Digital Storytelling in and with Communities of Color

Landmark Lagoon Cinema
1320 Lagoon Avenue, Minneapolis, MN, USA
(612) 825-6006
2:10 4:40 7:20 10:00pm

Trouble the Water opens the day before Katrina makes landfall, just blocks away from the French Quarter but far from the New Orleans that tourists know. Kimberly Rivers Roberts is turning her video camera on herself and her 9th Ward neighbors trapped in the city. “It’s going to be a day to remember,� Kim says excitedly into her new camera as the storm is brewing. It’s her first time shooting video and it’s rough, jumpy but dense with reality. Kim’s playful home-grown newscast tone grinds against the audience’s knowledge that hell is just hours away. There is no way for the audience to warn her. And for New Orleans’ poor, there is nowhere to run.

FILM HOMEPAGE

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, Trouble the Water is directed and produced by Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine producers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal. The film tells the story of an aspiring rap artist and her streetwise husband, trapped in New Orleans by deadly floodwaters, who survive the storm and then seize a chance for a new beginning. It’s a redemptive tale of self-described street hustlers who become heroes that takes you inside Hurricane Katrina in a way never before seen on screen.

Trouble the Water opens the day before Katrina makes landfall, just blocks away from the French Quarter but far from the New Orleans that tourists know. Kimberly Rivers Roberts is turning her video camera on herself and her 9th Ward neighbors trapped in the city. “It’s going to be a day to remember,� Kim says excitedly into her new camera as the storm is brewing. It’s her first time shooting video and it’s rough, jumpy but dense with reality. Kim’s playful home-grown newscast tone grinds against the audience’s knowledge that hell is just hours away. There is no way for the audience to warn her. And for New Orleans’ poor, there is nowhere to run.

As the hurricane begins to rage and the floodwaters fill their world and the screen, Kim and her husband Scott continue to film, documenting their harrowing voyage to higher ground and dramatic rescues of friends and neighbors.

Intertwining Kim and Scott’s insider’s view of Katrina and powerful video with a mix of verite and in-your-face filmmaking, Deal and Lessin follow their story through the storm and its aftermath, and into a new life. Along the way, they discover Kim’s musical talent as rap artist Black Kold Madina when she finds the only existing copy of her recorded music survived the storm with a relative in Memphis. Kim’s performance in that moment reveals not only devastating skills as a musician, but compacts her life story into explosive poetry that paints a devastating picture of poverty.

Directed and produced by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal and Executive Produced by Joslyn Barnes and Danny Glover of Louverture Films, edited and co-produced by T. Woody Richman, with addiitonal editing by Mary Lampson, Trouble the Water features an original musical score by Neil Davidge and Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack, and the music of Dr. John, Mary Mary, Citizen Cope, TK Soul, John Lee Hooker, and the Free Agents Brass Band and introduces the music of Black Kold Madina.

Trouble the Water has been supported by grants from the Sundance Institute,the Open Society Institute, and is a project of Creative Capital.

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Chicago 10
Directed by Brett Morgen
Thursday, October 2, 7pm
Walker Art Center Cinema – FREE

At the 1968 Democratic Convention, the Chicago Police Department violently clashed with protesters and the resulting riots were witnessed live by a television audience of more than 50 million. Eight protesters were charged with conspiracy. Chicago 10 explores the buildup to and unraveling of their trial. Filmmaker Brett Morgen (The Kid Stays in the Picture, On the Ropes) amassed 180 hours of 16mm film, 40 hours of video, 14,000 photographs, 200+ hours of audio, 23,000 pages of court transcripts—and commingled it all with motion-capture animation to craft this work of experimental cinema—a parable of hope with connections to current events. 2007, 35mm, 110 minutes.

Following the screening, join Morgen and documentary filmmaker Matt Ehling (Urban Warrior, Security and the Constitution) for a discussion about their practices in media and their commitment to staying true to a story. Moderated by University of Minnesota media and ethics scholar Jane Kirtley.

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Download MORE INFO HERE

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This is a story created by Garfield Williams. There isn’t any specific detail on why and where the story was created. But from the narration and the pictures that accompany it, we can assume it was made after the creator took a trip back to his home country.

This is a story about embracing your heritage and never forgetting where you came from. Garfield remembers his childhood days as happy and fun times. Even though he grew up in poverty, he never knew it. As a grown man living in the US, he is reflecting on his childhood years. And now looking back as an adult, he finds things are a lot different that he remembers them. It’s a story about place, love, people and reconnecting with your past. It’s a simply constructed story without any fancy editing or quick cuts. The series of cross dissolves used as a transition work very well with the flow of the story. The laid back reggae music playing in the background adds a very relaxing tone to the piece. The only types of media elements used in this piece are still pictures, music and a narration in the form of a voice –over.

It was an interesting story for me because I can relate to it. As an immigrant living in the US, as I look back in my childhood days, I don’t remember the poverty everybody seems to talk about these days. We were a very happy family. Which makes me believe how we choose to define poverty, is totally subjective.

http://www.creativenarrations.net/site/storybook/index.html

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National Portraits 1973-4 by Daniel Meadows
Once published, photographs take on lives of their own. Mostly we don't get to share in those lives but here's one picture that -- just like its subject -- couldn't help but "attract us into the play".

http://www.photobus.co.uk/index.php?id=7&movie=florence.flv

This digital story by Daniel Meadows is one that is attempting to tell the story of a woman named Florence Alma Snoad. The picture- of course- is taken in 1973. The significance of the picture of this woman begins to unravel as Daniel’s voice over tells the story. He had a project to take portrait pictures of people during 1973 to 1974. The picture of Florence is the one that became the most famous and so he goes back to see her after about 30 years. He takes a picture of her in the same pose, with a similar jacket, scarf and pose. He takes us back and forth showing us a picture of her in the past and then one of her in the present, the now.
Then he begins to show music note sheets running along the screen, and after this there is a color picture of Florence which is followed by a video of her in her feather and fan dancing days. The life that are shown in the next series of pictures is beautiful. We don’t quite understand why the music sheets are shown until he tells the story of finding Florence’s name in a composer’s description of their music. He finds this through Google, and interviews the composer. The composer speaks of Florence’s picture saying that her human expression was very pure and real. It attracted her and she stated that the picture just showed Florence as “SHE.� After this the pictures go back to being in black and white.

Posted by Sophi at 9:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Scissors by Daniel Meadows
"My training story. I use it in the classroom to demonstrate the range of effects possible when editing a story. It starts simple with cuts and dissolves, and progresses to clever with superimpositions, subtitles, alpha channels."

The digital story by Daniel Meadows is one that seems to be a personal journey to the past. Meadows is looking in his grandmother’s scrapbook with many of the pictures taking place in Switzerland, where his mother was born. Many of the pictures in this scrapbook are of his mother, grandmother and a few of his grandfather.
The first figure that we see before he starts telling the story is a disfigured pair of scissors. The scissors actually look very disturbing, and that was the first thing that I noticed. Daniel starts the story with three images: an eye, a clock, and a camera. They come on the screen just as his voice is saying them, so they flash on and off for the opening sentences of his voice over. Then the last eye is one that is videotaped, I assume to make his story more real. As he is looking through his grandmother’s scrapbook he keeps speaking of how his mother loved her father (his grandfather). There is one picture of his young, baby mother with his father that reappears during the story, while he tells the story of his grandfather’s absence in his mother’s and grandmother’s life. There is also a snapshot of his mother’s four day old baby cut hair from this scrapbook. If you continue to watch you notice that the picture of Daniel’s mother and his grandfather is a picture that is cut out. In the final picture, you notice that the picture is actually cut out from a family picture. Signifying that his grandfather left the family while his mother was still young.
The last thing he says in the story is, “I wonder if the cruel scissors that cut my grandfather out from his picture are the same scissors that cut my mother’s four day old hair?� This final question is implying that he thinks his grandmother cut his grandfather out of his mother’s and possibly his life.

Posted by Sophi at 8:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Personally while watching these videos you cannot help but really help but be moved by these small snippets into some one’s life.

Dear Jody
I really enjoyed watching dear Jody not because I have personally on throught a situation similar but because I never have and it was very powerful hearing from someone who has. I was really drawn the its story because of here last slide it read “Thanks to myself for finding the strength to do this.
The story reflected on what it was like to travel through foster care. While in it a child had boned with another so intensely that they quickly became each others support team .But very soon after the two were placed in different homes and closely monitored when visiting each other .

I liked this video because just by establishing agency and age this video was very powerful in relaying emotion. Although the video was done as small snippets of pictures it was still really useful because it really commented on the fragments of their life as not a smooth video but pieces of pictures instead.

The second video I enjoyed watching was
The very bad Bat Boy

I really connected to this video essentially because it was a cartoon but in futher more comepleat analisis of this video it was my story.

This story was mad by a child but it is so fitting to some many ages. There is nothing like “ flying in the day “ as this young bat did and blinded himself. I think this youngster might be wise beyond his years. The context in which the piece is written is as a children’s book the message grasps a much larger audience. At the end of the story to mom asks the young bat why did you fly in the day knowing that it would blind you ? In life much like that bat we all venture out into the unknown my time leaving unanswered questions as well. Bat or person that story is still the same.

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http://http://www.silencespeaks.org/testmovie/tamika_st.html

http://oaklanddusty.org/videos.php

Both of these stories revolve around family and how tragedy brings forth options to escape reality. In Tamika’s story, she talks about her story growing up and how the relationship between her mother and father and her little brother Warren’s father, Rick was violent. In the beginning of the video, she had pictures of her family and a red blob to represent violence that had gone on between her mother and Rick. The part of the video where she begins to speak about her childhood while she was in school starts the introduction of music. As the music proceeds on, different genres she begins to speak about how music was her way of advancing through her life despite the fact of domestic violence. She puts such an emphasis on music not just with it playing in the background but putting pictures of different musical artist of different genres who influenced her life after violence. The reason why I like this video was because it shows how powerful music can be. It shows that if you can’t speak about how you feel from mouth, the music can do it for you.

In the second video is taken from D.U.S.T.Y., where there’s a woman who describes how the attack on the World Trade Center in New York affected her way of life. This tragic event made her think about family not just her own but the people who died in the crashes. While she talks the tragedy and how hurt their love ones would be to find out that died. The song that plays in the background and the pictures of the tragedy go pass she talks about how proud and fortune she is to have them. Pictures of son and daughter with their families put emphasis on how proud she really is to be able to have that opportunity to still see her family. I like this video because she puts an emphasis on how we shouldn’t take family for granted. The reason being is that you never know what will happen to them when you’re not around.

Posted by K. Kay at 2:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The first story I chose to analyze is titled Dear Jody. It is a narrative told through the eyes of big sister Sasha Charles, who tells the story of the bond that she and her younger brother share through good times and bad.

Although experiencing many hardships, while living at home, (Sasha recalls domestic violence, not having lights on at home) Sasha makes it clear that being there for each other made life a lot easier. After she and her brother are placed foster care, Sasha’s life begins to unravel after only being able to see her brother though supervised visitations. This results in Sasha acting out in school.

Constant guidance from her case worker, Ieisha helped to ignite a turning point in Sasha’s life, as Ieisha became more than just her case worker, but a true friend.

Sasha closes her story by declaring her undying love for her brother and also an interesting, yet important parallel: her relationship with Ieisha and her relationship with her brother Jody.
Sasha created her digital story in a Center for Digital Storytelling workshop in May 2007. Listening to her accent, it sounds like she might be from New York.

The music is the first element of the video that the viewer is introduced to. A slow groove with a piano playing and a steady finger snap—a fitting instrumental to the story. The first shot is paramount to the story because it shows Sasha actually writing the letter (that she is reciting to the viewer) to her brother. The next shot then fades in to a medium shot of her brother. It’s important to note that as Sasha talks about having no lights, her experience with domestic violence and having to share a bed with her brother—the screen is completely dark, which I think symbolizes the darkness in their life at the time. The live shots of Sasha expressing her various emotions throughout the story add a lot of character and depth to the narrative. These particular shots are usually bust or medium shots, sometimes close ups, there are also shots at a variety of angles. Several shots throughout the story display the rule of thirds. All of the pictures in the story are brighter than the rest of the shots –especially the shots with her brother in them.

What I like most about this piece is that it leaves the reader with some closure—the circle is complete. The circle starts off with Sasha having to take a motherly role for her brother in some instances, while perhaps nobody was really there to guide her. After she and her brother were separated by the system, her world began to crumble and she began to give up on herself. Finally someone stepped in was there for her and cared for her the same way Sasha was for her brother.

The second digital story I chose to analyze is titled “The search for Knowledge� by Elsa Martinez. It was created for YMCA in Boston, Massachusetts in January 2002, and is featured on the Creative Narrations website. The video is centered on places such as her school and neighborhood.

The story that is told centers on one teen’s journey towards empowerment, not just for herself, but for her school, her neighborhood, peers, etc. In this coming of age tale, Elsa recounts her frustration with school as being unfulfilling socially, intellectually, and physically.The Center for Teen Empowerment is where Elsa discovers “her voice� and as she puts it her “first introduction to reality� Here, Elsa discovered the unjust treatment of people, and the inadequate education systems. With a new perspective, Elsa decided to put words in to action and received support from other members of Teen Empowerment who set out to do the same. Elsa ends on the same topic she opened with, the education system and the importance of youth making sure that their voices are heard within the schools.

Photographs in the form of a slide show help narrate the story. Elsa uses several transition styles, such as fade in, fade out, page turners. Most shots of Elsa are medium or bust shots that often fade in to a close up of her face. The song playing background is “Every Word� by Sade.

It might be cheesy but what I liked most is the theme of empowerment. Elsa reminded me of myself when I was in high school, wanting my voice to be heard and changes to be made.

Posted by Jessica at 1:33 AM | Permalink

Because I Could by Phyllis Clark

Phyllis’s digital story tells about her ability to use will power to accomplish her goals. She, at the age of sixty, started to run track races and short marathons, which is incredible by itself, but she continued to do it for another thirty years.

Her digital story begins with a picture of her sitting in front of a flower bush as a young child, and it’s the only picture we see of her when she is younger than sixty. She next jumps to when her children have moved out of the house and she has her first real free time so she starts to do track. Phyllis starts using old photos of her at the track, running, or with a few of her awards. She even includes some of the headlines of articles that were written about her success. Her story comes to a climax when she starts talking about how she shattered her tibia at the age of ninety. She shows footage of herself actually working on one of the rehab machines which is really amazing.

Her obvious passion for running is clearly highlighted when she montages the images of newspaper articles and pictures of her with her awards. She using fading in and out to emphasize drama about her major life changes, from getting out of the house at sixty, to breaking her tibia, to finding she could get herself to walk again, even if the doctors told her not to. This story has a very effective use of video editing to tell the story.

Breaking Free by Griffin Kinnard

Griffin’s story details how he went from an abusive family, through the foster care system, to become a public speaker and a journalist for a paper that advocates for the foster care system. While the narration tells the story of his life, he has three different visuals to illustrate the story. Most of the video is of him walking on the street and enjoying the day. But he uses two other photos to demonstrate the opposition of feeling from one point in his life to the next. When he and his siblings were separated within the foster care system, he shows a picture of him as a teenager, looking very angry, and zooms in like he is inviting the viewer to be angry with him. The next older photograph is of him with what appear to be his brothers, just as he reaches the part of the story where he has his realization. All three boys in the photo look happy which tells us that he wasn’t always an angry teen like we saw him before, and that Griffin had an enjoyable time with his family while they were together.

I feel that Griffin's story is really accessible because the viewer mainly sees Griffin himself and hears only his voice telling the story. This invites people in to get to know him when he was angry and him when he was happy.

Posted by Syressa Lewis at 11:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A story about an artist...powerful, introspective, and clairvoyant.

A story about a young man and his cat. Clear, youthful, and energetic.

Full analysis of both in extended entry...

http://oaklanddusty.org/videos.php

Both of my selections come from one of the links provided to DUSTY.

http://oaklanddusty.org/videos.php

My first selection is about an artist. I chose this story because I liked the message. I could understand where the author/artist was coming from when explaining that he couldn’t have created some of his artwork on his own. This story was one that explained why he does what he does pertaining to his art form. The story’s message was strong and it was carried by the depth of the narrative voice over the images of artwork. This was the story of an artist confident in his actions and sure of the virtuosity in his work. I really appreciated the “realness� of this story. It was made better with the prose sounding a little like poetry at times. This story was rehearsed and/or edited very well. Good sound quality, good pictures, and GREAT message.

My second selection was a story called “Robby and Smokey�. I was amazed by the fact that this was put together by a second grader! SEVEN years old. This becomes tangible once recognizing the simplicity in the story. The rough transitions from sentence to sentence make it clear that this young person has plenty to say and perhaps not enough room (or vocabulary) to say it all. I really do appreciate the simplicity of the story. It simply is what it is. This was a story about a young man and his cat. A story of affection and care, this story struck me as something that could be considered rare to say the least. Adolescent and more aged individuals tend to have a simple story that they want to make complicated. They need to make it complicated in order for the story to be accepted by society. Robby has the luxury of simplicity and he takes full advantage of it saying what he wants to say getting his point across as clearly as possible. It felt a lot like show and tell. With animated and real life photography the story maintains its youth and clarity, as well as sincerity all at one time in a short clean video. This was a great film.

Posted by Ernest at 11:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.silencespeaks.org/testmovie/tamika_st.html

Posted by K. Kay at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The stories I chose are based on the impact a family can have on someone. It can be good or bad, as you can see from the stories below.

Breaking Free by Griffin Kinnard

This story was created at the Center for Digital Storytelling, the same place where Walt went and where his was made. Like Walt, Griffin had a tough family life when he was young, and was forced to deal with losing people he loved at an early age—in this instance, it was being separated from his siblings. At its most basic, this is an adversity story, where one young man is able to come back from a path of self-destruction that began with his broken family life to advocate for young people who are in the very same situation that he was. I found this story interesting and engaging for a variety of reasons—Griffin’s poetic and flowing words mixed with the music in the background to create an emotional effect. His use of similes and comparison—“My determination had died/like a baby bird I was unable to fly�—made his story very moving and soulful. Griffin’s use of panning around photos, mixed with actual video footage of himself gives the viewer a clear picture, and his words perfectly communicate exactly what he is trying to get across—he’s been through tough times, there’s no doubt, but he picked up the pieces and does his best to help kids stuck in the same situation.

Sacrificios by Ernesto Ayala

Sacrificios was also created at the Center for Digital Storytelling, an I think that it provides and interesting counterpoint to Griffin’s story. While Griffin’s story was about succeeding despite a difficult family life, Ernesto’s success in life was made possible because of sacrifices made by his grandparents. This is a family love story—Ernesto is expressing his thanks and love to his grandmother and grandfather. I liked this story, and I think it works because of Ernesto’s use of his own culture in telling the story. Parts of his script are in Spanish, and the background music is a guitar instrumental with flamenco and western classical roots—definitely evoking feelings of Mexico and Mexican culture. The images used in this story are simpler than in Griffin’s—there is no actual video, just still pictures. However, I chose this because it creates an interesting comparison with the other story I chose. Both involve family, and both use cultural language and music to make the story more effective.

Posted by jaymaaarrrt at 11:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

University of Houston’s College of Education has a program on The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling. I viewed one of their examples that dealt with music. Bill Steber’s photographs of the Mississippi Blues were the basis for that story, and looking at the photos… the quality and power of each picture leaves me in amazement.

I studied some of the Mississippi Blues in one of my classes last spring at the U of MN called Blues & Rhythm and Blues. After learning about the histories of past Blues performers such as Muddy Watters, Bessie Smith, Lonnie Johnson, John Lee Hooker and such, I found greater interest in these photographs by Bill Steber. It’s hard to tell a story, but sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. How do you put that in a context of a digital story? How are we to take one powerful picture (a still image) and heighten it in a video (motion image)? These were the kinds of questions that I pondered, because one picture in front of a screen can bring boredom after some time, but holding that picture in your hands allows you to focus on certain parts of the picture as you wish. If you start on one end of a picture and slowly pan/tilt in the other direction, you can bring about a focus you want… and with the addition of the story being told, you can build a dramatic or comedic tone (whatever the intention is).

You can view the piece I saw on the University of Houston’s website at…
http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/music.html

Posted by The Dream at 10:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I found a website that centered on stories with emphasis to bring about change. Stories for Change, as it is called, has quite a few digital stories on their website that try to achieve change. One of the stories I looked at was “The Middle of The Story,� a story about a young woman’s struggle to understand the media’s representation of African Americans and how that portrayal is stamped on society and the generation’s view of other cultures.

“The Middle of the Story� was made by filmmaker Sojouner 4 Truth, and tries to find reasons on why different people, colors, race, religions, and etc… receive different treatments and attitudes. How does one’s image represent negativity? Why does the media invoke this untrue negativity on us and those around us?

The video also points out some historical features that have brought about change in this world, making it what it is today. Looking back into history and seeing how change has come a long way is noteworthy, but so is understanding that it still has a long way to go.

I always think about change and how to achieve it. I think the most provocative way of doing so is to touch hearts of your audience. If you can reach them in that manner, then they are willing to listen and fight for what they believe in. It doesn’t matter if the action is as simple as being supportive or signing a petition or as strong as making a stand against all odds and risking your life, doing something is better than doing nothing. Because by doing nothing, it means you accept the challenges that we face today and are willing to go along with it. Some people believe about making change from the inside, others want no internal association and rather go about doing so from the outside. But all of this only matters if we all go in one direction, a direction that was ignited to begin with from a storyteller… perhaps a digital storyteller… one that can reach many audiences.

You can view the story I say on Stories for Change’s website at…
http://storiesforchange.net/sites/default/files/1544_The_Middle_of_the_Story_by_Monica_Dennis___Digital_Storytelling.mov

Posted by The Dream at 10:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pick #1

LYFE-N-RHYME featured at DUSTY (DUSTY version, while small is better than YouTube version)

Pick #2

Not Other Men featured at LGBT Digital Quilt

Pick #1: LYFE-N-RHYME

This first video, Lyfe-N-Rhyme, was created through participation in DUSTY (Digital Underground Storytelling for Youth). DUSTY is a community-based program that provides after school access to work and learn with digital media technology. The program seeks to address the digital divide by providing meaningful opportunities with media production.

The number one reason I chose this video is because of how much I like the music, its lyrics and fusion of jazz and hip hop beats. The music’s lyrics are accentuated by the collection of still images, some found on the internet, others taken by and of the author. While the timing of the photo transitions is consistent through out most of the two minute video, there are episodes in the video where the transitions speed up and intersperse with words, typed in bold red, to emphasize the urgency of the videos core themes of truth, contradiction, rage, etc.. This change in tempo serves to punctuate these text-based ideas.

While the form of this video is nothing special, I’m drawn to this video because of the context of its creation through DUSTY). Also, I’m drawn to the content of the lyrics. The words of the song, their focus on the contradiction that is the American dream yet also the contradiction within ourselves just speaks to me in so many ways. Knowing that this video was made by someone who didn’t necessarily have easy access to the modes of communication, yet took advantage of this program to voice his views on society and sort through his own identity is inspiring.

Check out some more of this artist's work: Relixstylz's channel at YouTube

Pick #2: Not Other Men
Like the first video, I am drawn to this story’s alternative message about life and society, and the fact that digital storytelling allows it to reach wide audiences. Thanks to the sponsorship of The Center, a San Diego based community center for gay, lesbian and transgender individuals, Brian was able to share his story about his partner Ronny on the Digital Storytelling Quilt, a “patching together of lives and voices.� This story of Brian’s donation of his kidney to Ronny serves to challenge stereotypical notions of homosexual male relationships as lacking commitment and emotional intimacy.

Like Lyfe-N-Ryme, the form of this video is nothing spectacular, rather the collection of personal photos with voice over and instrumental music is very standard for most digital stories. I’m not a fan of the harp music, but I do appreciate the inclusion of two voices, both Brian’s and Ronny’s in the telling of the story. The two voices together further support the commitment of the two and their “togetherness.� This is not just Brian’s story; Ronny also shares this story. I also respect the choice of images to include in this video. While most of the photos represent Brian and Ronny as normative in their expression of masculinity, there are a couple photos of Brian and Ronny dressed in black leather, chains and chokers. The inclusion of these photos seems to express a pride in being gay. While some might argue that this video falls prey to the conventions of heterosexual romance, the inclusion of these select photos seems to challenge this idea a bit stating, “yes we are committed to and love each other, AND we are gay.� I like that.

Posted by Candance Doerr at 10:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sophies Story

View image

http://www.silencespeaks.org/stories.html

I choose Sophie Story from silence speaks. Sophie story is one of a Cambodian family torn apart by abuse. Sophie was abused and her family abandoned her when she confronted her stepfather for abusing her and had him arrested

The story is structured with title pages in black and white. Using these cards with titles like “losing face, saving face� � Foster care� “Support� really helps to break the story out and helps it to become easy to fallow and understand. The colors she uses in the place cards also tell a lot about her story and symbolize her life going from a dark negative place to a positive happy white environment.
She uses pictures of her family and has the face of her stepfather who abused her blacked out. This is a powerful statement and expresses her anger at her stepfather. She also uses black and white photos mixed in with color. The color photos are used more prominently later in the story when she is speaking about getting out of her abusive family. The story also uses pictures of her organizations and volunteers places and the logos and some of the buildings. This is a great way for her to show where she is now and also show support for these causes that mean so much to her.
She uses narrative over all of her photos. Her voice is even toned and you can tell that she is in a very safe happy place in her life now. She is only looking back on this negative time in her life.

Inconvenient Truth

I choose and Inconvenient Truth from the GLBT quilts pages. The story is about a gay man and his awareness of aids through his partner and subsequently him own diagnosis. He uses personal photos mixed with stock footage. The personal photos show family and the peoples involved in the story. The personal photos are used during happy point in the story and are in color, this helps to convey the author’s great love for the people around him. The stock photos are used in the darker parts of the story in fast succession. The photos are usually black and white and shoe scenes that compare emotionally to what the narrator is talking about. One of the pictures is very strong and dark it captures attention and makes you take note of what is going on in the story, this happens half way through the story and helps keeps the story to continue. Some include long roads, XC face shots of tears. These help to place the audience a similar emotional state as where the story is but not become to intimate with the problems because the photos are stock and don’t convey the deep personal attachment that real photos would. The author possibly could not bear to use such personal photos either possibly.
The music is used very well in this digital story. It’s all instrumental non-diagetic. The music is very much in tune with the tone of the story and gets faster and slower as the story speeds up and slows down. The music really helps to capture the emotion in his voice and also the helps the pictures to express more emotion.

Posted by Sophia at 9:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.cultureisaweapon.org/popmovie.php?m=17&b=hi

I picked this story because, her story is something that is not necessarily thought about a lot. In just studying this topic for a paper, I think it’s interesting that I came upon it. The story though it is about her as an Arab, is also story about identity. It is the story in how she as an Arab American, is both, Arab and American. Although that identity can be seen as one, it is Also two, in the sense that everything that is American, is not Arab. It would maybe seem that as easy as the names go together, that her identity would too, but as she as presented I do not think it is that easy. As in Web Du Bois idea of double consciousness, she is always tackling both identities; it is an issue that transcends beyond being Arab American. However I like how she presents her side of this Tall issue that the western civilizations of the world haven’t quite figured out how to work through. She in her story uses

http://www.cultureisaweapon.org/popmovie.php?m=18&b=hi

I picked this one, because it is an issue that seems as if it can be taboo, to talk about in some communities of color. Homophobia, it is culturally accepted, so that a person who is gay is not. I liked the visuals, as well as the choice of music that he used to present this topic. The way he told his story, or the story of many men in communities of color, was with emotion, and as an entry way into how deep how he feels. It was not an angry story, but a story of pain. He could have just as easily lashed out in anger, which not have necessarily been a bad approach, although I do like the one that he took.

Posted by Ash B at 8:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Because I Could

http://www.storycircles.org/play.php?vid=279

I loved this video. The title caught my eye because one of my favorite stories is The Little Engine That Could.

The story line its self was sweet and inspiring. I think it is a good video to capture the spirit of a woman who was not willing to give up on her self even when faced with a bad situation. The video its self is done very simply. There are pictures, videos, newspaper clippings and space for transitions. Starting out Phyllis shows us herself as a child starting zoomed in and then zooming out which starts us at a more intimate position and drawn in. There is no music playing at this time when she was telling her story of non activeness but the silence is soon filled with uplifting music and her voice flows with excitement as she talks about her family and her activities. When talking about her family she starts zoomed in to a picture that shows her closely and slowly zooms out as she speaks of new challenges needed. Throughout the video Phyllis has upbeat music playing until an important break which shows blackness and no music. At this time she speaks about a low point in her life and emphasizes the void it created.

In this video Phyllis uses zoom in and out, overlapping, music, silence, blackness, and fading.

Grand Canyons

http://www.storycircles.org/play.php?vid=95

Throughout the film the background is continually the road map in and around the Grand Canyon. It slowly moves from place to place which seems to be a good metaphor for his story. The pictures in the beginning fade away and making me think he wants us to know his story but not get too emotionally attached. The sounds of vehicles are heard as well giving the feeling of movement as he continues telling his story. One thing I do enjoy about this film is it creates time to hone in on one sense, at one point it is a white screen and only his voice can be heard. This made me concentrate on his voice and the words her was saying. At the point of speaking of separation the author shows the audience a picture of his family. The photo is tilted slightly and surrounded by a lack of color. It made me think he was projecting an off kilter family and that something was off balance. At the same time he zooms into the picture and gets us closer to his brother and himself, bringing us in closer creating emotions in the audience. In the end the author speaks of his unborn child and ends with a picture of the sky. The impression that I got from that is he was trying to climb out of the “grand canyon� he felt he was in when his parents separated and was now looking forward to the future with new life and a clear sky.

Grand Canyons uses still photos to convey is message. Voice over is heard over instrumental music that seems slower and not quite happy.

Posted by Abby at 7:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The second short story I chose is from Center for Digital Storytelling website. It doesn’t say who the creator is or where it was made. It’s a story about a boy who grew up with an abusive father. His childhood was full of fear and terror as he witnessed his dad beat up and abuse his mother. The beating didn’t stop with his mother, often he finds himself at the receiving end of his fathers torturing hands. This is a story about family, survival, healing and place(home).

The piece was made totally out of still pictures. But by using dissolves and layering different pictures together, the creator was able to give the piece an interesting look. He also uses a lot of zoom ins and outs to help the audience pay attention to specific elements in the story. One of my favorite parts of this short story is the narration. It was very poetic and drew me into the story. This is a strong story that teaches people about survival and how to rise above our problems. It also sends out the message that talking about our past troubled lives is the first step we have to take for the healing process to begin.

http://storycircles.org/play.php?vid=266

Posted by Tsinu Heramo at 6:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I did most of my dig stories from the Third World Majority web link. The first digital story is about growing up in a life of abuse, from both real parents and foster parents. It is mainly a healing story that focuses on a young girl's life at the young age of five, who is sexually molested by her father, then it shifts from foster home to foster home as she copes with the abuse that she suffers from later. The other one is more about environmental issues at hand and how one community deals with the problems that arise. It shows how the Laotian community comes together to voice out their opinions about the Chevron Refinery in Richmond, CA.

The Wounded Are The Best Healers
By: Alexxa Goodenoughe

The Wounded Are The Best Healers, is a piece about self-discovery and healing. It is a story about growing up as a foster child, suffering from abuse, sexual abuse and rape. Alexxa uses family pictures, “borrowed� images, and pictures of homes to construct her piece. However, most of her family pictures contain the father figure with a scratched out face, this could be a result of the sexual abuse that she suffers from. She also uses techniques such as fading her images, zooming in and then fading out, repeating images that she uses, and having different timings for each specific picture. At one particular time in her piece, she blends two images together and makes a distorted image of them. She does all this with voice-over and at times in her voice-over she changes her voice and tone when she quotes from her mother and her foster parents.

What I liked about her story is that beginning she introduces us a healing quote and later towards the end of the piece, she directly says it instead of putting it into print like at the beginning, to reinforce this idea. She also ends off the story with a happy note through her usage of happy pictures and memories. The song that she selects also has a healing feel to it and it works very well in the piece. She demonstrates this change in herself at the end as well with her picture and she appears to glow with beauty and happiness.

There Is Fire In Your Eyes
By: Mari Rose Taruc

There Is Fire In Your Eyes, is a piece about the Laotian community and the Chevron Refinery. It is aimed at keeping justice alive in the Asian Pacific Islander communities. Mari Rose composes this piece with “borrowed� pictures, maps, newspaper clippings from various articles, etc. During one time of her piece, she shows a news clip from channel 5 that she ties into her piece; and towards the part where she talks about fire, near the end of the piece, she has a image of moving flames that seem to engulf the screen. She uses many techniques in her piece as well. She fades her images and gives them different timings as well, she shows us a picture then either zooms into it or zooms out from it. She also moves away from her images, such as moving from one particular spot on the top of a picture and moves down from that spot; so that we can see the picture. She also does this with left and right movements.

What I liked about this piece was that the title was interesting, that was one of the first things that drew me in. At first I thought that the title had some reference to the desire of gaining materials that directly affected the Laotian community, but after watching it; I realized it had no connection to that on any basis. Rather, it was about the Laotian community and their struggles and feelings regarding the Chevron Refinery. It was about the willpower to bring about justice and have their voices heard. I felt that the music, traditional Laotian instrumental music, played a great role in the piece. It allowed you to focus on the important things in the piece, by giving off a drumming or chiming sound; that notifies you that you should focus on this issue that is being discussed at hand. One of the interesting things that I notice about her piece was during one particular time when she talks about language and she has a text passage written in Laotian descending down and in the background she has a Laotian image or symbol.

Posted by Saoie^^ at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The two stories I chose are: "The Talking Tree" and "Those People":

In The Talking Tree, by Surya Govender, she tells the story of her father and his former home of Cato Manor in South Africa. The story was made in 2006 at the Center for Digital Storytelling.

Those People is the story of Emma Kigoni, who was considered one of “those people� on public assistance, and how she overcame those obstacles to become a college graduate and a community leader

In The Talking Tree, by Surya Govender, she tells the story of her father and his former home of Cato Manor in South Africa. The story was made in 2006 at the Center for Digital Storytelling.

The story is about how her father doesn’t tell the stories about his life, even though the family has a rich history in storytelling. When Govender visits Cato Manor with her father, he still refrains from telling the stories of his past. The theme of the story is that stories themselves are both “a truth and a lie� and that “the stories that matter most are the hardest to tell.� Which rings true about the absence of her father’s personal stories. She’s unsure of the stories about her father’s past since they were not told first hand, and she is then left with hearing them from others.

There were several types of stories Govender told were in her digital story: character (she talked about her father, and the people of his homeland); adventure (her trip with her father to Cato Manor); place (Cato Manor and South Africa, but also the community of storytellers); love (her relationship with her father); and discovery (seeing first hand the homeland that her father had to leave when he was a young man; finding the talking tree.)

The forms used in the story were black and white photos in the beginning when she talked about the family’s history (mainly stories from the past), while playing Indian music in the background, a sign of her heritage. A map of Cato Manor, along with an article on the land seizure is also used. The transition between the photos was a moving action, similar to a blurred image. There are also her personal photos of her trip to Cato Manor.

It’s a good story because I think everyone wants to know about their family history, especially about their parents and what their lives were like in the past. At the end of the story I feel that she truly wants to know about her father’s history, but gathering from his long silence it must be a hard story to tell.

Emma "Those People" is the story of Emma Kigoni, which was created for the Boston YWCA in 2002, apart of the Creative Narrations workshop.

The story is about how Kigoni’s was one of “those people� on public assistance, and how she overcame those obstacles to become a college graduate and a community leader. Its purpose is to break the negative stigma that our society has on people that are less fortunate, particularly people of color, being looked down upon by people and organizations who haven’t experienced such hardships. Kigoni at one point she did believe those thoughts to be true about herself, until she was given the opportunity to excel. But after her experiences she holds no shame and wants to help others as well.

Kigoni's uses several types of stories to tell her digital story as well: character (her personal story, overcoming a messed up government system); accomplishment (getting off welfare and gradating from college, providing for her family); classic (the struggle of being a young, poor black woman in America with a family to take care of); place (the community she fights for); and recovery (overcoming the welfare system.)

She used borrowed images, along with her personal photos. The song “I’m the Only Woman� by Mary J. Blige plays throughout the story, except for in the first few seconds in the beginning. She uses a solid black slide to show transition between slides. There are zoom-in close ups on photos. When she’s talking about “those people� they’re images of poor blacks, and the politicians are white, who she says “never had to go without.� She used text for "Those People."

I chose this story because there are millions of people who are on welfare and the majority are people of color. But also how she was from a middle-class family, but ended on welfare because she was a teen parent. There are so many stereotypes that Kigoni touched about the perceptions people have of blacks, especially those who are less fortunate. Her story also goes to show that not all people are trying to advantage of the system, they want to be apart of the American dream as well. Also, sometimes people only need one opportunity to make a difference in her life.

Posted by Tameka at 2:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here is the link to the first film as well as the analysis

1.) I believe that this story was created in somewhere in Great Britain. The filmmaker, Daniel Meadows, is a photographer. The story itself took place in 1973, and has a bit of a retro feel to it. It was created mainly from inside and around a red doubledecker bus that Daniel named "The Free Photographis Omnibus".
2.) The story is about how Daniel Meadows went around Britain in 1973 taking pictures of people for free, and then giving them the photographs. He says he felt a bit like robin hood, taking money from his sponsors and distributing the final product (photos) to the publick for free. Several decades later he found the same people by posting their photos in the newspaper, and taking another photo of them. They were all in similar poses and were always with the same person that they were with in the original photo. He had pictures of sisters, brothers, individuals, mothers and sons, mothers and daughters, re enacting their original 1973 photograph. Some of them had deeper stories, such as one women who had just walked out on her husband when the first picture was taken and says several decades later that it was one of the best things she ever did. Others had funny facts about their orginal pictures. For example there were 2 sisters in the original photo, one at the time was a go go dancer. Her sister laughs at her now saying that she wore silver platform boots too.
3.) I really like the form of the piece. He uses a lot of the original news paper clippings, and many photographs of course. At the beginning there is a bus sound effect but the rest of the film is just his voice. He tends to fade in and out of photos as well as zoom in and out. I like when he shows the before and after pictures by putting them side by side. My favorite is the last image of him in the 70's leaning against the doubledecker bus, right next to an image of him now leaning against the bus.
4.) I really liked the concept of the story. Taking pictures and talking to these people and then several decades later finding them and taking their picture again. It shows where they were in life compared to where they are now, It's nice to see that although many things may have changed in their lives, the closeness to the people that they took their photos with remains the same.

Here is the second link and analysis

1.) This is an extremely short but really creative video. These are drawings done by daniel meadows wife, Georgie. She created it in 2004 for their 25 year anniversary.
2.) The story is a brief look at their daily life, more specifically their mornings. There is a lighthearted humor in it too that fits with the story. Daniel usually rolls out of bed in the morning, puts on a robe and goes into the kitchen to make tea. He then brings a cup to his still sleeping wife and promptly strips down to his underwear, where the animation stops. I assume that he goes to take his morning shower at this time.
3.) Probably the best part of the story is the form of the piece. These are cartoon like drawings with a little bit of animation and sound effects. For example when he turns on the light switch his fingers flip the switch up and she zeros in on it and repeats the gesture. Then there is the sound effect of a light switch and the room gets brighter. There is also a scene where he stands in front of the sink and the whole drawing is still but you can hear the running water so it seems that he is filling up the kettle. It is also mostly black and white except for when the people on the front of the tea box blush pink. There is only a little bit of text at the beginning of the clip and at the end. At the beginning it says "25 years... 9,125 mornings" to set the stage for the piece and then at the end she writes "thank you daniel".
4.) I really like this piece because it told a story without any voice overs, just sound effects and a little bit of motion. It's also creative in the aspect that she took something so simple such as a morning routine and made it into an entertaining story. I also like the fact that although she is clearly making fun of her husband, you can tell that she loves him.

Posted by Audrey Hepburn at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I chose to analyze two very different stories which both demonstrate a sense of accomplishment and recovery. They also both focus on human rights values in different ways. Enjoy!

Video #1 – Betty
Betty’s Story
http://www.takebackthetech.net/ds/betty

1. Betty produced her digital story with Take Back the Tech, a network which globally promotes gender equality. Co-sponsors included the Digital Hero Book, REPSSI, Center for Digital Storytelling, and TPO Uganda.

2. Betty’s goal in producing this story was to inform people about the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) in Northern Uganda and the abuse she has endured and survived. She tells of when she was abducted by the rebels and separated from her sister. They tortured her for many months until one day she decided that, although it meant risking her life, she must escape. Often times when children are abducted, they come back completely transformed and brainwashed and will go against their own family and friends. Betty was sad and scared because everyone was afraid of her. With the support and counseling of her grandmother and other family members, she is able to move forward and become peaceful again.

3. Betty uses voice-over, film clips, drawings, and text. She fades in and out of pictures and pans through them to make points. There is no music but her voice is so beautiful that I think if there was music, it might take away from the story.

4. I loved hearing Betty’s story because she is a very strong child. I love how she manipulates the pictures in fading between images and pans to show the whole image as she is talking. She is so young but her story is so well-illustrated and really captures your attention.

Video #2 - Amy and Jenelle Ferhart
With liberty and justice for all
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8EV3tZvGiY&search=

1. The two women who created the video participated in a workshop with San Diego's LGBT Center's Digital Media Project which "digitally connects the stories, struggles and hopes through the collective lens of our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community". - The Center's website

2. The story is about two women who work in the same school as bilingual teachers. They fell in love and got married and now they have to face a world in which they constantly feel they are being treated unequally because of their sexuality and marriage status. Their co-workers have pictures of their spouses and families in their offices and Jenelle and Amy wonder why it is not permissible for them to do the same. Parents say that they respect them and their lifestyle but should not talk about such issues as premarital sex, drugs, drinking, and homosexuality in front of children. It is ironic that their relationship is considered such a taboo topic as these things. In the end, they feel that the challenges they face as a same-sex couple are worth it because of the love that they share.

3. Used in this digital story are text, voice-over, sound effects from outside sources, music changes, and scans of legal documents

4. This piece immediately engaged me because of the familiar sounds at the beginning of the story; The kids' voices as they said the Pledge of Allegiance. The way the text came down, and the sound over the pictures was captivating. The topic of human rights aspects in a school setting was very interesting. I liked the way the pictures were framed and the way they corresponded with what was being said. It was not over the top, but got the message across.

Posted by Jen Smith at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/event/2008/09/12/unconventional-gatherings-lecture-marlina-gonzalez.html#

I am sorry I don't have a picture to make this entry look pretty, but nonetheless, this event may be of interest to some of you!

Posted by Jen Smith at 4:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click here for more information.

The Twin Cities Black Film Festival Celebrates as we kick off our 6th Annual Black Film Festival.

We have a very special line up of movies, panel discussion with special guest:
Nate Parker.

There will be prizes, celebrity appearances and a Hollywood Fashion Show with
MN Vikings Darren Sharper and Adrian Peterson As our Special Guest Models!

All Film Screenings will take place at Augsburg College
on Friday from 5:30pm-8:30pm and Saturday from
12 noon - 8pm in the
Sateren Auditorium on Augsburg College Campus

Festival Reception: Malobe Natural Hair Salon
915 West Lake Street
612.823.8626Thursday September 18,2008

Thursday September 18, 2008
Location: The Lounge
411 2nd avenue North
(In the Downtown Warehouse District)
612.333.8800
www.theloungempls.com

Time: 8pm- 2am
Event: Registration
Opening Night Premiere
TBA at a later date

Festival Reception from 10pm-2am

Friday September 19,2008

Location: W Hotel
821 Marquette Avenue
612.215.3700
www.starwoodhotels.com/whotels

Time: 8pm-2am
Event: Hollywood Fashion Show
With special Celebrity Models
MN Vikings Adrian Peterson and
Darren Sharper
Special Celebrity Host to be announced

Registration- 8pm-930pm
Networking and Socializing- 8pm-10pm
Fashion Show: 10pm
Festival Reception: 11pm-2am

Click here for more information.

Posted by Rae at 8:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In class today we screened a story I made in May at the Center for Digital Storytelling. We actually viewed an unauthorized "final cut" they made. You can watch the original cut in a new window, or click the screen shot below.

Posted by Walt Jacobs at 6:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What makes a good story? Read about stories on iRoom Stories, browse the list of links on the RIGHT SIDEBAR of this blog, and see Lambert's suggested links (week 2 pdf on Moodle).

This week view digital stories, considering the CONTEXT, CONTENT and FORM of each story.

Post links to TWO of your favorites. For each post an image (and/or pull image grabs of your favorite images), and LINK to the original piece.

For each write a short reflection (about 125-250 words) for each piece you've selected. Consider:
1- the context [where the story was created, or anything you know about the maker, if there is text that tells you info posted with the video, where it was created (workshop)]
2- the content[what the story is about, theme, thesis, moral...]
3- the form of the piece [what forms of media used, how the piece is edited, etc]
4 - why this is a "good" story (read: why/how this piece engages you, draws you in, why you like it...)

Post by 9am on Friday, 9/19.

+ + + + Rachel's Example + + + +

untitled by Kevin West is a really powerful digital story. Kevin is a transguy who lives in Santa Cruz, California. The piece tells his story of being a queer youth trapped in the juvenile (in)justice system, until a social worker who understands GLBTQ issues helped him. In the piece he uses personal photos, "borrowed images", graphic elements (like texts), motion graphics to edit the pieces together. The music (a drum beat helps to build the rhythm of the piece. The story is structured by Kevin's story, told in a voice over.

I chose to share this digital story because I really like Kevin's honesty. He speaks in a clear, engaging and honest way about his life. He's telling us an emotional story without the boo-hoo sobs (whoa is me stuff), but with clarity. I like that he uses the piece as a way to thank the social worker who helped him change the course of his life.

Posted by Rae at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

1. A little about me ["ego trippin: my life b like..."]:

This piece uses still photos, text, video and 16mm film clips, and music. It is mostly an example of MONTAGE, and less about storytelling. It shows pieces of my life and some of my life's work.

2. my first ghostbox inspired video "killer cancer cells":



music: "floating opera" by tom servo of doomtree

This is all video footage, with voice-over (v.o.), text, and some instrumental music.

3. breaking the cycle: the story of steven glaze:

This is a short digital story I scanned, shot and edited using still photos, text, voice-over (generated from asking questions [Lambert's interview method], and video footage. This is the story of my (ex [it's a long story]) husband, Steven. It is (or was) to be used as a fund raising tool to do a documentary about his life. Status of the project is currently unclear.

4. "tracks" by tish jones (video projection for live performance, viewable HERE, 4/3/08):

This digital story was created as a video projection piece for a Youth Showcase at the Walker Arts Center. The v.o. is a "scratch" track (meaning it's rough, just to edit with). This piece uses still photos, found photos (stock images), video clips, titles, and lots of motion graphics (animation like zooming, titling, spinning created in Final Cut).

5. "pink ladies" by moira pirsh (video projection for live performance, viewable HERE, 4/3/08):

This digital story was also created as a video projection piece for a Youth Showcase at the Walker Arts Center. The v.o. is a "scratch" track (meaning it's rough, just to edit with). This piece uses still photos (from people's myspace pages, including mine(!)), and lots of motion graphics (animation like zooming, titling, spinning created in Final Cut).

!!! Here are some digital stories (and videos) from my summer 2008 course FEMINIST FILM / MEDIA STUDIES

!!! Here are some digital stories from my spring 2008 course FEMINIST MEDIA MAKING

Posted by Rae at 7:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Top 10 Places:
1) My Grandmother's cabin (Northern MN)
2) Maplewood State Park (especially in the Fall)
3) Boundary Waters
4) My bed
5) Around a campfire in the country
6) Theaters
7) Chicago

8) Airports
9) The horse barn
10) The Uptown Bar!

Posted by AJ at 6:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

1. Chocolate in general is my most favorite food in the world. Preferably dark chocolate and white chocolate does not count- it contains no cocoa and that’s what I love.
(The rest of the food do not go in any special order)

2. The memory of eating Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches dipped in milk. Soggy, but the best thing to eat after school.

3. Tum-Tummo, a mild vegetarian Eritrean food that is eaten with injera. The family still teases me for eating it until I got sick when I was a child.

4. Ice Cream Sandwiches!

5. Chocolate chip cookies and Cranberry Juice. Strange mix that came from my sister’s 5th grade project (8 years ago) on Massachusetts.**

6. Amazing Thailand beef egg rolls with Tum-Yum soup (level 5 for spice) after shopping at Heartbreakers, Urban Outfitters, and Everyday People in Uptown.

7. Rosemary Garlic Barbeque Sauce on Tony Roma’s Ribs. Rosemary can make almost anything taste better- try it in popcorn :)

8. Home-made tacos and mashed potatoes, with all the right toppings including an Asian hot sauce -or as I like to call it: Asian ketchup- SriRacha.

9. Farmers market Basil. A bunch for just $1! McDonalds Dollar menu can’t even beat that.

10. Juicy mangos eaten right off the pit. Yum…

_____________________________________

**She had to bring one food item and one drink that represented Massachusetts. The leftovers created a love for the combination for cookies and cranberry juice.

Posted by Sophi at 6:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Dream's Top 10 Movies

01. Do the Right Thing
02. The Gods Must Be Crazy
03. The Godfather
04. Malcolm X
05. City of God
06. Ali
07. Ray
08. Crash
09. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
10. City Lights

Posted by The Dream at 1:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

10: My Interests: The Bible, Afro-History, Poetry, Economics, Video Games, Movis, Books, Technology, etc.....

9: My Greatest Fear: to be a failure and not live up to my full potential, and miss out on great opportunities which would be benefical

8: My Ultimate Hope: I want to grow to my maximum potential and acquire everything which I will be able to get in this life and help others experience that which I will come to have in my life.

7: My Skills: I have been blessed with numerous gifts, talents, and abilities which will not only take me far, but will aid in the development of my personal career, family, and community.

6: My Church: Has been a tremendous blessing in my life, and the people have help me grow in areas where I have been weak.

5: My Loved Ones: My heart goes out to my family and friends, and though I may not always express it I want to make sure everyone is full of joy, and all is well with them.

4: My Mind: I have been blessed with a beautiful mind and I am very creative, and I would call myself a visionary

3: My Heart: I am a man of compassion who would do just about anything for anyone

2: My Life's Purpose - Something I purpose with all diligence in hopes I shall be a blessing to others

1: My Faith - The center of my life and the center of my Joy, the thing which keeps me together

Posted by Frederick Biney at 1:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The ten things that make me who I am....

1. MUSIC - especially Coldplay, the Goo Goo Dolls, OneRepublic, and the like...
2. POETRY - W.H. Auden, Langston Hughes, and Maya Angelou
3. RAIN - totally takes any stress or worry away
4. DANCE - whether it's ballet or the Thriller Dance, it always cheers me up:)
5. COLORGUARD - best people ever, enough said
6. SHOES - as long as they're my size, I'll wear 'em anywhere
7. MOVIES - it's fun to escape for a few hours into someone else's life
8. NEW SHEETS - nothing like climbing into what feels like a brand new bed
9. AIRPLANES - taking off is the best feeling in the world, I don't know why
10. FRIENDS AND FAMILY - the most important part of my life, these people are the reason I get up in the morning:)

Posted by Syressa Lewis at 11:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

These aren’t necessarily in order…..
1. Being goofy-gotta enjoy life, if we had to be serious all the time, we would all be sad.
2. Music- I love music “music is my boyfriend,� lol.
3. Dancing- its only so long that I can listen to music before I start dancing.
4. Thinking- this one maybe should have been at the top, because I do it a lot, maybe too much.
5. HGTV- I love the home and garden network what can I say
6. People's life stories- you can never really tell what somebody has been through just by looking at them
7. Girl nights- me and my friends have them all the time, occasionally a little too often
8. Creating- I think this is where my passion lies, that doesn’t mean it can’t be a challenge though.
9. Eating- I have to admit I do get excited about lunch time
10. Last but not least sleeping- im actually about to lay down, right now.

Me being Goofy...

Posted by Ash B at 10:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

- Matt Taibbi, political journalist. He is the reason I subscribe to Rolling Stone mag.

- Walking, especially in the fall.

- Fruit, all fruit, especially cold pears.

- The way outside air smells dewy early early in the morning.

- Billy wilder films, Some Like it Hot kills me.

- Lost, Dexter, Big love.

- The time after waking up and before getting up.

- Eucalyptus shampoo

- A confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole

- Turning 21 this summer...

Posted by Sophia at 9:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

10.) Roller Skating
9.) Hanging out with friends
8.) Traveling
7.) Going to the movies
6.) Going out to eat
5.)Tweety Bird
4.) Cooking as well as eating
3.)Making Money
2.) Shopping
1.) Spending time with my family

Posted by K. Kay at 6:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Dr. J at 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ok that is a quotation from the film This is Spinal Tap and i usually use it to refer to my very loud and enthusiastic daughter

top 11, coz 10 is not enough

1. Literature that rocks, moves, and thinks (e.g. salman rushdie's midnights children and morrison's beloved)
2. films that you watch again and again (e.g. fire, mother india, sholay, mississippi masala, masala, my beautiful laundrette, fresh kill)
3. television that makes we wish the episodes came faster (battlestar galactica, the wire, and the sopranos)
4. family that reminds what theory, stories, and community is about (my son, daughter, mother, father, grandmother, brother, and sister)
5. beautiful women who inspire me (ananya chatterjea and richa nagar)
6. doing things that involve parts of me below the neck (gardening, snorkeling, canoing, and hiking)
7. reasons i became a professor (because social change happens in classrooms, coz stories are impt)
8. food (all kinds, salt and pepper tofu, green mangoes with salt and cayenne, ripe juicy mangoes, aged gouda)
9. talkin migration, race, gender, sexuality, nation, empire with academic buddies (pretty damn nerdy)
10. children's books that take me places and provide refuge (harry potter, anything magic) and good mysteries by women of color (bad people die -- women of color solve and resolve all neatly tied up0
11. the me i have become that honors as many of the previous mes that have been

Posted by Dr. J at 1:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

TOp ten of things i really like !

10. being on time
9. people who love talkin politics
8. Chipotle
7. new prespectives on old thinking
6. a smile in passing
5. real had shakes
4.music
3. Shopping
2. facebook
1. MYSELF !!!!!!

Posted by simon440 at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Everyone has been posting great general Top 10 lists, so I should do one too. Here's a list of favorite things (in no particular order):

• reading children's stories aloud
• summer home improvement projects
• university administratin' (although chairin' ain't easy)
• cleaning the house (!)
• Friday night horror movies at home
• San Francisco
• watching an episode of Millennium or The X-Files before bed
• strawberry-oreo malts at Annie's
• sneak-in double features at the movies
• tenure

Posted by Walt Jacobs at 8:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

1. Jesus
2. Family
3. Juni (my little brother)
4. Country(Ethiopia)
5. Sports
6. Love
7. Compassion
8. Meat
9. Movies
10. Third grade English teacher.

This is a skit i wrote and produced last semester.

Posted by Tsinu Heramo at 4:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here's my top ten list^^ for the week:

1. Music
2. Nature
3. Things that have meaning/move/inspire me
4. Peace and quiet
5. Creativity and the ability of the brain
6. Spending time with the people who have touched my life in so many ways
7. Anime/Mangas/Books
8. Tamarind Candy
9. Romantic Comedies
10. Desserts

And a photo of me and my sister... we were bored and felt like doing something random so we starting taking pictures in the bathroom... lol =P

Posted by Saoie^^ at 1:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

top ten videos that inspire my work:

10. Yes We Can -- (4:30) Barack Obama music video by Will.i.am
9. Borders -- (4:00) featured at Stories for Change
8. DeSean -- (2:19) spoken word poet, featured at UrbanYouthPoet (see also Moira & Berato)
7. Dream Mural Project -- (2:47) teacher made video, featured at TeacherTube
6. Guitar Repairman -- (1:33) documentary piece, featured at Institute for New Media Arts
5. Scary Mary -- (1:06) recut trailer of Mary Poppins, featured at YouTube
4. Nice White Lady -- (2:39) parody of Freedom Writers, featured at MADtv
3. Transistor Radio -- (3:08) sketch animation Cloud Cult video, featured on YouTube
2. LYFE-N-RHYME -- (2:11) photo essay, featured at DUSTY (Digital Underground Storytelling for Youth)
1. Papie, Pizza & Poop -- (4:20) home video of my son, featured at BlipTV

Posted by Candance Doerr at 9:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Books (not in any particular order, I'd be sitting at my computer all night if I tried...)
1. Their Eyes Were Watching God
2. Malcolm X
3. (Most) any Roald Dahl Book--Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
4. Dictionary/Thesaurus--I love learning new words
5. The Wentworths--read it this past summer
6. Ghettonation--highly recommend it
7. Endless Love--deep...and disturbing
8.This one vampire book…I can’t remember the title…it was good though
9. Flowers in the Attic Series
10. Inside Reporting--Recommended for any aspiring journalist

Miscellanea--again, in no particular order
1. Email--check it maybe 20 times a day
2. Google.com--can't you tell?
3. Shoes—I have over 50 pairs, and yes I wear them all....I think
4. Essence Magazine
5. Exercise--I just started a spinning class
6. Lifetime movies--you know you like them to :)
7. Being at home
8. Smooth Jazz, R&B, Baroque...Kanye...the list goes on
9. People.com
10. Getting packages in the mail

Posted by Jessica at 3:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

1. preservation of life
2. pursuit of happiness
3. Respect
4. Money
5. strong social and professional networks
6. art
7. faith
8. history
9. education
10. Friendship

Posted by Ernest at 4:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is a pic of me at the Minnesota State Fair last year.

It's hard to list just my top ten things, but these will suffice:
1. ben and jerry's half-baked ice cream
2. sex and the city
3. bbq
4. love
5. old school R&B
6. the internet
7. shoes, mostly flats and pumps
8. laughing
9. planning
10. playing taboo

Posted by Tameka at 12:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi everyone! Jen Smith here... This is a picture of me a year and a half ago, at Invisible Children's Displace Me event in Chicago.

My top ten list will be fairly 'random' and not in any specific order.

1. Doughy baked goods
2. Giving people things
3. White chocolate raspberry gelato
4. Warm days, cold nights
5. Ceramic heaters and fuzzy socks in the winter
6. Spending hours taking people's pictures
7. Raw, organic things
8. Sweet, catchy music
9. The movie, La Heine
10. Learning about international affairs

Hope you all had a great weekend, see you on Friday!

Posted by Jen Smith at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Me with Cha Cha the Frog.

1. Radiohead
2. Quoting old episodes of "the Simpsons"
3. Wisconsin Mac and Cheese from Noodles
4. Slaughterhouse Five
5. Playing music with friends
6. The Minnesota Vikings
7. Jeff Tweedy
8. Catch-22
9. Fall, especially on campus.
10. 89.3 The Current

Posted by jaymaaarrrt at 5:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

why is my picture so huge?
TARA'S TOP 10 FAVORITE THINGS OF ALL TIME
1.) The Beatles
2.) My Dog
3.) Books
4.) Shopping
5.) Movies
6.) The boyfriend
7.) Maroon 5
8.)Christmas
9.) Hawaii
10.) Coffee

Posted by Audrey Hepburn at 4:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[it's hard for me to narrow to just 10 top favorite things, okay!]

My top 10 favorite things to watch are:
1. The Professional
2. Say Anything
3. Breakfast Club
4 I Like It Like That
5. Senorita Extraviada
6. Nobody's Business
7. Niecy Nash and Clean House(!)
8. HGTV shows like House Hunters and Color Splash
9. CSI, Law & Order type shows, even Forensic Files and the First 48
10.Favela Rising

My guilty pleasures are:
1. Nelly
2. TI
3. pop music
4. McDonalds french fries
5. peanut butter and chocolate ice cream

My favorite things to do:
1. play with my kids
2. make movies (mostly documentary videos)
3. teach media and feminisms
4. mentor youth who want to make movies

Here'a a picture of me filming in Chile (for a doc coming out on PBS next year called Estilo Hip Hop [directed by Vee Bravo]):

Posted by Rae at 9:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

• In the Mood for Love
• Star Wars
• Pan's Labyrinth
• Double Indemnity
• Spirited Away
• Heart and Souls
• When Harry Met Sally...
• Aliens
• Charade
• Do the Right Thing

Posted by Walt Jacobs at 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)