Week 10 Workshop

Listening to the audio documentary, “My Lobotomy”: Howard Dully’s Journey 

In Week 10’s workshop, I laid down on the classroom carpet and listened to the first twenty minutes or so of an incredibly compelling audio documentary of a 56 year old bus driver set out “on a journey to learn everything … about [his] lobotomy.” On his journey, he interviews the relatives and loved ones of those who had been subjected to the procedure, but also discusses his personal experience of undergoing the same procedure at just 12 years of age. He talks about how no one could tell he has had a lobotomy, only the fact that he is “tall and weighs 350 pounds”, but then his voice lowers and you can easily hear the emptiness and pain in his heart as he expresses how he feels that something is “missing from [his] soul” ever since his lobotomy. Switching between documentary-style narration and interviews, the audio piece has a sense of raw emotion from Dully’s narrated inner thoughts and the spoken words of those also affected by the consequences of lobotomies. As Dully expresses this unexplainable lodge in his soul that his lobotomy caused, he further talks about his regret for not confronting his parents as to why they subjected him to such a cruel procedure. So, when the audio piece transitions to Dully finally talking to his father about his lobotomy, as a listener, I held my breath as I felt so present in the moment of an emotionally personal atmosphere.

It was very interesting to listen to an audio piece that was predominantly voice. The other audio pieces I often listen to would mix things up and create soundscapes with music and sound effects, but “My Lobotomy”‘‘s use of narration and spoken word kept a very even pace through Dully’s journey of understanding the unfortunate event that has reshaped his life completely. I believe the content and context of the documentary’s subject was full of jewels and treasure, it didn’t need the extra garnish of fancy music and supporting sound effects. Hence, with the raw emotion behind such a sensitive topic to Dully and the other victims and families of the lobotomy procedure, this audio piece was definitely an eye opener to a different approach to audio documentaries.