"Bringing Literacy Discussion out of the Classroom"- Getting to know Sam Spieller, host of Canonical Podcast

 "Bringing Literacy Discussion out of the Classroom"- Getting to know Sam Spieller, host of Canonical Podcast. 

Canonical is a podcast that is about to celebrate their 2-year anniversary in June 2022. I spoke with one of the hosts Sam, to talk more about Canonical and his journey into audio. 

Sam Spieller is a full time technical writer in Portland, Oregon. He is also co-host of Canonical Podcast. His life motto is 'this too shall pass'. He wants to be known as someone who stood up for his beliefs in pursuit of a happy life.

"Our goal is to bring literary discussion out of the classroom", says Sam. Sam, along with co-hosts Eyad Darras and James Xiao, read and discuss a book over the course of three weeks. The books are chosen as part of a thematic miniseries, for example Postmodern Japanese Fiction and Trans-humanist Sci-Fi. 

In asking the inspiration for beginning Canonical, Sam says they all missed in-depth discussion of good literature, the kind of conversations they had in college, so they figured they weren't alone in that.

"One of the things I love is that while the three of us often feel similarly about the books we read, we still have different perspectives and takeaways. There are times when it's not until we're actually recording that something comes into focus for me, or one of us discovers something new during the conversation".

Sharing his biggest lesson on audio storytelling, it is that it's a very time-consuming process! "Editing takes a long time, and while we understand it now, it was a lot to learn at first. We also tried various recording methods and tools before we found our current setup. We're still learning and figuring out how to save time and energy, especially since we're not getting paid to do it."

Canonical Podcast Logo

Sam was kind enough to share the current tools he uses while podcasting. He uses a microphone (AT2005USB), records audio using Adobe Audition, which they also use to mix and edit. He also publishes through Podbean.

Teamwork is critical when all hosts live in different cities (Portland, San Fransisco and Beijing). Therefore, it is important to remain accountable to each other, to be flexible and be open to change. 

I asked Sam to share any advice for those considering entering the world of audio. "Make sure you're doing it for the right reasons. Don't do it for fame or fortune because that's unlikely. But believe in yourself and your idea. If you put in the work and make it available and keep pushing, the right people will find it. However, it is on you to help them find it.". 

You can find the link to Canonical Podcast here:https://linktr.ee/Canonicalpod