[INTRO MUSIC PLAYS]
ELENA: Hello and welcome back to Hoo’s at the Writing Center! I’m Elena,
KARISSA: I’m Karissa,
SARAH: I’m Sarah,
KIMBERLY: And I’m Kimberly! And oh my goodness it’s our one-year anniversary! I have in the script, cue horn blaring, confetti explosion, all the sound effects to blare in your ears for about 10 seconds. Uh we, as the Writing Center podcast team are eternally grateful to Alex Smith and Hidy Basta, our bosses, for their unconditional support, and also to the rest of the Writing Center for their amazing love, and to each other because we couldn’t have asked for a more wonderful group for this chaotic project. And of course you, our amazing listeners, from all over apparently, because we’re in Europe, uhh for staying with us for a year and for continuing to listen to our bantering.
ELENA: With that being said, we thought we could talk a little bit about the history of Hoo’s at the Writing Center, especially for all of our new listeners out there and take a trip down memory lane to talk about our favorite episodes, our favorite memories, the behind-the-scenes of some of them and the future cast. But before we talk about the future of the podcast, we thought we would talk a little but about how it all began.
KIMBERLY: Yeah, so this all started in a little staff meeting early in..oh god...what is it?
ELENA: It was like pretty close to the beginning--
KIMBERLY: Yeah I was going to say, wasn’t it like the first one of the quarter when we all worked together? And we were also in the class together?
ELENA AND KIMBERLY: 3090
KIMBERLY: Yeah, Fall 2019!
ELENA: *chuckles* A lifetime ago...
KIMBERLY: I know literally! And I just so happened to sit, I was sitting with Karissa, Elena, and Sarah at a table, all wonderful beautiful people, and Ali Shaw one of our co-lead/lead mentors, they were talking about the blog posts. Because they were trying to get the blog posts all ready up and going for admin hours and all that stuff and then they gave us a moment to think about ways that we can expand on the blog post and projects we want to do. And I said, “Wouldn’t it be really awesome to do a podcast?” *chuckles* and I just so happened to be sitting with these wonderful people who are with me today and I mean—I wasn’t--obviously we were still like, we weren’t familiar with each other yet. We were friendly, but we weren’t where we are right now as we were back then, but they agreed to it for some reason *chuckles*. They were like “You know, I’ll take a chance on this! I’ll do a podcast!” So, I proposed it when we had to share out for uh in the same meeting and then it became a longer conversation with Alex and Hidy and a longer conversation with the group and then we started thinking about like, “Oh, what episodes are we going to create? Or what was the technicalities or the logistics of recording and editing and all that stuff during our work hours?” The training we had to do at the Media Production Center, shoutout to Jamie, and uh all of this happened within two months and then we had our first episode and then the pandemic hit. *chuckles*
ELENA: That was really great, great timing.
KIMBERLY: Yeah, it was all great. We’ve spent more time apart then we have together. Isn’t that so sad?? *nervously chuckles*
ELENA: It is, but I am glad that we got it started before that because, I don’t know, I feel like it’s been a good thing to have during the pandemic—I muted myself didn’t I?
KIMBERLY: You were, and I was like uhhhh...
ELENA: Yeah, but even though we’re doing it as like zoom-podcast-edition, I feel like I’m glad that we all kind of got it all kind of figure out before that happened because I really can’t imagine trying to figure that out in the pandemic and I think it was really good to kind of have those chaotic brainstorming sessions and like that first quarter where we were just like going to Hidy and being like “Okay. So here's what we want to do.” And Hidy like not—Hidy like being there for it but also just kind of being like, “I don’t really know what vision you guys have here.”
KIMBERLY: And to be honest, neither did we. [chuckles]
KIMBERLY: Initially I knew that one of my bucket list things was to do a podcast. And I wanted to achieve that in college, however I could, and the fact that I happened to be in the Writing Center with these wonderful people, and we were like let’s make a podcast. Because that’s not like a common thing. There aren’t very many Writing Center podcasts out there, and if there are they’re just like simple videos of like grammar or like—that's all I can think about right now, just like punctuation and all that stuff so I think part of my push was to expand on like umm—like really show what the Writing Center could do and the possibilities of what having a podcast could mean so. I mean, we’re here now, we’ve celebrated a year, so people must like us! *chuckles*
KARISSA: Yeah, I remember like it got brought up at the staff meeting and honestly I was like, Oh that would be super cool if it happens, but it probably won’t. Like it’ll probably just fizzle out. Cause I was like oh yeah that would be so cool to do a podcast! Yeah, yeah! But then nothing really happened, like we just went through the rest of the staff meeting, but um I’m super glad it actually came to fruition because it was so fun and just like getting to spend time with all of you. Like Kimberly said, it’s definitely like a bucket list thing, or it was for me as well, and so I just remember being like super excited, but also being like okay well don’t be disappointed if, you know, nothing comes from it or whatever. And like, being in the Media production Center, I just remember recording the first episode and the crisp audio and I was just like [gasps] OH MY GOSH. We actually have a podcast now like this is crazy! Even just doing it over zoom, even if people aren’t listening we’re still getting to put it out and we’re still going to make content. I think that’s the part that I enjoy the most, so yeah, I’m just really thankful that, you know, everything followed through and like came to be because it’s been like one of my favorite experiences and just from kind of over a little fleeting idea of “Oh let’s make a podcast.” Just been along for the ride and it’s been pretty good.
KIMBERLY: Also, if you Google “Writing Center Podcast” we show up. So, we’re kind of famous – just saying.
SARAH: I’m honestly really grateful to be included. (laughs) I feel like high-key I do the least work for this podcast (laughs more) and also I wasn’t here for the first quarter of it. And so, I also remember the staff meeting because, I don’t know if I’ve told you all this but um, I was really sick during that staff meeting. I literally almost didn’t come, but then I did and I sat at a table with you all so—WORTH IT.
ELENA: I would have dragged you into it otherwise. Don’t even worry about it. *chuckles*
SARAH: *chuckles* That is adorable thank you. I would have loved to be dragged (big belly laugh) The wording? Maybe not so great. Yeah! Anyway, I just, I don’t know, I just love you all and it’s so wonderful to just have the opportunity to just come ad chat for like an hour and this is our job and that’s really, really cool. But also having the opportunity to talk about (laughs) just chatting with you all is really nice! I’m gonna end there. (laughter and gets cut off)
ELENA: Okay so [Laughter] before we get derailed by another Zoom podcast fun time, we want to talk a little bit about what our favorite episodes were throughout the podcast. So first up, Kimberly hit us with your favorite episode.
KIMBERLY: Yeah, yo what’s up everybody? Thank you Elena, thank you for that transition, I don’t know why I said that? I think I’m...not okay. So *chuckles* I will have to say of course I love all of our episodes, there all our babies, but my favorite episodes are probably when we do anything literature related. I know that the gag is that I don’t read and it’s fortunately true and if anyone knows me, and I’m pointing specifically at my partner *chuckles*, if anyone knows me it’s that I say I’m going to read and I don’t even follow through with it? *chuckles* Yeah so the reason why I love our literature episodes so much is because I think it helps people like me, people who are always uhh like busy 24/7. I’m also like a huge workaholic so I just like never have time to do anything. I think it really inspires me, it helps inspire people like me to make time for reading, and I know that sounds very scary, especially saying that out loud for myself, to make time for myself but I think it’s--every time I listen or we do an episode about a story or a book or an author or anything like that I think it’s like, Oh I really want to invest in things that my friends are invested in so that I can see what they like and what they’re interested in and my horizon on books everywhere. And also in the Writing Center, and we’re really nerdy in that way which I love, but I look forward to the ways in which we can expand on these kinds of episodes because I think they’re really great and I think they’re part of what makes our podcast so unique is that we are a Writing Center based podcast, but we also expand on like things related to or things that can be discussed in the Writing Center and uh if you’re listening to this right now—this is mostly a message for me—but if you’re listening to this right now, and you’re wanting to pick up that book that you’ve been putting off from years ago or you’ve been wanting to buy more books even though you already have a pile sitting on your desk of things to read? Like this is your sign to do it. This is your sign to pick up that book and make time for it because I promise you you’re going to thank yourself later when you have made time for reading. I know, I know that got pretty emotional really quickly but like I think reading is one of the most fundamental things we can offer to everyone everywhere and I deeply believe in it. So umm this is a message at me, and to everyone else everywhere who also needs it, so umm my favorite episodes are those. Uhhh now I’m going to pass it back to Elena to talk about their favorite episode.
ELENA: I mean as an English major, I approve that message. Umm [chuckles] I also really love the literature episodes, but I think that my like most favorite episode we had was an episode I personally am most emo about was near the end of season 1 when we interviewed our graduating Writing Center seniors, Maddy and Francis. Umm, they’re both extremely sweet, lovely souls and they deserve only the best things in their futures, and I don’t think that I personally was expecting to get so teary-eyed at the end of it? Because you can hear all of us like breaking up at the end of it, I kind of know that it’s a forbidden topic, but especially when I consider this is my and Sarah and Karissa’s last year at Hoo’s at the Writing Center? Yeah, Kimberly crying, me too. So it’s our last year as a—and the last quarter will be our last quarter as a writing center consultant and podcaster and it makes my heart very sad, but also very full and sappy just makes me really glad that our podcast can be a place to spotlight amazing people like Maddy and Francis even after they leave. I think it’s kind of a cool form of like immortalizing people after they graduate, after they move on to not necessarily better things because I would like to think that this was a pretty great thing, but new and exciting paths in life. Yeah, so I think it’s really cool that our podcast can be a place where people can listen and just, I think, hear how much we love them and feel the impact of their experiences and just kind of get a little snapshot of people’s time at the Writing Center.
SARAH: Oh Elena [exhale], you’re getting me emotional *chuckles* Like genuinely, I think I could have cried if I...let it get there. Anyway, I would say it’s kind of funny because my favorite episodes are the ones that I’m actually not in. (laughs) Not self-deprecating at all, genuinely I just love these two episodes. So, I really love the pilot because when I listened to it, I was in Indonesia and I remember Salem sent me the little link and was like “Oh my gosh Sarah! They finished!” Like whatever and I listened to it, and it was so awesome. Like Karissa was saying the audio? *kiss sound* Amazing. And everything was like so professional and put together and I was so excited to come back to that. And I don’t know, it was just really cool because I was also just really honored because you all shouted me out in that episode. But I just love that episode along with Paper Menagerie because it’s so cool that I just go on Spotify and turn on my friends *chuckles* and they’re just like...they’re in the room talking to me and talking to each other. It’s really cute, I really love it, I just think that this little nook that we have created in the Writing Center is so precious and it’s just so good and I think that really just comes off in our episodes and that’s why I love listening to those two specifically. But like Kimberly said, we love all of them, we’re proud of all of them, but those two *kiss sound* hit.
KARISSA: Yeah, oh my gosh. I felt like this question wasn’t fair because [laughs] I just wanna say all of them. Obviously like the ones where we had Frances and then Maddy and Frances and we got to like bring other people on the podcast, that just felt so special, like, having conversations that just probably wouldn’t have happened, even inf we were like still in person at the back table. Like, just creating space for those kinds of conversations has just been a really awesome experience. But I think my favorite episode was probably the spooky story episode and that’s because just reading through all the story submissions we got was so much fun, and I remember we would all read through a story and then text the group message about it and be like “oh my gosh did you read this one, like, that’s so crazy! Wait til you read this submission!” And it was just so much fun and just the excitement of getting to read a story again, because that quarter was really busy for me, so like I didn’t get to read for fun at all, so just having that built in, like, you have to read stories—it was just incredible. And then also just knowing that people were really respective to that call that we made on the podcast, like, people in the community got excited about it and were like “oh my gosh, here’s this story.” And so, that was just so cool, just to like kind of have that response in a more tangible way. And oh my gosh, the editing. Just the fun little edits that happened and I know that Kimberly did such a good job, cause the story we did was almost all edited with sound effects and stuff, and Elena added them too, and just [pleasant sigh] just the—the whole process of that episode was just so fun for me. And then just like listening to it and all the fun different effects and stuff and just listening to stories, just really good stuff. It just makes me so happy, like, to think about the process and then like turn on the episode and get to listen to people’s work that they were wanting to share, so I think it’s really special that we just kind of gotta like boost that for people in our community.
KIMBERLY: Those are so fun times, yeah. I loved all the episodes that we just talked about. Man, takes me back [laughs]. With that being said, what many of our listeners may or may not already know we have to edit a lot of our episodes because sometimes there are bits and pieces that we want to edit out just for clarity of the whole, um, the episode itself or if there are fun things [laughs] that we shouldn’t include in a podcast episode that are beyond our control. So, uh, I wanted to give an opportunity for use to talk about anything—any fun behind the scene things that the listeners don’t know about. I’m going tp reserve mine before our concluding thing because I wanna surprise both our podcasters here and the listeners at home. Uh, so we’re gonna go ahead and start off with Elena.
ELENA: Yeah, so [chuckles] I don’t know about you guys but one thing that quarantine has made me just like painfully aware of is just how noisy like my apartment area is, so kind of an [laughs] an ongoing meme in the podcast is the lawnmowers and leaf blowers that keep making an appearance right outside my window, um, and it’s just like an ongoing thing that whenever we record a podcast episode, the yard workers or construction workers on my block will just start doing their thing [laughs]. And I really—I wish that I could convey to them the hilarity and uh exasperation that they cause, because honestly at this point, I swear my street must be like the most leafless street in Seattle. Um, [laughs] but I think it’s worth it for the ridiculousness that it causes in Zoom of me like—there was this one episode where I had to like move around my apartment. And our apartment has super high ceilings so it’s like really echoey so it’d be like – I'd move to one place, and you could still hear the lawnmower, it was just like...echoing in the distance [chuckles]. And then, definitely, it’s funny in the moment, but then, going back to edit it, you just like relive it all over again. Um, so I think that’s kind of like, a mundane thing that has been...very, very silly. Uh, also, an honorable mention to just, the general chaos of Zoom? Uh, and the Zoom chat in particular...which, I think gives us the way too powerful ability of, uh, typing jokes to each other while someone else is trying to podcast their heart out. Uh [Laughter] and it has definitely derailed several very serious and not so serious trains of thought, which is funny every time. And we really do miss the recording studio and that sweet, sweet crisp audio – uh, we don’t really miss GarageBand [chuckles] but, uh, I think that the Zoom chat is a definite pro, and – I don’t know, I think it’s kind of fun to just see everybody in their little living spaces. Um, just chillin’, although I would much prefer us to all be together in the studio. But, given the times, Zoom has served its purpose.
SARAH: I would love to visit the studio; I’ve never been there! I’ve never recorded there, so...moving onto my [Laughter] favorite edited-out parts, I just – okay. All of my life, I've been told that I laugh a lot. I’ve been told that my laugh is contagious; it’s very loud, like – on Zoom specifically, sometimes, I talk or laugh so loud that it thinks I’m a background noise so then it mutes me? [Through laughter] I’ve had that happen, so many times, I cannot tell you! It’s embarrassing, it’s hilarious, it’s bad [Laughter]. But, it’s so funny listening back to the podcast, and having to like, transcribe my own laughter; like why am I laughing so much? That is ridiculous, stop? [Laughter] Like, one episode, when we kept it all, because it was great, it was a nice thread to Elena’s lawnmower, I just had to be like, “Sarah’s laughing again. Somehow, she keeps laughing. Laughing, ESCALATES.” Like, it’s just – laughter spreads. It’s -- ridiculous. Um, so yeah, I’ve really got to have the, have the pleasure, the opportunity to listen to myself, and the way I exist, and it’s very...[Laughter] It’s a LOT. [Laughter] I knew I was a lot before, but it’s really sad having to listen to it. Not sad, but it’s just weird. It’s really weird. Like, when I’m transcribing, I would much prefer hearing any of you all over myself. You know what I mean? But...I love you all, and I’m gonna...throw it to Karissa [Laughter].
KARISSA: Thank you! Yeah, honestly, I think it makes it worse on Zoom because, we’re all muted, so like – whoever is not muted, we’re hearing their laughter. So like, if Sarah’s talking, everyone else is muted, so when Sarah’s laughing, you can only hear Sarah laugh. When like, everyone else is laughing, and we can see it, but you just can’t hear it. Um, but yeah, that’s also my favorite part – and just like, some of the random stuff that gets thrown in, that someone like, says in a part that we’re cutting out or something, just like going back and listening and editing, it’s like, “I don’t...when did we say this? Why did we say this? Like, what is happening in this moment, what is going on in here on this day?!” You know? Like I just – and then you have to cut it, and like, I was editing our last episode, and I think – it's only like, ten minutes long, and I cut out at least five minutes, because it was just, like – delusional. It was either laughter, or it was like complete delusion that was not at all relevant, but I’m sitting there editing it, like, laughing so hard to myself, like, just always smiling, and, I’m not even mad, because it just makes editing so much more fun when there’s like, all this laughter, and like, everything that’s just making me really happy...yeah, it just makes everything more enjoyable. And, a lot more fun. And, we’re enjoying ourselves, so that’s always good. And – Kimberlyyy?
KIMBERLY: Except not, because I’m gonna save it for later.
KARISSA: Okay, that’s what I thought.
KIMBERLY: Umm – Karissa, why don’t you start us off and talk about what you’re lookin’ forward to in the future of – I keep wanting to say “How I Met Your Mother,” but it’s “Hoo’s At The Writing Center,” because --
KARISSA: [chuckles] We’re not THAT big yet!
KIMBERLY: I know, I know! Not yet, not yet. Lookin’ at you, NBC.
KARISSA: Sponsor us. Um...I don’t think it was NBC, actually, Kimberly, so – [chuckles]. But I mean –
ELENA: Not sponsored by CBS.
KARISSA: Or CBS! Any --
KIMBERLY: Someone sponsor us.
KARISSA: Any major networks...you know. We’re here. We’re waiting.
KIMBERLY: Oprah?
KARISSA: Um -- [chuckles] YES. The Oprah Winfrey Network. I don’t think they’d have us. But, we can, we can dream. Okay. The future. I’m really excited just to see...where this podcast goes, because, like you kind of talked about, when we all started, it was, like – we had no idea, really, what we were doing, or where we wanted it to go. It just kind of like...happened, and I’m really excited to see what the future looks like, really, like what you guys decide to do, and, and – the new episodes that you can think of, and I’m just so excited to hear new voices as well, and get to – always have this kind of more tangible connection to the writing center, and still get to listen to like, what y’all are doing here, and like, how life in Seattle is, and how SU is, and all of that stuff. So I feel like, it’s just one more branch of connection. Yeah, I’m just so excited to see what happens and, and who gets involved, and how that continues to get passed on and everything, is just like – really exciting. I feel like I can’t even be mad about leaving, just because I’m filled with so much excitement for...for what’s to come, and what y’all will think of, and the new things that you’ll try, and all of that. And hopefully you’ll get to use the equipment again, and have that crisp, crisp audio that I love so much. But, yeah.
ELENA: I mean, kind of the same thing. I’m just really...like, I’m sad about leaving, but I’m also so excited, because...I know that whatever, whatever y’all come up with, for the next gen of podcasters, is going to be very cool. Um, and...I don’t know, part of me just really loves the idea of like, you know, drifting back to SU someday, to just say hi to all the, all the old, um, professors and SU pals, and...yeah, just kind of seeing, like, what the podcast has become. And I think also just being able to Google, like, Hoo’s At The Writing Center, and just see, see what’s goin’ on there, because we made it on Google, you guys! [Laughter] Um...yeah, and, I think the really fun thing with podcasts is there’s literally just so many things that you could do with them, and especially when you have access to a real recording studio [Laughter]. But even then, like, I think -- I think some of the things I’m most proud of with this podcast are just like, creative stuff we just kind of did on the fly, uh, in our somewhat limited environments. So, I think that without those limits...future podcasters could do even cooler things. And, I’m really excited to see what happens there.
SARAH: Yeah! I don’t think I have anything, like a new idea to add, I’m just excited for new people, new dynamics, seeing how everyone kind of fits together, new voices, um...yeah! Just, same as y’all, like, leaving and getting to still listen to everyone is such a...privilege that’s pretty cool.
KIMBERLY: And because I am the baby of this group and I get to be welcoming the, uh – well, we all get to technically welcome the, uh, new people, or person, uh, into our podcast team, I’m just looking forward to, um, leaving behind this legacy, ‘cause it’s gonna be really fricking cool, um, years down the line when we’re, when we reunite and we’re old and we’re just like, “Remember that podcast that we made? Yeah, it’s on OWN now.” [Laughter] “They didn’t credit us, but that’s okay.” [Laughter] You know, um, I love leavin’ behind legacies, small or big, in every academic setting that I’m in, and I did a similar thing in high school, but I’m happy to leave this behind when it’s my time to leave, and I hope that, um, our future writing center employees, uh, will wanna be a part of this, even though the prospect of recording yourself and having your voice be public to the world sounds incredibly scary, and believe me, we all felt it! Um, but I promise you, the friendship that you create with your team, and the – I know, I just said I wouldn’t be emo in this episode, and here I am being emo. We haven’t even done our senior episode yet. But, the fact that, um, you know, I think if there’s anything that I treasure so much about this podcast it’s that I get to be with these amazing, wonderful people. Um, and – I hope that future people will want to be a part of this and continue it. With that being said, uh, I have a little special something as part of the favorite behind the scenes gags/edited out parts. Um, but it’s really just a tribute to all the amazing things Sarah Shaffer has said, uh, in our episodes, so, please enjoy, umm – this...thing. That I’m gonna...share.
[BLOOPER REEL BEGINS]
SARAH: I mean, have I not gone to Zoom class when I could’ve? Yes. [Laughter] Have I skipped? YES.
ELENA: LITERALLY, THEY’VE CHOSEN THIS EXACT MOMENT TO ASSEMBLE ALL THREE OF THEM –
EVERYONE: [CACKLING]
ELENA: -- DIRECTLY IN THE LIKE, SAD PATCH OF GRASS RIGHT –
KARISSA: [With horribly naïve irony] I see 2020 with my very own eyes, and it’s -- it’s a whole new world out there.
SARAH: I don’t wanna say “cool concept,” ‘cause I feel like that really demotes them [Giggles] as angels? [Laughter] Uh --
KIMBERLY: Listen, for the longest time I thought it was CHAI-ropractors!
SARAH: It doesn’t --
ELENA: You see the sun and you’re like, yes, like finally, seasonal depression can go away --
SARAH: [chuckles]
ELENA: Then you go outside and it’s like, freezing and --
SARAH: Yeah.
ELENA: And you just get sad again.
SARAH: I don’t think she’ll meow on command, but I wish she did. [chuckles]
KARISSA: I’m not really lactose intolerant, but if I eat enough cheese, like, it really wrecks my stomach...
KIMBERLY: Sorry, eight year olds everywhere, um...
ELENA: A neat party trick to be like, “Let me read your tea leaves.”
SARAH: “Has anyone ever asked you about this like, back molar, like...it broke!” [Laughter]
ELENA: Wait, you didn’t notice?!
SARAH: [Still laughing] No! I was like, “Jill! No! No one’s ever asked me!”
KIMBERLY: As the youngest in this group, I feel that I have a right to be afraid.
SARAH: Woo! [Chuckles] As you may have heard – [Wheezes] I feel like that’s not appropriate! I don’t think I should say it! [Nervous but delightful laughter]
ELENA: The R is silent; English is stupid!
SARAH: Are you not – are we not Wikipedia people? [Incredulous laughter]
KARISSA: The hierarchy of needs, professor’s love is at the top [Everyone uncomfortably but uncontrollably laughing]
SARAH: No. Okay. I’m sorry, let me start over. It’s a very loud drill. Um – [Laughter] Alright. [claps] [Pause] [Choked laughter] Just cutting it for you!
ELENA: [Trying to talk and laugh at the same time, failing at both] Is that supposed to be like a ‘scene’?
EVERYONE: [Smothered helpless laughter]
KARISSA: “Marker --”
EVERYONE, BUT ESPECIALLY SARAH: [Louder laughter]
ELENA: Just clap really hard! [Cackles]
KIMBERLY: [unintelligible but probably mostly laughter]
SARAH: I’ll do it really close to the mic too so you know!
ELENA: Just so it’s like—[snort] a horrible, like cracking SPIKE on the Audacity – [More hysterical cackling]
SARAH: [Sigh] It’s like my laughs and my claps are just all –
ELENA: It’s just all clipping!
EVERYONE: [Laughter]
[BLOOPER REEL ENDS]
KIMBERLY: I just wanted to surprise you all.
ELENA: Oh my god, Kimberly. [Trying not to weep openly laughter]
KARISSA: That was so much. That was so funny, but also like, I’m gonna cry. [Sad laugh]
[Just assume after this point we all sound like we're about to cry]
ELENA: Yeah same, same.
SARAH: How long did that take you to make?
KIMBERLY: Oh, my god, I literally – it was, it took me a hot second, because I had to go through all of our episodes, and I had to find all of the times we said something ridiculous, or funny... [Laughter] And then I had to edit it out, and then I had to copy and paste it into a new Audacity file, uh, and it’s hard, because I don’t -- I don’t have the time to listen to like, however many episodes, like nine, twelve, I don’t have time to listen to all of them, so, I, basically what I did is I went through all the files and when I looked at the waveform, I would look for when it would really, like, expanded, ‘cause that meant probably we were laughing. [Laughter] So I was like, “Oh, what’s funny there?” But it was a lot easier for our recent episodes, because I know that we did a lot of cutting out because there – there's so many things, um. Yeah, so, happy anniversary, you guys.
ELENA: Happy anniversary, Kimberly.
KIMBERLY: Happy anniversary, yeah, yeah, I know. I know. [Weepy laughter] Alright, so...so Elena, take us away, take us home.
ELENA: [Sad chuckle] I don’t even know how to follow that. But um, in conclusion – um, thank you, to all of our wonderful listeners, for your love and support this past year, and also thank you to you guys, as well. We truly couldn’t have continued doing this without you.
KARISSA: We wanna give a huge shoutout again to Alex and Hidy for their amazing support during our journey, for our writing center staff for being witness to this craziness, and for our listeners for keeping this podcast alive. And to the future podcasters out there, for Hoo’s At The Writing Center or any other small podcast groups, we see you.
SARAH: Please be sure to check out our writing center BLOG, for the latest posts by our own writing center staff. Check out posts from James Gamboa on his love/hate relationship with outlining or our very own Karissa Lopez’s “New Year, New Growth,” as well as transcribed versions of the podcast’s previous episodes.
KIMBERLY: With that, be sure to stay safe, take care of one another, happy anniversary to us, wooo, and this has been another episode of...
EVERYONE: Hoo..Hoo...Hoo’s at the Writing Center!
KIMBERLY: Yep. We did it. We did it. One year, you guys.
SARAH: Yay!
ELENA: Woo!
[OUTRO MUSIC PLAYS]
ELENA: Hello and welcome back to Hoo’s at the Writing Center! I’m Elena,
KARISSA: I’m Karissa,
SARAH: I’m Sarah,
KIMBERLY: And I’m Kimberly! And oh my goodness it’s our one-year anniversary! I have in the script, cue horn blaring, confetti explosion, all the sound effects to blare in your ears for about 10 seconds. Uh we, as the Writing Center podcast team are eternally grateful to Alex Smith and Hidy Basta, our bosses, for their unconditional support, and also to the rest of the Writing Center for their amazing love, and to each other because we couldn’t have asked for a more wonderful group for this chaotic project. And of course you, our amazing listeners, from all over apparently, because we’re in Europe, uhh for staying with us for a year and for continuing to listen to our bantering.
ELENA: With that being said, we thought we could talk a little bit about the history of Hoo’s at the Writing Center, especially for all of our new listeners out there and take a trip down memory lane to talk about our favorite episodes, our favorite memories, the behind-the-scenes of some of them and the future cast. But before we talk about the future of the podcast, we thought we would talk a little but about how it all began.
KIMBERLY: Yeah, so this all started in a little staff meeting early in..oh god...what is it?
ELENA: It was like pretty close to the beginning--
KIMBERLY: Yeah I was going to say, wasn’t it like the first one of the quarter when we all worked together? And we were also in the class together?
ELENA AND KIMBERLY: 3090
KIMBERLY: Yeah, Fall 2019!
ELENA: *chuckles* A lifetime ago...
KIMBERLY: I know literally! And I just so happened to sit, I was sitting with Karissa, Elena, and Sarah at a table, all wonderful beautiful people, and Ali Shaw one of our co-lead/lead mentors, they were talking about the blog posts. Because they were trying to get the blog posts all ready up and going for admin hours and all that stuff and then they gave us a moment to think about ways that we can expand on the blog post and projects we want to do. And I said, “Wouldn’t it be really awesome to do a podcast?” *chuckles* and I just so happened to be sitting with these wonderful people who are with me today and I mean—I wasn’t--obviously we were still like, we weren’t familiar with each other yet. We were friendly, but we weren’t where we are right now as we were back then, but they agreed to it for some reason *chuckles*. They were like “You know, I’ll take a chance on this! I’ll do a podcast!” So, I proposed it when we had to share out for uh in the same meeting and then it became a longer conversation with Alex and Hidy and a longer conversation with the group and then we started thinking about like, “Oh, what episodes are we going to create? Or what was the technicalities or the logistics of recording and editing and all that stuff during our work hours?” The training we had to do at the Media Production Center, shoutout to Jamie, and uh all of this happened within two months and then we had our first episode and then the pandemic hit. *chuckles*
ELENA: That was really great, great timing.
KIMBERLY: Yeah, it was all great. We’ve spent more time apart then we have together. Isn’t that so sad?? *nervously chuckles*
ELENA: It is, but I am glad that we got it started before that because, I don’t know, I feel like it’s been a good thing to have during the pandemic—I muted myself didn’t I?
KIMBERLY: You were, and I was like uhhhh...
ELENA: Yeah, but even though we’re doing it as like zoom-podcast-edition, I feel like I’m glad that we all kind of got it all kind of figure out before that happened because I really can’t imagine trying to figure that out in the pandemic and I think it was really good to kind of have those chaotic brainstorming sessions and like that first quarter where we were just like going to Hidy and being like “Okay. So here's what we want to do.” And Hidy like not—Hidy like being there for it but also just kind of being like, “I don’t really know what vision you guys have here.”
KIMBERLY: And to be honest, neither did we. [chuckles]
KIMBERLY: Initially I knew that one of my bucket list things was to do a podcast. And I wanted to achieve that in college, however I could, and the fact that I happened to be in the Writing Center with these wonderful people, and we were like let’s make a podcast. Because that’s not like a common thing. There aren’t very many Writing Center podcasts out there, and if there are they’re just like simple videos of like grammar or like—that's all I can think about right now, just like punctuation and all that stuff so I think part of my push was to expand on like umm—like really show what the Writing Center could do and the possibilities of what having a podcast could mean so. I mean, we’re here now, we’ve celebrated a year, so people must like us! *chuckles*
KARISSA: Yeah, I remember like it got brought up at the staff meeting and honestly I was like, Oh that would be super cool if it happens, but it probably won’t. Like it’ll probably just fizzle out. Cause I was like oh yeah that would be so cool to do a podcast! Yeah, yeah! But then nothing really happened, like we just went through the rest of the staff meeting, but um I’m super glad it actually came to fruition because it was so fun and just like getting to spend time with all of you. Like Kimberly said, it’s definitely like a bucket list thing, or it was for me as well, and so I just remember being like super excited, but also being like okay well don’t be disappointed if, you know, nothing comes from it or whatever. And like, being in the Media production Center, I just remember recording the first episode and the crisp audio and I was just like [gasps] OH MY GOSH. We actually have a podcast now like this is crazy! Even just doing it over zoom, even if people aren’t listening we’re still getting to put it out and we’re still going to make content. I think that’s the part that I enjoy the most, so yeah, I’m just really thankful that, you know, everything followed through and like came to be because it’s been like one of my favorite experiences and just from kind of over a little fleeting idea of “Oh let’s make a podcast.” Just been along for the ride and it’s been pretty good.
KIMBERLY: Also, if you Google “Writing Center Podcast” we show up. So, we’re kind of famous – just saying.
SARAH: I’m honestly really grateful to be included. (laughs) I feel like high-key I do the least work for this podcast (laughs more) and also I wasn’t here for the first quarter of it. And so, I also remember the staff meeting because, I don’t know if I’ve told you all this but um, I was really sick during that staff meeting. I literally almost didn’t come, but then I did and I sat at a table with you all so—WORTH IT.
ELENA: I would have dragged you into it otherwise. Don’t even worry about it. *chuckles*
SARAH: *chuckles* That is adorable thank you. I would have loved to be dragged (big belly laugh) The wording? Maybe not so great. Yeah! Anyway, I just, I don’t know, I just love you all and it’s so wonderful to just have the opportunity to just come ad chat for like an hour and this is our job and that’s really, really cool. But also having the opportunity to talk about (laughs) just chatting with you all is really nice! I’m gonna end there. (laughter and gets cut off)
ELENA: Okay so [Laughter] before we get derailed by another Zoom podcast fun time, we want to talk a little bit about what our favorite episodes were throughout the podcast. So first up, Kimberly hit us with your favorite episode.
KIMBERLY: Yeah, yo what’s up everybody? Thank you Elena, thank you for that transition, I don’t know why I said that? I think I’m...not okay. So *chuckles* I will have to say of course I love all of our episodes, there all our babies, but my favorite episodes are probably when we do anything literature related. I know that the gag is that I don’t read and it’s fortunately true and if anyone knows me, and I’m pointing specifically at my partner *chuckles*, if anyone knows me it’s that I say I’m going to read and I don’t even follow through with it? *chuckles* Yeah so the reason why I love our literature episodes so much is because I think it helps people like me, people who are always uhh like busy 24/7. I’m also like a huge workaholic so I just like never have time to do anything. I think it really inspires me, it helps inspire people like me to make time for reading, and I know that sounds very scary, especially saying that out loud for myself, to make time for myself but I think it’s--every time I listen or we do an episode about a story or a book or an author or anything like that I think it’s like, Oh I really want to invest in things that my friends are invested in so that I can see what they like and what they’re interested in and my horizon on books everywhere. And also in the Writing Center, and we’re really nerdy in that way which I love, but I look forward to the ways in which we can expand on these kinds of episodes because I think they’re really great and I think they’re part of what makes our podcast so unique is that we are a Writing Center based podcast, but we also expand on like things related to or things that can be discussed in the Writing Center and uh if you’re listening to this right now—this is mostly a message for me—but if you’re listening to this right now, and you’re wanting to pick up that book that you’ve been putting off from years ago or you’ve been wanting to buy more books even though you already have a pile sitting on your desk of things to read? Like this is your sign to do it. This is your sign to pick up that book and make time for it because I promise you you’re going to thank yourself later when you have made time for reading. I know, I know that got pretty emotional really quickly but like I think reading is one of the most fundamental things we can offer to everyone everywhere and I deeply believe in it. So umm this is a message at me, and to everyone else everywhere who also needs it, so umm my favorite episodes are those. Uhhh now I’m going to pass it back to Elena to talk about their favorite episode.
ELENA: I mean as an English major, I approve that message. Umm [chuckles] I also really love the literature episodes, but I think that my like most favorite episode we had was an episode I personally am most emo about was near the end of season 1 when we interviewed our graduating Writing Center seniors, Maddy and Francis. Umm, they’re both extremely sweet, lovely souls and they deserve only the best things in their futures, and I don’t think that I personally was expecting to get so teary-eyed at the end of it? Because you can hear all of us like breaking up at the end of it, I kind of know that it’s a forbidden topic, but especially when I consider this is my and Sarah and Karissa’s last year at Hoo’s at the Writing Center? Yeah, Kimberly crying, me too. So it’s our last year as a—and the last quarter will be our last quarter as a writing center consultant and podcaster and it makes my heart very sad, but also very full and sappy just makes me really glad that our podcast can be a place to spotlight amazing people like Maddy and Francis even after they leave. I think it’s kind of a cool form of like immortalizing people after they graduate, after they move on to not necessarily better things because I would like to think that this was a pretty great thing, but new and exciting paths in life. Yeah, so I think it’s really cool that our podcast can be a place where people can listen and just, I think, hear how much we love them and feel the impact of their experiences and just kind of get a little snapshot of people’s time at the Writing Center.
SARAH: Oh Elena [exhale], you’re getting me emotional *chuckles* Like genuinely, I think I could have cried if I...let it get there. Anyway, I would say it’s kind of funny because my favorite episodes are the ones that I’m actually not in. (laughs) Not self-deprecating at all, genuinely I just love these two episodes. So, I really love the pilot because when I listened to it, I was in Indonesia and I remember Salem sent me the little link and was like “Oh my gosh Sarah! They finished!” Like whatever and I listened to it, and it was so awesome. Like Karissa was saying the audio? *kiss sound* Amazing. And everything was like so professional and put together and I was so excited to come back to that. And I don’t know, it was just really cool because I was also just really honored because you all shouted me out in that episode. But I just love that episode along with Paper Menagerie because it’s so cool that I just go on Spotify and turn on my friends *chuckles* and they’re just like...they’re in the room talking to me and talking to each other. It’s really cute, I really love it, I just think that this little nook that we have created in the Writing Center is so precious and it’s just so good and I think that really just comes off in our episodes and that’s why I love listening to those two specifically. But like Kimberly said, we love all of them, we’re proud of all of them, but those two *kiss sound* hit.
KARISSA: Yeah, oh my gosh. I felt like this question wasn’t fair because [laughs] I just wanna say all of them. Obviously like the ones where we had Frances and then Maddy and Frances and we got to like bring other people on the podcast, that just felt so special, like, having conversations that just probably wouldn’t have happened, even inf we were like still in person at the back table. Like, just creating space for those kinds of conversations has just been a really awesome experience. But I think my favorite episode was probably the spooky story episode and that’s because just reading through all the story submissions we got was so much fun, and I remember we would all read through a story and then text the group message about it and be like “oh my gosh did you read this one, like, that’s so crazy! Wait til you read this submission!” And it was just so much fun and just the excitement of getting to read a story again, because that quarter was really busy for me, so like I didn’t get to read for fun at all, so just having that built in, like, you have to read stories—it was just incredible. And then also just knowing that people were really respective to that call that we made on the podcast, like, people in the community got excited about it and were like “oh my gosh, here’s this story.” And so, that was just so cool, just to like kind of have that response in a more tangible way. And oh my gosh, the editing. Just the fun little edits that happened and I know that Kimberly did such a good job, cause the story we did was almost all edited with sound effects and stuff, and Elena added them too, and just [pleasant sigh] just the—the whole process of that episode was just so fun for me. And then just like listening to it and all the fun different effects and stuff and just listening to stories, just really good stuff. It just makes me so happy, like, to think about the process and then like turn on the episode and get to listen to people’s work that they were wanting to share, so I think it’s really special that we just kind of gotta like boost that for people in our community.
KIMBERLY: Those are so fun times, yeah. I loved all the episodes that we just talked about. Man, takes me back [laughs]. With that being said, what many of our listeners may or may not already know we have to edit a lot of our episodes because sometimes there are bits and pieces that we want to edit out just for clarity of the whole, um, the episode itself or if there are fun things [laughs] that we shouldn’t include in a podcast episode that are beyond our control. So, uh, I wanted to give an opportunity for use to talk about anything—any fun behind the scene things that the listeners don’t know about. I’m going tp reserve mine before our concluding thing because I wanna surprise both our podcasters here and the listeners at home. Uh, so we’re gonna go ahead and start off with Elena.
ELENA: Yeah, so [chuckles] I don’t know about you guys but one thing that quarantine has made me just like painfully aware of is just how noisy like my apartment area is, so kind of an [laughs] an ongoing meme in the podcast is the lawnmowers and leaf blowers that keep making an appearance right outside my window, um, and it’s just like an ongoing thing that whenever we record a podcast episode, the yard workers or construction workers on my block will just start doing their thing [laughs]. And I really—I wish that I could convey to them the hilarity and uh exasperation that they cause, because honestly at this point, I swear my street must be like the most leafless street in Seattle. Um, [laughs] but I think it’s worth it for the ridiculousness that it causes in Zoom of me like—there was this one episode where I had to like move around my apartment. And our apartment has super high ceilings so it’s like really echoey so it’d be like – I'd move to one place, and you could still hear the lawnmower, it was just like...echoing in the distance [chuckles]. And then, definitely, it’s funny in the moment, but then, going back to edit it, you just like relive it all over again. Um, so I think that’s kind of like, a mundane thing that has been...very, very silly. Uh, also, an honorable mention to just, the general chaos of Zoom? Uh, and the Zoom chat in particular...which, I think gives us the way too powerful ability of, uh, typing jokes to each other while someone else is trying to podcast their heart out. Uh [Laughter] and it has definitely derailed several very serious and not so serious trains of thought, which is funny every time. And we really do miss the recording studio and that sweet, sweet crisp audio – uh, we don’t really miss GarageBand [chuckles] but, uh, I think that the Zoom chat is a definite pro, and – I don’t know, I think it’s kind of fun to just see everybody in their little living spaces. Um, just chillin’, although I would much prefer us to all be together in the studio. But, given the times, Zoom has served its purpose.
SARAH: I would love to visit the studio; I’ve never been there! I’ve never recorded there, so...moving onto my [Laughter] favorite edited-out parts, I just – okay. All of my life, I've been told that I laugh a lot. I’ve been told that my laugh is contagious; it’s very loud, like – on Zoom specifically, sometimes, I talk or laugh so loud that it thinks I’m a background noise so then it mutes me? [Through laughter] I’ve had that happen, so many times, I cannot tell you! It’s embarrassing, it’s hilarious, it’s bad [Laughter]. But, it’s so funny listening back to the podcast, and having to like, transcribe my own laughter; like why am I laughing so much? That is ridiculous, stop? [Laughter] Like, one episode, when we kept it all, because it was great, it was a nice thread to Elena’s lawnmower, I just had to be like, “Sarah’s laughing again. Somehow, she keeps laughing. Laughing, ESCALATES.” Like, it’s just – laughter spreads. It’s -- ridiculous. Um, so yeah, I’ve really got to have the, have the pleasure, the opportunity to listen to myself, and the way I exist, and it’s very...[Laughter] It’s a LOT. [Laughter] I knew I was a lot before, but it’s really sad having to listen to it. Not sad, but it’s just weird. It’s really weird. Like, when I’m transcribing, I would much prefer hearing any of you all over myself. You know what I mean? But...I love you all, and I’m gonna...throw it to Karissa [Laughter].
KARISSA: Thank you! Yeah, honestly, I think it makes it worse on Zoom because, we’re all muted, so like – whoever is not muted, we’re hearing their laughter. So like, if Sarah’s talking, everyone else is muted, so when Sarah’s laughing, you can only hear Sarah laugh. When like, everyone else is laughing, and we can see it, but you just can’t hear it. Um, but yeah, that’s also my favorite part – and just like, some of the random stuff that gets thrown in, that someone like, says in a part that we’re cutting out or something, just like going back and listening and editing, it’s like, “I don’t...when did we say this? Why did we say this? Like, what is happening in this moment, what is going on in here on this day?!” You know? Like I just – and then you have to cut it, and like, I was editing our last episode, and I think – it's only like, ten minutes long, and I cut out at least five minutes, because it was just, like – delusional. It was either laughter, or it was like complete delusion that was not at all relevant, but I’m sitting there editing it, like, laughing so hard to myself, like, just always smiling, and, I’m not even mad, because it just makes editing so much more fun when there’s like, all this laughter, and like, everything that’s just making me really happy...yeah, it just makes everything more enjoyable. And, a lot more fun. And, we’re enjoying ourselves, so that’s always good. And – Kimberlyyy?
KIMBERLY: Except not, because I’m gonna save it for later.
KARISSA: Okay, that’s what I thought.
KIMBERLY: Umm – Karissa, why don’t you start us off and talk about what you’re lookin’ forward to in the future of – I keep wanting to say “How I Met Your Mother,” but it’s “Hoo’s At The Writing Center,” because --
KARISSA: [chuckles] We’re not THAT big yet!
KIMBERLY: I know, I know! Not yet, not yet. Lookin’ at you, NBC.
KARISSA: Sponsor us. Um...I don’t think it was NBC, actually, Kimberly, so – [chuckles]. But I mean –
ELENA: Not sponsored by CBS.
KARISSA: Or CBS! Any --
KIMBERLY: Someone sponsor us.
KARISSA: Any major networks...you know. We’re here. We’re waiting.
KIMBERLY: Oprah?
KARISSA: Um -- [chuckles] YES. The Oprah Winfrey Network. I don’t think they’d have us. But, we can, we can dream. Okay. The future. I’m really excited just to see...where this podcast goes, because, like you kind of talked about, when we all started, it was, like – we had no idea, really, what we were doing, or where we wanted it to go. It just kind of like...happened, and I’m really excited to see what the future looks like, really, like what you guys decide to do, and, and – the new episodes that you can think of, and I’m just so excited to hear new voices as well, and get to – always have this kind of more tangible connection to the writing center, and still get to listen to like, what y’all are doing here, and like, how life in Seattle is, and how SU is, and all of that stuff. So I feel like, it’s just one more branch of connection. Yeah, I’m just so excited to see what happens and, and who gets involved, and how that continues to get passed on and everything, is just like – really exciting. I feel like I can’t even be mad about leaving, just because I’m filled with so much excitement for...for what’s to come, and what y’all will think of, and the new things that you’ll try, and all of that. And hopefully you’ll get to use the equipment again, and have that crisp, crisp audio that I love so much. But, yeah.
ELENA: I mean, kind of the same thing. I’m just really...like, I’m sad about leaving, but I’m also so excited, because...I know that whatever, whatever y’all come up with, for the next gen of podcasters, is going to be very cool. Um, and...I don’t know, part of me just really loves the idea of like, you know, drifting back to SU someday, to just say hi to all the, all the old, um, professors and SU pals, and...yeah, just kind of seeing, like, what the podcast has become. And I think also just being able to Google, like, Hoo’s At The Writing Center, and just see, see what’s goin’ on there, because we made it on Google, you guys! [Laughter] Um...yeah, and, I think the really fun thing with podcasts is there’s literally just so many things that you could do with them, and especially when you have access to a real recording studio [Laughter]. But even then, like, I think -- I think some of the things I’m most proud of with this podcast are just like, creative stuff we just kind of did on the fly, uh, in our somewhat limited environments. So, I think that without those limits...future podcasters could do even cooler things. And, I’m really excited to see what happens there.
SARAH: Yeah! I don’t think I have anything, like a new idea to add, I’m just excited for new people, new dynamics, seeing how everyone kind of fits together, new voices, um...yeah! Just, same as y’all, like, leaving and getting to still listen to everyone is such a...privilege that’s pretty cool.
KIMBERLY: And because I am the baby of this group and I get to be welcoming the, uh – well, we all get to technically welcome the, uh, new people, or person, uh, into our podcast team, I’m just looking forward to, um, leaving behind this legacy, ‘cause it’s gonna be really fricking cool, um, years down the line when we’re, when we reunite and we’re old and we’re just like, “Remember that podcast that we made? Yeah, it’s on OWN now.” [Laughter] “They didn’t credit us, but that’s okay.” [Laughter] You know, um, I love leavin’ behind legacies, small or big, in every academic setting that I’m in, and I did a similar thing in high school, but I’m happy to leave this behind when it’s my time to leave, and I hope that, um, our future writing center employees, uh, will wanna be a part of this, even though the prospect of recording yourself and having your voice be public to the world sounds incredibly scary, and believe me, we all felt it! Um, but I promise you, the friendship that you create with your team, and the – I know, I just said I wouldn’t be emo in this episode, and here I am being emo. We haven’t even done our senior episode yet. But, the fact that, um, you know, I think if there’s anything that I treasure so much about this podcast it’s that I get to be with these amazing, wonderful people. Um, and – I hope that future people will want to be a part of this and continue it. With that being said, uh, I have a little special something as part of the favorite behind the scenes gags/edited out parts. Um, but it’s really just a tribute to all the amazing things Sarah Shaffer has said, uh, in our episodes, so, please enjoy, umm – this...thing. That I’m gonna...share.
[BLOOPER REEL BEGINS]
SARAH: I mean, have I not gone to Zoom class when I could’ve? Yes. [Laughter] Have I skipped? YES.
ELENA: LITERALLY, THEY’VE CHOSEN THIS EXACT MOMENT TO ASSEMBLE ALL THREE OF THEM –
EVERYONE: [CACKLING]
ELENA: -- DIRECTLY IN THE LIKE, SAD PATCH OF GRASS RIGHT –
KARISSA: [With horribly naïve irony] I see 2020 with my very own eyes, and it’s -- it’s a whole new world out there.
SARAH: I don’t wanna say “cool concept,” ‘cause I feel like that really demotes them [Giggles] as angels? [Laughter] Uh --
KIMBERLY: Listen, for the longest time I thought it was CHAI-ropractors!
SARAH: It doesn’t --
ELENA: You see the sun and you’re like, yes, like finally, seasonal depression can go away --
SARAH: [chuckles]
ELENA: Then you go outside and it’s like, freezing and --
SARAH: Yeah.
ELENA: And you just get sad again.
SARAH: I don’t think she’ll meow on command, but I wish she did. [chuckles]
KARISSA: I’m not really lactose intolerant, but if I eat enough cheese, like, it really wrecks my stomach...
KIMBERLY: Sorry, eight year olds everywhere, um...
ELENA: A neat party trick to be like, “Let me read your tea leaves.”
SARAH: “Has anyone ever asked you about this like, back molar, like...it broke!” [Laughter]
ELENA: Wait, you didn’t notice?!
SARAH: [Still laughing] No! I was like, “Jill! No! No one’s ever asked me!”
KIMBERLY: As the youngest in this group, I feel that I have a right to be afraid.
SARAH: Woo! [Chuckles] As you may have heard – [Wheezes] I feel like that’s not appropriate! I don’t think I should say it! [Nervous but delightful laughter]
ELENA: The R is silent; English is stupid!
SARAH: Are you not – are we not Wikipedia people? [Incredulous laughter]
KARISSA: The hierarchy of needs, professor’s love is at the top [Everyone uncomfortably but uncontrollably laughing]
SARAH: No. Okay. I’m sorry, let me start over. It’s a very loud drill. Um – [Laughter] Alright. [claps] [Pause] [Choked laughter] Just cutting it for you!
ELENA: [Trying to talk and laugh at the same time, failing at both] Is that supposed to be like a ‘scene’?
EVERYONE: [Smothered helpless laughter]
KARISSA: “Marker --”
EVERYONE, BUT ESPECIALLY SARAH: [Louder laughter]
ELENA: Just clap really hard! [Cackles]
KIMBERLY: [unintelligible but probably mostly laughter]
SARAH: I’ll do it really close to the mic too so you know!
ELENA: Just so it’s like—[snort] a horrible, like cracking SPIKE on the Audacity – [More hysterical cackling]
SARAH: [Sigh] It’s like my laughs and my claps are just all –
ELENA: It’s just all clipping!
EVERYONE: [Laughter]
[BLOOPER REEL ENDS]
KIMBERLY: I just wanted to surprise you all.
ELENA: Oh my god, Kimberly. [Trying not to weep openly laughter]
KARISSA: That was so much. That was so funny, but also like, I’m gonna cry. [Sad laugh]
[Just assume after this point we all sound like we're about to cry]
ELENA: Yeah same, same.
SARAH: How long did that take you to make?
KIMBERLY: Oh, my god, I literally – it was, it took me a hot second, because I had to go through all of our episodes, and I had to find all of the times we said something ridiculous, or funny... [Laughter] And then I had to edit it out, and then I had to copy and paste it into a new Audacity file, uh, and it’s hard, because I don’t -- I don’t have the time to listen to like, however many episodes, like nine, twelve, I don’t have time to listen to all of them, so, I, basically what I did is I went through all the files and when I looked at the waveform, I would look for when it would really, like, expanded, ‘cause that meant probably we were laughing. [Laughter] So I was like, “Oh, what’s funny there?” But it was a lot easier for our recent episodes, because I know that we did a lot of cutting out because there – there's so many things, um. Yeah, so, happy anniversary, you guys.
ELENA: Happy anniversary, Kimberly.
KIMBERLY: Happy anniversary, yeah, yeah, I know. I know. [Weepy laughter] Alright, so...so Elena, take us away, take us home.
ELENA: [Sad chuckle] I don’t even know how to follow that. But um, in conclusion – um, thank you, to all of our wonderful listeners, for your love and support this past year, and also thank you to you guys, as well. We truly couldn’t have continued doing this without you.
KARISSA: We wanna give a huge shoutout again to Alex and Hidy for their amazing support during our journey, for our writing center staff for being witness to this craziness, and for our listeners for keeping this podcast alive. And to the future podcasters out there, for Hoo’s At The Writing Center or any other small podcast groups, we see you.
SARAH: Please be sure to check out our writing center BLOG, for the latest posts by our own writing center staff. Check out posts from James Gamboa on his love/hate relationship with outlining or our very own Karissa Lopez’s “New Year, New Growth,” as well as transcribed versions of the podcast’s previous episodes.
KIMBERLY: With that, be sure to stay safe, take care of one another, happy anniversary to us, wooo, and this has been another episode of...
EVERYONE: Hoo..Hoo...Hoo’s at the Writing Center!
KIMBERLY: Yep. We did it. We did it. One year, you guys.
SARAH: Yay!
ELENA: Woo!
[OUTRO MUSIC PLAYS]