For my gateway course to the Minor in Writing, I had to choose an origin piece, something I had already written, to run experiments on and explore different genres throughout the course of the semester. Since I first applied for the minor, I had been planning on using one particular piece, but the day before I had to fully commit, I suddenly felt like I was making a mistake. I chose another piece purely on instinct. It was a paper on motherhood politics that I had written for another class. For my experiments, I chose to focus on one aspect of that paper: the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. 

​

My first experiment was a children’s book. I chose this genre because I wanted to reach an audience of elementary-aged girls. I was in elementary school when I first learned about the Triangle Fire, and I can remember checking out books about it from the library. However, nearly all of those books were intended for an adult audience. I wanted to create something that I would have liked to read when I was a child. 

​

I am grateful that I conducted this experiment first, because I ultimately ran into some problems that would direct the course of my next two experiments. First, I felt constricted by a children’s book because I simply did not have enough space to go in detail—I would have to pick and choose what to include. Of course, this has to be done for any piece of writing, but I personally found that a children’s book was just too short. As this experiment progressed, I learned that having such a broad focus was not enough to satisfy me. The little details are what initially sparked my interest in the fire, so I wanted to include them in my fully realized experiment. The length of a children’s book made such a thing nearly impossible. 

​

The second challenge I encountered was the need to make the contents of a children’s book appropriate for the age range in my intended audience. For example, I would not want to explain the gruesome deaths suffered by many of the Triangle Factory employees to an audience of children, but I felt like I was doing a disservice to the victims in glossing over their deaths. It was important to me that I told the full story, and after conducting this experiment, I did not think that a children’s book was the best genre to fulfill that goal. I needed a genre that would address a different audience. 

​

I chose to create a museum exhibition for my second experiment. Following the disappointment of my first experiment, I wanted to explore something that would allow me to include more details and to reach a different audience. I struck gold with this experiment. While there will likely still be young children that view an exhibition, going to a museum is more purposeful. Parents will know what they are signing up for when they choose to bring their children to an exhibition. There is not as great of a need to carefully consider the consequences of including each specific detail. Because of this, I am able to tell a more complete story of my topic that I did not get to do with a children’s book. An exhibition would also give me the space to dedicate attention to the smaller details, ones that I believe to be important but can easily be overlooked when attempting to broadly summarize such a complicated event. My first experiment showed me aspects of this project that I did not realize I found important until I was faced with the prospect of having to change them, and my second experiment allowed me to rectify the issues I found with my first. 

​

For my third experiment, I chose to create a podcast episode. Once again, I wanted to explore a genre that would allow me to explore the smaller details of the fire, as well as one that was more accessible than my first two experiments. I liked how podcasts can be tailored to the creator’s desires. I could, within reason, make it as long as I wanted to and include many details. I was also attracted to how podcasts are so convenient, more so than a children’s book or a museum exhibition. They can be found for free on most streaming platforms—there is no need to buy anything or drive anywhere. Along with that, they can be listened to at any time of day, like commuting to work or knitting at night. Unfortunately, I found that I was not as passionate and excited for a podcast episode as I was for a museum exhibition, which led me to perhaps my most important realization of the class. 

​

This semester showed me that I should not cater to other people’s needs. While it is important to consider an audience when creating a piece of writing, I need to first do what interests me. Without that interest, I would have created something that I had no passion for, and it would be impossible to please an audience when I could not even please myself. For the entirety of this class, I was doing whatever interested me because there was not a lot of commitment to any one experiment. I did not have to fully realize any of them until my final project, so I could push practicality to the side and follow my heart. This realization was ultimately what led me to my decision for my final project. 

​

I chose to fully realize a museum exhibition, my second experiment, because it was my favorite. I loved conducting research for that experiment, and I genuinely could not stop thinking about it, even when that experiment was finished. It enabled me to do what most interested me rather than what I felt I should be doing, for whatever reason. I could reach an audience of people equally interested in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, people who sought out information about it. Creating this exhibition was the most fun I have had for a school assignment thus far in my college career. I have spent hours on end creating this at my desk. I am so proud of the final product, and I hope you like it just as much as I do.