected to ‘Words with Friends’ to have more private and deeper conversations with each other. After the first instance when Megan had heard Brittany Murphy died and she saw the hate that the people of her church resonated, she grew soft to hearing other people’s views. This is what she did with C.G. “She had heard all these arguments before, but they had never affected her as they did when C.G made them. “I just really liked him,” she said. “He seemed to genuinely like people and care about people, and that resonated with me.” (Chen 83) Chen adds this in to show how other people can really influence your own views, but because Megan had been so involved and strictly tied to the Westboro Church’s views she was never exposed to the fact that people actually do care about others even when they don’t even know them. Kind of like how Megan felt bad for the celebration of her valued T.V show character.

Jamison: “doctors assumed that these patients were simply anxious or overly emotional.”

Laikos: “Earlier in the year (it feels like many lifetimes ago), I read that covid-19 was “just the flu.” We heard from scientific sources and popular media that other maladies were much worse, and that it would be a mistake to overreact to this one.”

Jamison: “in hesitant, general terms — “Uncertain future?” — but soon she settles on a more specific fear.”

Laikos: “I accepted these assurances without too much concern. It all seemed a bit remote to me — the way I imagine issues like food stamps may seem to a politician who has never needed them.”

Jamison: “a physical manifestation of some abstract human tendency — is dangerous. It obscures the particular and unbidden nature of the suffering in front of me.”

Laikos: “Now I also can feel, in a visceral way, the pain, fear and grief that the people in those videos must have felt.”

Jamison: “The disconnect felt even worse than the worm itself — to live in a world where this thing was, while other people lived in a world where it wasn’t.”

Laikos: “I believe that an ounce of empathy could have been — and in many states in the country might still be — our best method of prevention.”

What am I being asked to believe or accept? What reasons or evidence does the author supply to convince me?  What’s my verdict on Morgellons disease; is it a “disease or delusion” (Jamison 223)?

I think overall what I am being asked to accept after reading “The Devils Bait” by Leslie Jamison is to accept the fact that everyone has their own issues whether it is brought upon by themselves or other instances. She has strong evidence to prove that Morgellons is a real disease that people experience and is not all in their imagination. One of the things she includes in this essay is “”Calling Morgellons “real” generally means acknowledging there is actual, inexplicable stuff coming up through human skin.” (Jamison). There’s evidence of unusual physical things happening to the body of people that claim to have this disease so how can it not be real? However, the source of this article coming from Jamison puts me in a different position to believe this is real. If I were to actually listen to someone who has the disease than it would be way more convincing to me. Jamison uses examples from her experience that fall no where close to what these people are experiencing. She was diagnosed with something that you can physically pick out of your skin. She gives no evidence from these people with Morgellons that a physically picking out real bugs that they believe are infesting their bodies. Jamison literally says “I only know what I learned from my botfly and its ghost: it was worse when I didn’t have the worm than when I did.”(Jamison) Almost wishing her worm back into her body so that she can tell people she has a bug in her too so that they know she is going through something too. The only thing I can think of when I read this is that she is trying to reflect her issues onto someone else so that they know she believes them. Almost as to relate through empathy of each other which makes me question if I should believe any articles written by her.

I do believe that is is a disease if there are physical indicators that prove there is something wrong with these people; However, when it comes from Jamison’s point of view I don’t know how much of it is real if she brings up the fact that she knows what these people are going through because she had a worm in her leg. Doesn’t seem valid to me at all. I can conclude that Jamison’s view on this disease is a delusion because she seems to want it to happen to her, but these people are experiencing a real disease.

In my interview, one of the most important things I need to remember is I am not interviewing myself. No matter what my opinion is it should not matter when I am asking the other person. I think I have mastered this skill particularly because a lot of my friends have different opinions and views on things than I do, but we are able to listen to each other and hear the other side without stirring things up.

First I will start by explaining what the interview will be about to prepare the person I am interviewing. I will talk about broader topics, listen to their response and come up with more specific questions based off of what their answer is so that my questions are relevant to what their thoughts are.

I plan on asking questions like

• Do they know what covering means and to give me their best guess.
• When was there a time that they felt like they felt the need to cover or noticed anyone else being covered by societal norms.
• Why including people is so hard and wether they think it happens more in younger people or older people.
• How can people help others understand their situation or others that are left out or forced to cover.
• If inclusion would make peoples lives much easier and how they think it would.
• What they would change in our society to make sure people are not forced to cover.