Listening Post

“Consider for a second how many stories have been written and chanted and whispered and drawn and danced and imagined since the earliest humans. Close your eyes for a second and try to give those stories form. If each story were a butterfly, every surface and vista on earth would by now be a perpetual-motion panorama of brilliant iridescence. If each story were a particle of energy, our entire planet would be encased in a story field, a web or matrix of tales that binds and sustains our collective existence….

The story revolution, the one that is transforming our world even as I speak, is fueled by [this] assertion: that everyone contributes to culture, that the knowledge sorely needed by future generations must come from every ethnic group and region and social class, from men and women of infinite variety, and that everyone has something to teach and something to learn."

~ Arlene Goldbard, CDS Strategic Visionary, from her talk, “The Story Revolution.”

This letter comes from a train in Wales. Shooting back across the country to an appointed rendezvous with my flight home to the U.S. This comes at the end of an eventful week of work, including the London iPhone workshop , an appearance at the 7th Digital Storytelling Festival (DSF7) in Cardiff (see notes on both below), and a productive session with colleagues from two European projects.

I used this quote at the beginning of my talk at DSF7, in part in response to the massive media event of the prior weekend's Jubilee, celebrating 60 years of Elizabeth II's rule. I felt a stark contrast from the mostly nationalistic hoopla going four days straight on the BBC (and live coverage for several days on many international networks such as CNN) and the mash-up of cultures one finds on the London street. In the neighborhoods I walked from the East End to the South Bank, I saw Bengali and Nigerian, Arab and Asian, Caribbean and Latino working-class families wandering the streets and enjoying the party, joined by all shades of the global itinerant professional class.

 

It was odd for me—a progressive American a dozen generations past our rejection of the English King—to be so near the celebration. I certainly understand that the royal tradition is a fabled story, claimed by some people as core to their identity and others as enjoyable kitsch and a guilty pleasure. Besides their role as a lightening rod for tabloid gossip, Elizabeth's celebrity kin generally go about making people feel positive about social institutions that serve people in need. In this role rests a sustained global popularity. And Elizabeth is a truly interesting character. Who can resist wanting to imagine her life, admiring her fortitude on observing six decades of world events from the front row? So perhaps the outpouring was exactly as it should be. And besides, everyone appreciated a four-day holiday.

But this arrangement with the royals had another side, well-expressed by a story that came out of the London workshop from photographer Eugenie Dolberg, a daughter of Russian emigres, and now the partner and mother in an English-Iranian family. For many of us, Queen Elizabeth represents the lifestyle of the 1%, and what’s more, the 1% that sources its wealth from the 500-year colonial enterprise. In 2012, the blanket coverage of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee was a reminder of the consensus sought by the 1% and the media apparatus they control. Their message is that the right to rule from the great height of wealth and privilege is inviolable, something very close to a natural order. The dissonance is powerful: we know our societies are standing at an economic and environmental precipice, but let's stop anyway to celebrate our enduring institutions and those who run them.

As Arlene suggests, as proponents of democracy, we at CDS do not think the narratives of the 1% will save us. Everyone has a stake in our future. It calls for the sharing of all our stories on endless platforms that provide visibility for our diversity, rather than easily packaged stories to sell products. Perhaps the sharing of stories can soften some of the polarizing battles to come, making the discussion less about replacing one elite with another and more about finding out what we can all afford to give up and share, about equitable and just accommodations. Give me a Queen who re-brands as the face of our difficult future, as an exemplar of how those lucky enough to have landed at the top deflate the fallacy that regal lifestyles, by royals or the global 1%, are sustainable. What about this story? The Queen becomes a nice old lady who finds a quiet flat in Hackney to spend her waning days and gives the rest of her wealth and holdings to a public trust for the maximum benefit of her people. Such a Queen would be worthy of wholehearted celebration.

Not likely ... but a fellow can dream.

And so can you. I look forward to hearing your stories about making sense of our futures.

~ JOE LAMBERT

Executive Director

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In recognition of National Gay Pride Month in the U.S., we are pleased to share a beautiful story by Nazbah Tom. About her piece, Nazbah writes, "I am Dineh, born and raised on the Navajo Reservation near Shonto, AZ. Salt Clan, Born for Folded Arms People, Maternal Clan is Reed People, and Paternal Clan is Bitterwater. My interest in storytelling was cultivated and encouraged through my family and culture. Stories put us in connection with ourselves, each other, land, animals, ancestors, spirit, and other beings we might not see but feel. In the workshop, I had enough emotional distance to tell the story without being overwhelmed with the more intense aspects of this story such as shame or guilt. I felt it was time to tell this story and let it go."

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Digital Storytelling Festival (DSF7), Cardiff, Wales

From 2002-2009, the British Broadcasting Corporation's effort with the Capture Wales Digital Storytelling program captured the imagination of numerous community organizations, artists, media activists, and individuals. Desiring a way to bring together those communities with representatives of innovative projects from around the world was the impetus for the Wales Digital Storytelling Festival. In its seventh year, the annual event has become a focal point for the international digital storytelling community. This year's DSF7 had representatives from over 20 countries, with exciting presentations by folks working in a diverse array of interests, from refugee communities to spiritual work, applications in commercial contexts, and various aspects of community engagement. Highlights included a fabulous overview of Cowbird.com by Annie Correal and an equally compelling presentation on HistoryPin.com by Natasha Armstrong. Many CDS friends and collaborators were in attendance, making it a wonderful annual reunion for the digital storytelling community in the UK and beyond. 

 

 

May 16 - International Day of Sharing Life Stories

 

On May 16, Brazil's Museu da Pessoa (Museum of the Person) and the Center for
Digital Storytelling in the United States organized the sixth celebration of the International Day for Sharing Life Stories through two ongoing online projects. Individuals around the world were encouraged to become contributors to Cowbird.com, and to submit images and text to the Museu da Pessoa's newly created e-book project, LIFE, which will bring together a selection of global images and words for publication in late 2012. The day honors Studs Terkel, an American writer and radio personality who dedicated his long life to celebrating the lives of ordinary people. On May 16, 2012, Studs would have been 100 years old. Cowbird dedicated their third "Saga" to “Working,” in homage to Terkel’s groundbreaking 1972 book, Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day, and How They Feel About What They Do. You can still visit Cowbird.com to share your working stories.

Berkeley, CA:
July 19-21: Standard Workshop
August 13-15: Educator Workshop
September 13-15: Standard Workshop
October 25-27: Standard Workshop
December 6-8: Standard Workshop
February 7-8: Stories-of-Health Workshop

Denver, CO:
July 8: Snapshot Story Workshop
July 16-18: Educator Workshop
August 6-10: FIT Workshop
August 8-10: Standard Workshop
September 20-22: Standard Workshop
October 25-27: Standard Workshop
November 15-17: Standard Workshop

Washington, DC:
September 6-8: Standard Workshop

New York, NY:
June 28-30: Standard Workshop

Chicago, IL:
August 2-4: Standard Workshop

Ukiah, CA:
October 2012 (dates TBA): Embodied Story Workshop

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:
November 2012 (dates TBA): iPhone Workshop

Program Update: Stories of Health

The recognition that personal stories can play a key role in community health and well-being, healthcare provision and advocacy, and public health research and prevention efforts is key to our expanding Stories of Health program area.

“Re-vision--the act of looking back, of seeing with fresh eyes, of entering an old text from a new critical direction--is for women more than a chapter in cultural history: it is an act of survival. Until we can understand the assumptions in which we are drenched we cannot know ourselves.”

~ Adrienne Rich, from “When Dead We Awaken.” (College English 34.1, 1972)

This spring, we expanded our Stories of Health program area to Canada, where we successfully completed a series of digital storytelling workshops in Toronto as part of “Project Re*Vision.” Over the course of the three workshops, which culminated in a five-day customized facilitator training, 30 digital stories were created by women and providers about living with and responding to difference. Project Re*Vision’s “Mobilizing New Meanings of Disability and Difference,” lead by Dr. Carla Rice at the University of Guelph, is exploring ways that art-informed social research can create opportunities for women and their health providers to shift misconceptions of bodily difference and improve quality of care for those living with disability and difference.

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As stories of global violence and conflict continue to proliferate online, our Silence Speaks initiative continues to explore how personal narratives can enhance education and advocacy for gender equality and human rights.

 

In recognition of the 5th Annual International Day for Sharing Life Stories, observed on May 16, 2012, Silence Speaks collaborator Exhale invited its supporters to “promote respectful story sharing that encourages individual and community well-being and facilitates social transformation.” Read more about ethical story sharing.

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"Great-grandmother Eliza helped other people in our small community. They all called her “mama”. She took care of their young kids in the days before daycare, so unmarried women could work or finish school or maybe emigrate from Jamaica to a brighter future. … My own mother was a teenager, and Eliza took care of me until she died. … I don’t remember her teaching me about volunteering, necessarily. But I remember that she just responded to the needs around her naturally. She got things done, and we felt loved." 

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London iPhone Workshop

On a cool and overcast Saturday morning in early June, fourteen iPhone photographers journeyed through the Southbank area of London to discover images for their digital stories. Their task was to spend two and a half days writing stories out of experiences from their life, using London's streets as the backdrop. In the story circle that followed the photography session, everyone in the group found a different way to understand the links from their narratives to the images around them. Having been joined for a great initial lecture on iPhone Photography by Richard Gray (see iPhoggy.com), the participants were able to also explore the unique layering of photographic effects available with various iPhone apps. The completed stories were powerful and meaningful for all of those in attendance. CDS will continue its series of iPhone workshops in the Fall. For more information, visit www.storycenter.org/iphoneworkshop.

In April, we kicked off one of our three current projects with collaborators in the European Union, with a three-day digital storytelling workshop at Yale College, Wrexham (Wales) for project partners from eight different EU countries. These partners will be responsible for rolling out digital storytelling within local communities in their respective countries, as part of a lifelong learning initiative. They will also engage in ongoing knowledge and information sharing across digital storytelling programs in the EU. The stories were featured during a road show in conjunction with the DSF7 digital storytelling festival, held in Cardiff, Wales on June 7.

EU Network digital storytelling project 

participants and facilitator, April 2012.

 

View a story about an unknown family history and a monthly check that keeps on coming, by Lithuanian project partner Salomeja Karaseviciute. 

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In May, we completed another workshop with faculty and staff at Swarthmore College, as part of an ongoing collaborative effort to infuse digital storytelling throughout the College’s programs. Read about the most recent session here.

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"They didn’t seem to know that as the young daughter of Irish immigrants she had beautiful red hair that faded to pink as she got older.”

~ Excerpt from a story by Mollie Fischer, Cambridge Care Center, created in the Colorado Culture Change – Center for Digital Storytelling From the Heart project. (Denver, April 2012)

Image from Mollie Fischer’s story.

 

This Spring, we moved towards the completion of a collaborative project with the Colorado Culture Change Coalition, “From the Heart,” which has involved digital storytelling workshops with both staff and residents of long-term care facilities, to encourage and document the need for patient-centric and patient-directed care. After helping ten staff members tell their stories, we visited six partner care facilities to help them support residents in sharing stories. On June 18th, we hosted a public screening public screening of the stories and sent compilation story DVDs with discussion guides to every long-term care facility in the state. The goal for this movement is to impact not only the climate around long-term care in Colorado, but to contribute to the national debate about the need for culture change in long-term care. A DVD with the stories and a printable discuss guide is available. To order, please contact Daniel Weinshenker.

 

View two Culture Change stories.

Image from
Manuela Ferrari’s story.

Announcements

Summer Sale!

 

We’re offering a special two-for-one summer deal on Joe Lambert’s book, Capturing Lives, Creating Community. Through August 31, 2012, our newsletter recipients are eligible to purchase the book for the regular price of $35 and receive a second copy free of charge! Order today. 

 

2013 International Conference on Digital Storytelling

 

Digital storytelling practitioners and supporters are invited to save the date for the Fifth International Conference on Digital Storytelling, planned for May 8 – 11, 2013, in Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey. The event will be hosted by Haceteppe University in Ankara. Stay tuned for updates in future newsletters.

 

Original Music Tracks Wanted!

 

Once again, if you’re an emerging or experienced music-maker, we invite you to donate original tracks for our custom workshop participants to feature in their stories. Composers will receive full credit. For more information, please contact Amy Hill.