“Not I, nor anyone else can travel that road for you.
You must travel it by yourself.
It is not far. It is within reach.
Perhaps you have been on it since you were born, and did not know. 
Perhaps it is everywhere – on water and land.”
— Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

When I began to craft my project for the Digital Storytelling assignment, I realized that all of my classes at UNC Greensboro have a common thread; every single one has asked us to introduce ourselves and share a bit of our background. Each time, I have referred to the rather circuitous journey my twenties took me on, from meteorology to horticulture to history to libraries. However, I have never talked openly about the journey I took between horticulture and history, that period where I wandered in the proverbial woods. It’s not easy to talk about, being lost without a sense of direction.

The image I used for this assignment is a bit of a metaphor; the rock I sat upon and took the picture from is a bit like a library in the stream of chaos (life). Libraries are safe havens from the trappings of society. They are third spaces at their core; zones free of societal pressures and stigmas. We, as librarians, provide guidance for the rivers of people in our spaces, like that rock provided guidance for the Pilchuck River. My rock changed the progression of my life/river for the better; it is up to us to continually be that rock, that advocate and agent of change, for our patrons.

This video is about my 旅, my journey, all sparked by a quiet rock in a river. 

I used iMovie and Garage Band to create this film since I am a Mac user. I’ve used both with great success in the past, even creating DVD-quality videos before. I pushed myself with the audio this time, tweaking the Apple Loop to fade in a manner consistent with the look/feel/emotion I wanted to elicit. Also, instead of a traditional storyboard, I went back to my communication roots and used a script instead.  I think I can attribute this to my screenwriting class and a background in theatre; I think better with a script than a storyboard!

Digital Storytelling Script

In conclusion, this assignment pushed me even harder to embrace my past and apply it to my present, both literally and figuratively. I have a background in media; time to use it to my utmost.