April 6th, 2023

The tasks found in the rubric did help. I wasn't sure how to go into this podcast, what questions to ask, and how to structure it, but having that one essential question around which to structure my questions around did help. It also helped me to not spiral down a rabbit hole on issues that don't necessarily concern Gramsci, though could potentially concern Marxism as it is a huge topic. The timeline was definitely reasonable. The issue was with me. I personally put too many things on my plate this past month, so I found myself drained and pushing EMC to the back of the line. I prioritized other things over EMC, things that on second thought didn't deserve to be placed higher on the list than EMC.
This assignment was definitely useful in my research. Not only did it solidify certain information and understandings I had on Gramsci, but it helped further my analyses and also sparked new curiosities about Gramsci. The most difficult part was my self-doubt. I often self-doubted myself when creating these questions about whether or not I could pull this off. I wasn't sure if I'd come across as someone who has spent some reasonable time researching and reading Gramsci, or if I'd sound like a person who had no clue about what they were talking about. I also found it difficult to find time to edit. I would constantly push it back, prioritizing it for last even though I had everything I needed right in front of me. That would be the only thing I'd change, which is my work ethic in editing the podcast. I'm really glad I reached out to Waite, along with others who helped me along this journey as well.
The structure of this assignment as a podcast definitely worked out well. I had the opportunity to also reach out to a professor at the University of Syracuse, named Mark Edward Rupert. I sent them questions through email and they responded back through email as well. It definitely helped me out in further understanding Gramsci, but I think a conversation, such as the one I had with Professor Waite, helped a lot more in retaining and understanding the information provided. The limitation I found was that, in relistening to the podcast, I had referred to the leadership in Italy at some point. However, I used the word "President of Italy" instead of "Prime Minister of Italy".  I wish to go back and fix that mistake, but once the interview was said and done, I had to stick with it. This personally is a reason why I would rather not make a podcast in the future. I don't believe to have the voice nor charisma for a podcast, plus I fear too much about tripping over my words and making a mistake that can't be undone. 

April 18th, 2023

This is a draft of section 3 and 4 of the introduction to my symposium

For my senior year of high school, I decided to embark on a journey through Italy, specifically through the mind of Gramsci. He is an Italian Marxist thinker, arguably one of the most influential and important figures of Italian Marxist history. As someone born in Italy and raised in an Italian family, I felt the desire to delve deeper into both a topic that has interested me for years and a history of a nation that has much to do with who I am today. When visiting Italy, I found that most people at least had an idea of who Gramsci was. However, here in the United States, not many know of his works, despite him being the one who coined the term Hegemony. He’s not the most important man in history, but some knowledge of him has helped me understand our society a bit more, and he may be able to help you too.